Search - Art of Noise: Into Vision on DVD

Replenishment for thirsty AON fans.

Richard Hind | Houston, TX | 08/26/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, so first of all, let's get the bad things out of the way about this DVD-
1) Paul Morley is a complete idiot and is prancing around on stage with a hammer, don't ask me why.
2) The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix has variances in volume which keeps you reaching for the volume control every 10 minutes.Otherwise, this is a rare opprtunity to see this usually very private band doing what they obviously love, which is playing music. Most of the tracks on here are from the "Seduction Of Claude Debussy" album (which in my opinion is a work of genius) but I have a gripe which is that I do not understand why they did not use samples of John Hurt as the narrator from the album, instead you have Morley "hammering" the narration into the audience in his own "unique" way.
Musically, they are spot on. Anne Dudley on piano is breathtaking and on the disc's extras, there are parts where Anne plays the original Debussy pieces on grand piano, and it is a delight to behold.
There are some old tracks on here as well, they play "Moments In Love", "Peter Gunn" and "Beat Box (diversion one)/Close (to the edit)" so there is something on here for all AON fans.
On the whole, I would say that I am happy with this DVD, but I would advise anyone expecting a flashy, glitzy stage show not to purchase as it's all about the music, not stage performanceship."

I expected a little more

claus | tilburg, nb Netherlands | 03/26/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This dvd is about some live performances from AON with Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn and Paul Morley and some others. Into Vision was recorded during 1999 and 2000 in Chigago and Stepherd Bush. Two things stand out:
- The band consists of quality musicians, but there performance is so serious and static, it makes this DVD bland.
- Paul Morley tries to entertain and spice thing up by acting like a moran. Jumping around on stage with a hammer in a rediculous costume. This man is very irritating and does not stop the entire concert! The band emphasis is on recent AON music. If you like the last couple cd's, this is no problem of course. The performance are shot like a videoclip (80's clips and other visuals are blended with the concerts) to camouflage that these are small concerts, even a bit amteuristic. They started in the eighties as a hobby band, founded by the famous producer Trevor Horn and it still looks like a hobby-project today. All the music falls now in the category ambient and after a while you wonder when they will wake up and makes some noise like they did way back. But it's a continous stream of sounds in which nothing stand out. Even Beat Box is perfomed without power and lacks energy. The extra's: as you would expect a bit dull: not bad, not good. Conclusion: personally I would say there is nothing on this DVD what make this a good buy. If you like the ambient stuff from AON however this DVD is ok, but still not great."

A strange release by a strange band

Joseph Geni | Evanston, Illinois United States | 08/14/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Yeah, concert DVDs can get kind of repetitive, so I applaud the Art of Noise for doing something a little different. But I have beef with the way this was put together. Let me count the ways:

1. Lots of concert DVDs use footage from multiple shows, but NOT DURING A SINGLE SONG! Watching this, you will notice that they literally switch from one concert to another, from black to white, from night to day, and from indoor to outdoor, shot by shot. I assume the audio from each song wasn't similarly mixed, meaning that the visual footage is being randomly assigned to one performance of the song. In essence, that turns this into a live music video rather than a performance. And speaking of music videos,

2. They keep working in odd and ungainly video footage into the visual mix, often cutting away from the band entirely for long periods. While this has worked in other DVDs I have seen (DJ Shadow's "In Tune and On Time" DVD, for example), here it's jarring and unsettling and due to the painfully repetitive flashing images should probably not be viewed by epileptics or small children. Most unforgivably, the band is not shown at all for the whole of "Beat Box," which is one of the few songs that probably got the crowd on its feet (not that we'll ever know). Speaking of the crowd,

3. This isn't exactly a hopping party. The crowd mostly just stands there, and while Paul Morley tries to at least acknowledge the presence of an audience by mostly hopping up and down and talking at length about Debussy, this fails to energize the masses. The whole effort seems a little drab when caught on video. While it's entirely understandable that the filmmakers don't focus on the crowd (all too many concert DVDs dwell on the band's screaming admirers in their search for relevance), it's a SHOW for goodness sake. And it's the Art of Noise to boot. It should be, if nothing else, interesting.

4. Musically, the band is very good, but "The Seduction of Claude Debussy" (the source album for most of AON's reunion tour) is a thick, layered, sonically complex record, and the live performances can't quite capture its swirling beauty.

5. The bonus footage is cool but rather short.

All in all, this is a DVD that hard-core AON fans will cherish and that will probably leave everyone else a little cold."

Don't bother !

Rychard Cooper | CA, US | 07/01/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The Art Of Noise gets back together for a reunion.
Bad photography and editing.
Don't bother"