Peter Gabriel: Play--The Videos

I didn't buy a lot of music video compilations in the 90's but for Peter Gabriel I made an exception. Why? Because his stuff is always groundbreaking. Like the Taking Heads video compilation, Gabriel's "Play" has stunning videos that matched the stunning music. Since Gabriel fans have to wait so long between music releases (that's not a complaint just the truth), it's nice to have a bunch of DVD releases back-to-back to keep us happy.

The picture quality is exceptionally good and the 5.1 mix is similar to that for the SACD re-releass (although I wish that they'd release all of those in hybrid format so I could play them in my car) in terms of the sound quality (to clarify the SACD's were NOT 5.1 mixes).All of my favs are here although some are curiously missing such as the alternate version of "Don't Give Up" plus we get a number of marvelous videos from his more recent albums and singles. I've always loved the song "Lovetown" and loved the moody, interesting video for "Growing Up".

We do get a brief 16 minute piece that covers the making of the videos as an extra. I do like having the option of the introductions to the various tunes, though. "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" really wouldn't have fit on here as its really Genesis material. I'm hoping that he'll issue the famous "Rockpalast" performance separately or that Genesis will put out a companion DVD to their boxed set about the years with Gabriel. I also miss the video Gabriel shot with Laurie Anderson for "Excellent Birds" (which has aired only once to the best of my knowledge). It was quirky and fun and I always liked Laurie's slightly different mix of the same song (which Gabriel went back and changed signficantly compared to the version on "So"). I also would have liked to have had the video from the Amnesty International HBO special with Gabriel's rearrangement of "Biko" (which has never appeared anywhere else in any form to the best of my knoweldge)."Digging in the Dirt" I like quite a bit as well.

The "Modern Love" video is a flashback to seeing him when he toured just after leaving Genesis. It's fun to compare this early video to later ones.

If you're a Gabriel fan and don't have any of this (or even if you have the CV video from years before), you'll enjoy this. Pick it up and turn it up really loud. Even if the TV is off, you'll enjoy having this "greatest hits" compilation of his best video bits over the years. Man he has been prolific when it comes to videos (compared to other performers).

Even if you don't turn on your TV, it's the equivalent of two CDs' worth (141 minutes) of DD/DTS 5.1 remixes of PG's "greatest hits." Worth the price right there.

If you do turn on the TV you'll see a collection of innovative and entertaining videos, many of which can only be called "art."

If you're a PG fan it's a no-brainer. Even for casual listeners who just want a sampler, and even for people who want to show off their home theater systems with great-sounding surround music and eye-popping visuals, this is a great buy.

The following paragraph is copied & pasted from the website "thedigitalbits.com", which contains the first bit of information I heard about this DVD:

"The disc will feature 23 music videos, with fully restored video and new 5.1 mixes by Gabriel and Daniel Lanois in both Dolby Digital and 96khz/24bit DTS (a Dolby 2.0 Stereo mix is also included). Each video will have a short introduction featuring behind-the-scenes footage and/or Gabriel interview footage over the years. There's also an option to allow you to create a custom play list of up to 18 tracks, which can be viewed once or looped to repeat. The DVD will include 3 bonus videos in addition to the main 23, also in 5.1 sound. Finally, you'll get trailers for the DVD releases of Growing Up Live, A Family Portrait (a documentary look behind the scenes on the Growing Up Live tour directed by Anna Gabriel - available through the website) and Secret World Live. The specific list of videos on the DVD includes Father, Son, Sledgehammer, Blood of Eden, Games Without Frontiers, I Don't Remember, Big Time, Lovetown, Red Rain, In Your Eyes, Don't Give Up, The Barry Williams Show, Washing of the Water, Biko, Kiss That Frog, Mercy Street, Growing Up, Shaking the Tree, Shock the Monkey, Steam, The Drop, Zaar, Solsbury Hill and Digging in the Dirt. The bonus videos will include Games Without Frontiers (recorded live in 2004), Modern Love and The Nest That Sailed the Sky."

Wow!!! A collection of 23 music videos by one of my favorite musicians with extras and documentaries??? Count me in! Peter Gabriel's music, certainly, is amazing and fun to listen to. But his music videos as well have been revolutionary and influential. "Sledgehammer", alone, is enough to warrant the purchase of this DVD. I can't wait!