Customer Reviews

Twentieth Century Blues: Songs of Noel Coward [VHS]

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

 

 

This tribute concert video/dvd (and CD album version)were the brainchild of Neil Tennant. Tennant, the lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys, has always admired Coward. Tennant's songwriting reflects this fact.

This outstanding gala event celebrates the life of Britain's most talented songwriter & playwright. This video presentation merges modern covers of his most famous songs - made more potent with speeches and video montages.

The performances by The Divine Comedy and Suede outshine the headliners!

This DVD/Video is very entertaining and informative. It's perfect for Coward fans, Pet Shop Boys fans, and everyone else in between.

* note: there is a second Pet Shop Boys tune on the programme that is not listed on the tracklisting. I'd say what it is, but that would spoil the fun.

This is a must-have for Coward fans if only as a curio--but it's not really great work. Several of the artists seem not to understand what's going on in the songs. (For example, Vic Reeves, in "Don't Put Your Daughter On The Stage, Mrs. Worthington," makes the mistake of saying "She was as lovely as Peer Gynt" instead of "She was lovely as 'Peer Gynt'"--obviously not bothering to find out who or what Peer Gynt is, nor how to pronounce "ingenue.")

Texas' version of "Parisian Pierrot" is excellent, and so is Marianne Faithfull's poignant rendition of "Mad About The Boy," but the real highlight is the Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Sail Away": meticulous phrasing; a wonderful short guitar solo that you could imagine being performed by The Shadows; clever use of nautical sound effects. Coward himself would have hated it but I love it.

There are more misses than hits on this CD--but again, it's worth adding to the library if you're a Cowardophile.

i love coward and collect everything i get my hands on
i see every play possible and every movie of his
but this is a real problem
it should be avoided unless you must have every coward program that exists
its pretty bad

This is a tribute DVD concert and I only bought it because of the Pet Shop Boys. That said, it's pretty good. The Divine Comedy are excellent, and there's plenty of famous artists there to keep most people amused for 5 minutes.

....the attack is relentlessly contemporary and it seems to me sadly out of keeping with the spirit of what they seemed to be attempting. Elton John, Sting, and Marianne Faithful score the two stars--and the rest of the participants do not seem to have done any homework at all. They are clean and spotlessly dressed, and they perform in a space that has a delightful Deco demeanor...but they make no attempt to accomodate Mr Coward and bring us in anyway closer to him. Too bad!