Product Details

• Region: All Regions
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AAO0RY
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,889 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Music Video & Concerts > Artists > John, Elton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, December 4, 2006

By	Triumph Girl "Triumph Girl" (Grand Rapids MI) - See all my reviews

I saw this concert at least 20 years ago. Not sure if it was on TV or if one of my friends had a VHS copy. A few songs are Elton alone with the Steinway then Ray Cooper the "mad" percussionist joins the stage. He reminds me of Tristan Farnon's mad conductor from "All Creatures Great and Small" but makes Tristan's excellent version seem almost tame. Ray is like some kind of demented English boys school headmaster. This was Russia when it was still the Soviet Union. The people were so polite to Elton and Ray - they could walk the streets without being mobbed. The film also includes beautiful footage of the Russian countryside, the Winter and Summer palaces. Some of the songs are so beautiful they brought tears to my eyes but when Elton and Ray pull out the stops, they ROCK THE HOUSE!! I bought this for my brother's Christmas present but now I'll need to get a copy for myself. It's too good to borrow back and forth like we usually do. This one goes in the permanent collection of concert DVD's.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy It Today!, December 27, 2006

By	Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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The other review on this page says that this is a great performance. I agree. Elton shines, but his percussionist, Ray Cooper, is the real star of this series of performances.

Since that's been said, I'll focus on technical issues.

Although I've had a tape of this tour for many years, until now I've been unable to locate a DVD version.

The DVD that I ordered was produced in Portugese, the official language of Brazil. Other than a cover in Portugese, the DVD appeared to be as good as any in terms of production quality. In fact, once you get it running, the picture quality is excellent (I ran it on an HDTV monitor).

Unfortunately, there are some technical problems, although these do do appear to be insurmountable. When I first loaded it, the Menu command on my remote would not allow me to move among options on the Menu screen. Fortunately, it defaults to the main feature and I got it running using the Forward button.

Before the final set, I paused it in order to eat dinner. About ten minutes later, there was the loud sound of static coming from the set, and the screen was filled with visual static. I was unable to get it to reset using the remote, and had to load another disk (Muriel's Wedding -- Urrrppp!), and then reload Elton after that. This time it worked fine, and I was able to access all of the features. The biographical material, unfortunately, is written in Portugese.

So would I buy it again? Yes, even with the limitations, but I would prefer to own the American version if it ever comes out.

4.0 out of 5 stars Back to Basics, July 9, 2007

By	S J Buck (Kent, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Elton John was past his career high when this was filmed in 1979. Punk and New Wave were 'in' and Elton was seen as a dinosaur. Having announced his retirement from the stage 2 years earlier this was Eltons attempt to get back to basics.

The first half of the show is just Elton and Pianos. For anybody who is a fan this is reason enough to buy the DVD.
Its also worth saying that apart from a few chorus/tremelo effects the Piano sound is not cluttered with strings like on some modern recordings. His modern Piano generates a string sound based on what he's playing - which I don't like!

The second half of the show starts with Elton playing Funeral for a Friend and the entry of Ray Cooper. This is done in suitably dramatic style and Ray takes the show to a different level. Ray Cooper is a very talented all round musician and not only plays percussion (which he is famous for) but also adds more keyboards, vibraphone, marimba etc. He also has a great stage presence and on the evidence of this film almost steals the show from Elton John. With just the two of them some songs are transformed and I particularly liked the version of 'I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself' with Ray Cooper playing Marimba behind his back!

The documentary side of the film is pretty good and Elton John and Ray Cooper get to see many spectecular sites in Russia, and prove themselves to be a bit more intelligent than your average pop stars (we see them discussing which Grand Piano they would like at one point).
Fans will enjoy this, and I suspect that it would make a good introduction to those people who aren't diehards as well.