The Charlatans - Just Lookin' - 1990-1997 DVD

Charting the Beggar's Banquet years of 1990-97, The Charlatans--Just Lookin' gathers together a range of videos and live performances. Although in their early days they seemed like a younger and less talented sibling of already established "Mad-chester" bands, The Charlatans defied all expectations to become one of the most influential British bands of the 1990s. Even after the untimely death of their organist Rob Collins the boys soldiered-on and never lost their distinctive vibe, which was typified by Collins' distinct keyboard style. Thankfully in the period covered... by Just Lookin' he's still with the band. The Charlatans have never been a particularly visual band, as this video proves. It's clear from the selection on offer here that the Banquet years meant music for music's sake, with relatively little money spent on flashy videos and only "Just When You're Thinking Things Over" has any sort of narrative. Tim Burgess seems at a loss to know which rock-god look to emulate throughout most of the videos, from the Mad-chester bowl cut of "The Only One I Know" to the Gallagher swagger on "How High" and the Mick Jagger-esque tendencies on "Jesus' Hairdo". The live performances don't fare any better: without an anthemic song in sight the band lack the tightness and professionalism of their gigs in later years. But for fans this collection is essential memorabilia of one of Indie's finest. On the DVD: Just Lookin' provides disappointingly poor sound quality for the live performances, with the bass and vocals too low in places, and the "gig" atmosphere lost. The best the disc can offer is only Dolby 2.0. The music videos were not of the highest quality to begin with, but their grainy quality in-a-way is part oftheir charm, reminiscent of a time when everything was not a glossy MTV advert. The disc includes the US version of "Weirdo", which is the only version available. --Nikki Disney [show more]

Read More