DVD Reviews

A surf legend comes visual with a good intent and mixed results.

Merrel Fankhauser's twang is ingrained in American music's DNA from 1962 when his band THE IMPACTS scored a hit with "Wipe Out", but in the last two decades the veteran ran a double course as an artist and a presenter of his own TV shows. "Tiki Lounge", bearing the theme of Hawaii, the Californian's second base, is one of those programs - rather uneven one if these two DVD volumes with the best episodes are anything to judge by: in some places arresting, in others boring. All depends on whether you share the host's interests.

The opening part rides the surf way closer to home, and one can hardly look away from an on-stage clip of Dick Dale or a live studio session of THE VENTURES with Jeff Baxter on guitar as the energy's high, yet once the hot rods exploration involves the sleazier moves by THE DOOBIE BROTHERS and Huey Lewis the depth is gone. Worse, present is a healthy dose of vanity. No matter how hard Fankhauser tries to reinstate the late Nicky Hopkins' position as a rock 'n' roll greatest piano player, which he was, the two veterans' concert puts Merrell's son, who struggles as a singer and can't compete with his father as a "feel" guitarist, in the spotlight; sharing a stage with and be accompanied by Willie Nelson must have been a treat, too, yet the country legend is so relaxed under the Hawaiian sun he loses all his signature edge. Elsewhere, Merrell takes a trip to ??? to be presented with a Fankhauser signature guitar, but the feature-long road footage isn't of National Geographic quality. Still, the watcher's endurance is rewarded with a muscular rendition of "All Along The Watchtower" as is the "UFO Special", completely disconnected from music and saved by a vintage Merrell video of "Calling From A Star".

A revolutionary poet from a free world shatters the world soon to be free.

There's something symbolic in the fact that this DVD saw the light of day around the time when Vaclav Havel passed away, for it was 1989, on the brink of radical changes which the last Czechoslovakian president played a major part in, that Joseph Smalkowski landed in Prague. Now, the poet may suggest the prohibition of rock 'n' roll in the Eastern Bloc then, yet the footage proves him wrong, as the winds of change blew so strong they were bringing whole throngs of punters into arenas like Slavia Stadium which, perhaps, resulted in a new experience not only for the nine thousand listeners but also for Copernicus himself.

Such vastness clearly ignited the New Yorker who starts his performance with "The Authorities!", a challenge to the times of a quiet revolution in waiting. He marches on stage to literally touch his audience, the artist's glitter look a contrast to the stark intensity of the music - here's an angry poet spilling his fervent truth and justice. The vibrancy is stressed with a split screen that launches different angles and makes for the slightly muddled video, whereas the show's theatrical approach is evident at the end of "White From Black" when an African comes on to console Copernicus who, having revealed his Slavonic roots, kneels before the spectators. No wonder that by the end of "In Terms Of Money" with its relentless refrain and bass throb the crowd is entranced, yet in "Chichen-Itza Elvis" the band - featuring the bellicose guitar of Larry Kirwan from BLACK 47 - provide them with a righteous dance groove and frenzied diatribes from the main man. In his faux-bishop robe and taking to the keyboards, Copernicus looks like a priest at the pulpit. When he's imploring "When you understand it's peace", a rapport is complete: one overzealous fan, bold enough to get up and get close, is allowed to sit on a cusp of the stage to watch the encore and hug the iconic guest.

Not a real singer by any means, Copernicus knows how to rock his audience, and this historic document is the best testament to his art's ability to chime in with the moment.

***

A doyenne of British jazz fighting the time but keeping perfect timing where every melodic minute counts.

An image of a dame with a sax may conjure up a picture of Candy Dulfer but only for those who's never heard of a British treasure by name of Barbara Thompson. Playing fiercely yet delicately since the '60s and awarded an MBE for her services to music, Thompson's been leading PARAPHERNALIA since 1977, a jazz band that sees her talent bloom in the fullest, and here's the visual proof of it. But there's more to the Stuttgart concert than meets the eye, for the "Never Say Goodbye" tour meant a heroic feat for Barbara. Stricken with Parkinson's disease, for her every show can be the last, this one being especially difficult - which doesn't show. The lady's grip on her ensemble and her instrument is still unshakable.

