Customer Reviews

Berlin: Intimate

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Others have written full reviews so I will just add one warning to potential buyers-- the quality of the sound engineering work is absolutely shameful. Unforgivable. Nunn's voice is muffled and horribly compressed and, unfortunatley, the better your system the WORST it will sound. Trust me. This beautiful performer, and her bandmates, deserved so much more. Go ahead and purchase if, like myself, you are a big fan-- I am certainly going to keep my copy unless a well-recorded Berlin concert DVD comes out.... just know what you are getting. Good Luck!

I love Berlin - and have done since I heard No More Words when it was first released.

I love Terri Nunn - she is STILL sexy, and has a great rock voice.

The quality of this DVD, however, is APPALLING!

Playing in DTS doesn't make the slightest of difference. The mixing sounds like its been done by an amateur, and the video looks like its been shot on a series of home video cameras.

I have many music DVD's, and honestly, this is the worst quality in my collection - lucky I'm a fan otherwise I would send it back!

Another annoying thing is they seem to have resorted to a technique a lot of older music videos used - an interview between tracks. The beauty of a DVD is you can skip to menus and sub-menus to CHOOSE what you want to watch. Mind you, Terri's words were quite interesting,, but not in the middle of the songs PLEASE!
Overall, the production of this DVD is AMATEURISH at best. Very, very unfortunate as Terri Nunn and Berlin are a great band this DVD does not do them justice AT ALL!

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be giving this such poor reviews... I didn't have any problems with the audio or picture quality. The dvd is a lot more stripped down and basic feeling then the releases of more well known acts that are flooding the market today but it is hardly "amateurish."

I saw Berlin for the first time this past October and was totally blown away by Terri's stage presence. There seem to be less and less performers out there today who truly seem to love what they do and have the massive talent to back up their efforts. Terri is one of those talented (wow, can she sing!) and charismatic few who can truly and honestly connect with her audience.

This dvd did a fairly good job of capturing what the band sounds like live. The only performance here I didn't truly enjoy was their cover of Marilyn Manson's "The Dope Show" which I thought disrupted the flow and feel of the performance that was captured for this particular show --I have no idea why there were scantily clad hired dancers prancing around the stage with Terri and her backup vocalist. But I still enjoyed it very much and consider it a great buy for both casual and hardcore Berlin fans.

This DVD release by the band probably best known for Take My Breath Away from the Top Gun Soundtrack has some pluses and minuses.

As far as the positives, lead singer and sole remaining original member Terri Nunn looks as great as ever. The set list is a good representation of the bands output and the musicians are fairly good.

As far as the other, I have to disagree with the reviewer who thought there were 15 people in the audience. I think it was actually around 20. The audience for the most part looked like a bunch of aspiring models around 20 years old which would have put most of them in pre-school when Berlin had its heyday so I doubt they grew up being fans. The audience did seem to come alive though during the second song, The Metro, which is one of the band's more rocking numbers. You could almost hear the audience saying, "Hey, these guys are pretty good. What's their name again?"

As far as the sound mix I didn't experience the volume changes that some other reviewers described but I listened to it on the DTS 5.1 mix and maybe the problems were on the Dolby Tracks. I did think the overall mix could have used some improving though, especially the drums. Although most of the drums sounded ok, when the drummer hit the one Tom Tom in the front it sounded like he was hitting a plastic trash can.

Overall, if you are a Berlin fan I would recommend to consider adding this to your collection but if not your money will probably be better spent elsewhere. Hopefully the band will consider putting out another live concert release in front of their own fans and maybe include their 80's videos as an extra.

After seeing Berlin perform live at the KROQ Inland Invasion back in September, I knew I had to get their DVD. They rocked out to a packed "side stage" area and everyone was cheering them on.

On the DVD, Terri looks radiant and beautiful as she always does. She does a great job performing the songs, but the audio mixing is very inconsistent. Terri's vocal mix varies from being too low to almost being at the norm. I cringed during "Masquerade" because Terri's voice came out deep and partly muffled. Luckily, not all of the tracks suffered this annoying calamity.

