Customer Reviews

MIND BODY & SOUL SESSIONS: LIVE F

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This DVD should be used in video production classes...as an example of how NOT to mix video!

Every trick in the book is thrown at a pace nobody could possibly like or enjoy. It is a dizzying ridiculous production. Unfortunately it completely spoils any hope of enjoying this DVD. What is the point of all the blurry shots, ridiculous close-ups and sweeps? It is amateurish as it can possibly get. What a shame. This is not a matter of taste, this is just plain BAD. Again, of the 60+ music concert DVDs I own, this disc by far has the worst video production.

I mean the crime is huge. Joss is having a great set. Her band is cooking. The bass player and drummer are great...setting a sweet pocket groove for the rest of the players to glide on. The background singers sound good (although the video shows clearer shots and more footage of them than Joss! Huh?). The crowd is diggin it. Joss is giggling like a schoolgirl at how much fun she is having. The vocals are soulful and inspired.

But the &%*%#@ video producer killed the disc. I can't even watch it after the first few songs; I had to turn my TV off. Again, what a crying shame. They robbed everyone of what could have been a great keeper 5-star disc.

I guess we will all have to wait for Joss' Austin City Limits set to come out on DVD. They just started producing some of their sessions. The Susan Tedeschi one is excellent.

Unless you are a big-time fan/collector of Joss Stone, this DVD needs a warning sticker. No, I don't mean the parental guidance kind (up to this point Joss's music is suitable for all ages, content-wise). Rather, as other reviewers have mentioned, some aspects of the production make this DVD a chore to sit through without becoming brain-fried.

Much like the recent Sarah McLachlan AFTERGLOW live video (to name one of many), the camera angles change every second or two, making it impossible for the viewer to relax and appreciate the music. I mean, there's Joss close-up, now a cymbal, now Joss side-view, now a closeup of a guitar, now an out-of-focus sideways pan, now Joss from the waist-up, now the camera panning in on the stage ... all that in less than 15 seconds. Try sitting through that for an hour. My head is spinning just reading what I wrote, let alone watching the DVD! The Talking Heads' classic concert film STOP MAKING SENSE should be the standard for how to shoot a live gig, not the hyper-multi-shot approach used in many music videoclips.

Joss focuses on tunes from her two albums, staying pretty faithful to the studio renditions but sung with the high level of inspiration that you would expect from her. The 5.1 audio mix isn't bad, although I've heard better concert films (you don't really get the sensation of being in the venue, except when the crowd is applauding). Among the extra features are a number of videoclips (including "You Had Me"), a mini-documentary, and one bonus concert track. The clips are not in surround sound, just in case anyone was wondering. The bottom line is that the music is very good, the DVD production in need of a major remix.

With her two first albums Joss has found big success in Europe and modest in the U.S with her exquisite voice and music. A mixture of pop with r&b, soul with a funky touch (several talented singers are more successful in Europe than in the U.S. Some names are Anastacia, Seal or even Tina Turner. I think that this happends because there's a huge influence of hip-hop in the U.S, with this I'm not saying that I don't like hip-hop). Anyway, on this DVD you will find songs from both her albums SOUL SESSIONS and MIND, BODY & SOUL. The show starts with Joss's first single SUPER DUPER LOVE, a great song followed by JET LAG rolling until you get to YOU HAD ME, a great song that was nominated for a Grammy this year. Other hightlight tracks are RIGHT TO BE WRONG, FELL IN LOVE WITH A BOY, SPOILED, THE CHOKING KIND or DON'T CHA WANNA RIDE?. Her live performance is great, her voice is very strong as it sounds on her cd's and she also has charisma.
The special features on this DVD are also very good. You can find the videos of FELL IN LOVE WITH A BOY, SUPER DUPER LOVE and YOU HAD ME plus never-before-seen mini-documentary filmed while travelling through Europe and the U.S. and some out-takes.
If you like Joss, this is definitely a must have.