Relaxed but determined, veteran British rockers cook their new potion under the French skies.

Subtitled "A Film About Getting To The Gig", a gripping tale of the Eire legends' way to a supposed obscurity and back.

Get the people to a quiz challenge, and the Irish rock question will turn up the names of U2 and Sinead O'Connor rather than Rory Gallagher or THIN LIZZY, and it's a safe bet no one will mention HORSLIPS whose very existence has been hanging on the Celtic vibe. Having run through the '70s and stopped at the decade's end, the quintet, save for guitarist John Fean, left the scene to "live life as humans", as they say in the full ensemble interview on this DVD which celebrates the band's triumphal return.

Dublin's "02" hall filled to the rafters, the group don't disappoint in the concert part of the film - well, almost, for the show's represented not in full and has a smattering of cuts, including the tremendous "Charolais" sequestered to the bonus section, while the rest of the action can be watched outside the conversation with the players - so the punters, many a young face wearing the "The Tain" T-shirt among them and many a veteran freaking out, would surely win the quiz. The dynamics of the quintet are amazing given they didn't grace the stage for a long time, but that's a classic line-up, minus drummer Eamon Carr who's not able to play now yet inserts his tuppenny into the humorous reminiscing with his friends, his replacement being guitarist John Fean's younger brother Ray. Charles O'Connor showing no signs of age neither in his looks nor in his prowess with electric mandolin and fiddle, while there's infectious rocking involved in the collective's delivery, what with the groovy take on "Shaking All Over".

Still able to rattle and roll, HORSLIPS proved they're still a force to be reckoned with, the DVD capturing the band in all their glory. Not a road movie, no matter what the title suggests, it's as about the past as about the present and, hopefully, the future.

****2/3

Deutsche progressive heroes receive their long overdue due - or give it to their followers on a double DVD.

ELOY is a little bit unique collective on the German art rock scene, and all because Frank Bornemann's ensemble don't pretend to be unique. While many of their peers rode the Kraut horse, this band have been ploughing a progressive furrow for four decades now, the trek "The Legacy Box" is celebrating in some style, with the group's story told through interviews on the first disc and videos collected on the second one. And while casual listeners will understandably concentrate on the latter, the best way to explore the package is to switch to it after each part of ELOY's journey on the former, conveniently divided into timeline-aligned chapters. Otherwise, boredom may set in due to the talking heads - musicians from all the line-ups, plus producers - keeping their faces too straight, save for the humorous snippets of discarded footage tagged to the end of the film, and their tale sounds a lot less adventurous than the music they play. Seems there was no shenanigans on the way, if only such details aren't lost in the subtitles translation, and even the band's international tours come mostly covered by way of memorabilia displayed rather than reminiscences.

Yet it's quite a gripping tale, even though the aficionados will hardly know anything new from it; the newcomers are to get a nice course in ELOY's history recounted with a lot of dignity on everyone's part, and if saucy details are missing it only goes to show how much attention is being paid to the music. This, perhaps, also explains while there's nothing fancy about their visuals which can't be said about their sounds. A pity, the only live footage here comes from 1994, where the group's classic "Poseidon's Creation" seems a bit hollow; still, it's not the ensemble's fault that they were underserved video-wise in their first decade, so ELOY's three TV appearances from 1977-1978, plus a couple of early clips, would have felt precious even if "Decay Of Logos" and "The Midnight Fight" weren't such strong creations. The four cuts from 1983's studio faux-concert fare less successful on all accounts, the compositions less captivating, but 2010's "Age Of Insanity" reinstates the veterans where they belong - and draws the fine line under their glorious history. And here's hoping, "The Legacy Box" not only celebrates the past but also toasts the future.

