Imagine This

Item: Love
Author: Roger Appelinski

Love

(1995)

Reviewed by Roger Appelinski

Discogs YouTube

Label Essential Record GroupThe LighthouseJanuary 1996

alternative metal funk rock hard rock

The audio recording of Love was previously reviewed

The odd thing about this project is that it wasn't intended to be an official release. It was intended as a promo item for the "industry people."

So, do you want the bad news or the good news first? I'll assume that you are like me and want the bad news first-otherwise skip down a bit.

THE BAD NEWS: For starters, you have probably noticed above in the specifications that this CD-ROM won't even play in a Macintosh. Without getting into a large flame-throwing match about this, I'll just offer that this was pretty poor planning-it can't be too hard to port the software to a Mac.

I think that "poor planning" is unfortunately the theme. I understand that this wasn't meant to be a market release, but it is. The photos in the photo gallery contain no subtitles and they are taken from old snapshots-leaving you with no idea who is pictured in many of them. I mean, a photo of a guy next to a gas pump-there must be a story there, but the joke is lost. And, the only way to go through the photo gallery is photo-by-photo. If you have to quit in the middle, the only way to continue is to start over. With 90+ photos in the "early days" section, that could take a while-poor planning.

The interface is clunky, but workable. It gets the job done, but you won't immediately go "wow, cool"-unless you haven't seen any other music CD-ROMs.

There were a few technical glitches-with screen redrawing. Sometimes after accessing part of the project, when going back to the index, the screen wouldn't redraw, leaving a distorted black-and-white image. The videos are included in two formats-for 1X CD-ROM drives (get out your magnifying glasses for these...) and for a 2X CD-ROM drive. I tried the larger size on a 2X drive and found it extremely jumpy-totally unwatchable. The 1X version worked just fine, if you don't mind squinting.

THE GOOD NEWS: The material they have is excellent-if you are a fan of Imagine This. It contains a huge picture archive of the members in high school, promo shots, studio shots, and such.

As far as video footage, there is quite a collection-again probably only interesting to the hard-core fan. In addition to several full-length video clips of "god," "Revolution," and "Love" (which is mislabeled on the index) you can access promotional videos, a clip of their performance on the 1991 700 Club Talent Search, studio clips, interviews, and other assorted video footage.

Audio-wise, there are 5 demos of new songs (that weren't included on Love), three cuts from their 1989 demo project, and the entire four-part Radio Resource promotional piece-offering interviews and music.

Overall, this CD-ROM will probably have some appeal to die-hard Imagine This fans, as it offers some excellent collectible video and audio clips. But it's not a benchmark for CD-ROM design. It is definitely function over form, which will be great for the fans, but won't appeal to anyone just wanting a "cool" CD-ROM.