THE VERY BEST OF...DVD


UK Release date: 29.09.03
Label: Virgin Records
Digitally Mastered DVD
VDVD: 7
Doby stereo LPCM
Picture Ratio: 4:3 & 16.9
PAL multi-region

Click here to purchase Human League - The Very Best Of DVD

Track Listing

Main menu music: Being Boiled

1. Circus Of Death 4.38 N/A
2. Empire State Human 3.17 62
3. Love Action (I Believe In Love) 3.50 3
4. Open Your Heart 3.55 6
5. Don't You Want Me 3.57 1
6. Mirror Man 3.50 2
7. (Keep Feeling) Fascination 3.44 2
8. The Lebanon 3.43 11
9. Life On Your Own 4.04 16
10. Together In Electric Dreams 3.52 3
11. Louise 4.55 13
12. Human 3.47 8
13. I Need Your Loving 3.43 72
14. Love Is All That Matters 4.04 41
15. Heart Like A Wheel 4.29 29
16. Soundtrack To A Generation 4.36 N/A
17. Tell Me When 4.43 6 East West
18. One Man In My Heart 4.03 13 East West
19. All I Ever Wanted 3.54 47 Papillon

Bonus T.O.T.P. Tracks 1981:

20. The Sound Of The Crowd (originally transmitted - 30th April 1981)
21. Love Action (I Believe In Love) (originally transmitted - 6th August 1981)
22. Open Your Heart (originally transmitted - 8th October 1981)
23. Don't You Want Me 1 (originally transmitted - 24th December 1981)

Bonus 'Later With Jools Holland' Tracks 1995:

24.The Stars Are Going Out (originally transmitted - 25th November 1995)
25.The Sound Of The Crowd  (originally transmitted - 25th November 1995)

Extras:

Virgin Records Discography
New band interview - Sheffield, 23rd July 2003.
Screensaver
Wallpaper

Review

After months of breathless anticipation, the record label that had abandoned them back in 1991 finally releases the very first Human League DVD.
In the last few years since the DVD first showed signs of becoming the most popular consumer format ever developed, there have been various 80s compilations hastily released with varying degrees of picture quality. Most of them were no more than straight transfers from VHS tape sources onto DVD. Despite being capable of high-resolution picture and sound, the ultimate quality of the overall DVD depends entirely on the care taken during the actual transfer of the film prints or video masters. Most film stock over three years old needs to be digitally remastered, a process which runs the negatives through a computer to removed scratches and other imperfections often involving extra work frame by frame with software such as photoshop. With most of the League's promos shot on archive film - it was touch and go whether Virgin would go to all the trouble especially as the retail price of the DVD is relatively low compared to others.

Menus

The various animated menus accompanied by the music of Being Boiled, Mirror Man and DYWM are instantly impressive. Keeping in line with the design aesthetics of the VBO, the eyes of Philip, Jo and Sue circa Dare blur into view and evaporate whilst the navigation is simple to use and effective.

Picture Quality

The DVD kicks off with the filmed promo of Circus Of Death. At first glance, you can be forgiven for thinking that there isn't much difference in picture quality between the DVD and the 1995 Greatest Hits VHS. Both Circus Of Death and Empire State Human seem to have been filmed on low-grade film stock (similar in quality to the filmed location shots of BBC shows and news reports of the 70s). Grain is still evident aided perhaps by moody red lighting though both films are free from the red colour bleed that blighted both VHS releases. What will strike most viewers immediately is the sheer power of the actual audio - the stereo separation and audio range is outstanding even through my PC-DVD set up.

Despite hints of grain and low lighting, the two films of League Mark 1 are fascinating (shame that Being Boiled was never recorded during this session). Definition is good enough to spot all of Adrian's slides that includes Tom Baker as Dr Who and Roy Thinnes as David Vincent from the classic US paranoia series called The Invaders.
The real benefits of DVD finally come to the fore with Love Action. This 1982 promo filmed originally for the US market is seriously sharp. A pastiche on 'The Graduate' (according to the DVD interview) is so remarkably clear that it could have been filmed just a few months ago. There are no specs or marks on what is a brightly lit promo for the most part. Film can look spectacular on DVD and the quality of Love Action will delight many with vibrant colours.





Open Your Heart represents the only League promo to be shot on video (or the professional Quad format). This could have been problematic but initial worries are eased with a surprisingly clear picture. Indeed, the quality is so good that the dodgy video effects and CSO image mixing are quite jarring (similar to really cheap Dr Who effects). Philip describes this video as 'nasty' on the DVD interview which led the move into more filmic promos and the sharpness does the video no favours.