****

Subtitled "The Last Testament of George Harrison", the movie brings on the most compelling rehash of the most enduring rock myth.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before - Macca blew his mind out in a car in November 1966 - but not from the Fabs themselves. This time, though, the story comes from none other than George Harrison who, attacked by the fan and reflecting on the fate of John Lennon, made a confession which, on a couple of cassettes, found its way to, of all places, the Highway 61 Entertainment's door. The company cleverly points out that the man whose voice is on these tapes only claims to be the Beatle yet, by offering the first archive interview where The Quiet One mentions the deadly threat of jelly beans, they show how uncannily similar that voice is to Harrison's in its tone and the Liverpudlian accent which, it has to be said, sounds a bit artificial in places. More important, still, is the story the man recounts: it's absolutely convincing!

The gist of it is simple: the band's guilt, the British government's fear of the innumerable fans' suicides and the MI5 shadow play made THE BEATLES conceal the horrible demise of their bass player and substitute him with one William Campbell but place the clues to the mystery on each of their records. And even wrtite songs about it, for the accident scene only produced such characters as Rita, Walrus and Maxwell. That was the real reason behind their desire to stop touring and many subsequent deeds - all explained by George and appropriately illustrated by old footage, sound snippets and the albums' artwork details. It's a captivating process, revealing every hint there is but stopping short of shaping "corps" as "corpse" after saying that "Apple" means "A Paul". It could make a believer out of any sceptic if only...

...if only there weren't glaring mistakes, although these are mostly obvious to the ardent aificionados only. If McCartney perished in 1966, the Fabs' first album without him wouldn't be "Rubber Soul" - or "Rubber Paul" as it was intended to be called - that had been released a year earlier, and saying their next LP was "Yesterday And Today" betrays the American mind behind the story. A great story anyway, a pretty entertaining, if grim, story in the vein of Edgar Allen Poe. Is the man really dead? But does it really matter! You don't have to believe in magic to enjoy "Harry Potter", and the "Paul Is Dead" is a great example of modern mythology which works as fine as any fiction, and you won't regret a single minute spent watching the DVD. More kudos to its creators for coming up with the Fabs-inspired soundtrack, hinting on their classics, that can be accessed on the very same disc.

****

An easy action with some heavy guests: quite a way to have a bash for all to join and enjoy.

The influential Polish prog-metallurgists serve up their first ever visual document.

The companion piece to the same-titled live album, this double DVD package excels exactly where it disappoints effectively proving that RIVERSIDE, while able to transport their studio-clear sound to the stage, fail to spice it up visually. Looking like your regular metal band - grim faces, bald heads, tattoed limbs, you name it - this quartet channel their energy drastically different: they're too static to impress. Yet, emerging somnambulistic, as if in a reverie, the group come to share their closed-eyes dream with everyone there is to see. From "The Same River" on, it's a bliss-inducing spectacle which is laced on the screen with disturbing imagery and old film effects that highlight the music's deceptive tranquility.

There's enough glacial menace, though, and riffs in abundance, so it's quite refreshing when singer and bassist Mariusz Duda breaks the ice verbally to address the enthusiastic crowd before "Volte-Face" introduces some progressive rock 'n' roll to the mix. Still, for the most part the players stand aloof and emotionless, even when the music doesn't speak volumes as it does to everyone's delight in "Dance With The Shadow". But there's a lot of volume involved, especially when it all careens to heaviness with slightly industrial edge, whereas it's the sheer dynamism which makes "Reality Dream III" truly deep and keeps the audience mesmerized, all a testament to the understated heroics of guitarist Piotr Grudzinski. The final "The Curtain Falls" sees - an impressive sight! - the band one by one leaving the stage, but there's more: additional material provides a glance at RIVERSIDE from different years and in different venues. Not that there's more variety...

***3/4

The unique occasion to see the Pied Piper and the rest of Merry Gentlemen in their prime.

Strange as it may seem, it's the first concert video of the classic era JETHRO TULL released officially. There have been bits and snippets, the Isle of Wight Festival performance from 1970, interspersed with paraphernalia footage and interviews, and the "Slipstream" film that ushered the band into another decade, but nothing actually live from the '70s when this ensemble blossomed - until now. Here, "live" has two meanings, one implying the show which makes the bulk of the DVD and whole of the CD in the package was broadcast from New York to the UK in a real time mode. It goes to explain why the visual disc begins and ends as audio-only and why the group walk out into the wings to be back up again.

Self-proclaimed outcasts of progressive rock come close to the edge of thrill.

