Search - Shawn Colvin - Polaroids - Video Collection on DVD

Great Value, Great Music

R. Clark | Ridley Park, PA United States | 01/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shawn Colvin has a compelling voice, writes meaningful lyrics, has a way with a melody, and is well worth listening to. But you know all that, else you'd not be reading about one of her releases. This review is about why "Polaroids: A Video Collection" is a must-buy for her fans.

I continue to be amazed by how much more value is often delivered by video collections on DVD, compared to audio CDs. This is an excellent example.

Comparing this DVD, which actually sells for less than the concurrently-released Greatest Hits CD, you'll find that the CD includes 5 songs that aren't represented (in some form) on the DVD. They are:

Polaroids
This Must Be the Place
Whole New You
Matter of Minutes
I'll Be Back

However, the DVD includes seven songs that aren't on the CD:

One Cool Remove (Duet with Roseanne Cash))
Lost Soul (Duet with Bruce Hornsby)
Kill the Messenger (Live)
Anywhere You Go (Live)
Bonefields (Live)
Bound To You (Live)
Love Came Down at Christmas (Live on the Tonight Show)

There are four performances (three-piece acoustic)and an interview from a Sessions at West 54th episode, and four performances (full band) from Audtin City Limits. One of those is a gorgeous duet, with Allison Krause on violin and vocal, on "Shotgun Down the Avalanche."

All this music runs about 90 minutes.

But that's not all:

--The audio on the music videos has been remixed in 5.1 surround.

--There's a commentary track by Colvin throughout the disc.

--There's a half-hour interview with Colvin.

Add to this (forgive me) that Shawn Colvin, beyond her obvious songrwriting and performing talent, looks really great in most of these videos, and one wonders what the point of buying the audio CD is.

If you own most or all of her original CDs already, there's little reason to buy the new CD collection, but *every* reason to buy this DVD, which makes an excellent complement to her existing body of work.

RichC
"

Outstanding DVD Collection

da | racine, wi United States | 12/14/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Shawn Colvin is a master at her craft. Lumping her into the 'Female Folk' category is far too general. Her musicianship is incredible, her lyrics are exquisite, and its high time that a DVD like this was released. Great stuff too. Her material would be prime pickin's for VH1 if they ever showed music videos. Seeing her live is really the way to go, but this DVD does her justice and was taken from several sources so its not your typical generic compilation. Well done. I highly recommend the 'Bora Bora' DVD as well as you can see her accompanied with only her acoustic guitar, outdoors, no audience, and she is still captivating and alluring. I hope this DVD and the promotion of it brings her back to a larger audience, as she is far more talented and deserves more recognition than most if not all of her contemporaries, and especially the contrived pap that passes for music these days."

Well worth the cost...

Scratchy Album | 01/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For the cost of the CD "Greatest Hits," you can spend well over an hour hearing AND seeing this notable performer. The videos are all interesting in their own way. Watch them first without Shawn's commentary, then with the her wry and mildly self-effacing narration. I wouldn't say her comments add much in the way of "behind the scenes" insight but what you do get is the most natural feel of Shawn being Shawn that the DVD offers. She admits on one TV appearance "OK we're kinda sucking here..." The DVD will totally satisfy the Shawn fan as after the videos there are two healthy chunks of live performances. Four songs from Sessions at 54th Street and another four from Austin City Limits. Plus there's her "Tonight Show" version of "Love Came Down At Christmas" with the entire band dressed in pajamas. It was a little corny but precious still.

The bonus sit-down interview lasts almost half an hour and does a good job of tracking Shawn's career posts. She seems a little guarded at times. I didn't care so much for the interviewer's manner. It never seemed too relaxed. Still worth the view though.

Overall, this DVD is a good reminder, or first time look, at a gifted and important writer and singer of the last 15 years whom I understand is recording new material now which undoubtedly will help effectively chart the journey of a smart woman into middle age."

Shawn Colvin's music videos and television appearances

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 08/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was initially surprised that there is two hours worth of material on "Shaw Colvin - Polaroids: A Video Collection" because I could not believe Colvin had made that made music videos. But while there are indeed ten music videos on this collection the rest of the DVD is filled with video from television appearances, which I am especially appreciative of since I saw Colvin performing last month and have a decided preference for listing to her live just playing one of the two acoustic guitars she takes with her on the road than listen to what comes out of the studio.

In terms of the chronologically arranged music videos we have "Steady On" and a literal but mysterious shot in black & white "Diamond in the Rough" from 1990, "Round of Blues" where you get to see her first husband and hear her sister's big plans for the video from 1992, a rather dark video version where they decided Colvin wearing just an open vest to show off her bellybutton was a good thing of "I Don't Know Why" from 1993 (there is a better one to come on this DVD), Greg Brown';s "One Cool Remove" as a duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter and "Every Little Thing (She) Does Is Magic," which apparently has a visit from Tinkerbelle from 1994, and then a small gap to her success with the "Few Small Repairs" album and the most professional and arty looking of the videos which were shot for "Get Out of This House" in 1996 with Colvin playing electric guitar with her band, "You and the Mona Lisa" and, of course, "Sunny Came Home" from 1997. That last one is the "Fire Version," which was not allowed to be shown on television because in the wake of that Beavis & Butthead controversy with children doing what cartoon characters did MTV was into a strict "fire bad" policy. Then we go back to 1990 and Colvin singing the duet "Lost Soul" with Bruce Hornsby. Colvin provides a limited amount of audio commentary, which basically consists of what she remembers at the start of each track rather than talking throughout. So there are ample opportunities for you to decide if like Shawn Colvin more with her short hair dark or blonde (dark) or with acoustic or electric guitar (acoustic).

From a 1997 edition of "Sessions at West 54th" Colvin sings "Kill the Messenger" and "The Fact About Jimmy," does an interview segment with Jody Denberg of KGSR Radio, then finishes with "Sunny Came Home" and "Diamond in the Rough." Then we get to Colvin's third appearance on "Austin City Limits" from March 15, 2001. The show begins with "Anywhere You Go" and "Bonefields," before we get to my favorite track on the DVD, which is Colvin on guitar and Alison Krauss singing harmony and playing piano on "Down the Avalanche," which just reminds me why this is probably my favorite Shawn Colvin song. This is followed by "Bound to You," and the downside here is that just as you are getting into the performance it is over, so that we miss "Road to Ensenda" with Lyle Lovett, "The Great Divide" with Bruce Hornsby,"One Small Year," another version of "Sunny Came Home," and then everybody showing up for "Diamond in the Rough" at the end. But I suppose eventually the whole thing will be available on DVD since that is apparently the industry trend.

The DVD ends with an appearance from "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" where Colvin sings "Love Came Down at Christmas" with everybody dressed up in their pajamas like they had just come down on Christmas morning. As Colvin says on the commentary track they must love her a lot to dress up like that on Jay Leno before she goes on to disparage the performance, apparently her first after the birth of her daughter ("It is the spirit that counts," she wryly observes). The DVD ends with an alternate version music video of "I Don't Know Why" from 1993 that Colvin prefers. So, on balance, fans of Colvin will have to be pleased with what they find here, although I think most will agree the performances outshine the music videos."