Review of Breathe Videos
Josep was kind enough to share his Breathe video collection with me. I am going to post some reviews of the videos, everyone please feel free to send in their thoughts! The following paragraphs are my own thoughts as I watched the videos.
Video 1- Hands to Heaven
This video starts with David being driven in a cab up to a house.
He sings while a ballerina with a whispy pink dress dances around in a
room with a bass and a piano. The ceiling is a moving sky.
Near the end the whole band (Marcus, Mick, Ian, David) is wearing tuxes
and playing music. Mick is playing a bass instead of a bass guitar. In the end of the video
David walks back to the cab to wake the driver up, only to find that it was he who was
asleep and dreaming the whole time. The fare is 44.60 and the cab driver
says that sleeping in a cab costs a lot of money and starts to tell David about
a drunk guy he drove once.
All in all this is a very 80's video, mostly due to the hair and ballerina dress. This
is such a beautiful, emotional song that it would be hard to match that intensity in a video.
I prefer my own images and memories! :o)
Video 2- Jonah (Version 1)
This video makes me dizzy! The camera is always panning in and out of fuzzy, jerky shots.
There are stamp-like frames to some of the images, not sure why. There is also footage of the guys (all 4)
playing live to an audience in front of a fountain. I'd rather see more of that. Take motion sickness pills
before watching this! :o)
There is also a girl that looks similar to the ballerina in HtH. David kisses her in one scene,
seems to be writing the song in others. Many sunglasses shots and disco-like lights.
Video 3- Don't Tell Me Lies
Kind of a neat video, but hard to describe. There are a lot of black and white photos that move around and get cut up by a chasing scissors. The band is in a white brick
room with stairs in it. All 4 guys are there performing the song, no one looks like they are having any fun!
Some things to catch in the video are a Madonna-ish dancer and David singing into a microphone with a
floppy wire (antenna) hanging out the end. Looks silly! Ditch the mic, let's see you sing, Dave! :o)
I may poke fun, but I do like the video. Reminds me of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" video, moving from room to room.
Video 4- How Can I Fall?
This video is in a very pretty place. There are lights strung around a
city square type of place. The band is at a cafe singing amidst the tables as people play stickball in the street. A guy is trying to impress a girl and throws a great pitch but the batter hits it hard and the pitcher is embarrassed it happened in front
of the girl. She comes by him to flirt and comfort him, but he swats her arm away and she
walks away. Later she talks with a guy and the pitcher comes over to chat.
Now the girl swats his arm away. Now it starts to rain and people all over start making out. The song ends with Breathe (only 3 of them) singing in the rain. Marcus and Spike
smirk through the whole thing. Wonder what is so funny!
This video has a very European feel to it. You may ask what I mean about that, but I'm not sure I know!
The whole festival/square/cafe thing makes me think more of Europe than the US. I don't know! :o)
Good scenery but the plot kind of confused me. The rain scene I like though!
Video 5- Jonah (Version 2)
All decked out in black leather jackets for this one. Another woman with long dark hair. Much better than the first Jonah! Beautiful late-day lighting in a warehouse kind of place. Can't tell if Mick is in this one or not, they show only Marcus, Spike, the girl, and David.
They seem to hide the bass player behind David or keep him in the back, so I am guessing it is not him. Looking more natural again, starting to loosen up!
From Josep's personal collection:
I Hear You're Doing Fine (TV performance in Spain)
Since this song is from the second album, the guys are a bit older here. They look much more natural on stage. Marcus has long hair, David has short hair almost like the Roman look that was popular not too long ago,
and the drummer (never get a close enough look at him to see if it is Spike or not) is wearing a black baseball cap.
As I said, David seems much more at ease on stage, but he is still not singing live, it is from a track.
Say Hello
David in a black tank top, guys sitting on a fence, standing near power poles.
Not much more to say.
Don't Tell Me Lies
This is one of the only Breathe videos I had ever seen before and is by far my favorite. It reminds me of INXS's "Need You Tonight" the way that the background is moving and the guys are in front of it. This video is special because it shows the spunk that kept me coming back for more Breathe.
David and a beautiful woman are playing around, fighting to be in front of the camera. She picks on all the guys
and they look like they are actually having fun!
I love this video! It gives them all such personality that some of their other videos are lacking.
Spontanaeity looks great on Breathe!
Well, keeping with the tradition of Breathe, there is another version of the video. The following is a review in my own words.
(Interview part)
David: Hello, I'm David Glasper and I sing with Breathe.
Marcus: Hi, I'm Marcus Lillington and I play guitar and a little bit of keyboards here and there.