I have never reviewed a product before but this time I have to. Joss Stone is a great singer and artist but this DVD is absolutely unviewable. The camera never stays on anything for more than 3 seconds and it is almost never on the artist the camera shakes and it is truly impossible to view. Do yourself a favor and buy the CD because the music is great but the DVD is useless.

Joss Stone has one of the most mature voices on a young person I have heard in ages! Totally an old school feel, like back in the 60's when people could actually SING. Her sultry, deep voice brings to mind a mix of --- a young Teena Marie, Mavis Staples, Janis Joplin --- and you just know she's got some skat in her like Ella Fitzgerald.

It's cool that she got to write songs with Betty Wright, Lamont Dozier and other greats. How this girl from the UK got so much soul....well, she just belongs. I love her composure on stage when she puts her full passion into a performance. And then you get to hear her giggle inbetween nearly every song. Her slow delivery on "The Chokin' Kind" was beautifully haunting. I can't wait for future projects from Joss because she can only get better. AWESOME VOICE!!

I give Joss 5 stars but I gave this DVD only 4, because as a lot of the other viewers mentioned --- the camera production totally sucked! It's like they had 60 cameras and wanted to get shots in from all of them, so the angle kept changing every few seconds. I bought the DVD to SEE JOSS. A music DVD should make you feel like you were at the concert, with "some" added effects. But they seemed to want every shot to be a special effect. Totally, totally annoying. I chose this DVD over her other ones because this included songs from 2 albums.

I did catch Joss Stone's performance on Austin City Limits. Even though it was only 30 minutes or an hour (Michael Mc Donald had the other half), it was easy to watch and an incredible performance. I hope they will release it soon. That performance was what made me look her up on a DVD.

I've been following Joss's career for a while now and she is definatly one of the best new R&B/Soul artists out right now! I got the chance to see her live in Toronto at the Opera House in April of 2004! This place holds only a few hundred people and I was just a few feet away and was mesmerized by Joss' amazing talent. If you own the CD then you owe it to yourself to check out the dvd and please go see Joss live, you won't be disappointed! P.S. I just got an email from S-Curve Records announcing that Joss has been nominated for 3 grammy awards this year! Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album (Mind, Body & Soul), and Best Pop Vocal Performance (You Had Me).

A great performance, Joss is talented beyond her years. She has a real presence. Unfortunately with the video editing you get ZERO of that and it really distracts from the music, BIG TIME. EVERYONE I have played this for (without any prompting from me) from my 20 year old daughter, to a 60 year old friend, have similiar reactions, usually before the first song is finished. The sound quality is very good and the performance as I have already stated is really great. I set it up with the TV on so I can use the menu and then I turn off the TV and treat it like a CD. The performance and sound are so good I rate it three stars but it's a CD to me.

This DVD includes some great performances by Joss in concert in New York, and she sounds amazing. But I always like live performances better because there is just something very raw and amazing about them, and Joss's are just that. And she's so cute. Before almost each song she goes "I hope you like it". I really loved the performances of "Don't Know How", "Don't Cha Wanna Ride?" and "Jet Lag". The music videos for "Fell in Love with a Boy", "Super Duper Love" and "You Had Me" are included on the DVD, which is nice since I hadn't seen the videos before and I never seem to catch them on TV.

A mix of songs from her first and second album, Joss Stone performs in front of a live audience in New York. And she brings the house down! Hitting every note, she gives you goosebumps listening to her. Whether you know her songs or not, you can't help wishing you would have been there. It is amazing to see the talent this girl has! she performs barefeet withjust a microphone. No dancers or any spectacular stage designs. It is all kept simple. And then you hear her voice... The only "bad" thing I noticed was that with a couple of songs, her backup singers were out of tune.Her accoustic version of "dirty man" and "Right to be wrong" were amongst my favorites...
I would recommend this concert DVD, as it is one of my favorites of 2004!

Love this DVD! This girl really sings with all her body and soul.If you like Joss Stone at all you'll love this concert!