Over the years, I had grown accustomed to viewing grainy old copies of the Don't You Want Me video with its blurred colours and washed out look. Despite featuring extensive night shooting - the remastered version takes one back to how the video would have looked like on TV back in 1981. Virtually no negative marks are present, the black shades are very black and the girls look fantastic. The version included on the DVD is the edited promo with the shots of Phil pointing the gun at Joanne cut out (presumably removed at the request of UK broadcasters BBC & ITV in 1981).

Mirror Man on the other hand is a grainy affair and a fairly uninspiring video though the brightly lit scenes with Jo and Susan in the dressing room are clear with bright colours.
Fascination is one of the DVD's highlights. There is no colour bleed as the camera zooms in on the red house and the grey interior shots are delightful aided perfectly by a punchy soundtrack (one that has to be turned up really loud).
The Lebanon has gorgeous tones of blue (and most probably shot on very expensive film as opposed to Mirror Man), whilst Life On your Own's shot of Phil wandering around deserted London has such clarity that you could almost be part of that scene.
Amazing once again to think that this is archive film from 19 years ago.






Electric Dreams is spoiled somewhat from the inserts of the dreadful film containing annoying voiceovers from a talking 'cute' computer that falls in love with the girl from Candyman. Phil saves the day with his Judge Death t-shirt but some of the video seems to be sourced from NTSC which has lower definition than PAL but it is still a huge improvement over the two VHS releases. Eagle eyed viewers will spot Giorgio Moroder making a cameo as the radio producer who asks 'where is it coming from' as the clever computer broadcasts it's love song to the nation.
Louise is close to picture perfection and unbelievably sharp - again I noticed no picture blemishes or bad edits. The video does contain a new and rather bizarre insert of the DYWM video as Adrian spots his former 'love' played by Susan walking along the canal with Ian.
This fuzzy DYWM clip was not in the original version and although Louise is a sequel (of sorts) to DYWM, having this clip suddenly cut in does seem rather odd.



Pure economics led to the inclusion of the truly woeful I Need Your Loving as opposed to the rarely seen yet stylish promo for Filling Up With Heaven. The picture for this Crash single looked good through all the wincing on my part.
As the material becomes more recent, the picture quality gets even better. The Romantic promos are fairly imaginative and nicely shot with the girls looking gorgeous. Heart Like A Wheel is full of bizarre optical effects that are very distracting and tough on the eyes due to all the sharpness. Hopefully the inclusion of Soundtrack with its superb digital sound may lead people to revaluate one of the League's lost tracks. Forget about the 'Holy Cow' nonsense bit and focus on the music - analogue bassline bliss!




Tell Me When seems to have been filmed through a filter that has resulted in more grain than I was expecting but One Man reverts back to the clarity of Love Action and Louise, containing warm autumn colours - it is one of the League's finest ever videos and I'm relieved that Virgin decided to pay EastWest the money needed to include it on this DVD.
As expected, All I Ever Wanted is faultless picture wise and a fine track to end on.

Sound

No fancy 5.1 set up needed here - just a standard 2 speaker output (the way the original music was made to be heard). 5.1 is great for new films but fairly pointless for songs made 20 years ago. The sound quality is the DVDs real revelation. I've never heard the Human League sound as good as this and that includes the recent remastered back catalogue. Fantastic stuff.

Extras

Having seen and heard the quality of the videos, I would have been happy just with them but the extras contain some real gems. The interview with Joanne, Susan & Philip runs for about 25 minutes and most off their career is mentioned (apart from Octopus oddly enough). The interviewer Simon Price knows his League and asks some excellent questions. I won't reveal any spoilers about the interview except to say that it genuinely funny in places and the good natured character of the Sheffield trio is a delight to watch.
Four Top Of The Pops appearances are included here remastered to the high standard of recent Dr Who DVDs (which is pretty sharp). I had never seen the Open Your Heart appearance but it did remind me of which Human League girl removed Kim Wilde as the object of my affections back in 1981.

Finally, the Jools Holland live appearances will not disappoint coming from fairly recent digital transfers. Lush blues once again and good direction between the various camers, foreign fans will love the League's first live appearance on DVD.

PC-ROM

A few extras can be accessed via the PC including a screensaver of the VBO logo on white background that teleports all over the screen. There is also three versions of wallpaper including the album cover of Reproduction that can be uploaded to PCs. Finally, the Virgin discography covers all the albums up to Romantic whilst the web link will take you to Virgin's The Raft site.

Overall, I think Virgin deserve a pat on the back for this DVD. It is very close to the finished product that I always wanted and is one of the best League related items I've had the pleasure to own.

Secrets Online rating 9/10

(With thanks to Hik Sasaki & Jason Day of Virgin - DVD grabs - Tony B)

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