Showing posts with label progressive rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progressive rock. Show all posts

8/05/2012

aMotion Review

aMotion
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Following up just two weeks after A Perfect Circle's election day release, "eMOTIVe," another release, "aMOTION" comes our way. Basically what this set consists of is almost every scrap of extra APC material. The disc is nine tracks full of remixes, some old, some new. The DVD consists of all of the band's music videos up to now, some we've seen a million times, and others that either didn't air, or were never released. First off, the remix CD. Great choice, as A Perfect Circle seem to have some of the most tasteful remixes of any band out there. A great bulk of the songs were remixed by Danny Lohner and some have either appeared on various soundtracks or on import CD-singles. Probably one of the most note-worthy moments is the "Constantly Consuming" remix of "The Hollow," which isn't so much a remix, as it is a reinterpretation, as done by former bassist (who is still working with the band) Paz Lenchantin. That's right folks. She provides all of the music on this version and even sings it herself. The "Tilling My Own Grave" remix of "Weak & Powerless" is another great one. It definitely "rocks" up the original version (don't get me wrong, the original is untouchable) with some help by Lohner and born-again Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland (you may remember it from the "Underworld" soundtrack). The DVD portion is quite a treat as well. Not only are all the music videos here, but we get a live performance of "The Noose" (my favorite song from "Thirteenth Step") which is very entertaining (they need to put out a live DVD, hint hint), plus four different versions of the video "Blue," all fan-made. Both versions of "The Outsider" video are present, edited and unedited. Don't get too excited though, as the unedited cut doesn't feature nudity, just a long intro to the video -- although, everyone seems to hate the Bikini Bandits idea so much, so who cares, right? Well, they make another appearance in "Thinking Of You," so get used to it. "Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums" is an all animated video that contains some very strong anti-Bush imagery, that I haven't seen (probably for many good reasons) aired anywhere. Maynard and Billy each have their own commentary for the videos. Maynard comments on all of them, and gets into the more intellectual side of the meaning of each song and video, while Billy gives us the more straight-forward story, and sadly, only appears on a handful of the videos. So overall, it's a great package. You have to really appreciate the band and what they do to appreciate this. To those who love to scream "Sell-out," I ask you this question: If they are selling out, why are you buying? Get over yourselves. They make incredible music, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. And good for them for giving us so much material to tide us over until the next album, which will probably be a long time coming.

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4/01/2012

Porcupine Tree: Arriving Somewhere (2006) Review

Porcupine Tree: Arriving Somewhere (2006)
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I received an advance copy of this from PT distributer Burning Shed (#417 for those of you keeping count). This DVD is Porcupine Tree live at Chicago's Park West October 11-12, 2005.
The material list is:
Disc One
Revenant (opening theme music)
Open Car
Blackest Eyes
Lazarus
Hatesong
Dont Hate Me
Mother and Child Divided
Buying New Soul
So Called Friend
Arriving Somewhere but Not Here
Heartattack in a Layby
The Start of Something Beautiful
Halo
The Sound of Muzak
Even Less
Trains
Disc 2
Lazarus Video, Futile and Radioactive Toy from German TV Show Rockpalast, Drummer Gavin Harrison's Cymbal Song, the Movies that accompanied Halo, Start of Something... and Mother and Child Divided and Photo Gallery.
OK reviewing this, the short review is; get it, this is the best band out there right now and this DVD is a great representation of how good they are.
The longer version is, Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson alter their musical direction every couple of years (sort of the theme of the rarely played Buying New Soul) and this is where they were in 2005 and 2006. This is their first DVD and it perfectly captures what that 2005 Deadwing tour was. I happened to see the first show of this tour in Tampa and the DVD shows that they just became tighter and heavier as the tour went on.
The Deadwing Tour was heavier than the old psychadelic, progressive and song based material (yes its too bad there werent official DVDs for the previous phases of PT), but it is still great stuff. (as Steven sings on Arriving somewhere-- all my designs simplified, all of my plans compromised, all of my dreams sacrificed). While the music now may be slightly simplified, anyone would be hard pressed to say much has been sacrificed.
Some may question the inclusion of non-cd tracks such as Mother and Child Divided or So-Called Friend, but fans of the band either know these or get to know them quick and they fit the overall feel of the tour very well. Anytime you have as much great material as PT the song selection can be questioned, but this performance is so powerful I reccomend just sitting back and enjoying what there is rather than lamenting what there isnt.
The 5.1 audio on this release is better than any Ive heard (I also highly reccomend the DVD-A versions of Stupid Dream, In Absentia and Deadwing, if you want hear how good 5.1 DTS can sound, and make yourself slightly deaf without realizing you are doing it;-).
The video is nicely shot, lots of shifts of focus without being jarring, and the camera seems to be where you'd like it to be most of the time (a real flaw in tons of Live DVD's). Also, there are no cheesy effects or technological experiments which means this should stand the test of time (there is some shifting of black and white to color, but it is pretty unobtrusive, although Im used to a lot of vids from the 70s some of which have really bad effects).
Now let me add, this DVD isnt perfect, but the complaints are fairly minor. The thoughts I had after only a couple of watches... 1. On Open Car the vocals seem buried (may have been purposeful, but its a distraction. 2. The video never captures(and maybe couldnt)the size and integration of the films that accompanied the songs. 3. The packaging is nice, but its cardboard and vulnerable to fingerprints, dents, etc.
Also, don't think you are getting 2 discs of live music, Disc 1 is a full concert, Disc 2 is odds and ends. I wasnt sure why they didnt just include the entire Rockpalast show (if they could show 2 songs, why not the whole show?) My guess is because it was largely the same material, but fans wouldnt have minded.
Fans can argue for the different albums of PT being their best, but this really seems to a document of a great band at the top of their game. If all music was this thoughtful, composed and sincere, I would like a lot more music.
End thought, if you like PT at all, get this! If you are curious, get this! If you have friends that might like this; show them! People into this band know there really isnt a way to describe how close to perfect they are (only God knows why they arent HUGE, and I suspect he has questions)and this DVD is a great document of that circa 2005-06.

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