Shania Twain's Up! Close and Personal concert is both a follow-up to her bestselling 2002 album and an intimate show featuring Alison Krauss and Union Station. It's hard to imagine two superstars in the same general style... more » being as different as Twain and Krauss, and it's surreal to see the latter singing backup on "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under," but the combination works. Up! featured both pop and country versions of its 19 songs, and while the intent here is to favor the country approach, the bluegrass sound of AKUS is more listenable than the album's twang and pedal steel, and "From This Moment On" could almost be mistaken for a Krauss song. It's still Twain's show all the way, though, as she sings lead for every song, including "I'm Gonna Getcha Good," "You're Still the One," and a cover of "You Shook Me All Night Long," which her husband Mutt Lange produced for AC/DC many moons ago. Dressed in relatively conservative black leather (!) and forgoing the aerobics, step dancers, and other pyrotechnics of older shows, Twain is personable and chatty with the audience that surrounds the stage (though no one is invited up), so much so that she can only get through 12 songs in the hourlong show. A 25-minute behind-the-scenes featurette helps fill out the disc. --David Horiuchi« less
Genres:Music Video & Concerts Sub-Genres:Country, Pop, Twain, Shania Studio:Mercury Nashville Format:DVD - Color - Closed-captioned DVD Release Date: 11/09/2004 Release Year: 2004 Screens: Color Number of Discs: 1 SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 0 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Languages:English
"Shania knows how to put on a great show for her fans. This setting is even more intimate than the all-around arena she had during her Up! world tour. This special features songs from Up! Come On Over and The Woman In Me. But most of all, she performs with Alisson Krauss and Union Station on this special! I got to see it on NBC and absolutely loved it! It gave it a home-feel sound to the songs. Very country-ish if you will. This is a must for all SHANIA fans! here and all over! The best thing about this performance is she does her own rendition of AC/DC's classic "You Shook Me All Night Long" with some of the lyrics redone. LUV IT TO PIECES!"
An absolute must for all Shania Twain Fans!
Bernd Kuntze | Austria | 09/27/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I earlier had seen a part of this DVD - it was aired as a special one year ago on TV. They had only released 8 songs at that time but all of them were gorgeous! Accompanied by Alison Krauss and Union Station, Shania performed "unplugged" mostly well known songs but also 2 that she rarely performs live. And the last song was a real surprise - I will only say: it is related to the musical roots of her husband, Mutt. Have a look by yourself! I bet your eyes and ears will be impressed very much!"
Shania is GREAT but this DVD isn't
RacerX | JAX, FL | 01/10/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I loved the intimacy of Shania's show on this DVD. And I really loved hearing her with Allison Krauss & Union Station--it really was a back to her roots thing for Shania. I really like to hear her more "country" and she definitely was in this performance. And as always Shania really tries to spotlight others, etc. But her voice is just incredible and you can really hear it in this not-so-amped-up performance and it kind of overshadows--which is a good thing.
What I didn't like was the [sound] recording. Initially I had it on 5.1 (I have a pretty nice home theater system) and was surprised at how poor it sounded. Yes I am spoiled, but I expected more. I had to back it down to 2.0 stereo for it to sound halfay decent. That's the reason I rated it only 4 stars. It was also a little "short" too. I wish she'd have done a couple extra encore songs.
The extras on the DVD were good too. Shows a lot of Shania in the pre-concert mode. Always a classy woman. Thanks Shania."
Don"t miss it this time!
Chris R. Greentree | Boothwyn, PA United States | 09/29/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you somehow missed the TV special last November, don"t pass up the chance to see this special now. Shania and AKUS are incredible together, and to hear her sing "SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG" is worth the price alone!"
Shania at her best!
WileEBear | Pennsylvania | 11/20/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This DVD is really a treat. The extras features are the icing, but the really cake is the performance. Stripped of all the high gloss production, the songs take on a new shine, and are definitely more country than her more recent material. It's a welcome change and I would love to see Up Close and Personal released as an audio CD. It even beats the newly released Greatest Hits package."