Review of Fame Academy Live

Introduction

In case you were wondering what happened to last year`s Fame Academy graduates… what do you mean who?

This is a filmed concert put together to show off the talents of the 12 that made it into the house.

True talent is rare and there are thousands of young hopefuls tuning in their air guitars in front of the mirror, crooning in the shower and getting down to karaoke nights in their local waiting to be discovered.

Those who were lucky enough to get through the hallowed doors also needed something more, motivation, and perhaps the maturity to accept that far from being a ticket to riches this is just a leg up the ladder. Hands up who can name the 12 who made it in?

Each artist has a featured song and duets with others. Most of the songs were previously featured on a cd issued during the show`s transmission.The songs are mainly covers of hits that the Fame Academy teachers grew up with. They are all classics such as `Every Breath You Take` and `Come up and See Me, make me Smile`. There are also a couple of songs written by the students.

Video

It is a standard film of a live concert with no exciting innovations. The picture is of reasonable quality but nothing to sing and dance about. If you were there you`ll no doubt buy it as a souvenir. If you weren`t then go out and discover some real music.

Audio

Tinny I`m afraid. It is not a great showcase for these people who put in a lot of work for this show. It smacks of cashing in quick. The bass thumps on `Every Breath You Take` but turning up the sound just makes the inadequate backing tracks more painfully obvious.

Features

A very dull photo gallery is included.

Chapter selection with tracks individually shown-I would have found it useful to have a list of who they all were.

There are no details about who wrote any of the songs or who is singing them. Sorry guys but I had to look you up on the Internet to find out your names.

Conclusion

What a great idea find some fledgling talent nurture it for twelve weeks and then send it off to fill Wembley with children and their mums and dads and kill it stone dead.

Where do you go after Wembley? For these people it seems that it is too much too soon. The DVD is frankly a cheap and nasty way to get your teenies to spend your hard earned dosh on instantly forgettable bunch of songs. I spent most of the time thinking that the original artist did it better. The only song that stood out was `Smile`. At least Ashley and Marli looked like they were enjoying themselves! Nigel has the unhappy ability to look like Bruce Springsteen. His age marks him out and he looks uncomfortable leaping around with the 20 somethings. The winner of Fame Academy, David Sneddon, does not stand out here.

This lot make S Club look professional. Most of the songs are covers of old favourites and they are so personal to the original artists that it is difficult for the Fame Academes to put their mark on them.

The sound quality alone marks this one down. One or two of them stand out as having potential but this poverty-stricken showcase is just a letdown. I think the boys and girls deserve better.

Too bad, it does not inspire me to watch out for their future careers. I only hope they can rise above this mediocre offering.