Atomic Kitten - So Far So Good [DVD] [2001]

If you are non-English this can be a quite hard disc to get around, there are many references to magazines, TV-shows and places in the UK and it sometimes requires a bit of research to get the point. Also almost everybody in this feature have strong accent, mostly from Liverpool and of course Jen from Manchester, very charming, but it does take some rewinding to understand it all. In fact, at the time of writing, I’m still trying to figure out what Liz explains about the studio in Liverpool before entering and what Jen thinks she looks like on a huge billboard.

Anyway, the feature takes us for a ride from the early start, through the initial endless promotion tours leading to the big break with “Whole Again” and up until the first headline gig in London. The major parts of the recordings are, for obvious reasons, done within a few selected days, you can’t have a camera around everyday, although it’s a shame no one was filming when the manager threw Tash in the pool. The recordings, apart from the lengthy interviews, mainly deal with the first ever headline gig (in Liverpool), a trip to Germany and Israel, a couple of movie recording and the first gig in London. Added to that is the famous shirt sequence with Prince Charles (lucky guy), the launch of “AK Motor Sport” and some “show us around” clips.

Every tiny bit of the feature is loaded with the highly addictive kitten style. First of all it’s honest, I can’t think of anybody else who would emphasize that Jen was laid down in the “Eternal Flame” video because she was too ill to stand up. It’s also very funny, but not the awkward and patched on sequences seen in so many other contexts, little twists, tales and comments just appear naturally throughout the recordings.

Making a documentary like this won’t ever be able to make everyone happy; the feature covers a quite lengthy timeframe with a very limited amount of recorded material. Personally I would have liked to see more about the early beginning and the potential drop from the record company but that would require more talking and some would say there are too much now. Also I think it could have been interesting to hear some words from the people behind the scenes like the manager, families and friends, but maybe we’ll get a chance later.

The feature mainly spans the same timeframe as the “So good, so far” book, which was released much later than this disc, but it seems like great care have been taken to avoid telling the same things over and over, of course the basic story is the same, but most of the many twists and tales can only be found in one place.

There are 8 videos included besides the main feature:
“Right Now”, “See Ya”, “I want Your Love”, “Follow Me”, “Whole Again” (The low-budget English version), “Eternal Flame” (Normal + Exclusive Parole Officer version) and “You Are”

From a technical point of view this DVD is a mixed bag; many of the recordings are done with camcorders and the audio/video quality is not very good on those, especially the live sequences sounds bad, but they are only short clips and should be considered as “feel the mood” parts. The 8 videos included are, of course, in a very fine quality, both audio and video. Only really strange bit is that the feature is started right away without going to the menu first, oh well we’ve got a menu button on the remote anyway.

For fans of the kittens this is a must-have, especially if you like an honest and fun documentary, but it takes some effort to get it all. I think newcomers to the kitten world would be better off going for the “Right Here, Right Now Live” DVD first, the behind the scenes documentary there is much easier to get around than this one.

The only minor complaint is that when I put the disc in it imediatly started the feature I only found the videos when I went to menu.

If you like Atomic Kitten you'll love this.

Right Now
See Ya
I Want Your Love
Follow Me
Whole Again (with Jenny)
Eternal Flame (both versions)
You Are

I have to agree that it is a bit annoying having the feature start immediately without going to the menu first, but the content more than makes up for this.