Search - Here & Now on DVD

A wasted opportunity. Why can't they get it right?

electricphase | Mexico City | 03/10/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The Sweet is one of the best rock bands in the history of music. Video footage of the "mighty" Sweet has always been sort of a rarity. Truly, a major event! At last, we finally get the chance to enjoy the glory of watching The Sweet in action in DVD format, or so we think... Major disappointment! Whoever produced this DVD did a terrible job. For starters, the sound could have been much better. Perhaps it would have even been valid to re-record it over the video images. They left the original poor sound from the original ancient tapes. My biggest complain is what happens between songs. They don't let you see the start of the video for various seconds (it feels like an eternity!). I don't like missing out valuable images without reason. It takes forever until you actually see the band. The end of every song is also abruptly cut off. Instead they show the same images and the respective song title. All the mishaps aside, you can truly appreciate what a great band The Sweet was. Brian Connolly giving his best during "Fever of Love", Mick Tucker pounding the drums in "Sixties Man", Steve Priest soulfully singing and playing his bass, and a young --once a great guitarist-- Andy Scott playing with aggression and taste. Now on to the second section: Andy Scott's Sweet. It hurts to say it, but Andy Scott looks pathetically fat, rigid and tired (totally opposite to the personality he once had). He has really no point in re-doing the old classics with his new band. They do it competently (singer/bassist Jeff Brown does a very good job), but NOTHING can compare to the real thing, so why do it? Why tampering with the original creations? Totally senseless if you ask me. His newest Afterlife stuff does not do much for me either, truth be said. The biography section leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't even mention who are the players in the newest videos. I was very disappointed with this gem, still I like it because I can still see some of the "real" Sweet, one of the best and most influential bands of all time. I'm still hopeful somebody will finally get it right and give us fans a real good DVD with The Sweet. Until then, I guess this is the best we can hope for, oh well..."

Dissapointed...

Raymond Talbot | LaBaie, Qc Canada | 12/22/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this DVD with great anticipation being a SWEET fan for a long long time. On the first part of the DVD you see videos of the original band. Although it's nice to see the lads and how they were then, it's terrible to see the really bad picture quality for which no restoration effort has been given, not even video noise reduction!. The sound is awfull. They could have at least transfered the sound from the CDs and matched them to the videos. Instead, they transfered directly from tape to DVD with all the limitions, bad s/n ratio etc, etc. I could have done the same with a $50 buget... Part two is the "new sweet" doing old sweet songs. the videos were recorded in a studio no larger than my basement... the sound is good but who are these guys? And as we found out with ELO, you can't replace the front-man it just doesn't sound the same and it doesn't work. The only interresting part is when they present new material...Unfortunatelly just highlights of the new songs about a minute each...
As for the photo gallery, let me laugh... It's just stills taken from the videos as if the lads and every one they knew never owned a camera...
No interviews with surviving band members, live shots, nothingI would recomend this only to fans who must own absolutelly EVERYTHING that is SWEET. Put your money in the original brittish CDs instead and use your imagination for the video...It's bound to be much better."