Customer Reviews

Saturday Night Live - 25 Years of Music

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Contents:

Volume 1
Billy Joel Only The Good Die Young 1978, Ray Charles What'd I Say 1975, Carly Simon You're So Vain 1976, Grateful Dead Casey Jones 1978, Simon & Garfunkel The Boxer 1975, Joe Cocker Feelin Alright 1975, Elvis Costello Less Than Zero / Radio Radio 1977, Blues Brothers Soul Man 1978, Patti Smith Gloria 1976, Mick Jagger & Peter Tosh Don't Look Back 1978, The Band The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 1976

Plus Sketches starring John Belushi, Steve Martin, Jane Curtin, Laine Newman, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Paul Simon, Bill Murray, Andy Kaufman, Lorne Michaels, Dan Aykroyd and Mick Jagger

Volume 2
Tina Turner Better Be Good to Me 1985, James Brown I Got You 1980, Queen Crazy Little Thing Called Love 1982, Randy Newman I Love L.A. 1983, The Go Go's We Got the Beat 1981, Rick James Super Freak 1981, Talking Heads Take Me To The River 1979, Spinal Tap Big Bottom 1984, John Mellencamp Pink Houses 1983, Duran Duran Hungry Like The Wolf 1983

Plus Sketches starring Martin Short, Eddie Murphy, Billy Crystal, Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder, Joe Piscopo and Rich Hall

Volume 3
The Bangles Hazy Shade of Winter 1988, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Free Falin' 1989, Paul Simon Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes 1986, Neil Young Rockin' in the Free World 1989, Roy Orbison O Pretty Woman 1987, Pretenders Don't Get Me Wrong 1986, Fine Young Cannibals She Drives Me Crazy 1989, Sting We'll Be Together 1987, Elvis Costello Veronica 1989

Plus Sketches starring Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Aerosmith, Chris Farley, Patrick Swayze, Jon Lovitz, Harry Hall, Mick Jagger, Phil Hartman, Michael Myers, Chris Rock, Sting, Valerie Bertinelli & Eddie Van Halen

Volume 4
R.E.M. Losing My Religion 1991, Sinead O'Connor War 1992, Madonna Fever 1993, Aretha Franklin Chain of Fools 1994, Eric Clapton Wonderful Tonight 1990, Nirvana Rape Me 1993, Paul McCartney Hey Jude 1993, En Vogue Free Your Mind 1992, Counting Crows Round Here 1994, Bruce Springsteen Living Proof 1992, Live I Alone 1995 Blind Melon No Rain 1994

Plus Sketches starring Mike Myers, Mick Jagger, Dana Carvey, Madonna, Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, James Taylor, Rosie O'Donnell, Kevin Knealon, David Spade, Paul McCartney, Michael Bolton

Volume 5
Mariah Carey Butterfly 1997, No Doubt Don't Speak 1996, Alanis Morissette Hand In My Pocket 1995, Spice Girls Wannabe 1997, Garbage Special 1999, Jewel Who Will Save Your Soul 1997, Hanson Mmm Bop 1997, Beck Where It's At 1997, Snoop Doggy Dog Snoop's Upside Upside Your Head 1997, Metallica Fuel 1997, Garth Brooks Two Piña Coladas 1998, Dave Matthews Band What Would You Say 1995, Backstreet Boys All I Have To Give 1999, Ricky Martin Livin' La Vida Loca 1999, Paula Cole I Don't Want To Wait 1998

Plus Sketches starring Matthew Broderick, Will Ferrell, Paula Abdul, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Spacey, Beck, Michael Palin, Garth Brooks, Joshua Jackson

there are a few great moments it would have been nice to see again that were not included, but it looks like a pretty nice set.