An acoustic guitar and a singer aren't what one expects from a British prog band but it's this simple immediacy - two figures in the spotlight shrouded by darkness - that grabs the attention from the very beginning. Then, the curtain rises, and the band's grander design springs into action carnivorously with "The Hunger", Clive Nolan spreading the wisdom not from behind the keyboards as usual but from center-stage, his long black leather coat like a metal guru's cape. He's seated back at the ivories, though, for "The Kruhulick Syndrome", the poignant baroque duet with the band main tinkler, Mike Varty, to which Mark Westwood adds some six-string lace before Karl Groom soars electrically above it all. With compositions high on hooks, everything feels a little bit formal, still...

...Which can't be said of the second, visually lo-fi but somewhat funnier, concert on this DVD, recorded in Holland a couple of days later when the leader soldiered on despite the sore throat. If sometimes Nolan looks not too comfortable in the frontman's role, all the man's multiple projects notwithstanding, his charisma wins over; more so, he's very convincing when inhabiting a deep song such as the neoclassical "The Seventh Year", the most wonderfully realized piece on offer, or the recently written title track, and there's a real attack in "Hall Of Mirrors". The only gripe, then, might come from the sensation of the band lacking that same edge they're capable of.

****

Nothing small but ambitions tamed: pirahnas they aren't.

There's an immense pride about this English ensemble, based on friendship and self-financed, and it's quite visible from the audience, but the warmth they project from the stage doesn't make for a great showcase. Yet with too much introspection involved, especially on singer Simon Godfrey's part, the band's almost impenetrable cool feels mesmerising in "Build Your Enemy" where the smooth balladeering turns into the five-string bass-bobbing storm navigated by Paul Worwood. Later on, he ushers in the funky groove of "Eat The Flesh" that somehow makes the quartet a bit more agitated with Jim Sanders delivering a frenetic guitar solo.

Bizarrely, there's more energy in encores such as "All Hands Lost" than in everything preceding those last songs. Sure, combining the Noughties visual minimalism with the progressive rock's requisite pomp isn't an easy task, and having the costumed narrator, Rick Wakeman-like, on stage is a nice stroke, but the band are too serious. The use of sampler percussion alongside real drums creates a curious spectacle, though, and Leon Camfield looks like the only player who really enjoys the proceedings. Whether this enjoyment will be shared by the DVD viewers depends on how much a fan they are.

**2/3

The further one go, the sweetest seems the home. The English band swing the message where it's at.

There's something engaging in the seriousness that this band go about their business with, even though the refrain of the opener, "Greed", serves alienation with the threatening "I don't care" refrain. With each player in an invisible bubble of his own, they're chained musically, and what little visual contact between the six is, it feels precious. The right flank looking metal solid - two bald heads and two beards, one, bassist Ian Raine's, multicolored - and the left bookish, a nice poise reigns in the balance between hard rock and prog drifts, rather dramatically in the grandiose, heart-wrenching "Half Way From Home". But while the aural cloth is thick, the air the sextet create comes loose, which is so clear in the momentum-gaiming "One 8" with its rich texture and guitar duet, the leader Andy Ditchfield's acoustic adding a layer of delicious lightness to the overall gloomy outlook.

The more the show progresses the higher is the tunefulness quotient, and by "Pointless Child", when the initial ice breaks around singer Tony Wright's charm, one sense total emotional immersion in the proceedings and the pull of vocal harmonies. And when they ask, "Should I stay or should I fly away?", in the magic closer "7 Nights", parting ways seems out of question. With the DVD, anyway.

****

Innocence long lost, the art laboratory sets for the experience - all too sure of its results.

When the German ensemble's singer Yogi Lang says, "This Is Not A Prog Song", the irony lies in this being not a small stage talk but both the piece's title and its very gist. It's essentially a pop song - but with a prog-obligatory bass solo and an unexpected U-turn into rock 'n' roll including John Fogerty's classic "Rockin' All Over The World" and SCORPIONS' "Rock You Like A Hurricane". But while it's a smile-inducing homage to the band's roots, as is Syd Barrett's "Opel", the widescreen opener "Hole In The Sky" spreads up a vista too big to fathom with enough room for Kalle Wallner's guitar to fly, Icarus-like.

