Disco Inferno (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	66:02
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Stomp Visual	Starring	Village People Kelly Marie Lipps Incorporated Odyssey James Brown Donna Summer Baccara Alicia Bridges Chic Sugarhill Gang The Gap Band Imagination Billy Ocean
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	None Given

    Disco was at its peak in the mid-1970s, which is when most of these clips seem to have been made. Taken from the German version of Countdown, Musik Laden, the twenty-one tracks cover a variety of artists, though like the similar Glam Rock DVD, not all of them would really be Disco artists.

    The acts on display include The Village People, Kelly Marie, Alicia Bridges, Kool and the Gang and Boney M. The Jacksons also appear, fronted by someone who looks like Michael Jackson, except his skin is dark and his nose has a different shape.

    I think every clip bar the James Brown one is lip-synced. The performers, apart from Donna Summer, all seem to be enjoying themselves. There is even an early Rap song by Sugarhill Gang.

    Like on the Glam Rock DVD, each clip has an introductory full screen image similar to the menu with the track details, shown over the first five to ten seconds of the clip, so some action is missed. This could have been handled better.

    The German audience seem uninterested much of the time. The fashions of the day...well, have a look at the dancers in the Donna Summer clip, wearing some bizarre get-up.

    This DVD is rated Exempt From Classification, so I feel I should point out that in the Lipps Incorporated clip, the dancers wear see-through tops which leave nothing to the imagination. Some viewers will count this as an extra.

    The track listing is as follows:

Video

    I was pleasantly surprised by the video quality which, while not perfect, is pretty good considering the source and age of the clips shown here.

    All clips are presented in 1.33:1. Colour is good considering the video source material, and everything is quite well lit. The video on the disc looks much better than anything I can recall seeing on colour TV in the 1970s.

    There are a few examples of microphony in the James Brown clip.

    Unfortunately, no subtitles are provided on this single-layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio tracks, the default Dolby Digital 5.1 track and a DTS 5.1 track.

    I listened to both tracks. There is little difference between the two tracks, with the DTS track having a slightly richer bass sound. Apart from that, the audio quality is very good. I suspect that at least some of the lip-synced tracks have had the audio replaced with masters of the original recordings, as the audio is much better than could be expected from a video source.

    I would have liked a two channel stereo track as well, given that this would have approximated the original versions of these clips, but the present audio transfer is quite good.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    No extras are provided. Information about the artists and the recording dates would have been nice.

    An identical DVD is available in Region 1, except that the video format is NTSC. Given that the source material is PAL format, the Region 4 would provide better video quality, so the Region 4 is the preferred option.

    This is a nostalgia trip with some (mostly) excellent performers included on this well-presented DVD. Recommended if you like the music.

    The video quality is better than expected.

    The audio quality is very good.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall