STEWART COPELAND

I don't know if this was mentioned here before, but Warner Bros. is putting out an apparently shotty DVD of Urgh! A Music War. Here is an article from the Chicago Reader:

[url]http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/argh-its-urgh/Content?oid=1188614[/url]

Well, a shotty version is better than nothing. In my mind, this movie documents one of the best Police concerts I am aware of, so I think this would be definitely worth getting.

You have to order it through Warner Archives:


http://www.wbshop.com/Urgh+-A-Music-War ... html?cgid=


Important Note: This film has been manufactured from the best-quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored specifically for this DVD and Digital Download release. Click here to preview this film's video quality.

Synopsis:
It’s live and loud. It’s urgent and proud. It’s more than two-dozen young, energetic bands caught in the act and making the music and moments matter in hot, crowded, amped venues scattered across L.A., London, New York City and elsewhere. It’s big hair, little hair, guys, girlz – with music styles ranging from minimalist electronica to reggae to theatrical camp to mosh-worthy mayhem. It’s catchy, it’s topical, it’s angry, it’s playful, it’s live. And it lives on in a rocking, throbbing, sights-and-sounds showcase featuring The Police, Devo, The Go-Gos, Oingo Boingo, X, The Cramps, Surf Punks, Joan Jett, Pere Ubu and more. Turn it on, turn it up, this means war: Urgh! A Music War.

Performance Content:
The Police - Driven to Tears
Wall of Voodoo – Back in Flesh
Toyah Willcox – Danced
John Cooper Clarke – Health Fanatic
OMD – Enola Gay
Chelsea – I’m on Fire
Oingo Boingo – Ain’t This the Life
Echo & the Bunnymen – The Puppet
Jools Holland – Foolish I Know
XTC – Respectable Street
Klaus Nomi – Total Eclipse
Athletico Spizz 80 – Where’s Captain Kirk?
The Go-Go's – We Got the Beat
Dead Kennedys – Bleed for Me
Steel Pulse – Ku Klux Klan
Gary Numan – Down in the Park
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – Bad Reputation
Magazine – Model Worker
Surf Punks – My Beach
The Members – Offshore Banking Business
Au Pairs – Come Again
The Cramps – Tear It Up
Invisible Sex – Valium
Pere Ubu – Birdies
Devo – Uncontrollable Urge
The Alley Cats – Nothing Means Nothing Anymore
John Otway – Cheryl’s Going Home
Gang of Four – He’d Send in the Army
999 – Homicide
The Fleshtones – Shadowline
X – Beyond and Back
Skafish – Sign of the Cross
UB40 – Madame Medusa
The Police – Roxanne
The Police– So Lonely
Klaus Nomi – Aria

TheEqualizer wrote:Well, a shotty version is better than nothing. In my mind, this movie documents one of the best Police concerts I am aware of, so I think this would be definitely worth getting.

Agreed

I just got mine today. Zero extras, but the picture and sound is perfectly fine.

Thanks for the info, all.

Warner's legal department must have balls the size of watermelons. Or perhaps they're making up for it by their sheer number of lawyers and insanely deep pockets.

10-minute generic chapter stops? My 12-year old nephew could have done a better job. Made on a non-pressed DVDR? This smacks of using a legal 'grey area' to get around a technicality or two of the original contracts (and yeah, I'm aware of the complicated issues said documents are said to have), to make a quick buck. Or a few thousand bucks. I can't believe that Warner would behave like the scummiest of bootleggers. I really can't. (Hrm, now that I type this, it sounds EXACTLY like something Warner would do... )

For those of you who already have this atrocious blasphemy (which I, admittedly, have on order of course ), is it truly WIDESCREEN or has the original scope dimension been cropped to simulate 16x9? I wonder, because after seeing this screen shot from this new dvd (http://yfrog.com/15vlcsnap10799873p) I'm suspicious that they just cropped the 4:3 original. (MGM's official release of KOYAANISQATSI was done in this fashion: It was shot in 4:3 but MGM cropped the image to appear widescreen for the DVD, resulting in a large portion of the image being lost.)

But to be honest, I'm at work at the moment and I can't remember if URGH was originally shot in 4:3 or 16:9. I guess I'll have to check my laserdisc and compare...Anyone? Anyone?

ETA: I just did a quick comparison, and it looks like they are guilty of simply cropping the 4:3 original to fit. However, the new transfer has added a bit of image on the sides, but has also cropped some of the top and bottom to do so. Here's a collage of the two versions, the original in back and the new on top: http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7750/urgcompare.jpg

As you can see, the image detail is much improved, as is the color, but these improvements really just highlight how badly this movie needs to be given the PROPER TREATMENT.

...and I do wonder what ever happened to the recent great transfer, (apparently) officially done in the UK by 'nyquest dvd'? Remember this sample? http://www.vimeo.com/2000025

Dunno, Krok. Mostly because we rely on you to tell us about these things.

Well, I recall someone posting the re-transferred footage (which appears in that vimeo clip) a while back here on SC.net, but then nothing came of it.

At the bottom of the Chicago Reader article, a poster by the name of 'Leecifur' stated this: "Apparently Miles & Steve Tannet from IRS have sold the archive including Urgh. Which actually is titled "Music Wars" on the 16mmm print I have handled. Cherry Red Records in the U.K own this lovely 16mm print. I have seen it & can confirm it has been digitised, (I did it) however the Urgh contract story is infamous & Miles Raymer (the Chicago Reader article's author) has it correct. It would be a nightmare to clear not to mention very expensive I doubt it will make it a commercially viable prospect. I have good links with Cherry Red & will help."

Take what you will from that last sentence.

In case anyone is interested, I made a little comparison video for the WB reissue *here*. It's not a perfect comparison, but you get the general idea. The new transfer is "letterbox" only because they cropped the original 4:3 print to fit 16:9. The audio mix is cleaner than the dvd copies floating around, but it also sounds like it's off-balance to me. The video has deeper/richer colors, but it's also very dark, and some of the subtler colors get crushed to black.

It's better than nothing, but still far short of the justice it deserves!