Customer Reviews

Jimmy Buffett - Tales From Margaritavision [VHS]

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This video is a must for any parrothead. Jimmy narrates the entire video between clips. The video has clips all the way from '73 until the Beach House on the Moon Tour last year. There are clips from his early days in key west, to the cheezy video days of the 80's, to some great live concert shots in the late 90's.I loved the live footage from 'Changes In Attitudes' and the 'In The City' footage as well! Thanks Jimmy....keep the material coming....

This great collection of concert performances and glimses inside the parrothead culture is enough to trigger many memories and possibly a hangover for jimmy buffet & corral reefer lovers. well edited to keep the pace and a great soundtrack to go with it all. highly recommended for any buffet fan.

I was fortuneate to see a preview of this video and I was extremely pleased. Highly recommended for any Parrot Head and a definate must view during and after the concert season. My only regret is that it is not being released on DVD, but I can certainly overlook this.

In this video, which Jimmy Buffett narrates, the viewer can see some nostalgic scenes of Jimmy and Key West from the early 1970s. In some of these videos from the early days, Jane Buffett, then girlfriend and now wife of Jimmy, can be seen. It is a wonderful look into the early Key West life of Jimmy Buffett, before he knew what cash flow meant. Also, some of the 1980s videos on this tape show a very young Savannah Jane, eldest daughter of Jimmy and Jane Buffett. Finally, the 1990s videos are presented. In one, Savannah Jane, now a teenager and singing background vocals for her father, can be seen. The end of the tape shows footage from the Beach House On the Moon tour. "The City" shows Jimmy riding his bicycle through cities on the tour and interacting with fans. It is a great video. Another favorite of mine is "Take Another Road", which is a great song and video. I can remember watching Jimmy sing this one years ago on Johnny Carson's show. The video for this song is interesting as well. If you are a student of Buffett, this video would be a great learning tool for you. I highly recommend it!

Parrotheads have made Key West's one-hit wonder a multi-millionaire by installing him as one of the country's annual top 10 concert draws.

The best videos on Buffett's just-released compilation tape, "Tales from MargaritaVision," show why.

For instance, the video for "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes," one of Buffett's signature songs, is simply a fun montage of audience footage. Fans "do Buffett" costumed in everything from Hawaiian shirts and hula skirts to parrot plumage and foam rubber shark suits. The parking lot turns into a gigantic tailgate party. The faithful even set up their own wading and diving pools, complete with faux palm trees.

Several other live videos on "MargaritaVision" similarly capture the boundless energy and exuberance of Buffett, his band, and especially his fans.

And while it was made on a studio set, the seven-minute "Fruitcakes" basically serves to let Buffett pay homage to his fans - the Prime Parrothead is obviously having a ball leading his flock in a mini-Mardi Gras parade.

The tape's first four videos are excerpts from a promotional film, "Introducing Jimmy Buffett," made in 1973. Three feature a shaggy, thickly sideburned Buffett with guitar on a sound stage, interspersed with shots illustrating the songs in a mostly literal manner.

Then comes the compilation's one true gem. Any fan of the pre-disco '70s should pay the price of the tape just to see "Nautical Wheelers." Buffett performs the song "unplugged" before a small coffeehouse crowd. It's either sweetly or comically nostalgic, depending on your point of view, when a gangly, frizzy-bearded, rhythmically-challenged hippy gets up and does a rather lurching boogie around the unfazed, ever-grinning Buffett.

One wonders, viewing the compilation, what this counterculture "crowd" of 20 or so would make of Buffett's modern-day Margaritaville corporation. Even their Tarot cards probably couldn't have foreseen Buffett the CEO, balding bard of 20,000-seat arenas, owner of restaurant and retail chains, baseball teams and mansions.

As for the remaining videos ... well, Buffett-the-business-tycoon's accountants no doubt did the math. Parrotheads will pay up, making "MargaritaVision" worth releasing, and they're bound to forgive Buffett's non-live '80s videos.

I mean, we're talking the '80s in full effect here:

We're talking Jimmy jumping around in "Miami Vice" fashions and too much rouge.

We're talking cutting-edge computer graphics created on a Commodore 64.

We're talking thin ties, bouncy synthesizers and cauldrons of dry ice on day-glo sets made of cardboard.

