We've read the official statement about Lost in TV; we've watched the preview clip; and we know what we should expect from it - tons of promo videos with commentary and a karaoke option, Simon (the song), and more Simon (Gilbert - or his films, to be exact). But what's the story behind it? With the help of David Barnett of the SIS, here goes.... Lost in TV: Uncountable fans have wished for a video collection like this, and we finally will get one on November 26th, 2001. Who should we thank? Everyone at the Suede camp thought it would be wise to have something out to keep people interested, since the new album wasn't going to be out this year. To get this 'something' out before next year dawns, the easiest way was to make do with materials they already had - not to mention it had to consume minimum involvement from the band so it wouldn't interfere with the new album's recording process. The most obvious thing to do was a simple compilation of the videos. To make the compilation an exceptional one, the band commentary and the karaoke thing - both using subtitles - were added for extra flavour. The commentary was a great chance for the band to state their opinions and feelings about their promo videos. It was shot in David Barnett's flat one evening in July 2001. They just had one camera running the whole time and did it completely live in one take with no advance planning at all. It was a bit of a risk but it meant that the whole thing took less than two hours of the band's time and more importantly meant it was completely natural. Participants were Brett, Simon, Mat; and Richard who joined on We Are The Pigs on cue. Alex was in Bristol, and he's not in any of those videos anyway, so he didn't take part. How about Neil - and Bernard? "By its very nature the DVD was always going to be fairly retrospective," said David. "But at the same time we wanted it to be as forward looking as possible, so inviting ex members to take part was never really a consideration." The DVD cover artwork was originally going to be an image of a boy smashing up a TV set - quite similar to the image for New Generation on Dog Man Star's inner sleeve where a boy was smashing up a piano. But later on, the pictures taken on old building sites looked frighteningly similar to the remains of USA's World Trade Centre, so the idea was rejected, and they went instead for images of the band's equipment, but actually photographed off a TV screen to give it that trapped/lost in TV feeling. The DVD looks very promising so far. Just take a look at the preview clip and you'll see what I mean! What exactly does the DVD contain? Ninety minutes of the videos, and ninety more minutes of the commentary. Add those with Simon's films, including Europe in Our Playground, Give Me Head, and more never-seen-before stuff. Plus, the Shipbuilding film, new song Simon, and the karaoke tracks, you get total running time of something like 4 and a half hours. In fact, they couldn't do karaoke versions of all the songs because the DVD was full to the brim! Don't worry about the DVD regions, as here's what David has to say about it: "I've been advised that the DVD will be 'regionless'. As far as territories go, it's definitely being released in the UK and Europe and almost definitely in Japan." So let's spare our money, make a room in our DVD shelves, and get ready for Lost in TV. Pre-order online, perhaps. It's definitely a must-have item, and you know it. http://www.geocities.com/scifisuede/lostintv.html --

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