THE DONNA SUMMER DVD-OGRAPHY

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OTHER DVDs

DVD TITLE: "VH1 PRESENTS: DONNA SUMMER - LIVE AND MORE ENCORE" (1999) "VH1 presents..." or simply "LIVE AND MORE ENCORE" was the first release of Donna Summer on the DVD format and still remains as the only one by a big company (Sony/Epic). It's - no doubt - the best of all Donna Summer DVDs out there (see reviews below) for its high quality of video and audio and all original stuff.  The DVD  includes 2 videoclips of "I Will Go With You" (radio version and remix) and 5 songs not available on the CD.   See below a brief review and technical info adapted from Tower Records: Music cable channel VH1 presents legendary disco diva Donna Summer, performing live on February 28, 1999 at New York City's famed Hammerstein Ballroom. After years away from the limelight, Donna Summer is back performing the hits that made her a superstar of the 1970's disco club. Here she performs sixteen tunes, including "This Time I Know It's For Real, " "I Feel Love," and "Last Dance". In addition, a lovely duet with Tina Arena called "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" is a highlight.  Tracks: Macarthur Park This Time I Know It's For Real I Feel Love On The Radio Someone To Watch Over Me If There Is Music There No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) - Duet with Tina Arena Riding Through The Storm Don't Wanna Work Nobody Dim All The Lights She Works Hard For The Money Bad Girls Hot Stuff My Life Last Dance  Additional Program: Music Video - I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro) Music Video - I Will Go With You (Con Te Partiro) - Remix Region 0 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital Stereo - English Interactive Features: Interactive Menus / Song Access Text Galleries: Biography / Discography / Complete Chart History including Peak Positions TOP DVD TITLE: "ETERNAMENTE SUMMER - DONNA SUMMER - MAIORES SUCESSOS" (2001) First of all, it isn't homemade or any kind of amateur item. On the contrary, the DVD's design is very cute and one can perfectly see that it had a professional treatment. The disk itself is quite beautiful and actually is a picture disc. By the way, if you remember, the picture now used on the DVD cover is the same one that was on the back cover of the "Endless Summer" VHS. The interesting thing about the picture on the back cover is that they did use the one of ES cover, but as a artworked background to the logo of Donna's name (see above). Sadly, the DVD doesn't include any booklet. Another thing is that the DVD is indeed a brazilian product, since everything on it is written is Portuguese, from the package (front and back) to the extra features (biography and discography). There's no mention of Universal (or PolyGram) on it. The DVD was produced by some CineArt Filmes (located in São Paulo, Brazil - see website's URL below). As for the subtitles, there's something really strange about it. It's because the DVD does not have the lyrics in English (!) or in any other language. On the other hand, it does include the Portuguese translation of the songs. By the way, I've been patiently watching it to maybe find any kind of mistake or bad translation and found nothing! The translation is great and sometimes is just excellent (like on "State Of Independence", in which the translator really caught the feeling of the song). The DVD is set for region 0, which means it will run in all international DVD players (so, it's okay if you're planning to order it from brazilian online shops). As you can see, I only told you about the positive sides of the DVD. Now, sit out and get ready for the negative ones. And unfortunately there are a few of them. As for the videoclips included, yes, it IS the same stuff included on the 1994's "Endless Summer - Donna Summer's Greatest Hits" videotape. All the same 14 videos are here in almost the same order. The only difference is that "Love's About To Change My Heart" comes before "The Wanderer". All the rest is identical. The negative point here is that, once again, the other classic videos of Donna that had been released until 1994 weren't included ("The Woman In Me", "Love Is In Control", "All Systems Go", and "When Love Takes Over You"). The image quality is very good, higher than a VHS. Anyway, it's plain to see that there wasn't a necessary digital remastering of the video, as well as of the sound-track. My bet is that they took the master tape the way it was and directly converted it to digital (wasn't it the same the record industry did while re-releasing the old vinyls on CD format, some years ago?). But never fear: there's no hiss or noise on the sound and although some little imperfection on the image (like a DVD could never have), my final credit on it is okay. By the way, I didn't find the image granulated at all. The discography is a complete joke. There's no cover picture and to make things worse, is incomplete too. Correctly listed are, on the first page/screem, all albums from "Lady Of The Night" to "Bad Girls". Then, they skip to "The Wanderer", "Donna Summer (1982)" and finish with "She Works Hard For The Money". On the second page, listed are all the other full albums released from 1984 (Cats Without Claws) to 1999 (Live And More Encore), including 1994's "Christmas Spirit". Anyway, no compilation were considered on the discography, even when it includes new songs (and most of them includes!) like "On The