I received this dvd set as a gift and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The music is wonderful, the picture quality, the sound, really everything is great. It is a 5-dvd set, each dvd depicting a five year time span. And how could they market this as an SNL product without any comedy? After every two or three musical performances, the SNL people picked out a sketch that is musically oriented and of around the same time period as when the music was played. The dvd also has some of the cast announce which performance is coming up next or what they thought about the sketch that had just been on. Truly a great compilation, showcasing the best of SNL music of the past 25 years. A must have for the truest of fans.

This set is drawn from the same series that aired on Vh1 a few years ago, but with one big difference- the songs are complete, and the sketches are too! Some of my favorites are here, including Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio", Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World" among others. My only complaint is that this set makes me want more!
Some of my favorites not on this set, that would make a great followup volume include:
George Harrison and Paul Simon from 1976 "Homeward Bound" and "Here comes the Sun"
Eric Idle's parody of "Here comes the sun"
The original Rutles clips
Tom Petty "I need to know"
The Specials "Gangster"
Rolling Stones from 1978 "Shattered" and the rest
Guido Sarducci's interview w/Paul and Linda McCartney
Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow "It's in his kiss" (with Gilda and Laraine on backing vocals I think)
Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor "Cathy's Clown"
The sketch with Matthew Broderick about Albert Goldman getting kicked out of the Beatles.
Blondie "Dreaming"
Squeeze "Pulling Mussels from a shell"
Frank Zappa "I'm the Slime"
Bob Dylan "When You gonna wake up"
The Clash "Should I stay or should I go?"
and many more....
are you listening Lorne?

One thing's for sure about getting 50 songs performed by nearly as many artists: you're going to love many of them; but you're going to dislike many of them as well.

Just take volume 5 as an example. You pop the disc into your player and plan to listen to 80 minutes of music. But what a strange mix! Did you REALLY plan (or want) to hear kid group HANSON, followed by the Rap of SNOOP DOGGY DOG, followed by the heavy metal sound of METALLICA, on to the country twang of GARTH BROOKS, then back to the mellow sound of the BACK STREET BOYS, and adding the Latin sound of one hit wonder RICKY MARTIN Livin' La Vida Loca as well? Sure, you probably enjoy at least a few of these artists, but the rest? Well, you'd better accept the fact that unless you've got your remote in hand, you're going to have to sit through them all.

If you're looking to listen to one or two songs, it's "thumbs up" for this set. But if you plan to just pop the disc in and let it play, if you enjoy ALL of these artists, and can honestly say that you're a very diverse music lover. More power to ya. This is your kind of set!

So what about the comedy sketches added to the discs? Just like the music, you'll enjoy many of them, but not all of them, depending on your tastes in comedy. Were you an SNL fan during it's young years? Then you'll more than likely enjoy the first couple of discs, but dread the later ones. Vice-versa if you just became an SNL fan in the last years on these discs. One skit that I was VERY glad to see included here in it's entirety was Steve Martin's rendition of his hit "KING TUT". A classic.

All-in-all a lot for your money, but have that remote at the ready so you can skip to the next part you enjoy.

This box set boasts over fifty performances, ON FIVE DVDS... You do the math. This had the potential to be really something special. Five dvds worth of music should be at least fifteen hours of fun. Instead you get one dvd worth of music spread over five for over fifty bucks.
Buy something else...

From Lions Gate Home Entertainment and NBC Studios comes this five disc box set spanning 25 years of musical performances and comedy sketches that will make your mouth water. Each disc represents a period of five years: 75-80, 80-85, 85-90, 90-95, and 95-2000. The video looks great! It's obvious that someone has done a superb job of keeping these tapes in pristine condition, especially the material from the 70's. As for the sound, the re-mastered 5.1 is awful. You are going to prefer the stereo mix over the 5.1. It's not even comparable, and I wonder why they even bothered with digital surround.

