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(More customer reviews)This box set contains four video programs by the Collins/Banks/Rutherford/Steurmer/Thompson line-up of Genesis, and finds the group touring behind the "Abacab", "Genesis"(1983), ""Invisible Touch" & "We Can't Dance" albums. There is also a VH-1 "Behind The Music" documentary, and empty spaces in the packaging so that you can install the renuion tour "When in Rome" 3-DVD set into the packaging. The musical performances & sound quality in the four concerts included are uniformly excellent, assuming that you like the later, more commercial part of the group's career.
First you get "Three Sides Live" a concert film/documentary that had been offered on VHS & Laserdisc, but never before on DVD. Unfortunately, the opening song "Behind The Lines" is slightly edited, and interviews & behind the scenes footage interrupts "Duchess", "Me & Sarah Jane" & "Man on The Corner", and there is nothing that can be done about this. The material was originally shot on film, then edited on videotape, and unfortunately, after an extensive search, the group was not able to find the raw film footage, therefore, it wasn't possible to re-edit the footage or add extra songs. However, you do get a newly remixed 5.1 soundtrack which sounds great, and it is a genuine remix, not some fake upmix. As bonus material, you get audio only surround versions of "Behind The Lines", "Duchess", "Me and Sarah Jane", "Man on The Corner", "One For The Vine", Fountain of Salmacis" & "Follow You, Follow Me". The video quality is slightly better than the original VHS & Laserdisc releases.
"The Mama Tour" also makes its' DVD debut, and regretably, the situation is the same as for "Three Sides Live". The material was shot on film and edited on videotape, and the raw film footage cannot be found, so all that is available to work from is the videotape master. Video quality is no better than the VHS release. Fortunately, it appears that the concert is being presented complete or near-complete, and you get an excellent 5.1 surround sound remix. There is a bonus of 79 minutes of home camcorder footage shot by Phil Collins during sessions for the group's 1983 "Genesis" album.
The 3rd DVD is "Live at Wembley"(originally titled "Invisible Touch Tour"), and the disc's contents are identical to the separately released DVD that most of us already have. This series of four concerts was shot on an early prototype Sony analogue high definition video recording system, of which only a few machines ever existed . When it came time to release this material on DVD, there was a question of there was still a machine in existence to play the original high definition tapes, to permit a properly mastered widescreen DVD(I.E. not a letterboxed 4:3 ratio disc). Fortunately one such machine was found in England, but the search for unreleased material had a sad result. In each of the four shows, the group played a 20 minute medley of early Genesis songs. Unfortunately, without asking or informing the group, in each of the four shows, the video crew used the 20 minute medley as a time to shut down their equipment and re-load their video recorders with more recording tape, so in all four shows, the medley was not recorded. As supplemental material, you get a tour documentary that was originally included as bonus material on a UK/Europe/Japan video collection "Visible Touch".
The fourth disc is "The Way We Walk Live",and this concert, recorded at London's Earl's Court Exhibition Centre is presented complete. However, for no apparent reason, this is a stripped-down version of the previously available 2-DVD set. The concert is complete, but this time, to facilitate a single disc, the alternate camera angles, commentary track, and supplemental features are all omitted. In a deluxe box such as this, fans deserved the full 2-DVD version. So, if you have the already released(now deleted) 2-DVD version, hold onto it. It will be a collectors item.
The 45 minute "VH-1:Behind The Music" documentary is fun to watch.....once, though it contains numerous factual errors. Phil Collins did not join the group on the album "Tresspass". He joined the group on the album "Nursery Cryme".(the late John Mayhew drummed on "Tresspass"). And when Collins auditioned for the three remaining original members(Gabriel, Rutherford & Banks), Banks says that they all felt that Collins was the best drummer. In fact, Tony Banks had previously admitted that he prefered one of the other drummers, but he was outvoted by Mike Rutherford & Peter Gabriel.
For those of you who complain about the lack of a Blu-Ray edition, here are the facts(which I've confirmed with the "World of Genesis" website operator). "Live at Wembley" & "When in Rome" could someday be offered on Blu-Ray, but there are presently no plans to do so. "The Way We Walk Live" was shot on 625-line standard definition Uk videotape. It cannot be upgraded for high definition. If the actual raw film footage for "Three Sides Live" & "The Mama Tour" is ever found, it could be presented in high definition, but it now appears that the footage was not saved, I.E. that it was discarded after the selected parts were transfered to videotape. No one envisioned that the raw film footage would have any future use.
I thank the group for not redundantly including the "When In Rome" reunion tour video. It was a lucrative nostalgia tour which showed the group past its' prime, with many of the songs de-tuned one and a half tones(3 keys) to reflect Phil Collins' late 50-ish vocal limitations.
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5 DVD boxed set with new 2009 5.1 DTS and Dolby Digital sound mixes, includes the DVD debuts of The Mama Tour and Three Sides Live. This DVD box set also includes Genesis Live At Wembley Stadium, Genesis: The Way We Walk-Live In Concert, and VH-1 Behind The Music. Three Sides Live, the concert film shot at Nassau Coliseum and released in tandem with the live album of the same title, which made the Top Ten on both sides of the Atlantic in 1982. Contains extra full length tracks in 5.1 Audio only. Available on DVD for the first time.Genesis Live The Mama Tour, filmed in 1984 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, and featuring the band performing material from the chart-topping Genesis album. Also features The Making of the Mama Album, a home video filmed by Phil Collins during the making of the Genesis album. Available on DVD for the first time. Genesis Live At Wembley Stadium, shot during the group's record-breaking run of four sold-out concerts in July 1987, at the height of their popularity following the release of the number one album Invisible Touch. The DVD also features the tour documentary entitled Visible Touch. Genesis: The Way We Walk Live In Concert, filmed in 1992 at London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre, and issued alongside the albums Live The Way We Walk Volume One: The Shorts and Volume Two: The Longs. Bonus material alongside The Mama Documentary comes in the shape of the updated 2009 version of VH1 Behind The Music special about the band. The original version aired in December 1999.
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