Radio", "Anthology" and "Endless Summer" (although the respective CD cover of this last one is shown on the program ending, as an "Also Available" item, just like on the VHS). The only exception here is the irrelevant 1993's german compilation "This Time I Know It's For Real", which, surprisingly, was listed. But what's really amazing on the discography is that SHOUT IS OUT (an non-official Donna Summer release) has been listed THREE TIMES! (1994's "Live" and 1995's "Shout it Out" and "Nice To See You"). Thank God the guys from CineArts aren't, as it shows, well-informed persons. If they were, it would take the whole DVD space to get ALL Shout It Out-like releases listed. LOL The biography (all written in Portuguese) is correct (except for the fact that they call Donna as Adrian Donna Gaines) but too concise. It's just impossible for a newcomer on Donna's land to really get to know about her from those inexpressive lines. What's surprising here is that they do mention that Donna released a single called "Sally Go Round The Roses", which is, in my opinion, information that only die-hard fans have. On the other hand, there's no mention to any disco classic she made immortal. Well, that's my opinion on the DVD. In brief, it has some negative sides but is no doubt a worthwhile item. It's just great to have all those videos on digital format. I hope you have enjoyed this review and that it had been useful for you (see below technical notices on the DVD). TECHNICAL INFO:  DVD: ETERNAMENTE SUMMER - DONNA SUMMER MAIORES SUCESSOS (ENDLESS SUMMER - DS GREATEST HITS) SPECIFICATIONS: MUSICAL, 68 MINUTES, FULLSCREEN, PORTUGUESE SUBTITLES AND TEXTS. FEATURES: MAIN MENU, SONG SELCTION, EXTRA FEATURES (BIOGRAPHY AND DISCOGRAPHY) SOUND: DOLBY STEREO AND DOLBY 5.1 PRODUCED BY CINEART PRODUCTIONS (http://www.cineartonline.com.br) TRACK LISTING: 1. Medley (Dim All The Lights / Hot Stuff / Bad Girls / Last Dance) 2. She Works Hard For The Money - 1 3. Uncondicional Love - 1 4. State Of Independence - 1 5. Love´s About To Change My Heart - 1 6. The Wanderer - 1 7. Dinner With Gershwin - 1 8. Supernatural Love - 1 9. There Goes My Baby - 1 10. This Time I Know It´s For Real - 1 11. MacArthur Park - 1 12. On The Radio - 1 13. Last Dance - 1 14. Melody Of Love - 1   TOP DVD TITLE: "DONNA SUMMER - EDIÇÃO ESPECIAL" (2003) A so-called "new" Donna Summer DVD is available in some online vendors, as well as on Ebay. But before you run to it, be careful! I've bought one (yes, I did it. You can call me a completist LOL) and, as I suspected, this is the same old LIVE & MORE ENCORE concert, originally released in 1999 by Sony/Epic, but in a different package. But there are some differences too (but let me make it clear that all are WORSE differences). Some songs are in a different order and "This Time I Know It's For Real" has simply disappeared. Plus: There's no extra videoclips in it. What a shame!!!!  As for technical information, the whole product was made in Brazil (!?!) by some LW Editora Ltda. There's no mention to Sony or VH1 anywhere on the cover or in the show (the famous "This has been a VH1 production" that appears in the end of the 1999's L&ME has been simply cut off and the last frame with Donna remains ridiculously frozen) . I've noticed that the concert has also been edited in several other parts, especially the spoken ones. Definetely, this is NOT a worthwhile item. Anyone should think this is just a bootleg release, but I've just checked out that this is not.  I think I'll never understand how copyrights relating DVD work. The package is very cute. Cover and backcover are quite beautiful and the disk as well. It's a picture DVD with the same photo from the cover (by Mark Lidell) - sorry, but my scanner is still out of order. Finally, I'd like to tell you that the DVD includes 2 extra features (oh!): a biography and a discography (both of them are written in Portuguese). As usual, the discography is incomplete (all greatest hits compilation - On The Radio, Endless Summer, etc are missing and also Cats Without Claws album) but has a positive side: it does displays the cover pictures. As for the biography, well, this is the only good thing in this item.. Now I'll have to put humbleness aside LOL. It's because the DVD biography was LITERALLY stolen from FOREVER DONNA website (the Portuguese version). Actually, it's a very edited version of my Donna biography, but every and each word I chose to use in my translation are there. May I have my rights please? (and I mean it! LOL) Here's a translation of what's written on the backcover of the DVD: "DONNA SUMMER is called the "Queen of Disco" until today. No doubt, she put her trademark in the saturday nights' disco golden days through songs that made everybody dance. But Summer has reached higher levels of artistic accomplishments than that. She's able to show her great talent in ballads (Dim all the lights) and modern R&B songs (She works hard for the money). This concert, recorded in 1999, includes all her hits and is going to take you back to the magical 70's. TRACK LISTING: I Feel Love - On the Radio - No More Tears - Dim All The Lights - SWHFTM - Macarthur's Park (I know it's wrong, but that's the way it's written) - Bad Girls - Hot Stuff - My Life - Last Dance Lenght: 45 min. - Audio: Original Dolby Digital 2.0 e 5.1 - Subtitles: English (Songs and spoken parts) Portuguese and Spanish (spoken parts). - Regions: ALL"   TOP DVD TITLE: "DONNA SUMMER - LIVE AT MANHATTAN CENTRE 1999" (2003) Don't