Discovery in Rio 1994) [2021

Who's this dude on this cover and it's also not James Taylor but nevertheless this is a great release by PSB as always. I am actually rediscovering PSB and this is a classic, no intention of watching the DVD but the CDs offer a great sound quality, slightly too much audience noise at times although they seem very excited. Some great moments and pure pop from the 1990s, top form as normal from PSB and well ahead of their time ,would recommend this and the pandaminium cd/dvd as well.

The cd and dvd capture everything that was commercial and great about the pet shop boys with my favourite versions of many of their songs - Paninaro never sounded better. You also get snippets of Mr Vain and I Will Survive with Katie Kissoon to the fore. It’s like one big festival taking place in your ears.

Not quite sure why James Taylor reviews are appearing here, but this mid-1990s performance from the Pet Shop Boys is absolutely joyous. Recorded in Rio during the Boys' imperial phase, the show is a visual delight with a set list that represents the best of their catalogue up to the Very album.The band, dancers and audience all contribute to a wonderful record of what looked like a great show.

This 1994 concert was initially released on VHS in 1995 and documents the final night of Pet Shop Boys’ tour of the southern hemisphere to locations they hadn’t played before, including Singapore, Australia, and South America. Newly released in a DVD and 2CD combination, the concert can be best described as hedonistic, capturing arguably their most ’up’ period – the albums Very and four-to-the-floor remix album Disco, hence the cunning title showing PSB’s ability to assign double meaning in their utterances as that combination also describes the trip into unknown territory. Due to the enormous cost of prior tours which set a new benchmark for theatrics and actually lost the duo considerable money this is a paired back production, concentrating on obvious hits and recycling costumes from videos and those prior tours – MCMLXXXIX and Performance - not that the audience care because the great thing about the recording is how high they appear in the mix and how rapturous the reception.What’s so mouthwatering however is how it captures PSB in all their pomp, and for the first time presents some songs as unique mash-ups with popular tracks by other artists as well as an opportunity to own their cover of Blur’s Girls and Boys with Neil Tennant singing over the duo’s own hit remix. Unless you were a purchaser of the Paninaro 95 CD single, the Very/Further Listening re-release/expansion or the Japanese only version of b-sides compilation Alternative this will be new to you. Those mash-ups include Culture Beat’s Mr Vain (with One In a Million – its only appearance live) that ironically kept Go West off the top of the UK charts, Corona's Rhythm of the Night (with Left To My Own Devices), and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive (with It’s a Sin) making this an enticing package for long-term fans. There’s also the only live performance of Absolutely Fabulous to enjoy too as well as ’Unplugged ’ versions of Rent and Suburbia.The concert was filmed in Rio de Janeiro at short notice on videotape by a local TV crew, and a decision has been made to present it in its original 4:3 screen dimension rather and on DVD too rather than attempting to upscale to BluRay™ and try to convert to the now standard 16:9 picture format. Whilst the rear of the package states that this is to maintain the original integrity of the concert I suspect cost considerations have played a part. Evan at the time the standard was to record to 16mm film; and the picture quality suffers as a result, with the typically woozy VHS source betraying those origins not helped by coming from an NTSC source either. The TV crew aren’t that cutting edge, with edits and camera angles which are fairly perfunctory – to see how much things have moved on look at the superb Inner Sanctum on how to make a concert look exciting.However the major reason for purchase for me is finally having this concert on CD, the visuals are a bonus and contain a warning that parent’s might wish to heed if purchasing for young fans and which definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste – sexualised images. What that means is look out for the risqué dancers – scantily clad women in thongs, and even scantier clad men slathered in baby oil and displaying honed six packs to envy at every opportunity. Personally I’ve no objection, except that it’s perhaps rather too overt for my stereotypically English reserve, but each to their own, some viewers may well really enjoy this aspect. This would undoubtedly be daring for the time and seems to go down a storm with the Brazilian audience.The music really is a Greatest Hits to date with several well known album tracks thrown in for good measure, although for me the highlight is Chris Lowe dancing to Paninaro – even if not as deliriously as on the MCMLXXXIX tour which is still my favourite PSB memory, with the reception nearly lifting the roof off. The versions here, mash-ups and unplugged versions aside stick rigidly to the hit arrangements. As this is the end of a long tour Neil’s vocals sound slightly shredded, but not enough to spoil the enjoyment. Back up is provided by Katie Kissoon, who is on fire – a superb vocalist who really adds something.A word on the package, which again closely emulates the Inner Sanctum one – tight cardboard slots make the discs tricky to remove and resulted in a damaged first copy, literally crushing the DVD. This is a real shame. The booklet features an informative diary and interview that adds a lot, although the photographs appear to be taken on a pre-digital tourist standard camera or perhaps low-resolution camera phone of the decade, they are not sharp at all, but at 36 pages it does capture the vérité, experimental feel of the tour.

First owned this on VHS and had to go to great lengths to rip off the audio so I could put on a cassette and later CD. Now, here it is in all its glory. Such a great concert. So glad it has finally been released in this format.

Some will argue this should be in Blu-ray but it’s a decision to keep the integrity of the show and for that you can feel the nolstagia for a show going back nearly 30 years. Great show, fab audience on the back of their #1 album Very. Just buy it it’s a classy well packaged release as usual.

I am a fan of the Pet Shop Boys and this is a great movie and CD to add to my collection. Great price and hours of music, the 1994 show is brilliant, good songs and great show all round

Best concert I've watched of the Pet shop boys. A very talented duo that can combine two songs together leading into the previous one , with lot's of costume changes with excellent male and female dancers , outstanding.

Excellent

Lo genial de este concierto es que contiene muy buenas canciones que casi nunca tocan, como Absolutely Fabulous, Can You Forgive Her? o Girls And Boys entre otras, así como covers raros de otros artistas, por lo que es un gran archivo musical.

I have every official VHS, DVD and Bluray releases from the Pet Shop Boys. So far, Discovery only had a limited release in obscure formats (Japaneese video CD, laserdisc or limited UK VHS). At last, I can replace my second generation VHS copy with an all-region DVD version. Even though this is not their best quality filmed concert (it was filmed by a Brazilian TV crew in standard definition video), it is however their most colourful (inspired by the album Very and its videos) and "effervescent". In fact, it's their best filmed concert with the Pandemonium tour. And the surprise inclusion of famous songs from others through their own songs is great. "It's a sin" and "I will Survive" don't sound like they go together but it works perfectly with the Pet Shop Boys. It's a must for PSB fans.

Esecuzione live dei PET shop boys a Rio de Janeiro nel 1994 durante il Discovery tour, inutile dire che qui entra in campo la migliore produzione di sempre.un consiglio,al prezzo che costa fatelo vostro non è da tutti i siti considerato live ufficiale, ma l'eleganza della confezione e il suono tutto mi fa ricordare, tranne un bootleg

Doble cd y DVD de la gira Discovery grabado en Río de Janeiro. De la época de su disco "Very". Gran repertorio con todos sus éxitos hasta ese momento y lo mejor de "very". Solo por la increíble "its a sin" mezclada con "I will survive" y la versión de "girls and boys" de Blur merece la pena.Nota: el DVD es una conversión del vhs original, y la imagen no es del todo perfecta, pero para fans es un problema menor en mi opinión. A este precio, ningún seguidor de PSB debería perdérselo.