Spike: Hello, my name is Spike and I play drums with a band called Breathe. I've got brown eyes and blue hair and a mum and dad and brother and a pet goldfish.
David: I'm going to lie about this. When John Lennon introduced himself to Yoko Ono, he gave her a piece of paper saying Breathe on it and that's why we called the band Breathe. That's our new PR version of why we call ourselves Breathe because the truth is really boring.
Interviwer: Well, what's the truth?
David: It used to be the name of a song that we dropped from the set. It was done on a temporary basis, but it stuck. That's boring.
Yet another Jonah video
The band is in black leather. Mick is there too, playing bass. There are alternating cuts of Breathe playing on a closed set and of a girl who dances. She is wearing some very interesting hats! A fish on her head....guess it goes with the whale/sea thing. The girl must be the temptation. I like watching the band better. It is one of their looser videos, they seem to be fairly comfortable. I prefer the second Jonah video reviewed, it is prettier, but think this video has some good imagery.
Spike: As far as personalities, myself and Marcus are more easygoing on a day to day but Dave's more ambitious. He's more the drive behind the band, very interested in the business side of things as well.
David: As far as comediens are concerned, both you and I have tendencies to be complete idiots at times. We are all very different. I think Marcus is like the romantic kind of guy. He's the dreamer. He's the one who is sort of thinking ahead about things that could be and all the possibilities and that kind of thing. I'd say Spike is the one who's very down-to-earth, although he wouldn't like to admit it, he sometimes worries about things a bit too much. He's concerned about the direction of things and how they are going. I'd say like Spike said I'm very much focused on you know, I know what I want to achieve and I know, I think I know, I think I'm confident enough now, I think I'm experienced enough now to know how to get it. So, it's a good mixture.
Hands to Heaven (Same as reviewed above)
David: I know there are writers around that write for the market and they are very successful, but they don't have to go out and perform their songs. I mean ? don't have to go out and perform their songs at all, so for them, basically it is a good business proposition to tailor their music to know its going to sell well. But we've got to go and perform ours so I couldn't personally write a song I didn't like just for the sake of having hits and go out and play them for endless numbers of years, it just wouldn't, couldn't work. When we were signed, we didn't really know what we wanted to be musically, and it has taken us various mistakes and a lot of time to decide that. But now we realize it is within our potential to be a really good live band, to be more than just another teenage or pop band. I mean, countless numbers of bands say this, but I'm confident in we could be more than a teenage band.
How Can I Fall? (Same as reviwed before)
David: I think video is necessary, but like Marcus said, always the song is more important.
Spike: In the early days, it was a form we weren't sort of familiar with ? and we were suddenly thrust in front of the camera, it was like, what do we do? And we made a few videos now, so we are getting used to performing in front of a camera, which isn't easy unless it comes naturally.
David: Now we are getting used to being ourselves, which is a difficult thing. when the camera goes on, most people go, "Oh God, there's a camera, it's on me." And it has taken us quite awhile just to relax and be ourselves.
Don't Tell Me Lies (As reviewed before, but a longer version)
Again, I can't stress how much I love this video! Spike sings in this one too. Way cute!
David: My favorite book is probably Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Marcus: (Please pardon my translation here!) Ursula Le Guin City of Illusions.
Spike: Lord of the Rings because it is the only one I've ever read.
David: My favorite movie is either Taxi Driver or Raging Bull.
Marcus: Blade Runner.
Spike: Amadeus.
David: My favorite video is Sledgehammer.
Marcus: INXS Need You Tonight.
Spike: One of the Prince videos-Alphabet Street I enjoyed. And Roll With It.
David: My favorite oldie is probably Superstition by Stevie Wonder.
Marcus: Wonderful World by Nat King Cole.
Spike: Favorite oldie- my mum.
David: Favorite food is absolutely anything that's edible.
Marcus: Chicken ?
Spike: Sunday lunch, cooked by my mum. (Awww, what a mama's boy! :o)
David: If you could be any famous figure from any era, who would you be and why? I think maybe Guy Fawkes.
Marcus: I think I would have to be William the Conquerer.
Spike: (Please don't say my mum!) Christopher Columbus (Whew)
David: My favorite piece of office furniture is probably one of those things that you....What are they called....
Marcus: Favorite piece of office furniture? One of those big leather chairs with the arms that you can spin around on.
Spike: Favorite piece of office furniture would probably be a chair.
David: My favorite smell is when grass is cut in the summer.
Marcus: Food cooking-garlic, onions, that kind of thing.
Spike: My favorite smell would have to be success.
They all say bye!
Very cool interview, it is worth it to get the tape just to see them together.