Here, the ensemble's visual seriousness serves them well. Perhaps, their gloom is thick yet this is the starry night, with a celestial lucidity to "3 Lights" - even though the images projected on the backdrop seem all too earthy, if perfectly conveying the idea of trasportation somewhere else. The performance feels charming, and at the same time aloof, too, but still romantic enough to hook the audience on the "Roses" santiment and have everybody sing the chorus. The experience's results? Success with a nice residue.

***2/3

Old Romantics are back! The SPANDAU BALLET dandies open new season.

While some of their contemporaries bring no more than bittersweet memories and nostalgia, SPANDAU BALLET remained a vital force even after the band broke up, and this DVD, re-issued to coincide with their long-anticipated reunion, is a prove the ensemble have never been a guilty pleasure. Although, there's only three members of original quintet performing mostly the songs of their absent guitarist in 2002, Tony Hadley, Steve Norman and John Keeble throw a lot of charm to the eager crowd. There's sheer joy from both sides, singer Hadley's smile beaming and John Keeble effusing enthusiasm from behind his drum kit, while the band's collective tongue is firmly in their cheek - what about the visuals going black-and-white as "Communication" gets distilled to a catchy rockabilly?

The depth doesn't always make a great spectacle, but looking in it feels good.

How the pyramid was built and where it all began: the legendary Nic Roeg's film brings back the magic long lost.

Now it's an institution: not that these days there's no greatness at the Glastonbury Festival stages, but for all its attractions the event lacks the original spirit, and hardly any of its current attendees feels the ley lines energy or the magic of the place. Everything was different in 1971 when the second music festival in Somerset had been staged without much ado and for free - out of charge and for the free will to flower. Flower power it wasn't, though, as no authority seemed to be present there, and a tent with the "Hippies not admitted" sign glaring from the screen is quite telling. All comparisons with Woodstock make no sense as, the anniversary replays notwithstanding, the American festival remains a one-off initiative, while Glastonbury is a continuing phenomenon and no less unique for it. How it gained such a status becomes clear from this movie, out on DVD for the first time.

It's interesting to align the Nic Roeg film with Murray Lerner's "Message To Love" shot a year before at the Isle of Wight Festival to feel the difference in the attitude, a riotous in the latter and placid in the former. At Glasto, singing, flicking V-signs, dancing naked, swimming in the mud and making love - all comes so innocent: hard to believe yet it's the conservative Britain running wild. There's a nice contrast in strange old ladies navigating through the young bodies as Terry Reid flies high towards his "River" glory with David Lindley on slide guitar and Linda Lewis' lark-like improvisations over the not-in-YES-yet Alan White's funky beat. The sounds play a huge part here, but it's amazing how many people don't actually look at the stage but just enjoy the feeling of togetherness that's much more important than the music. It just had to be passed on.

As one of the festival masterminds, Andrew Kerr, says in the movie, "it'd be nice to see not just Glastonbury Fair but lots of small festivals happening with the same motive... we can't tell what good will come out of it until we've tried". And FAIRPORT CONVENTION who flag their "Dirty Linen" here, with Daves Swarbrick and Pegg in blistering form visually feeding off one another's energy and having the folks reel with delight, have indeed been trying ever since five years later. The performers bring a great variety onto the pyramid stage the building of which was a spiritual thing in itself. If FAMILY, who were at the Isle of Wight in 1970, deliver the angular "Drowned In Wine" with Roger Chapman looking into some other world where spirit of inebriation reigns, TRAFFIC bring on a storming version of "Gimme Some Lovin'" driven by Jim Capaldi's tambourine, and Arthur Brown's KINGDOM COME dark circus involves burning crosses.

It's paganism rather than Satanism: with Hindu rituals set in motion out in the field to the QUINTESSENCE's raga, there are Catholic priests feeding the mass to the mess proclaiming, "where the people are the church should be". It's the people the real focus of "Glastonbury Fayre", so it doesn't matter that David Bowie's performance didn't make it onto the screen and PINK FAIRIES are seen only as a marching band waking everybody up, as the film captures one of the wonders of the world, and even the distant echo of that magic is a gulp of fresh air in our sultry times.