We're talking Jimmy driving big Caddy convertibles, a female-as-sexual-object silently smiling at his side.

We're talking a jarring reminder for those of us who can remember MTV's youth - be glad Buffett wasn't into big hair, jets of flame and heavy metal skulls. As for lasers, they probably weren't in his budget.

To be fair, a couple of the '80s videos really aren't too bad; they just look severely dated.

One of them, "Take Another Road," uses the simple, poignant atmosphere of an abandoned drive-in to tell the story of a homeless man dreaming back on happier times. This one wouldn't look that out of place today and deserved wider airplay.

Those looking for a greatest hits summary of Buffett's career won't find it in "MargaritaVision." It appears that, for the most part, Buffett made videos of the completely wrong songs. Non-parrotheads would probably boo him off the stage if the video lineup were a concert setlist.

The larger value of "MargaritaVision" is historical - it shows how music videos developed from documentaries into concept art into thinly disguised commercials.

Parrotheads will appreciate that Buffett provides tongue-in-cheek introductions to each video. In fact, Buffett's introductions are what rescue his '80s era videos from total disaster.

After all, you can't be too tough on a guy who grins infectiously as he explains how cheesy his own videos are.

I am not one to watch many videos that come out, I don't even go to the movie theater that often. But when a Jimmy Buffett CD or in this case video comes out, I'll do anything to get my hands on it! If I had to give a review on a 0-10 basis this would be an 11. This video does what A Pirate Looks At 50 did, put Buffett's life into is own words which is the only way anything about Buffett can be done. Because you can't expect someone else to write the story of a singer-songwriter-author except for that person themself, and Jimmy has always done that with the passion and drive that anyone needs to write a biography of themselves. And Buffett showed that he is the best at all three of those in his many CD's, songs, and books that he has written. This video made me laugh, think a lot about how my life is now, I mean I am a teenager so I never lived through the 70's and I really don't remember much of the 80's. But it puts it into a young Parrothead's mind how life was during his generation, and makes us all realize one thing: "We are all "FRUITCAKES" on this bus." Rock on Jimmy and let's hope you give us another look at your life in terms of a video or another novel!!

While I wouldn't recommend that someone who has never heard of Jimmy Buffett start with this tape, you could actually do worse.

This man enjoys what he does, and the fun he's having is contageous. His songs show it, his books show it and this video shows it.

Some of the bits are dated, others are cheesy. So what? It's light, pleasant entertainment that you will enjoy seeing more than once.

For those of you that are parrotheads, well, you already own a copy of this tape. Don't be afraid to buy a copy of it as a present for a friend that only has a couple of Jimmy's albums in their collection. They'll like it too.

Anyone that really dislikes Jimmy Buffett's music probably won't like the video either, but then again, they probably won't get far enough into the reviews to read this anyway.

A great video, just what us parrotheads need to get all pumped up for his summer tour. But why no DVD? I can only imgine the clarity on 5.1

First of all, let me preface my review stating I am a huge Buffett fan. Second, let me say that I don't like everything he does. And, that includes some of the videos in this compilation. But, let me start with the good. There are 4 videos from 1973 that feature some of his best music, and give us a glimpse of Buffett in his Key West days. Absolutely fascinating! And, there are about 4 videos that offer us primarily Buffett in concert, with crowd shots. Very good. But, unfortunately, there are 6 videos that are pure cheese. Although I like a couple of the songs, most of them are also some his his weakest songs. Whether Buffett is flying around in a top hat in "La Vie Dansante", or dancing with slices of fruitcake in "Fruitcakes", these videos are very painful to watch. I would recommend the video for it's good points. Plus, it's a good companion to Buffett's "Live by the Bay" video. But be prepared to wince a little during the middle section.

I enjoyed the video very much and watch it over and over again. We see the early days of Jimmy with bad hair and bad teeth (my wife's focus - being in the Dental Profession) to today and less hair and great smiles. Smiles is what this video brings out in me! I only wish this video was on DVD so I won't wear it out. Ok, I'll still wear it out just like I do with the music CDs. When I get 'Cabin Fever' I'll put in the tape and look again at the streets of Key West and forget about shooting the freezer! PHins Up! Get this video! Please Jimmy, get this to DVD!