Open Space: The Classic Chillout DVD-Volume 1 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Menu Animation Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	112:56
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	David Elliott John Kelly Alan Pattillo Desmond Saunders
Studio Distributor	Sony Music Sony Music	Starring	Don Mason David Graham
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Barry Gray

    Derived from Sony's Open Space 'Chillout' series, this disc is a virtual best-of compilation of tunes from a number of diverse artists. Some of the tracks have been around for years, going back as far as 1989 in the case of Electribe 101's Tell Me When The Fever Ended right up to newer stuff like Amiel's 2003 hit Lovesong. There is a big range of artists here, and a large number of tracks (29), but they all have that laid back style, the kind of music that you'd put on in the background during a hip and happening party or have on when you want to wind down from a heavy night of partying. At the end of the day, sometimes you just want to chill out, and that is exactly what this disc is for.

    Here for your viewing and listening pleasure is a collection of songs from a range of artists from around the world. Each is different, but the vibe is the same...cool.

1. Sadness Part 1   -   Enigma   -   4:10

    All very early 90s with the Gregorian chants and world music electronic beats. Set it in a derelict church with a monk and a hauntingly beautiful woman and you've got vintage 1990.

2. Sweet Lullaby   -   Deep Forest   -   3:53

    The song that put the whole genre of 'World Music' into the mainstream.

3. Protection   -   Massive Attack   -   6:32

    This is a great track and my favourite of the collection. The ever talented Massive Attack gain the voice of Tracy Thorn, lead singer of Everything But The Girl. Also an interesting video clip that employs some very inventive filming techniques.

4. Here With Me   -   Dido   -   4:05

    Dido does the ol' 'filming the video clip' video clip, and looking lovely as usual.

5. Children   -   Robert Miles   -   4:04

    Views from a moving car to an instrumental track.

6. Silence   -   Delerium featuring Sarah McLachlan   -   4:49

    A trance style that features the glorious vocals of the Canadian songstress.

7. Corner of the Earth   -   Jamiroquai   -   3:57

    Jay Kay and his merry men take a break from disco and do it a bit softer and sing about harmony with the earth.

8. Release The Pressure   -   Leftfield   -   3:59

    Influential UK band that has a jazzy reggae feel, sort of like Massive Attack from Jamaica.

9. My Culture (Radio Edit)   -   1 Giant Leap   -   4:09

    Features a heap of great vocal talent, from Robbie Williams to Maxi Jazz of Faithless. Also features some very interesting CG.

10. All Mine   -   Portishead   -   3:57

    Portishead doing a live type of gig with heaps of strings. Very cool.

11. One Step Too Far   -   Faithless featuring Dido   -   3:26

    Dido on the dance floor, Dido in the studio, Dido in the night club. She's everywhere!

12. Spiritual High   -   Moodswings featuring Chrissie Hynde   -   4:29

    The Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde joins former band mate, drummer James Hood, on his project. Very smooth, and an interesting film clip that plays backwards, except for Chrissie and the gang.

13. I Want To   -   Wicked Beat Sound System   -   3:36

    An Australian band that stands aside from the normal pop and glitter to do something a little different. Very stylish and sexy.

14. Trick With A Knife   -   Strawpeople   -   4:07

    A classic from the New Zealand group that was very popular in the early 90s, especially on Triple J.

15. Mad About You   -   Hooverphonic   -   2:07

    A nice laid back (and very short) tune along with a strange video clip about a woman and her love affair with her house plant. Quite unusual.

16. Trigger   -   Sandrine   -   3:46

    Another quality track from Australian performer Sandrine. Sexy voice and a sexy song.

17. Sex & Violence   -   Endorphin   -   3:10

    Another Australian act, which was discovered by Triple J in their Unearthed project. Interesting electronic sounds.

18. Always   -   Bent   -   3:48

    This is a great track from a quirky English group of guys that know how to make something interesting. A fun video clip that lampoons the whole King Kong thing.

19. Only Love Can Break Your Heart   -   Saint Etienne   -   3:50

    A cover of the Neil Young song from the After the Goldrush album, this 1990 version takes it in a completely different direction.

20. Get Some Sleep   -   Bic Runga   -   3:33

    A nice tune from the New Zealand songstress.

