TITLE: BEST LIVE DVD -PREMIUM LIVE DREAM SELECTION-
COMPANY: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVBD-91511
DURATION: 100 Minutes
DVD INFO: Region 2, 16:9LB
RELEASED ON December 5, 2007
- Tohoshinki – Rising Sun (from 2nd LIVE TOUR 2007 – Five in the Black)
- AAA – SUNSHINE (from a-nation `07 BEST HIT LIVE)
- Suzuki Ami – Delightful (from SUZUKI AMI AROUND THE WORLD – LIVE HOUSE TOUR 2005)
- Do As Infinity – Tokumade/Yesterday & Today (from Do As Infinity -Final- Live at Budokan 2005.11.25)
- m.o.v.e – come together /Blazin’ Beat (from LIVE TOUR “DECADACE PARADE ’03)
- Kiyokiba Shunsuke – Utai hito – (from LIVE TOUR 2006 Sore ike!)
- globe – DEPARTURES/Love again (from globe the best live 1995-2002)
- day after tomorrow – faraway (from 1st Love Tour 2003 – elements)
- Shimatani Hitomi – Amairo no Kami no Otome (Hitomi Shimatani Live 2007 – PRIMA ROSA)
- TRF – CRAZY GONNA CRAZY – EZ DO DANCE/Where to begin (Life e-Motions TOUR 2006)
- BoA – QUINCY (BoA ARENA TOUR 2005 – BEST OF SOUL)
- Every Little Thing – Shapes of Love/Hi Fi Message (from Every Little Thing 10th Anniversary Special Live at Nippon Budokan)
- Hamasaki Ayumi – M (from A museum -30th single collection live)
The latest compilation DVD from avex trax features live performances from 13 artists/groups from various avex entertainment inc. labels with a total of 17 tracks and offered on DVD for an attractive price (for Japan) at Y2,800 ($28).
The hard thing about reviewing these type of DVD’s is that if you watched many of the live concert performances of the groups featured (and other artists not featured), you either take what they give you or you question why was this on here and not this.
Starting with the first DVD track, Tohoshinki’s performance of “RISING SUN” from their 2nd LIVE TOUR 2007 DVD was one of the most amazing performances I’ve seen from a boy band. The choreography was awesome, as it was very reminiscent of Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” (people in uniform marching and incorporating dance choreography) and I felt that the selection of that performance definitely deserved placement on this DVD.
As for AAA’s “SUNSHINE”, I would imagine that the reason why this performance was chosen was because they lost one of their members earlier in 2007. And taking footage from their live concert DVD release three months prior to this DVD release was too soon. But “SUNSHINE” from a-nation is definitely not their best performance but because of circumstances of losing a member, this was probably the only footage they could have used of the group with it’s current members.
Suzuki Ami is another situation where there is only one DVD release of her live performance and the rest were a-nation live concert performances. So, another reason why I can understand they chose to go with “Delightful” from her 2005 concert. Definitely one of her most lively performances since returning to Avex.
Do As Infinity in a way was surprising because of their inclusion on this DVD. The group broke up back in 2005 and they could of went with another group such as m-flo, EXILE or someone else from their various sub-labels and feature their current performances. But at the same time, Do As Infinity is one of the most popular bands from avex and despite their breakup, I think it’s understandable why they included both performances and fortunately it was from their Final Live from Budokan.
m.o.v.e was a surprise as well because their last live concert DVD was back in 2003. But because the group is celebrating their 10th Anniversary, I can understand their inclusion on this DVD and because they are one of the long standing groups from the avex label.
Kiyokiba Shunsuke’s inclusion was pretty cool and good to see another rhythm zone artist on this DVD but then again, it makes you ask why the group he was formerly a member of (EXILE) and Koda Kumi are not on this DVD, is surprising. But nevertheless, it was good to see Kiyokiba included.
globe had the ultimate concerts in the 90’s for any avex artist or group and it was no surprise that they would have some inclusion on this DVD and the two performances of “DEPARTURES” and “Love Again” were awesome to watch.
day after tomorrow was another one I just wondered…what about Amuro or even Otsuka Ai. But day after tomorrow was big for avex in the past before their breakup and it was no surprise to see them featured despite not being a group anymore. But I would have thought for a different performance than “faraway”.
Shimatani Hitomi’s performance of “Amairo no Kami no Otome” (since this song is very special for Shimatani and like she told J!-ENT, this was the song that got her on “Kouhaku”) was no surprise but I would have thought they would of included other performances, especially “DESTINY” or another performance from the “PRIMA ROSA” DVD.
TRF is no surprise since avex would not be avex without TRF, the group who helped put avex on the map in the early 90’s. So, it’s cool to see them include their first major hit song “EZ DO DANCE” and “Where to Begin” to give a nod to their 15th Year Anniversary.
BoA’s performane of “QUINCY” is actually very cool but I wished they included another performance. There are so many live performances of BoA that could have been included on this DVD.
Every Little Thing is another group that had no relation to Komuro Tetsuya that helped drive people towards Avex. And another group that celebrated their 10th anniversary, so no surprise to see them included on this DVD.
And last, Hamasaki Ayumi. She’s had so many memorable concert performances but yet “M” was chosen and only “M” was featured. So, a bit surprised about that. I would of expected a second or third song (since they do that with the a-nation DVD releases) included on this DVD.
The quality of the DVD performances selected are from the better live DVD’s from the artists and the fact that it’s on 16:9 is cool. But one thing not included on this DVD but are included on the original live performance DVD of the majority of the artists is that the choice to listen to the performances on 2ch or digital 5.1. Unfortunately, this audio option is not available on this DVD.
All in all, “BEST LIVE DVD – PREMIUM LIVE DREAM SELECTION -” is a cool DVD featuring a good number of performances from various avex labels.
When you create a DVD compilation like this, you’re never going to please everyone.
I could be nitpicky and wonder why this artist and that band is not included. Also, question why some of the bands who are no longer around were offered on this 2008 DVD release and not current artists such as Otsuka Ai, Amuro Namie, EXILE, m-flo, etc.
Also, question why some of the videos selected for inclusion on this DVD were selected and not other awesome performances… but again, when it comes to live performances, it’s always in the eyes of the person of which performance was awesome to them. So, taking it for what this DVD is worth and its low price point (low for Japan), this DVD still offers over an hour and 40 minutes of live concert footage and a good number of the performances are awesome!
If you happen to enjoy the artists featured on this DVD live performance compilation DVD, then definitely check this DVD out. Especially if you have never seen their live performances before. Again, you get the video in 16:9 but you don’t get the digital 5.1 audio. Just the Stereo audio track.
But again, for the price it’s being offered for and the number of artists featured, it’s still a pretty cool live performance DVD compilation.