Customer Reviews

Supertramp - The Story So Far

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This could have been done so much better. Let's start with the best bits first; the band is in fine form throughout and a healthy dose of great songs. The interview segments are, not surprisingly, rather old but still give pretty good insight into how the band started.

The picture quality and transfer are so-so. It could simply be the master tape or the transfer itself. It's difficult to tell. Considering the length of most Supertramp concerts, this one is rather short. Given the dual layer DVD capacity to hold information, this could easily have been stretched out to include material not on the original DVD release. The videos, fine though they are, aren't essential but are fun to view.

The sound quality is mixed. While the band sound great throughout most of the disc, the audience is mixed way too loud. This could have easily been remedied during the remastering phase for the DVD. Most of the hits and popular songs are included but, again, there was plenty of room for inclusion of lesser known Supertramp tracks included on the Paris live album. It's rather surprising that so little is included from Famous Last Words (although admittedly that's the weakest of their later albums).

There's other areas that could have used improvement as well. There is concert footage from a variety of venues over the years (1977 and 1975) but they're incomplete. Since the footage exists, why not include all of it? It would make for an interesting look at the band over the years. Or, for that matter, why not include some of their television appearences (well that would involve more $ and they'd have to clear the rights).

The Story portion plays like a poor man's Behind The Music. There are a number of mistakes throughout (including the "fact" that the same line up recorded the first two albums. In fact, only Roger and Rick remained and they recruited three new musicians who also left shortly). There really isn't much insight generated into what made the band click in version three. Also, there could have been more said about how Rick and Roger's songwriting partnership worked. Like the great sounding remasters, it appears that A&M/Universal did little to enhance the original video packaging. Basically, they just took a couple of video titles, stitched them together and created this companion piece to the remastered CDs/Best of collection.

I didn't expect a warts and all video but I also expected a bit more quality from A&M given the wealth of material to work from. All the members (from the original first line up to the third most successful) could easily have been contacted for a better, overall view of what occurred. It's not a bad video but it doesn't live up to its title, either.

Well, I read all the reviews. I've been a Supertramp fan since I was in Penn State in the mid to late '70s. The very first song I heard from the group was "School", and the first group LP I bought was "Breakfast in America". I now own all their cds except "Slow Motion". I love the group, dearly. But I never saw them "Live in concert, or on video". Anyways, I decided, based on the reviews, to give this dvd a fair try. All I can say is "phenominal!" I watched the dvd 3 nights in a row now, and can't wait to have friends over, so I can have them watch it also. This dvd made me wish that I could have seen them in concert. I cant believe that this is Supertramp!! The dvd started off with a documentary, and honestly, I thought that this was all that was going to be on it. But from the second track on, you are on stage with the group, and in the crowds experiencing what they experienced. Perhaps one of the greatest groups of all times, at least that is what you feel after you view this dvd. Absolutely nothing wrong with the photography or sound. I have a 5.1 surround sound stereo system, and I felt like I was there. I very highly recomend this dvd!! Especially if you like Supertramp.

I am a big fan of Supertramp. Roger Hodgson's voice and words basically got me through High School (circa 1982). I am also a big believer in the fact that these shows had credible amounts of audience clapping and screaming and loving. That goes without saying.

Why, then, did the person who put the audio together for this feel the need to turn the audience up to volumes that pretty much drown out the band? Or in nicer cases are the same level as the band, and make it harder to hear much less enjoy the music???

And also, why even ... with the arena shows and such presented here ... did they feel the need to pump in extra audience ambiance? It's quite obvious there is pumped in (sampled or whatever) audience sounds. I can hear the whistling loop from a mile away ... THROUGH THE ENTIRE DVD (well, not the documentary parts). It's like the King Biscuit Flower Hour revisited.

And who ... at a Supertramp concert or not ... screams and yells and whistles through the ENTIRE show without taking a break to listen to it? Especially at a Supertramp show which is quite dynamic.

Thankfully, the audience gets a little more turned down by track 11 - "School" and 12 - "Crime Of The Century". Unfortunately, those are the last 2 songs.

I loved the documentary part ... particularly how the band got together and Roger's views on his departure.

And I agree with another reviewer with turning on "Give A Little Bit"!! Roger Hodgson is one of the greatest optimists I've ever known of and loved. Once you turn on that track, there is no way you could possibly not feel great.

And perhaps someday after I get over my whining and bickering about the audience sounds I'll come to love it even more ... as well as the rest of this splendid DVD.

For now, I just gripe :).

I would hardly rate this a waste of time, give me a break...
One of my favorites bands of the 70's, this talented group
of musicans really put out some great albums. This DVD captures
many fine moments of their early 80's tour while Roger was still
with them. Its right what I'd expect from the early 80's sound,
great close-ups and interviews and one of my favorite post- Roger
songs "Cannonball" in video form. Well worth having in your
collection, not just for airport viewings. Also great guitar
solos from Roger Hodgson.

A band like Supertramp can't only have just a DVD in the market, I think that they have signed a generation with their music, so I hope we will have more concerts in DVD in the future....I vote for that!!

The quality of this concert is excellent for 1983. For the 1000th time, do not make comments like the following one regarding concerts that were filmed before current digital technology was invented: "Maybe, I would consider playing it on my laptop, at the airport to kill time, but certainly not on my digital surround system with a progressive scan DVD, on my HDTV. Playing this DVD on a state of the art system is a waste of remote control". Why do morons keep making comments like this? I would like to hear this person's pinhead comments about Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, Yessongs, Isle of Wight Festival, any Jimi Hendrix concert, Bob Dylan's Don't Look Back, Paul McCartney's Rockshow or the Last Waltz. They were all filmed YEARS before digital technology, so I guess they suck, too? Please, when you review older concerts, review them for the PERFORMANCE.

very good vintage footage of gigs, some of the newer videos and excellent interview viewing. great gift for any fan...new or old!

How can anyone say that this DVD is bad. They are nuts, this is one of the best DVDs that displays the band in their true form. Sure it's missing some critical songs i.e. (Lord is it Mine and Child of Vision), but how picky can you be. This group influenced so many musicians and people in general, that it would be a crime not to purchase it. Not being a true fan by knowing all of their albums, I didn't realize that Rodger Hodgson played all guitars as well. What a talented band and musicians, this is a must have, even if your just a fan of Breakfast in America and Crime of the Century.

My wife and I are both fans of Supertramp. I'd been looking for a DVD release of their concert material for the last couple of years. We both think that this DVD is a must for any Supertramp fan! I was a little disappointed that some of the other videos that Supertramp have released over the years were not included in the DVD release. Well worth the money!

How can I make such a preposterous remark? Simple - the format and structure of the DVD itself. As several other reviewers have mentioned, a lot of this DVD is a "the story of" documentary similar to a `VH-1 Behind the Music' episode. But that brief description doesn't do this novel idea justice, what this really is is much more - a "story so far' style documentary with entire videos and an entire concert dropped in at the appropriate chronological moment on the DVD and, naturally, the option to go directly to the videos and/or individual concert tracks directly from the menu.

It begins at the very beginning, an add placed in a newspaper, and follows the band, album by album and year by year until we reach 1983. Along the way we get archival and recent (from when the VHS was made anyway) interviews with the band and others. (Which brings up one of my few gripes - this makes clear that the band's 1979 Paris concert, released as a live album/CD was also filmed. I feel it is superior to the concert featured here so, why wasn't it released as a video and not just audio?)

Then, when we reach 1983, we get the complete song Crazy and then the 10 song Munich concert, then back to the documentary. It continues with Hodgson's departure from the band, then 2 videos from the 1985 album `Brother Where You Bound', more doc and 2 more videos. And therein lies my only real complaint about this DVD - the lack of the Brother mini-movie! Both of the other videos from the Brother Where You Bound VHS are present (Cannonball and Better Days) but the masterpiece is missing?!?! What's up with that, lack of space?

For those who do not know, the original `Brother Where You Bound' title track was expanded to a 20 minute mini-movie, which was released on hi-fi VHS with the 2 above mentioned videos. And, remembering that this was post-Hodgson, Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorham plays rhythm guitar on the track and the solos are none other than David Gilmour. Darn good song to begin with and the mini-movie is VERY entertaining. To my knowledge, not only was it not included here, it has never been released on DVD at all!

I also don't understand the complaints about the picture and sound quality and have to wonder if these reviewers have an older copy than I do. But several mention the 2002 release and I have had mine for 5+ years, I only thought to review it now because a friend, who is a Supertramp fan, didn't even KNOW it existed. And, while I usually hesitate to criticize other's opinions, I have to say I think the people who only gave this 1-star are crazy. If you like it, it CERTAINLY deserves 3, 4 stars no matter WHAT you think of the quality! Especially when compared to some of the godawful concert videos that are out there. And if you don't like Supertramp....then why the heck are you wasting my time and your time on something you were biased against to begin with!

Personally I think the video is fine and, while I would like to have the option of a 5.1 mix, both the PCM and Dolby 2.0 audio tracks sound fine to me, maybe I have a better stereo than they do! Or maybe they're elitist snobs who have been spoiled by DTS and Dolby 5.1 and 6.1 and simply won't listen to anything else (how do they tolerate plain'ole CDs then?)

I also miss a few of my favorite songs that are on the Paris live album: "You Started Laughing", "Rudy", and "Fool's Overture". But most of the rest are here: "Ain't Nobody But Me", "Bloody Well Right", "From Now On", "School" and, of course, "Crime of the Century".

Bottom line - To be perfectly honest this probably does deserve 4 stars when compared to the crème of the crop in concert DVDs but, what the heck, I LIKE IT!! And, 5.1 or no 5.1, if you are a Supertramp fan then a DVD of the classic line-up, performing these songs, is 4-5 stars to you anyway! I just think we need a Constitutional Amendment, Public Law, Memo of Agreement, SOMETHING that will require all future concert DVDs to be structured like this one.