21. 6 Underground   -   Sneaker Pimps   -   3:54

    A great track from the British group. The whole Becoming X album could have been featured on this disc.

22. No Ordinary Love   -   Sade   -   3:58

    Super smooth singer Helen Folasade Adu, originally from Nigeria and better known as Sade, does her thing. This would be one of her most popular songs.

23. Taken For Granted   -   Sia   -   3:22

    Prokofiev never sounded so hip. A really different sound.

24. Snow On The Sahara   -   Anggun   -   4:10

    A great track from the Indonesian singer. Very moody and cool.

25. Take Me Away (Into The Night)   -   4 Strings   -   3:12

    The trance group from the Netherlands do their thing.

26. So Lonely   -   Jakatta   -   3:22

    A very up tempo track that is in very stark contrast to the song My Vision featuring Seal. I'd have loved to have seen that track here.

27. Tell Me When The Fever Ended   -   Electribe 101   -   3:55

    A blast from the far gone past with a 1989 (the oldest here) track from the short lived band.

28. Croupier   -   The Hampdens   -   3:18

    The band from Perth, Western Australia do their thing. A fantastic sound and one that I'll hope to hear more of.

29. Lovesong   -   Amiel   -   3:28

    Another Australian artist does us proud. Amiel first came to our attention when she added her voice to the Josh Abrahams song Addicted to Bass. This is the radio edit.
 

Video

     We get a wide range of quality here, but for the most part it all can be described as 'watchable'.

     The aspect ratios vary here, from full frame to 1.66:1 to 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. Sadly, for the widescreen material there is no 16x9 enhancement.

     The level of sharpness here varies from film clip to film clip. Some, such as Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest (Track 2), are reasonably clear, whist others such as All Mine by Portishead suffer from a reduced clarity due to poor source material. Shadow detail is all over the shop with the overall result being an adequate presentation considering the various sources of the clips. I didn't experience a great deal of low level noise, but I found that grain and pixelization were so common that low level noise would be hard to pick at times.

     Colours use here varies (again) from clip to clip. Some are in black and white, such as Children by Robert Miles (Track 5) whist others are full colour such as Sweet Lullaby (Track 2). Sometimes the colour is quite poor due to the original source, such as that seen on Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Saint Etienne (Track 19). For the most part it's all watchable, but the quality does dip from time to time.

     This disc runs consistently at around the 4.00 Mb/s range, providing enough for a watchable image, but at times the lower rate reveals itself in frequent pixelization, which is visible throughout the programme. There are some obvious source dramas here. All Mine (as mentioned earlier) looks to have been sourced from a low resolution video source and there are the obvious scan lines and accompanying shimmer visible. Cross colouration is a real problem with many of the tracks on this disc. Tracks 5, 12, 14 and 18 all feature this annoying artefact. Grain is quite pronounced at times (Tracks 1, 5 and 23 leap to mind), but this could have been intended by the filmmakers. There are some analogue tape tracking errors found on Track 14, but they are minor. And I had some problems with chroma noise on Track 27. Lastly, edge enhancement throws itself in the mix quite a few times on this disc, but Tracks 25 and 26 seem to be affected the most.

     There are no subtitles on this disc.

     This disc is formatted single layer and as such, there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio option here, that being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track running at a decent 384 Kb/s.

    The clarity of the singing is good here, and I had no problems whatsoever with the clarity of the audio here. Sync is as good as can be expected with lip synched video clips. Not always perfect, but not bad, either.

    The music comes from various sources, and these can be found in the Plot Synopsis section of the review. They all are in the 'Chillout' style, laid back and smooth.

    You'll find that your surround processor will be able to do lots with the 2 channel audio on this disc. I watched it using several DSP options as well as dts NEO:6 Music and plain stereo. Use the programme that best suits your taste, but there is plenty of quality information for your equipment to use if you have it available. Plain 2 channel stereo also sounds fine.

    There is a slight level of LFE here, but nothing that a pair of full size front channels won't be able to handle. If you have a sat/sub combination then your subwoofer will have a bit to do.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

• Play All
• Clip Select (animated window with clip title and artist name)
• Credits (single page of thanks, then an auto return to the Main Menu)

    The video is watchable, but there are quite a number of flaws.

    The audio is good.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall