Search - The Fantomas/Melvin Big Band: Kentish Town Forum - London on DVD

Amazing!

Mr. Penguin | 08/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"$8?!?!?! don't hesitate, pick this up! I would've paid the typical $20 concert video price. even more probably.
over an hour of the tightest, heaviest, craziest stuff you've ever heard or seen (unless you've already seen it, of course).

tracklist:
1) sacrifice
2) page 27
3) night goat
4) page 28
5) page 3
6) electric long thin wire
7) the bit
8) page 14
9) pigs of the roman empire
10) the omen
11) hooch
12) mombius hibachi
13) page 23
14) skin horse
15) cape fear
16) let it all be
17) lowrider
18) 04/02/05 saturday
19) page 29
20) 04/08/05 friday
21) spider baby

if you're a FANTOMAS fan, you'll love it. a MELVINS fan - you'll probably like it, if you enjoy some of their more experimental stuff (there are a few classics on here though).
Dale Crover and King Buzzo, Trevor Dunn, Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, and David Scott Stone crammed on a stage together. 2 drummers, a bassist (sometimes 2), and a guitarist (mostly 2), oh and also samples, noise, and vocals. all at the same time, a meshing of MELVINS and FANTOMAS simultaneously. songs from both bands performed by all.
if you liked the CD they put out a few years back, you'll definitely dig this DVD. a lot of the same tracklist, but still a lot of new stuff.
the sound is great (super heavy), plenty of cameras with an intentional grainy feel, and occasional special effects, graphics, and animation (which is great in itself, wish there were more). sometimes it's like watching a horror film from the 70's.
there's also a commentary track featuring Danny DeVito, Buzz, Dale, and some other folks. haven't watched all of it (commentary) yet.
VERY worthwhile purchase.
if you're not familiar with the music, it's difficult to explain. this (FANTOMAS) is not improv, it's calculated, written, noise. having the albums really makes you appreciate the show, because you can see the precision and try to imagine the rehearsals. craziness. MELVINS are beyond description - heavy, classic, unlike anyone else, the best.
really good stuff, great bargain, and highly recommended.
Dale needs mentioned more, PHENOMENAL drummer. how he just walked in, picked it up, and obliterated it - makes me respect him even more. not being a member of FANTOMAS and playing alongside another unreal drummer - wow.
"

Almost Perfect

Aldo M. Alonzo | Las Vegas | 09/01/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I don't think it is necessary to tell you that if you're a big fan of Fantomas or the Melvins you should've bought this by now. It is a great DVD, and I have to disagree with the reviewer above me who said that the 'camera tricks' are 'cheesy'. It alternates between crystal clear high definition, and darker and grainy image with a light 'splash' of camera effects and graphics. This gotta be the first show I've seen with computer graphics added that don't suck a big one (like a few i've seen with big explosions, outer space images and planets coming at you, or some others with colorful distorted computer polygons or whatever, now that's cheesy).

It is done in my opinion in a very artistic taste and it succeeds in creating a proper atmosphere. The music sound loud and again great sound quality. It would've been neat if they played at least one excerpt from "Delirivm Cordia", but the 'song' selection is alright anyways.

The only thing that prevented me from giving this DVD a 5 star rating instead of 4, is that the audio is NOT in surround, NOT in stereo but in MONO. Yes, that means that the surround speakers from your home theater are completely useless when you play this DVD. Only the front, left and right speakers are the ones that you're going to get any sound from.

I thought it was pretty weird that somebody releases a DVD that is not even in stereo, but maybe that's why the price is so cheap.

Besides that detail, it sounds great, I totally recomend this to anybody who digs Patton or the melvins and I wish they release more in the future."