Anne Murray-What a Wonderful World (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Music	Booklet Menu Audio Notes-Music Releases Biographies-Cast Awards Featurette-Electronic Press Kit Music Video-Let There Be Love
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	46:28 (Case: 55)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Susan Hall Kevin Hunt Cathy Patton
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	None Given
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

    Anne Murray is a great singer of the gentler variety. She sings a lot of religious material and gentle songs. They are about as far away as you can get from my previous music DVD review (Cypress Hill). Murray had a several successful pop and country tunes in the 1970s such as Snowbird and You Needed Me. It was in the late 70s that I was introduced to her. Her album There is a Hippo in the Bathtub first let me hear her beautiful voice. I have liked it ever since. Her voice, a little different now, is still rich and smooth.

    This DVD, What a Wonderful World, is a made-for-TV production in what appears to be a large studio complete with live audience. It does not feature any of her most popular hits from years gone by but is a collection of songs she has chosen to fit the theme of the show. Most of the tracks are of a reverential nature. The best-known of the tracks are I Can See Clearly Now and What a Wonderful World. She is backed by a decent-sized band which includes backing singers, cellos and violins. For a couple of numbers she is joined by a choir. Anne Murray's daughter sings with her on many tracks. For a couple of songs, such as I Can See Clearly Now, Lean on Me and Amazing Grace, Anne is joined by Deborah Cox. There are a few up-tempo numbers, but for the most part this is a disc that features gentler ballads.

Video

    The picture was sharp. Dark areas looked well saturated and experienced no problems. Shadow detail, which sometimes a problem for concert discs, was very good. There was no low level noise.

    This is a colourful DVD. The studio lights cover the whole spectrum of colours and Anne wears some very brightly coloured clothing. No colour bleed or other colour-related problems were evident in this DVD.

    MPEG artefacts were no problem on this transfer; this was helped by the fairly minimal compression - the bit rate almost never dropped below 9Mbps.

    There are subtitles, but only in English. They cover all of the spoken words, and all of the lyrics.

    This is a single layer disc. There is no layer change. With a programme this short a single layer is ample.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Sound quality was very good. Anne's voice is exclusively in the centre channel. There are no drop-outs.

    Audio sync was not a problem.

    The surrounds are gently engaged. They capture background echoes, and help provide a natural enjoyable sound. They really come to life with audience applause.

    The subwoofer was used through most of the tracks, but only at a moderate level.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menus

    All of the menus were static, but scored. They are not 16x9 enhanced.

Music Video

     There is a bonus music video of the song Let There Be Love.

Featurette

    There is a five minute Electronic Press Kit that is in stereo and in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Notes

    There is a listing of her extensive awards and achievements.

Notes

    There is a listing of her music releases.
   

    At three quarters of an hour this is not the longest disc around but if you are a sucker for Anne Murray's voice I am sure you will like it.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall