Musicals & Music Films > Classical Musicals & Music Films > 10 GBP to 15 GBP

Advantages: Spitting Image, lots of laughs, great intro to classical music
Disadvantages: Deflates a little in the middle, wanted more

Introduction: Sometimes the strangest and most unexpected of combinations can work brilliantly together, so I was really intrigued to see that renowned Italian maestro Claudio Abbado had insisted that his DVD of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" should use Spitting Image puppets! Somehow it seemed a rather improbable line-up: On one side as a supreme representative of "high culture", we have Claudio with his intense music-making and lofty interpretative ...
...Verdi to pick just a few highlighted composers from his long and illustrious career. At the other end of the cultural spectrum we have the Spitting Image team who are best known for their 80's TV series featuring bitingly satirical latex puppet portrayals of anyone famous (and infamous) from the Queen Mum (complete with Brummie accent and fondness for gin...) to a manic Margaret Thatcher and her errant son Mark, not to mention such unforgettable ... Read review

Advantages: Great performance, strong setlist, fascinating stage show, well produced.
Disadvantages: Can't think of any! Any personal preferences over song choices, I suppose.

...shows a fantastic display from Peter Gabriel's 'Growing Up' tour. A very strong setlist and a great stage setup makes this a fantastic concert. The stage itself is circular, surrounded on all sides by the audience, which gives it quite an enclosed feel. It also rotates, which is used for many interesting purposes! Gabriel explains that with the 'Growing Up' tour, he wanted to have a 'vertical' theme for the stage, with things physically moving up ...
...charisma - but hey, it's Peter Gabriel, would you have expected anything less? The set opens with the piano version of 'Here Comes The Flood' and closes with 'Father, Son' - both feature just Gabriel giving a moving performance on the piano - a nice 'symmetrical' overall feel to the show. Bonus features include some 'behind the scenes' glimpses, and an interview with the man himself. Nothing massive, but a nice addition. Talking of behind the scenes, ... Read review

Advantages: Beautifully made document of beautiful-art-in-the-making.
Disadvantages: Maybe a bit much for non-fans.

...Jones' 2002 film focusing on Wilco at the most turbulent and creatively-fertile period in their career thus far is much closer to Micahel Lindsey-Hogg's 1970 Let It Be than, for example, Berlinger & Sinofsky's 2004 Some Kind Of Monster. Like the Beatles' picture, it is an essential, stunningly-made film but one that, in contrast to the insanely-entertaining Metallica feature, is unlikely to work for anyone uninterested in the band under consideration. ...
...radio station hour-after-hour-after-hour. Instead, Wilco set upon their own songs with maniacal zeal, pulling each asunder, settling none for a predictable verse-chorus-verse where a chorus-verse-verse from another track -chorus from songs yet to be written can be threaded together instead. Awe-inspiringly short-sighted, the record company balked at what the band had produced, preferring to cut their losses and drop both artist and record than follow ... Read review

Advantages: Generally good concert, 'Old Medley' is great.
Disadvantages: Bonus features could be better. Needs less pop and more prog!

Filmed in 1992, 'The Way We Walk' DVD shows concert footage from one of Genesis's later tours. By this time, all the big albums had been released - only the lesser known 'Calling All Stations' with Ray Wilson was still to come. As it stands, this is a pretty good concert - as expected, most of the hits are there - 'Land Of Confusion, 'Invisible Touch', 'I Can't Dance', etc. They are all pretty similar to the album versions, though there a few alterations ...
...some dramatic guitar-work to finish it off. 'Jesus He Knows Me' has got real pace and excitement, and Phil Collins really brings it to life as he comically assumes the role of a TV evangelist. The song is also rounded off with a superb guitar solo from long-time session player Daryl Stuermer. In Turn It On Again, the final track, the riff is also used as a backing for Collins to give thanks to the rest of the band, which adds some alteration, but ... Read review

Advantages: great film
Disadvantages: n/a

...her fellow suffragettes. Mary Poppins played by Julie Andrews then appears bringing magic, discipline and fun into the children's lives. Dick Van Dyke also stars as the lovable cockney Bert. From jumping through chalk pavement pictures to dancing with penguins this film has it all, along with well know songs from a spoonful of sugar and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious but to name a few this film is a classic Disney film for the family and one ... Read review