A few months back Paul Weller released his latest album called Studio 150, named after the studio where the album was recorded. They chose this studio for its warm and cosy atmosphere. Weller wanted to capture this spirit on the album and managed quite nicely. Now Inspire Music releases a live DVD called Studio 150 as well. You’ve guessed it. The DVD features footage shot at the live performance in the same Studio 150. The DVD features 14 tracks a selection of songs from the new album and some all time favorites. The extras on the disc contain an interview with Paul Weller as well as with several members of the band. The small studio features a small crowd of around 200 or 300 people and the relatively small venue gives you the impression that Weller is actually playing in your living room. This feeling is boosted with the great amount of very good close ups.

The video footage is excellent, the lights, the colors, all are perfect. You can tell that every effort was made to get this show on tape as good as possible. In this way it’s quite reminiscent of the The Flower Kings DVD. Shot before a small audience in a studio were the music as well as the lights can be put to perfection. This makes you wonder why the hell you keep buying all these live DVDs with dusty sounds and an overdose of blue and red pictures. I will keep telling you that shooting a live DVD in a well controlled studio will prove to be very, very popular. I can only think of one negative consequence when this really catches on: the over-production of live DVDs resulting in boring and clinical footage. Luckily there’s none on Studio 150.