In between some of the songs, Terri gives us some insight about the songs and about the band. Fans will appreciate this, but the commentary portions are not as loud as the musical performances...so you need to turn up the volume just a little bit to hear Terri. And when the musical performances come back on, you'll need to turn down the volume a bit. The inconsistency of the audio levels annoyed me the most for I was constantly turning the volume up and down as I watched each track.

If the audio mix didn't bother you, the camera ops and the shots they recorded should! Many times, the director chose horrible camera angles to film, and the camera ops sometimes couldn't even follow Terri and keep her in the shot! The camera-persons must have been amateurs because shots were sometimes not focused well, and the subjects were not framed well.

As for my comments about the audience, it does looked staged. The audience (or ambient) noise is not heard much at all, until the end of the songs...and even then, it's slightly muted. The audio mix could've been better if more ambient noises were present, because the tracks sounded more like a "studio" (instead of a "live") performance.

The venue...I agree with past reviewers, the place looks like a basement or a garage. My first thoughts was that the place looked like one of those public cable access tv studios. The venue did not give an "intimate" feel to the dvd or the performances.

The Dope Show track is entertaining. I liked it because it is very different from the other song performances. Terri does a good job covering this Marilyn Manson song.

There is one touching moment on this dvd. Just before "Take My Breathe Away," Terri thanks her mom for supporting her all these years. She also thanks all the parents who have believed in the success of their children.

If you are considering on buying this DVD, beware of its flaws. It's not a fantastic production and looks almost like an amateur video project. I blame this on Image Entertainment. They ruined what could've been a great DVD for Berlin!

The shows rock harder than you assume a band known for "80s snyth pop" would. Terri's voice live is incredible and is an underrated singer. I was literally dragged to the show,expecting to see a washed up band. What I got was a band that sounded potent and current, with Terri putting on a show with unbelievable energy and charisma, who looks like she was cyrogenically frozen in 1988 and released yesterday. Go to the show if you don't believe me. The DVD is going to be "Storytellers" style, and doing some of the songs acoustic (it actually works) with the original members.

Berlin are one of the great bands that came out of the New Wave era of the late 70's/early 80's. This DVD proves that with songs such as Masquerade and The Metro - the music performed along with Terri Nunn's vocals just makes you want to get up and DANCE!
The only downfall with the performance are the 'dancers' on stage which, to me, spoils the show and the audience....
the audience are just pathetic! There's no energy or emotion and to be honest, I can't understand what the hell they bothered to show up for. I think I could have made up for them on my own!

Overall however, the music is so enjoyable I recommend it!

The set is a very nice balance of old and new, as well as a few covers.

* Masquerade
* The Metro
* Drug
* No More Words
* Shiny
* Pleasure Victim
* Lost My Mind
* Stranger on the Bus
* The Dope Show (a Marilyn Manson cover)
* Blink of an Eye
* Take My Breath Away
* Sex (I'm a)
* With a Touch
* Never Let Me Down Again (a Depeche Mode song)

Nobody loves to sing more than Terri, and it comes across in this DVD. Both her and the band put forth a spirited show, playing both old and new material. The video is flawless, but the backing vocals are buried in the mix for some reason. A great video for both longtime fans as well as newcomers to the band. Highly recomended.

Last night I sat down to see Berlin. A bang from the 80s. I still have the old VHS Berlin videos tape!

I first noticed that the entire setup looked like it was in a garage or as someone else put it, a basement. The crowd was NOT a representation of Berlins fan base. I don't see the 18-22 year old crowd, all in excellent shape, except the front row, being Berlins fan base. It looked very staged. The audience was so well behaved that you had to keep taking notice.

Now the music... First off, when she did "The Dope Show" I almost fell off my chair. It was fingernails on the chalkboard. Her other songs were "satisfactory" at best.

To sum it up this video was very staged to the point where it is cold. She could have done a much better job in performing. Considering that she has been doing this since Jimmy Carter was in office. If you are thinking about buying this video then you should be a dedicated Berlin fan who would watch anything that they put out regardless of content. If you are not the above then be forewarned.