Search - The Bangles - Greatest Hits on DVD

The Bangles on DVD, sort of.

Michael Joseph | Los Angeles | 02/15/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First, the 4 star rating has nothing to do with the Bangles, but rather the DVD itself. It is obviously NOT a "remastered" version, but an obvious VHS-DVD transfer, and not a particularly good one at that. You would think that, as long as it took to release this, that they would have done a better job. I can only rate it as "Very Good" VHS quality. It's in 4:3 aspect, but that's certainly because that's the aspect the videos were shot in. There are no features other than what was available on the VHS edition, and the sound quality is about the same.

That having been said, it's still nice to finally have this collection on DVD, so that I don't have to worry about it degrading like a VHS would.

**A later note: After playing around with my T.V. settings, I was able to make this look like a "Fair" quality DVD. I had to raise the sharpness level way past what it is for other DVD's, or my cable channels, especially with a good DVD player, and a LCD T.V. Still, at least it looks good, even if I have to adjust settings.**

The Bangles were a favorite group of mine at the time because, for me at least, they transcended the title of "girl group" to "band" status. This is because they all played their instruments well, sang well, and of course, looked great. They also had more range in their musical style than other groups, from the cute/silly "Walk Like an Egyptian", to the sexy "In Your Room", to the romantic "Eternal Flame", to the rocking "Be With You" (Which makes me wish I had been able to see them perform live). They had a unique sound, but weren't locked in to a particular style.

For those who haven't seen the VHS version, the playlist is:

1. Hero Takes a Fall
2. Going Down to Liverpool
3. Manic Monday
4. If She Knew What She Wants
5. Walk Like an Egyptian
6. Walking Down Your Street
7. In Your Room
8. Eternal Flame
9. Be With You

I wish they had included the groups later, individual, efforts. I know Susannah put out one video, plus it would have been fun to have her efforts with Austin Power's group "Ming Tea" on this, but we take what we can get. I was beginning to think this would NEVER be released.

For Bangles fans, this is a worthwhile purchase, for the reasons I have stated, but be prepared for less than we had hoped."

Send This One Back to The Encoder

M. Schnitzer | New York, NY USA | 03/27/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As earlier reviewers have noted, this disc offers up the bulk of the Bangles' music video output, and true fans of the group will likely gobble up whatever crumbs that they're given. But the word crumb isn't used indiscriminately here, for the mastering job done on this collection truly is, in a word, crummy.

Another reviewer on this page correctly pointed out that the DVD itself is identical in content to the release of the same title on VHS back in the early '90s. Where that individual is slightly mistaken is in characterizing the DVD as a VHS-to-DVD transfer, when obviously, a large outfit like Sony Music Video, inheritors of the rich CBS Records catalog, would never use a VHS tape as a master -- even though, in the case of this disc, it might look like it. No, clearly, better source materials were used, but whatever party or parties were responsible for the encoding process should be ashamed.

It's also hard to understand why this happened, since Sony has remastered other legacy titles from the old CBS canon, including music video collections from Sade, Billy Joel and Cyndi Lauper, that look just fine, even if their sound is more than a bit overmodulated.

But it's sight, not sound, that's at the heart of the problem with this Bangles compilation. As the owner of both the original VHS release and now this newer DVD iteration, I can attest unequivocally to the overall superiority of the former over the latter. The image quality of the DVD version is perhaps a mite sharper, but that improvement is more than offset by the significant amount of graininess visible throughout all of the videos contained on the disc version. And with the VHS and DVD having equally fine audio, on balance, the VHS version comes out on top.

The bad news here is that it's out of print. The good news is that it's still widely available from a number of vendors, including some very reasonably priced ones right here on Amazon. If you really love Susanna and company and want to own an audiovisual souvenir of this great girl group of the '80s, do yourself a favor and pick up the videocassette while it's still available. It's either that, or wait and hope that Sony realizes the error of its ways and remasters the DVD."

If you love the Bangles, you'll love the video!

M. Schnitzer | 04/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The video includes earlier hits such as my favorite "Hero Takes a Fall" and "Going Down to Liverpool." I was dissapointed that "Hazy Shade of Winter" is missing from the collection, but the video is a must-have all the same. Also, even though we all love Susanna Hoffs, it's nice to see videos with the other band members singing as well. I own and frequently watch the video. It is reminicent of the time period as well as a great rock band with women who could really play their instruments, not to mention looking cool at the same time. No all-girl band ever looked cooler."

What Happened? Better than nothing I guess.

R. Brough | Issaquah, Washington USA | 04/12/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I agree with the other statements about this DVD collection. It is better than nothing but why such a shabby treatment to a great band. I was a huge fan of the band and had seen them many times. Look for the good looking guy holding the bangles1 License plate in the "Be With You Video? I have the VHS copy and was excited to see it was coming out on DVD. It looks ok then really grainy and then ok again. They added nothing on the DVD that would make you want to buy the DVD instead of the Video. With the release of "Doll Revolution" I thought we might actually get a quality DVD. The fans got slapped in the face. We can hope that they will redo the DVD the way it should be made. If you can find the VHS copy get it instead."