Product Details

• Actors: Elvis Costello, Elton John, Smokey Robinson, Diana Krall, Jakob Dylan
• Directors: David Russell
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Extra tracks
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Video Service Corp
• DVD Release Date: November 17, 2009
• Run Time: 650 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002JI94VM
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,229 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

SPECTACLE:SEASON 1 - Blu-Ray Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masters on Music, November 24, 2009

By 

Geoffrey D. Levy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elvis Costello: Spectacle - Season One (DVD)

This series as broadcast on Sundance Channel is an outstanding Master class on music itself. The broad range of the discussions, histories and looks at the real personalities of the artists being interviewed are truly amazing and highly entertaining as well as informative. We've watched every episode and throughly enjoyed them. What "In the Actor's Studio" does for that craft, this series does for music. Along with the promise of additional footage that was cut to make the show fit into the broadcast timeframe, we are looking forward to receiving this into our collection.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must have for the pop music fan without a blu-ray player, December 1, 2009

By 

Maven (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Elvis Costello: Spectacle - Season One (DVD)

Ordered both the DVD and blu-ray versions of this after downloading a couple episodes from i-tunes. If you are interested in popular music, songwriting, and musicians--this is a good choice. If you just want videotaped performances, look elsewhere. Elvis Costello, who I never really listened to in his prime, is very knowledgeable and a pretty good interviewer. Episodes usually start out with Elvis and some musicians doing one of the artists songs. There may be a song or two mixed in with the interview and it usually wraps with Elvis doing a song or two with the guest (though not always one of the guests songs). Some of the performances end up being rather interesting--Elvis and The Police doing Purple Haze. The blu-ray was supposed to arrive first and the DVD was to be a gift, but the DVD came first so it became a gently-used gift. Both versions have 5.1 sound, but the DTS version on the blu-ray sounds slightly better--more depth in the mid-ranges. I do wish that they had included more bonus features in the package. There are, for example, a number of behind the scenes clips online that are not on the DVDs. Also, someone should have removed the zoom button from the cameras used for some of the bonus interviews as the camera person got carried away. It did take me more than a few minutes to figure out how to remove the discs from the packaging.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One star deduction for the lack of some key extras, January 29, 2010

By 

M. Perry - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Elvis Costello: Spectacle - Season One [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)

I love this series. I love the simplicity of the concept. One of my musical heroes interviewing many other music giants with the sole purpose of providing the audience a deeper insight than one would normally get from spot interviewers.

I won't go into the details of the show, that has been reviewed before. I just wanted to clarify something regarding the extras. When I read there were bonus interviews included, I was extremely excited. Last year when Elvis discussed the making of the show and some of the unfortunate edits that went into the process of cutting a show down to an hour long, he specifically referenced having to snip FOUR OR FIVE MINUTES from Smokey Robinson's response to the writing process for "Just My Soul Responding". I thought for sure this release would take advantage of not having this time restraint and add that footage (as well as for other artists) back in. And when I read there were bonus interviews, I figured that was what was going on.

But the additional interviews are actually just that. Additional interviews that weren't conducted by Elvis as part of the show. Not that there's anything wrong with including these either, they are a welcome addition. But if the time restraints have been lifted, why not put additional material back into the extras as well? Isn't that supposed to be one of the biggest perks for nerds like me who want to hear it all?

That being said, this is a wonderful series. I believe Elvis stated that Season 2 would be his last, and that's really unfortunate. There are so many other great artists I would love to see interviewed in this format.

There are also four complete bonus songs as well, including the full version of Elton's Ballad of a Well Known Gun with James burton playing lead. The stuff of dreams.....

Alas, we must be happy with what we have here.