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DVD QuickTakes

QuickTakes Archive / QuickTakes Archive (pre-May 2008)

The Spice Girls - “Raw Spice”

The only real reason to waste your time watching this “unofficial” documentary of the Spice Girls before they made it big is to see Victoria Adams constantly smiling and with some meat on her bones. Other than that, this is just a cheap opportunistic piece of crap undoubtedly made by the group’s original management of Chris and Bob Herbert. Watching the same clips of the girls rehearsing a song called “We’re Gonna Make It Happen” in a dumpy little studio gets old fast, and hearing the various nobody-talking heads either trash or praise Geri Halliwell for her original instinctive drive to want to have the group become huge and get the hell away from Heart Management is completely uninteresting. Though hearing the girls talk about their aspirations and feelings towards each other is slightly fascinating, this is ultimately just boring archival footage with no Spice Girls tunes or input from any of the girls themselves. Another “unauthorized” waste of time you can easily ignore.

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Jason Thompson
6/20/2008
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Los Straitjackets: In Concert

When alien civilizations travel here millions of years from now to learn what they can about our ancient society, they will surely be perplexed by “Los Straitjackets in Concert!,” the band’s first concert video. A group of 40-something men wearing black clothes, Mexican wrestling masks – God help bassist Pete Curry if he ever actually had to step in the ring wearing one of those things – and playing surf guitar instrumentals? They won’t make any more sense then than they do now, but thank goodness for them just the same. This show, recorded at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, has everything you can expect from a Los Straitjackets show (though the world-famous Pontani Sisters are sadly absent), from the hokey choreography to the all-Spanish-then-accent-free-English between-song banter. The problem is that a couple of the cameras are constantly out of focus, and the Straitjackets, talented musicians all, will not inspire their fans to do more than nod their heads politely while they’re playing. Still, guitarists Danny Amis and Eddie Angel put on a surf guitar clinic here, and man, is it sweet.

Los Straitjackets MySpace page

David Medsker
5/9/2008
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Chris & Rich Robinson: Brothers of a Feather - Live at the Roxy

Amassed from three sold-out shows at the Roxy in L.A. earlier this year, “Brothers of a Feather”displays Black Crowes founders Chris and Rich Robinson very much in their natural habitat. A front porch-like stage setting, complete with table (for beers), chairs, and an oft-referred-to coat rack, brings the casual best out of these hippy sibs as they breeze through a career’s worth of obscure Crowes tracks, unreleased artifacts, and well-disguised covers. Twenty songs over nearly two hours of tape, with splicing from three nights (which isn’t always so seamless, like when Rich removes his coat at the end of the opener “Horsehead,” only to have it magically back on for “Cursed Diamond”). A few new originals get propped up, including a Dylan-ish “Someday Past the Sunset” and a bluesy, slide-guitar number called “Magic Rooster Blues.” They forego the big, popular Crowes hits, opting instead for quieter, more subtle material. Chris, looking as skuzzy and unkempt as ever, strums awkwardly on a few cuts, including “Over the Hill” by Scottish folk singer John Martyn, one of many hard-to-identify covers. But when they really want to bring it, the Robinsons succeed wildly. “Better When You’re Not Alone,” with a really cool harmony vocal by Rich, and the catchy sing-along “Welcome to the Goodtimes,” featuring a nifty saxophone part and spot-on background vocals by two ladies, are the project’s highlights. A rustic, bare-bones version of “Jealous Again,” also finding Rich’s vocal contributions, winds up the DVD in signature fashion.

Chris & Rich Robinson

Red Rocker
5/9/2008
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The Dresden Dolls: Live at the Roundhouse London

The top of the DVD says it all: "This is the Punk Cabaret." The Dresden Dolls taped two shows at the legendary Roundhouse in London and brought a small army of dancers, singers and musicians to assist them in putting on one of the most thrilling concerts you’re likely to see (Master of Ceremonies: Margaret Cho, no joke). Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione are cute and clever on tape but they’re positively ferocious live – put Viglione near the top of the list of best drummers in rock today – and there is much more to them than "Coin Operated Boy." Their pre-encore closer, "Sing," leads the audience to continue singing long after the song is over (think U2’s "40"), and you won’t believe what they do to Tears for Fears’ "Mad World." They even get Lene Lovich (!) to join them for a song. It surely cost them a ton of money to record this show for posterity, but thank God they did.

The Dresden Dolls

David Medsker
5/9/2008
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Frankie Laine: That Lucky Old Sun

The legend of Frankie Laine has slightly diminished over time, mostly because it’s been almost 40 years since his last Top 40 hit. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that Laine, who passed away in February 2007 at the age of 93, actually had more than 60 Top 40 hits in his career. In the field of pop music interpretation, the man was a musical force to be reckoned with, and he could bounce back and forth between jazz, country, rhythm and blues and popular standards without blinking an eye. In this 1976 performance, recorded in Sheffield, England, as a special for the BBC, Laine runs through 12 songs, including some of his biggest hits: "Jealousy," "Dream A Little Dream of Me," "Your Cheating Heart," "Lord, You Gave Me A Mountain" and "Jezebel." Of course, he also does his signature song – the theme for "Rawhide" – though, surprisingly, it’s the third song in the set. (If he’d been in the States, you can bet that it would’ve been the closing number.) Unfortunately, however, there are several moments of pure schmaltz, such as his version of the theme to "Love Story" and a cover of Morris Albert’s "Feelings." Despite Laine being in fine voice throughout, it feels more like a nightclub act than a proper concert. If this is the only video artifact of Frankie Laine in a live setting, more’s the pity.

Will Harris
5/9/2008
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UB40: Live at Montreux 2002

Eagle Rock has released so many shows from the Montreux Jazz Festival in the last few months that we’re considering adding a "Montreux DVD of the Month" slot on our Music DVD home page. That is not to say that the sheer ubiquity of the titles should result in listener fatigue. Indeed, this set by UB40 from 2002 is a keeper, with an impressive, comprehensive set list that covers all their U.S. hits (the Neil Diamond cover, the Al Green cover, the Smokey Robinson cover, etc.) and U.K. singles like "If It Happens Again" and "Don’t Break My Heart." And resist the urge to snark at a show by a band that’s 15 years past its heyday: bands like UB40 can put on a solid live show until they collapse into a pile of dust onstage. The one gripe about the show is that, as a live video, well, it’s awfully fun to listen to, at least. Pop it while cooking dinner: actually watching the band play is a bonus, but by no means essential to the experience.

UB40 MySpace page

David Medsker
5/9/2008
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