T'Pau - Live In Montreux

Was lucky enough to find this when the lowest selling price was under $30, and bought it since I previously only knew of the "Live in Hammersmith" version. Wasn't going to write a review, but thought I'd add some New-ish Information since this item was released in 2010. A previous review mentioned that this Montreux concert was the ONLY DVD, and that was correct until the 3-Disc Bridge of Spies Expanded Edition was released in 2015. Disc 3's DVD contains footage from the "Live In Hammersmith" concert, so now there are TWO DVDs available. Ironically both sets feature concert footage from 1988.As previously mentioned, the recording style wasn't as professional/polished as the Hammersmith set. Certainly they could have pulled back on the numerous Extreme Close-Ups of Carol's face, but even a less-than-perfect recording is considerably better than Nothing. In this version's defense, it has fourteen songs compared to Hammersmith's eleven. Both sets have the same ten songs, but while the Montreux set lacks "Arms of Love", it includes "You Give Up", "Taking Time Out", and of course my favorite B-side: "On the Wing".Package contains two discs: Disc One is a region free DVD with a 69 minute run time, while Disc Two looks to be a "Bonus Audio CD" of the concert divided into 14 tracks. Yes, the recording quality could have been better, but here you have an Option - ignore the DVD and only listen to the CD (aka: Theater of the Mind).The Songs----------------------01 "Sex Talk"02 "On The Wing"03 "Bridge of Spies"04 "I Will Be With You"05 "You Never Notice Me"06 "Heart and Soul"07 "I'm a Believer"08 "Taking Time Out"09 "Valentine"10 "Thank You For Goodbye"11 "Monkey House"12 "You Give Up"13 "China in Your Hand"14 "Time Will Tell"...lead vocals for all songs is Carol Decker except for 07 which is Ron Rogers.If the audience was Being Quiet - GREAT - makes it easier to hear the band! Although the Real Reason may have been that the audience was following directions... at the very beginning the announcer mentions that "they were recording the concert". Perhaps the audience had been asked to Hold Their Applause (etc) till the end.

I am a big admirer of T'Pau, a British band that I discovered back in 1987 and which was never well known in my country. This is the only opportunity (besides some youtube clips available) to see the band perform in its heyday (unless you have a multiregion VCR to see the 2 PAL-VHS available second-hand in the UK -"A View from the Bridge" and "Live at Hammersmith").Carol Deckers' vocals and energy are a huge ingredient of what the band was; she performs well sans the more sophisticated and -as some critics of the day wrote- "overproduced" arrangements (which I like just the same) of the songs included in their first album (produced by Roy Thomas Baker). The band sounds even more like a rock band live, than the pop-rock band of their records.The response of the Swiss audience is pretty lackluster, but at the end of the concert they tend to be more "expressive". The biggest surprise for a fan like me is having had the opportunity of listening to the original arrangements and tempo for the song "Thank You For Goodbye" (a favorite); much simpler and effective. It sounds like a totally different song with the upbeat tempo. In fact Carol says that they liked this demo version much better (I guess R.T. Baker's decisions prevailed).

I'm not a T'Pau fan but I love there hits "Heart & Soul" and "China In Your Hand". I lived in England at the time these songs were being played, so catchy, and brings memories of my years at England. I had to get this DVD as it's the only DVD to see the band perform. I haven't watched the whole DVD as I only watched the 2 songs I love from this band. The DVD is only in full screen and 2.0 surround, for there only DVD, I can't complain. This does come with a bonus CD.

Having fallen in love with the sound of "Heart and Soul," and being lured by a classy video airing on U-Tube, I bought this DVD/CD set with hopes that it would contain the same performance; IT DOES NOT. As the performance proceeds, one wonders whether the live audience is, in fact, alive, asleep, drugged, or otherwise hearing-impaired. The video is, unfortunately, of low quality; far too much camera time is spent on Carol's backup musicians, one of which appears to be dressed to clean out a barn or do yardwork, and another appears to be wearing his wife's top... Carol is a nice looking lady, but the camera seems somewhat clueless about this. There is an interlude where she takes a break, and it becomes "Guy's Night Out," and this really stretches the viewer's patience. Combine this with several nightmarish intrusions of LOUD FEEDBACK HOWL, the product of amateurish handling of the sound system, and the end product is certainly inferior to what I expected. Carol puts forth valiant effort, but this is largely cancelled-out by Montreux's shortcomings, and her supporting Band of Bums (who actually looked classy on the U-Tube clip), making this a Trainwreck Production... Daniel J.

Outstanding performance!!...pity the crowd were less impressive.

Nachdem ich vor kurzem mal wieder über meine alten CDs von T'PAU gestolpert bin, habe ich mal gesucht, ob von denen nicht eine DVD zu finden wäre und bin dabei auf "T'PAU - Live in Montreux" gestossen. Die Freude war riesengross - der Dämpfer beim Anschauen der DVD aber auch.Auch wenn die Aufnahmen 23 Jahre auf dem Buckel haben, hätte ich mir eine etwas bessere Qualität gewünscht. Die Bildqualität entspricht leider nur der einer VHS-Kassette - und auch der Ton ist eher miserabel. Teilweise schwankt die Lautstärke so, dass es schon störend wirkt. Das ganze wirkt von der Szenerie eher wie eine Schulband in der hauseigenen Sporthalle.In den 80ern, als T'PAU aktuell waren, habe ich mir die beiden VHS-Videos gekauft: "View From A Bridge" mit 5 Musikvideos und auch "Live At The Hammersmith". Mangels eines VHS-Gerätes kann ich zur Zeit keine Vergleiche anstellen, aber soweit ich mich erinnern kann, war das Konzert im Hammersmith (11 Songs auf der Kassette) supergenial. Ich hätte mir dieses auf DVD gewünscht...Die Trackliste dieser DVD: Sex Talk - On The Wing - Bridge Of Spies - I Will Be With You - You Never Notice Me - Heart & Soul - I Am A Believer (Monkees-Cover) - Taking Time Out - Valentine - Thank You For Goodbye - Monkey House - You Give Up - China In Your Hand - Time Will TellAls Bonus gibt es zur DVD noch das ganze als Audio-CD - es sind also nicht 2 DVDs, wie die Überschrift bei Amazon vermuten lässt).Mein Fazit: Ich vergebe gerade noch 3 Sterne für das Paket. Ausgehend von 5 Sternen ziehe ich einen für die schlechte Qualität ab und einen weiteren, da der Preis für das gebotene viel zu hoch ist.Dass es nicht nur 2 Sterne wurden, liegt an der Tatsache, dass ich mir T'PAU damals Tag und Nacht angehört habe und ich nun wieder eine Live-Version anhören/ansehen kann.