Search - Paul McCartney - The Space Within US on DVD

It's Time, Paul, to Take a Sad Format and Make It Better

John Dowell | Philadelphia, PA | 11/14/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I own all of Paul's concert videos, and this one is--by far--the worst of the lot. The music is fabulous, but the format is awful. It's time for Paul to provide a bona fide concert video. "The Space within Us" is outright tedium, with very few actual shots of the band performing the songs. For the most part, the DVD consists of celebrities and pseudo-cultural theorists talking about McCartney's readily obvious impact upon world culture. And then there are the ceaseless images of fans in various states of ecstasy.

What we really want to see, Paul, is the concert itself. The rest is extraneous. And don't even get me started on the astronauts. . . ."

Insecurity Blanket....

o dubhthaigh | north rustico, pei, canada | 11/27/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Note to self: when preparing to enter costly divorce, do not have Bill Clinton, Alec Baldwin and Billy Joel extol your virtues on film.

Make no mistake, the music on this DVD is terrific. This is the best band McCartney has worked with since, well, you know.... The trouble with this DVD is that the music is constantly interupted by talking heads gushing over McCartney's well established virtues of being the genuine article who loves to go to work each day and do his job. He was raised that way. It shows, and he's very sincere about that value in his life. I admire him for it. I've seen it loads of times in big and small moments. I don't need to keep seeing it. Message received. Over and out.
In this particular film the intrusions are too much. Carrie Underwood seems to suggest a very private moment has brought her to tears. God bless Macca if it's true, but you don't need that right now either. I loved the performances in the film - it's what Paul does, and it's great. The rest comes off as displaying an insecurity that I hadn't really noticed before. As though he needed to hear how much fans and celebrities thought of him, which is a different angle than previous efforts where he explained his work ethic as a devotion to his fans, the subtext of his looming divorce must have knackered him inside in his guts. He even looks a little edgier at times, which could be the result of dealing with tabloid stories. At first I thought all the testimonials were way too ego-driven, but when you think about why that might be so, the underlying cause is some severe insecurity threatening his sense of self. This is not as self-destructive as Crosby's meltdown in DAYLIGHT AGAIN, but still you see the cracks where they never were before. Post Beatles, pre-Wings, McCartney was retreating to Scotland. What ravages that wrought he put into LIVERPOOL ORATORIO. Now it's all out front and I'm sure he takes a lot of the tabloid fueled speculation personally, as must Mills. Hard to keep your dignity. Thus, with your concert film, you get this salving of the fragile parts.
I don't know what else to do other than copy this disc and edit out Clinton et al in order to enjoy what seems in starts and stops to be a great concert. Wishing Paul and his family the best, inspite of all this, I would also hope that he finds solace in doing what he does best and in the comfort of his children. The lawyers will deal with the rest, and he's been down that long and winding road before."