Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must have for fans of Crowded House & Neil Finn!, November 16, 2002
As a longtime fan of CH & Neil Finn, I've hoped they would release something like this for years. It's an unfortunate thing that American radio & MTV didn't appreciate their genius like the rest of the world. Hardly a video was seen in the US beyond their S/T record. "Dreaming the Videos" has every video they ever made in chronological order, plus a bonus interview with them from 1986 when they were promoting their 1st record. I was particularly amazed by the videos from the record "Together Alone." The video for "Four Seasons In One Day" was total eye candy. The only video from that album that got play from that record here in the states was "Locked Out" because it was a song featured on the soundtrack to the movie Reality Bites. I must admit my fave reason I love this DVD is being able to watch "World Where You Live", the video/song which made me fall in love with CH back in 1986. "Don't Dream It's Over" is still one my favorites, as well. I love the kitschy/vintage 50's theme in both of those videos...Something you really get to see by watching this DVD is their wonderful sense of humor (they're goofballs!). If you were lucky enough to see them live, you probably already know what I'm talking about. I disagree with some of the other reviewers that felt that Nick and Paul's antics could be a bit distracting or take away from their brilliant music. Videos are an accompaniment to the song, they were never made to take place of the song in record form. If you wanna listen to the music, put on the record. It's as simple as that. Whether you are a longtime fan of CH, or you have discovered them recently, you should own this. It'll make you gain a whole new appreciation for them as people, not just a band.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant for fans, but videos can't match music's quality, October 19, 2002
As a long-time Crowded House fan living in the US, I had only seen one of these videos ("Don't Dream It's Over") before I bought this DVD. Because I'm such a fan of the band's music, I've found this DVD to be entertaining enough--but many of the videos simply aren't anything special. Some of them ("It's Only Natural," "When You Come") lack focus and can only be described in the end as a string of miscellaneous shots of the band being goofy (and as charismatic as Crowded House were onstage, sometimes their antics come across as forced in their videos). "Into Temptation," an otherwise fine video, is spoiled with a few inexplicable shots of silliness from Nick and Paul. Why couldn't they just let it be a dark, beautiful video for a dark and beautiful song? Other videos feature some cool surrealistic images ("Four Seasons," "Private Universe") but don't amount to much more than the sum of their parts. "Don't Dream It's Over" remains one of the band's best videos--its smashed plates and cups are a perfect illustration of Neil Finn's lyrical fascination with domestic breakdown. Other standouts are the appropriately ethereal "Distant Sun," the tastefully modernistic "Not the Girl You Think You Are," and "Chocolate Cake," whose bizarre humor fits well with the song. It's unsurprising that the videos don't always match the quality of Crowded House's music--they were a great band with no shortage of wonderful songs. The included live performance of "Sister Madly" is good and the included interview is interesting enough, even if most of it is redundant as it is constantly cutting to clips of their videos. Fans will definitely want to purchase this DVD, if only to decide for themselves what they think of the videos, but based on the videos' merit alone, it's occasionally great and at its worst merely OK.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
We loved you, Paul, March 28, 2005
Buy this simply to watch the lively, goofball antics of drummer Paul Hester, who always added much color to Crowded House, and nowhere is it more apparent than in this series of promo videos. CH was never an extraordinarily groundbreaking video band, but these clips are worth watching just to see the guys in action throughout a number of video styles that evolved over the years. Paul, by all accounts, was a funny and likable man who clearly kept his personal demons well-hidden. Often called "a frontman positioned behind a drumkit," he nearly steals all of these clips with his humor and silliness and his fans will always have that. RIP, Paul Hester.
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