be fooled by this release for its attractive cover, which features a sexy Donna Summer wearing a Cleopatra outfit from a photo session in 1976. This DVD, released in Australia in 2003 by a company called "AV Channel", is exactly the same 40 min. poorly edited version of "Live and More Encore" that appeared in Brazil under the title "Donna Summer - Edição Especial" (see review above). Here's the technical info along with the track listing: Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1  Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Fullscreen  Transfer Format: 4:3  Category: Music  Region: 4  Year: 1999 (Released in 2003) Distributor: AV Channel  Languages: English  Running Time: 40 mins  Track Listing: I Feel Love On The Radio Enough is Enough She Works Hard for the Money Mac Arthurs Park Bad Girl Hot Stuff Last Dance DVD Features * Selected Discography * Digitally Remastered   TOP DVD TITLE: "20TH CENTURY MASTERS: THE BEST OF DONNA SUMMER" (2003) This "THE BEST OF DONNA SUMMER" DVD, scheduled for release in the U.S. in February 24, 2004, is a part of a series Universal Records is putting out called "20th Century Masters/ The DVD Collection". It only contains 5 (!!!) videos. It's encoded for Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only) and probably won't be viewable in other countries. See below the official information regarding the series, including track listings: The most successful single artist series of albums in music history, 20th CENTURY MASTERS/THE MILLENNIUM COLLECTION, is joined by its DVD video companion -- the first such series of its kind for any music company -- with the 10-release launch from UMe of 20th CENTURY MASTERS/THE DVD COLLECTION on February 24, 2004. Each DVD features five popular music videos, many of them making their U.S. DVD debuts, for an individual artist. All are digitally remastered -- audio and video. The first releases are "best of" collections for Tears For Fears, Donna Summer, The Moody Blues, Boyz II Men, New Edition, Kool & The Gang, Tracy Byrd, and Billy Ray Cyrus. Following are details on the rock and pop artists -- all of whose videos were first issued during the first glorious decade of the MTV generation. THE BEST OF DONNA SUMMER (Mercury/UMe) boasts the dance diva's videos for "She Works Hard For The Money" (#3 pop/#1 R&B), "Unconditional Love" (#9 R&B), her cover of the '60s favorite "There Goes My Baby" (#21 pop/#20 R&B) and a pair of Stock Aitken Waterman-penned and produced 1989 hits "This Time I Know It's For Real" (#7 pop/#2 AC/#5 dance) and "Love's About To Change My Heart" (#3 dance).  TOP OTHER DVDs DVD TITLE: "SOUL CLASSICS" (2003) Released on October 6, 2003 in Germany (by BMG's Uncut label), this DVD may not contain real classics of the Soul Music, as the title suggests. And even though it's a 17-track only DVD it's still a very interesting item for admires of the dance music of the 70's (see track listing below). And what is best: it features an early Donna Summer live performance  of "I Feel Love" (probably from 1978's "Live and More" tour). That Donna performance is known among fans as "the robot dance". Attention: this DVD is encoded for Region 2 and won't play in other regions' DVD players. Track listing: Cameo - Word Up Commodores - Sail On  Mica Paris / Will Downing - Where is The Love Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive Kool & The Gang - Get Down On It Level 42 - Lessons In Love Ce Ce Peniston - Finally Stereo MC's - Connected Kool & The Gang - Cherish  Donna Summer - I Feel Love Young Disciples - Apparently Nothin' Womack & Womack - Teardrops  Technical Information: • Region 2 encoding (Europe, Middle East & Japan only) • PAL • Catalogue Number: CUT1009  TOP DVD TITLE: "DISCO INFERNO" (2003) If you're a Disco fan, well then this DVD is perfect for you. It features several original performances by some of the superstars of the era. Every video is actually a TV performance for an old West Germany TV show called "Musik Laden" (exception for Lipps Inc.'s "Funkytown"). One negative thing about this release is that every video was edited both in the beginning and in the end with an animation with the DVD's title. Still, this probably is due to some technical issue, like, for instance, the host probably was speaking (remember that it was originally a TV program). Another thing (not necessarily negative) is that every track is lip-synched, that is, there's no true "live" performance. Ironically, the chosen performance of Donna Summer (the Queen of Disco) isn't a disco song and not even one from the 70's. It's her smash hit "She Works Hard For The Money" of 1983.  "Disco Inferno" DVD has been released in several countries, with different (as natural) encodings and under different labels.  Track Listing: 1: Village People, YMCA  2: Kelly Marie, Feels Like I'm In Love  3: Lips Inc., Funkytown  4: Odyssey, Use it up  5: James Brown, Rapp Payback  6: Donna Summer, She Works Hard For The Money  7: Baccara, Yes Sir, I Can Dance  8: Alicia Bridges, I love The Nightlife  9: Chic, Le Freak  10: Sugarhill Gang, Rapper's Delight  11:The Gap Band, Burn Rubber On Me  12: Imagination, Changes  13: Billy Ocean, Love Really Hurts W/O You  14: Kool & The Gang, Celebration  15: Sister Sledge, All American Girls  16: Gibson Brothers, Mariana  17: The Jacksons, Blame It On The Boogie  18: Evelyn Thomas, High Energy  19: The Four Tops, Don't Walk Away  20: Bony M, Daddy Cool  21: Odyssey, Going Back To My Roots   TOP