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This Jazzercise tape is excellent. The hour workout goes by so fast because it is fun and the muisc is perfect. I begin my routine each morning with a mile or two walk with Leslie Sansone and then I do the Jazzercise routine. THIS VHS NEEDS TO BE AVAILABLE IN A DVD FORMAT!

I had this years ago and loved it. Loved the music, loved the moves! Very nice blend of aerobic and light toning. There is some floorwork at the end, as well. I wish this would come out on DVD!

I agree completely with Rizzo (the first 5-star reviewer) completely... I have been doing this routine on and off since the 80's, and to me it far, far surpasses any other exercise videos/dvds I've tried. Judy Misset (sp?), the founder of Jazzercise and the instructor on the video, is upbeat and personable... she doesn't get on my nerves like many of the other instructors do. Instead, she's friendly, positve, and encouraging, and over time you start to feel as if you're working out with a "friend". It's obvious too that the other "students" in the video are truly enjoying themselves! It took some weeks (months?) for me to be able to get thru the entire tape - it really is quite challenging! But then after several more months, I added hand and leg weights gradually to make the workout even more challenging, especially while doing the low impact format. Misset shows both the high and low impact versions of the exercises, so I don't know why the other reviewer said the tape is dangerous. In fact, one of the students in the video does the whole tape in low impact mode to demonstrate the exercises to us. This is the only exercise video thru the years that I am able to do over and over and over again without getting very bored, thanks to the great music and inspiration from Misset. For years my morning routine was to get up, have coffee, do this video, take a shower and leave for work by 7:45 a.m. feeling super energized and in a great mood that would last throughout the day! I hope someday this video is offered as a dvd as I'll bet I'll be doing it on and off for the rest of my life!

Thankfully I reviewed the videotape before doing the workout, (which I should have done before buying it), and saved myself megaa bucks in the Chiropractor's office. The movements are over repeated, stressful on the joints, and with a hundred people working out with her, there is no moving around possible at all, which also causes stress on the joints and back. Now I know why I hated Jazzercise years ago, and I haven't changed my mind. For those that like to dance aerobic, there are many excellent workouts available, but this isn't one of them.

Best Yet Live is a 60 minute strenuous challenging jazzercize workout. The video, I believe, is from '85-87 and doesn't have a dated look. Judi Missett, founder of Jazzercise, conducts this workout in front of a very large class. Unlike the standard videos with exercisers, the camera faces the back of the class, who face Judi. She works alone in this segment. Routinely, Judi will choose music (hit songs) even though the music is NOT by the original artists, it sure sounds fun compared to those dreadful techno beat instrumentals we are SO accustomed to working out to. Judi's performance is upbeat and genuine. She communicates frequently, advises the correct movements or demonstrates incorrect moves. When you work with her, you feel like you are in a real class, versus the "Denise Austin" pained and canned performances/pitches. Now, Jazzercise is a departure from the average video workouts. It involves complete body toning, lots of upper torso movements. You don't need to know how to dance, because it really isn't dancing! It is fun aerobic movements, easy to follow, even for first timers. As always, the "lighter side" instruction allows a more comfortable pace. After an effective warm-up, follows an exerting aerobic segment, 20 minutes. Then, a rigorous upper body toning involves some "gold old fashion pushups". Tummy and derrierre work may include 40-50 movements per leg and over 50-70 movements for the tummy. It is not exactly easy, but you could do this with a few trys. I recommend Jazzercise; it is different, fun, and very rewarding.......MzRizz

Reviews

Creative Kids Gift Basket I FORGOT MY GRAND DAUGHTERS BIRTHDAY. I NEEDED SOMETHING FAST, INEXPENSIVE ENTERTAINING, AND WORTHWILE FOR THE PARENTS AND THE KIDS. THIS GIFT FITS THE BILL FOR ALL MY REQUIREMENTS AND MANY MORE. A SUPERB GIFT THAT PLEASES PARENTS ANS KIDS ALIKE. CHILDREN SHOULD BE SUPERVISED SO THAT PARENTS AND CHILDREN CAN HAVE A SUPER TIME TOGETHER.

Reviews

This was a total rip off! Very misleading - states Various Artist (NOT) making you think that the original artists are performing these tune - but it is some knock off band! Sounds like Dave and the Fuzz Tones do Born to be Wild! Really STINKS! I hope someone else reads these reveiws before they purchase this piece of audio mutated garbage! Belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of SHAME!

This CD IS TERRIBLE!!!! IF YOU'VE EVER SEEN THE COMMERCIAL FOR "KIDS BOP" ITS ALMOST THE SAME THING!!! NONE OF THE ORIGANAL ARTISTS!!! ALL DONE BY "THE HIT CREW" !!! THE TITLE OF THE PAGE SAYS "VARIOUS ARTISTS" WHICH MEANS MANY DIFFERENT ARTISTS AND IT WAS ALL ONE STUPID BAND CALLED "THE HIT CREW"!!! DONT BUY IT!!! IT IS TERRIBLE!!!

Reviews

I'm probably not the most appropriate person to review this disc, since my grounding in American vernacular culture is close to nill. But since nobody has yet, I just wanted to let the potential buyer benefit from my experience, and know exactly what to expect. I bought this disc not through any particular interest for the songs of Stephen Foster or the musicals of Kern and Berlin, but because of a collector's interest for the label, Everest. Everest started out in the early days of stereo (1958) as an audiophile label established by electronics inventor and sound engineer Harry Belock, who recorded on 35mm three-track magnetic film rather than on the customary half-inch tape. The company wasn't successful and in 1961 its assets were sold, the equipment to another sound engineer, Robert Fine, and the copyrights and films to Belock's accountant, Bernard Solomon. Eventually (and the story becomes very blurry on this) these became the possession of Seymour Solomon, the co-founder with his brother Maynard of Vanguard classics (and apparently no family relation to Bernard, although sources differ on this, maybe through confusion between Maynard and Bernard). His new company, Omega Record Group, reissued a batch of the original Everest recordings on CD in the mid-1990s, apparently transferred directly from the 35mm films (although, again, there are conflicting reports about this; it may have been from back-up three-track tapes), usually in stupendous hi-fi sound (and not just good for their vintage). If my records are right 60 CDs were issued (including a few 2-or 3-CD sets). Omega folded after the death of Seymour Solomon in 2003, and that was the end of this label. The catalog has apparently been licensed to a British company, Harkit records, and it is slowly trickling back into circulation, but usually in shorter CDs, not transferred from the Magnetic films but from secondary supports of lesser quality (the original films are said to be now in terrible condition), and I've read some very negative comments on the quality of some of these reissues, although some of the earlier problems may have been solved by now. But, burgeoning collectors, if you are looking in the original Everest/Omega CDs, look for the little blue square logo with 20bit Digital at the top right of the disc's corner (not yet aware of this I once thought I was getting a great deal purchasing Mahler's 5th Symphony by Rudolf Schwartz - I learned my lesson). So with all that, the Everest CDs have become much sought after collector's stuff, and I'll make a commented listmania some day. So I thought I'd give this one a try, despite my reluctance, fearing what it might be. And it is what I anticipated. The liner notes are outstandingly informative on this: The "Stephen Collins Foster: A Commemoration Symphony" and "A Symphonic Story of Jerome Kern" are two symphonic adaptations made by Robert Russell Bennett, the famous Broadway arranger, of, respectively, songs of Stephen Foster in the form of a four-movement Symphony (including chorus in the finale singing an "ode to joy"), and nine of Jerome Kern's best-known hit songs in form of a "Symphonic story", giving a chronological view of Kern's career and musical life. So R.R. Bennett - a close friend and collaborator of Kern by the way - should really be credited as the composer, just as Brahms is credited has the author of the Haendel variations, or, at least, the mutant cross-breed Foster-Bennett and Kern-Bennett should be instigated, after the model of Mussorgsky-Ravel (and Rimsky-Korsakov, goes the famous joke). As for "The Music of Irving Berlin", it is the arrangement in Symphonic form (with chorus) by conductor Raoul Poliakin of 11 songs by Irving Berlin. The technical data isn't entirely clear as to when these three works were recorded, but they do state that the original LPs were released in May and March 1960. The sound is full and clear, with great depth and spread. Ths music? Oh, well, Symphonic Broadway, sentimental cross-over, music for Central Park on Sunday matinees for Frank Sinatra to sing on. The Foster-Symphony was writtten in 1959 for the bicentennial celebreation of the City of Pittsburgh - Foster's birth place. The liner notes, quoting Bennett, explain that he didn't try and take these Foster melodies as a basis for a symphonic treatment in his (Bennett's) own language (as Brahms did with the HAendel theme in his variations, or any composer who writes "variations on a theme of xx"), finding them "not substantial enough to be subjected to symphonic treatment". Instead, he placed himself in the situation of a contemporary of Foster's, who would have been handed on these melodies by the composer, himself unable to construct or orchestrate a symphony and asking him to do the job. So: the symphony Foster never wrote. It only proves that American vernacular culture can sure sigh in relief that Foster was an untrained musician unable to compose and orchestrate a Symphony; US classical music would have gained nothing whose memory would have extended to the day after the concert, and would have lost all these golden tunes. There are a few pages of more evocative power and sonic lushness espacially the Kern-Symphony (written just after Kern's death in 1945), but they are short, and overall that and the Berlin arrangements sound like the music to a Hollywood musical comedy. My three-stars reflect my own appreciation of that branch of music. Others more inclined to it will no doubt enjoy this disc more than I did. My copy is for sale by the way. TT is a generous 74:34

Reviews

My kids love these things!! They use them for everything- dress up, fort building, baby doll blankets and many more. Mine do have some snags in them from getting caught on different things- mainly velcro- but other than that they are really cool.