''PCD Live from London'' is the first
video album
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
by American
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...
the Pussycat Dolls
The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Iovine, Antin decided to take the burlesque troupe ...
. It was directed by Jeff Gripe and Ginger Ramsey-Grippe, and was executively produced by
Ron Fair
Ronald Fair is an American A&R executive, record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several art ...
and
Jimmy Iovine
James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...
. It was first released on December 1, 2006, by
A&M Records
A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...
. The DVD features their concert at
Windsor Racecourse
Windsor Racecourse, also known as Royal Windsor Racecourse, is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is one of only two figure-of-eight courses in the United Kingdom, the other being at Fontwell Park.
Desc ...
in London, United Kingdom, as part of the
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
TBA secret gigs. It also features six
music videos
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
, backstage footage and candid interviews with each member.
''Live from London'' debuted within the top twenty on three national music video charts. The DVD was certified platinum by the
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...
and
Music Canada
Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...
. It was also certified gold by the
Brazilian Association of Record Producers and the
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...
.
Background and development
''Live from London'' was filmed at
Windsor Racecourse
Windsor Racecourse, also known as Royal Windsor Racecourse, is a thoroughbred horse racing venue located in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is one of only two figure-of-eight courses in the United Kingdom, the other being at Fontwell Park.
Desc ...
, London, as part of the
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
secret gigs. Most of the songs on ''Live from London'' originate from their debut album ''
PCD'', but it also contains an interlude titled "Show Me What You Got", which was written by
Nicole Scherzinger
Nicole Scherzinger (; born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente, June 29, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and television personality. She is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, one of the best-selling g ...
and
Polow da Don
Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper.
Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014) ...
where they engage in a sing-song dance game whilst individually introducing themselves and their talents at hand.
Reception
''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' magazine contributors Chuck Arnold and Ivory Jeff Clinton wrote that the Pussycat Dolls "
ush
Uqturpan County, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency or Uchturpan County ( transliterated from ; ), also Wushi County (), is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of Aksu Prefecture and shar ...
all the right buttons" and described the live performance as "fun" and "frivolous." On the contrary, Tony Clayton-Lea of the ''
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' wrote that the group come as "trailer-trash cousins" in comparison to fellow girl groups,
Sugababes
Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011.
Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...
and
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...
. He continued writing that the Pussycat Dolls are about fulfilling male fantasies with "push-up bras, stilettos and various other accouterments." He criticized the live performance for being "tatty, amateur and, questionably, overtly sexually provocative." However, Clayton-Lea praised the group's catalog, highlighting "
Stickwitu
"Stickwitu" is a song recorded by American girl group the Pussycat Dolls for their debut studio album '' PCD'' (2005). It was written by Franne Golde, Kasia Livingston and Robert Palmer and produced by Ron Fair. A pop ballad with soul influence ...
" "as one of the best pop ballads of recent years."
In the United States, ''PCD Live from London'' debuted and peaked at number 12 on the
Music Video Sales
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...
chart on December 23, 2006. It spent a total of 12 weeks on the chart.
On the
ARIA Top 40 Music DVDs chart in Australia, the DVD debuted at number 13 on the week commencing December 11, 2006. It remained in the top 40 for 22 non-consecutive weeks, before reappearing in June 2009 and achieving a new peak of 12. It was certified platinum by the
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...
(ARIA) for selling 7,500 copies. ''PCD Live from London'' moderately in select European countries; it debuted and peaked at numbers 20 and 24 on the
Czech Republic Music DVD and
Music DVD Top 30 in the Netherlands respectively.
In the United Kingdom, ''PCD Live from London'' debuted at number 26 on the
Official Video Chart, a list compiled by the
Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
on the week ending December 16, 2006.
Four weeks later the DVD attained a peak of 24.
Track listing
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''PCD Live from London''. Live performance and interview footage are courtesy of
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
TBA.
;Recording and editing
*Edited at Cut + Run, Santa Monica, California.
*Bonus content mixed at Lime Studios, Santa Monica, California
*Mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering.
Personnel
;Art credits
*Jeff Grippe – DVD creative direction
*
Anthony Mandler
Anthony Mandler (born April 18, 1973) is an American film director, music video director, television commercial director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on s ...
– photography
*Julian Peploe – package design
*Ginger Ramsey-Grippe – DVD creative direction
;PCD interviews
*Mace Cahme – producer
*Donn Viola – director
;Music videos
*Michael Angelos – producer
(track 14)
*Chris Applebaum – director
(track 13)
*
Benny Boom
Benny Douglas (born July 22, 1971), professionally known as Benny Boom, is an American director who has worked in music, television, and film. His most commercially successful film was the 2017 Tupac Shakur biopic ''All Eyez on Me''.
Career
Do ...
– director
(track 11)
*
Nigel Dick
Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is a British music video and film director, writer and musician from Catterick, England, now based in Los Angeles, California. He directed the Britney Spears videos " ...Baby One More Time" and " Oops!... I Did I ...
– director
(track 10)
*Nina Dluhy – producer
(track 10)
*John Hardin – producer
(track 13)
*
Paul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters champion, winning the event in 2001, 2002, and 2004, recovering from a deficit in the final to win 10–9 on a ...
– director
(track 9)
*
Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an Austrian-born American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thrille ...
– director
(track 12)
*Ron Mohrhoff – producer
(track 9)
*Roger Ubina – producer
(track 11)
*
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American music video director and filmmaker. Webb made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy ''500 Days of Summer'', and went on to direct ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' in ...
– director
(track 14)
*Lynn Zekanis – producer
(track 12)
;Audio mixing credits
*
Robin Antin
Robin Antin is an American actress, entrepreneur, dancer, choreographer and clothing designer. In 1995, she founded the modern burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls. By 2005, she diversified into various media including a pop recording group with ...
– co-producer
*
Ron Fair
Ronald Fair is an American A&R executive, record producer, record executive, musical arranger, recording engineer and conductor. In a career that has spanned over 30 years at major record labels he has produced and arranged hits for several art ...
– showtape producer
*
Brian Gardner
Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...
– mastering
*Michael Minden – co-producer
*
Brian Malouf
Brian Malouf (born September 8, 1955) is an American producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with acts such as Michael Jackson, Queen, Madonna, Pearl Jam, Stevie Wonder, Dave Matthews Band, Tokio Hotel, Wolfmother, and All Time Low. Also se ...
– mixing and
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
editing
*
Polow da Don
Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper.
Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014) ...
– showtape producer
;Editing credits
*Franco Castilla – assistant editor
*Luc Giddens – assistant editor
*Chris Gigard – producer
*Jeff Grippe – editing
*Thomas Han – additional editing
*Kimberly Hoffman – assistant editor
*Erin Nordstorm – additional editing
*Jen Tiexiera – additional editing
*Megan Welsh – producer
;Tour credits
*Joe Bonanno – video director live
*Zac Cromwell – lightning tech
*Bryan "Froggy" Cross – tour manager, production manager, audio engineer
*Dustin Delker – audio system tech
*Roy Fountain – video tech
*Sara Gepp – audio system tech
*Brian Graham – audio system tech
*Barry Lather – creative designer
*Charity Lomax – road manager
*Scott Warner – lightning designer
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{The Pussycat Dolls
The Pussycat Dolls albums
Albums produced by Ron Fair
2006 video albums
Live video albums