Let me comment briefly on the content. The performances include artists such as Billy Joel, Grateful Dead, The Band, Elvis Costello (when he stops in the middle of Less Than Zero and launches into Radio Radio), Sinead O'Connor, R.E.M, Nirvana, Roy Orbison, Duran Duran, Queen, Metallica, Garth Brooks, Jewel, Garbage, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Beck, Live, and Simon and Garfunkel. I remember seeing most of these bands live on Saturday night, and although you can still catch many of them in re-runs, there is something convenient about popping in the DVD whenever you want to hear something specific. Also, there are interviews with Lorne Michaels, G.E. Smith, etc., that give context to certain artists and performances. And there are also plenty of comedy sketches (some of which are included on other Best Of compilations) from each time period. The sketches are all music-related, ranging from Bill Murray and his night club act to Adam Sandler and the song about his Red Hooded Sweatshirt. The Blues Brothers are here, Andy Kaufman does Elvis, and Aerosmith joins Wayne and Garth on Wayne's World.

If you are a huge SNL fan, you will want this one for your collection. If you are a huge music fan, there are some really good performances here. The audio is a bit muddy on a few of the source tapes, but all in all, it sounds really clean.

By the way, if you buy DVD's for the extra content, you may wanna skip this. There is no extra content unless you count U2's Elevation on disc five.

The quality of this 5 dvd set is very good and there are some excellent performances as one would expect when buying this type of compilation. However there are some very noteable omissions that deserve to be here, considering that rare footage such as Sinead O'Connor ripping up the Popes's picture did make the grade.
Some noteables missing;
George Harrison / Paul Simon singing Here Comes The Sun, Homeward Bound
The Clash: Should I Stay Or Should I Go
The Stones: Beast of Burden, Shattered
Blondie: Dreaming
Tom Petty: I Need To Know.

James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Devo, the list of omissions is very long and although I know that you can't satisfy everyone, I am willing to bet that a superior followup to this DVD could be made from only the omissions. Had the producers lightened up on the sketches and devoted that space to additional music, this set would have been worth the money.
Let's hope that somewhere down the line, they realize how much stuff is still in the vault and they decide to make a true compilation.

Classic Performances:
Billy Joel -Only the Good Die Young
Ray CHarles -What I say
Joe Cocker vs John Belushi (Belushi Wins!)
Elvis Costello changing the song in Radio Radio
Blue Brothers Soul Man
Etc.
There are a lot.
Even Sinead Oconnor singing War then rips up the picture is included

So what's missing:
Clash
Prince Party Up
Devo - Jocko Homo
James Taylor -Shower the People

ALso, U2's performance is an extra on the 5th disc, in case you cannot find it.
Where is Pearl Jam, BTW?
And George Harrison and Paul Simon singing together?

While I agree that the omission of The Specials, Pearl Jam and the B-52s, et. al. is almost unforgivable, it would have been impossible to include everyone. For the price, this is an excellent compilation. The sound is not so bad--it's pretty good, actually--considering how old some of this is. I think the best quality possible was delivered. I, too, would love to see a mult-disc complete edition of SNL music. But, until then, this will do fine.

There's no way that I couldn't have NOT purchased this set for my collection (does that make any sense? read it again) but there were some really glaring omissions that were a little irritating and made me think, "Are they doing this for the sole reason that they want to sell me another installment?" Answer: probably yes.
For example, we have the skit of Lorne Michaels offering three thousand dollars to the Beatles, and we have the scene of him explaining to George Harrison, on a subsequent guest spot, that the offer was for "all four" of them-- but no song performance by George. Why omit a four minute--maximum--performance by one of the best known musicians of the twentieth century after you have already taken the trouble to introduce him into the mix?
Also, we have the commercial parody with Stevie Wonder selling cameras, but no song performance.
I think that they would have done a lot better to do the following: put more care into selecting a comprehensive set of appearances from each era, and then sell each era as a separate set. I would gladly have paid this amount four times for a really good set of four five-year time spans, and then been able to avoid the crappy comedy and mediocre pop music from the last five years covered in this set.