Due
in part to the partial hearing loss in his left ear combined with his desire to
be around for his children, Phil has scheduled this, his "First Farewell
Tour". Yes, it is partly tongue-in-cheek thanks to artists like Cher, Kiss,
the Eagles, etc. announcing their "farewell" tours only to tour
immediately afterwards. (However, there might be hope Phil fans; during an
interview on the disc, he states that he might do another
Big Band tour).
Filmed on June 16th, 2004 in Paris, France, the concert
[1h 18m] is spread over two
discs. During which, we're treated to all of his classic songs and the first
disc starts with Phil doing what I think he does best - playing drums. At the beginning of each song, a small smiley face icon appears in the
upper right hand corner of the screen. When you see it,
clicking enter will bring you to a submenu giving you the option of watching the
original video for the song Phil is about to play in concert. On two of the songs,
"Against All Odds" and "Separate Lives", there are also extra
treats: The "Against All Odds" submenu allows you to choose from the
original video or Phil's performance of the song in Philadelphia during Live Aid
[4m 18s]. On the "Separate Lives" menu, besides the option
for the video, there's also a "Wild Card" icon that, when selected,
will bring you to a performance of "Pick Up the Pieces" with Phil and
his big band at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1998.
Here's
the tracklisting for disc one:
- Something Happened On the Way To Heaven
- Against All Odds
- Don't Lose My Number
- You'll Be In My Heart
- One More Night
- Can't Stop Loving You
- Hang In Long Enough
- True Colors
- Come With Me
- Groovy Kind Of Love
- I Missed Again
- Another Day In Paradise
- No Way Out
- Separate Lives
Disc two, which runs 53m 52s, starts with the song that put Phil
(and Miami Vice) on the charts - "In the Air Tonight". On the sub-menu, there's
also an option to hear Phil's debut performance [4m 55s] of the song on the piano
at the "Secret Policeman's Other Ball".
The tracklisting for disc two
is:
- In the Air Tonight
- Dance Into the Light
- You Can't Hurry Love
- Two Hearts
- Wear My Hat
- Easy Lover
- Sussudio
- It's Not Too Late
- Take Me Home
In addition to the concert and the videos for each song played, there are still
more extra features on this disc. Clicking on the Phil's World option will give us three
choices:
- A Bit Of A Parking Problem - This featurette [16x9, 17m 47s] has Phil playing "Superintendent
Strange" as he gives us an inadvertent look backstage while trying to
get to the bottom of who's in charge of the parking for "Bill"
Collins' trucks and buses. Those who are familiar with Phil's cheeky sense
of humour know what to expect from this.
- Finally...the First Documentary - This documentary [16x9, 30m 10s]
shows us how the "final" tour came together.
- Phil's Flash Gallery - This is a tour photo gallery.
The "final" special feature is "the Long Lost Network TV Special".
Filmed during "the Serious Tour" in 1990, this 47m 40s special
features cameo appearances by Bruce Willis, John Travolta, John Candy, Don
Johnson, Gilbert Gottfried, Barbara Mandrell, Paul Shaffer, Vanessa Williams,
Jeffrey Tambor, Henry Mancini, Dr. Dre (the East Coast Dre, not the one from the
West Coast), "Weird" Al and the Ultimate
Warrior?!?!
Video: The video on this two disc set varies. The concert is presented
in an anamorphic 1.85:1 format and the picture is close to flawless. The colors
are rich and vibrant and the blacks are deep. At times, we're also presented
with the option of switching angles. The music videos and the TV special are
presented in a 1.33:1 fullframe ratio and the quality of the music videos range
from great to acceptable. It would've been great if every single video had been
remastered, but there really isn't anything that's unwatchable.
Audio:
For the concert, we're given the option of choosing from Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround, 2.0 Stereo or dts 5.1 Surround. To
my ears, the best sounding was the dts
track, but the other two weren't all that terrible. The music videos and the
featurettes are all presented in 2.0 stereo. While I wish the music videos were
remastered in 5.1, with the amount of stuff crammed into this release, i'm not
going to be bitter that they weren't.
Conclusion: This is a great career retrospective that Phil's put
together. The addition of the original videos for each song performed in
concert, along with the way it was presented, was genius. While i'm sure there
are diehard Phil fans that might be able to rattle off a wish list of things
that was left off of this release, this casual Phil fan was damn impressed. Highly
Recommended.
Buy: