Product Description

The program:

1. Why
2. Legend in My Living Room
3. Precious
4. Money Can't Buy It
5. Cold
6. Primitive
7. The Gift
8. Walking on Broken Glass
9. Keep Young and Beautiful

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52225 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-09-26
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 45 minutes

Amazon.com
This DVD, an expanded version of the Grammy-winning 1992 video companion to Annie Lennox's solo debut, belongs on the short list of long-form videos that achieve the stylistic and thematic cohesion of a great album. In its audio incarnation, Diva isn't tied to a formally structured concept, yet its songs probe a clutch of interwoven themes, oscillating between spirit and flesh as the Scottish singer muses over ruined relationships, vain ambitions, and quests for love and identity in alternately teasing and tormented performances. On video, director Sophie Muller loosely integrates the songs through overlapping imagery, allowing costuming, locations, or lighting to supply a dreamlike coherence in lieu of more conventional plot or character.

In her earlier incarnation as the vocal half of Eurythmics, Lennox had already displayed visual savvy through both live performance and the duo's arresting, early videos, and she brings an equal sense of nuance and daring to these pieces. On the elegiac "Why," she and Muller entwine romantic disappointment and show business artifice by presenting the song as an interior monologue, heard as the unadorned singer applies make-up and dons a garish costume; Lennox barely opens her mouth until the final, searing bridge. Elsewhere, Lennox uses her remarkably expressive eyes to speak volumes, often with an exaggerated intensity that fits both the lush, dramatic contours of her meticulously produced music and the neo-expressionist atmosphere of Muller's visuals, underlined by a palette that tilts through de-saturated colors toward pure monochrome.

The compilation's sense of time and place veers toward period melodrama with its wittiest segment, "Walking on Broken Glass," not coincidentally a musical high point, which casts Lennox as a spurned lover raging at a callow, flirtatious John Malkovich, whose cameo is a direct allusion to his wicked starring turn in Dangerous Liaisons. --Sam Sutherland

Additional features
On DVD, Annie Lennox's acclaimed 1992 video album is blessed with additional tracks but cursed by a curiously awkward editorial scheme and disappointing annotation and feature descriptions. Two additional tracks, "Precious" and "Remember," are inserted into the original sequence devised by Lennox and director Sophie Muller; the second track, an instrumental, isn't noted in the program notes. Owners of the videodisc version of the original Diva concept video have also noted some examples of dropout. The audio tracks are not true Dolby Digital 5.1 surround mixes, but the resolution of the conventional PCM stereo tracks is still excellent, thanks in part to the immaculate sound of the original album audio source. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Totally Diva but Somewhat Disappointing
One of my favorite music video compilations, Annie Lennox shines in a great selection of music videos. Be forewarned, while the sticker on the outside of the box touts a "remastered 5.1 mix", it is purely a linear PCM mix, which sounds fine, but ultimately disappoints due to creating expectations that are never met. I was somewhat disappointed in the video transfer too. It's not bad, but I have the Japanese import Laserdisc, and the color and sound are much better on the LD than on this DVD. However, this DVD does support more detail in every frame, and for the price, don't hesitate to buy it. A word to BMG....It's a shame that mislabelings and a lack of an insert plague this release, as they do with the Eurythmics Greatest Hits on DVD, (which, by the way, has the best video transfer that the Greatest Hits video compilation has ever seen!) Is there any sort of quality control that goes into your releases? I felt cheated as a consumer with mislabeling, but happy to finally have Annie and the Eurythmics Greatest Hits on DVD. I hope future BMG releases are taken a bit more seriously within BMG.....

Nice disc
This expanded collection of videos from Annie Lennox's first solo album is a good bargain and certainly a must for fans.

The original VHS 'Diva' collection was released too early to include the videos 'Walking on Broken Glass' (featuring an appearance by John Malkovich) and 'Precious' which later became singles and are presented here. Sadly, 'Little Bird' remains unavailable on video, represented here only by an instrumental mix over the end credits.

Fans should note that this collection is the only place to hear as well as see two exclusives, 'Remember' (which isn't labeled but is included) and an extended version of 'Keep Young & Beautiful'.

Video quality is fair. Unfortunately the source videotape has some anomalies such as video creases and dropouts, but they are infrequent. Audio is not the advertised 5.1 but rather PCM stereo only, which still provides crisp, CD quality sound.

Tracklist
The tracklisting for the Totally Diva DVD is:

1. Why, 2. Legend in My Living Room, 3. Precious, 4. Money Can't Buy It, 5. Cold, 6. Primitive, 7. The Gift, 8. Walking on Broken Glass, 9. Keep Young and Beautiful

Unfortunately the video that was made for Little Bird is not included on this release, actually it has not been on any release at all.