*****

The unity projecting into the music makes no row, only a wonderful show.

Why this progressive rock ensemble from England isn't as known as their American punk namesakes is anyone's guess, but it's surely not because of the pretentiousness of FC's music; nor the band's show doesn't bear any traces of bombast. Still, the uniqueness of the group is obvious from the get-go of this October 2007 concert in Poland. Once two guitarists, the founding fathers Brian Donkin and Andy Lawton, start singing in unison as a solid front, they cut the lonely warriors heroes in "Solitude" the presence of their brothers-in-arms notwithstanding. But what a tight unit the team are!

There's visual telepathy of the band's new rhythm seciton, barely out of their teens, throughout, never more so as in the "Rebellion" fast lane with Henry Rogers delivering short yet breathtaking drum piece and Steve Lipiec's blistering keyboards claiming some flame and fame. And there's the captains' mutual empathy shining on their faces in "Stand Up". Everybody come spectacularly unhinged when the pathetics of "Stop" get emotionally sharp and heavy for the two axe solos to nervously relax it all. A must-have disc for the fans and a nice introduction to FC for the uninitiated.

****

The other side of the Purple Piper, the other highway to the stars.

Banished from DEEP PURPLE, Ian Gillan looked like a hard rock casualty but the singer became a real victim only when he formed IAN GILLAN BAND: the fans didn't let him do anything other than the genre that made Gillan famous, whereas Ian himself was so prone to experiment. This paradox, or contradiction, is all over the ensemble's London gig recorded for posterity, to be the only visual document of the band: the repertoire here is heavily laden with DP material - but jazzed up to the gills.

The official DVD number one gets another Number One for the living legend.

It's quite appropriate in the year of Motown's 50th anniversary to release the first-ever DVD of one of the most prominent artists in the label's stable which also marks Stevie Wonder's 45th year at the top of the charts. No wonder, then, and appropriate again for him to start the 2008's show at London's "O2" on harmonica, like in his twelve-year-old-genius beginning. Not to boast, this, as the intro grows into Miles Davis' "All Blues", and then there's a nice jam on Chick Corea's "Spain": talk about humility here. Stevie indeed does some talking - "Visions" brings with it a romantic ecology speech and there's a mock English toasting before the vocoder-processed "Hello" leads into "Hello Goodbye" opening "UK Medley" which includes, among others, the traditional "London Bridge Is Falling Down" and "Satisfaction". Wonder always knows what ground he's at to stay his own ground, so "Higher Ground", short yet intense, serves as a showcase for the backing singers, one of them being the veteran's dauther Aisha who comes up later to sing "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Of My Life" to her dad's piano accompaniment.

Playing aside, Stevie's voice feels ageless. The cry of "Rasta!" sounds like a call to rise spirits with the uplifting, and conscious, "Master Blaster", now featuring the line "Barack Obama's gonna be the next president of the United States". That evokes a great cheer, but this artist is a showman of a special kind, he engages the audience in singing different parts secretly leading them up, both melodically and lyrically, to the breezy "Part-Time Lover" to give everybody a break with "Overjoyed" and "Lately", two ballads in a row. Sometimes, when emotions spill over, Wonder jumps on his feet for a brief dance, and "Knocks Me Off My Feet" turns into a gospel-tinged trance-inducing celebration of life. Now there's a chance to be there by proxy, but... While the veteran presents an excerpt of a new, unreleased yet, song "You Are The Only One For Me", a little extra material would have been welcome.

*****

Thirty years of soldiering on: the casual job and a cause for celebration.

If after playing neo-progressive rock for three decades the "neo" part is still relevant, this English band pretty much define it, while whether there's something new to the genre they're the classics of now might be a moot point. Doesn't matter, though, as at present the quartet know too well when to play seriously and when it's time to be plain playful. Celebrating the 30th year of the ensemble's existence in Katowice in 2008, the veterans, as seen on this DVD, delivered the goods in all kinds of manner for more than 2.5 hours, and it wasn't just the "greatest hits" vanity.