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In Short: 3 hours of music and performance. Let me say this: you get your money's worth. The Movie: There's really been no better forum for me to be introduced to a number of performers than DVD. Would I go to an Alabama concert? Probably not. Do I have their album? No, not really familiar with their music until now. The DVD format can do so much to bring the experience home. Not only do most music discs have videos or concert performances, they offer bios and other footage. None really introduce you to a history of music like this one does, though. "For The Record" is a recording of 41 of Alabama's hits performed live in Las Vegas in 1998. The performance is wonderful, and although I'm not a fan of this sort of country-rock music, I could still enjoy this energetic concert and found some of the music catchy and what the special guests (such as Dick Clark) had to say quite interesting. Unlike many concert discs which are rather short in length, this one is 3 hours long. There are also a number of features that take us even further into the history of the band and backstage at the show that I'll get to later in this review. The DVD is of excellent quality, and is consistent over the 3 hour performance. The image quality is very good, with clear, crisp images and strong, bold colors. There is only a slight bit of artifacts, but nothing that distracts from the performance. The sound isn't quite as well defined and smooth as some other concert discs that I've auditioned lately such as Sheryl Crow: Rockin' The Globe Live, but it still provides an enjoyable rendition of the concert experience, with the music coming through clearly. There's even animated menus to introduce us to the concert. Although the sub-menus aren't animated, they're easily navigated, allowing easy access to any one of the songs. There's even some really nice extras in addition to the concert footage. There's a discography section where you can check out listings for Alabama's previous albums and even jump to a song from the album if it's played in the concert. On a commentary track, the members of Alabama chat about their inspirations and thoughts about certain songs. A really interesting behind-the-scenes documentary takes a look at the thoughts of the band and crew about how they would manage to play a concert this lengthy and how they would take on a project this enormous.There's even subtitles for the lyrics for all 41 songs, and a bonus video for "How Do You Fall In Love" after the concert(or it can be selected from the "song list" menu. It's not quite as strong as some discs in the audio/video department, but I can strongly appreciate what has been done for this DVD edition, bringing home one incredible concert performance (all 3 hours of it) home with a documentary tying it all together. Grade:A- |