Search - The Residents - Demons Dance Alone on DVD

Weird in the Best Possible Way

S. A DUNN | Chehalis, WA United States | 04/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Knowing, listening to or liking The Residents is not a aquired taste. You not only must be of the mindset that you appreciate the weird, but you must CRAVE the weird and the 'off the wall' to evolve into a true eyeball audiophile!

The Residents do not perform for Casey Kasum. They perform on midnight Night Flights and for college radio crowds and community radio types. They would never perform for the likes of King George W. or his ilk. Even when they "do" classic country tunes, they still sound like Pee Wee Herman on Angel Dust! And that's the way we remember them from over 30 years ago and we never want them to change.

Their "Demons Dance Alone" CD is in my opinion their hallmark work for this century, so far. We now have opportunity to see it acted out on stage so nothing is left to the imagination! They shed their eyeballs for incredibly disturbing and creepy persona masks as they act out the part of the demon. Naturally it is more than sexually suggestive and more than funeral dark. It is so much more polished than their earlier stage work on Mark of the Mole.

Come inside, slap this disk on your DVD player and turn off the phone and turn down the lights! Be immersed in some of the most beautifully dark and depressing music since the Legendary Pink Dots. All performed in the Disney on Acid style of our eyeball buddies!"

If Ernie Kovacs Had Lived To Make A Concert Video

M. Salmestrelli | Seaside park, Nj | 06/27/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title of this review pretty much sums this up for me and the 5 stars in my opinion are justly rewarded. For those unfamilar with Ernie Kovacs, he was a television icon of the 50s and 60s who specialized in broading the horizions of the medium to such a degree that we havent yet caught up to him, cept for the Residents that as. I had purchased the album which contains the majority of the material presented here and in a strange way Ive grown to prefer these live versions of those songs as opposed to the studio versions on "Demons Dance Alone" the lp.The back of the dvd tells the long intricate story of the troubles they had in trying to make a competent concert video of the show. They used night vision type cameras for a good deal of the performance which hads a flavor and a twist to the visuals. True it makes for a grainy picture but it does add to the atmopshere of the music.The performances are inspired with audio al from a single shows performance but footage from several performance for the visuals. A complicated task that I think not a single music group could pull off for a concert video and frankly wouldnt attempt to pull off either.They're three separte versions of Mr.Wonderful (Ms. Wonderful and Life Would Be Wonderful) which acts as a recurring theme for the album, and please look for the nod to Snakefinger with the spirited cover of his song off the "Greener Postures" album (a great album by the way, not Phillip "SnakeFinger" Lithan at his best but still a great album). I have to recommend this as the top two of the dvds (with Kettles of Fish on the Ouskirts of Town box)they have out now and tops among all other concert videos that ive ever seen(actually I rank all the Residents dvds above other artists dvd offerings, but perhaps im too biased)."

Loss: What Might Have Been

Doc Gloom | Santa Cruz, CA | 02/20/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Demons Dance Alone is a superbly crafted mood piece that the DVD ultimately fails to chronicle. I saw the live show twice and was hoping the cinematic release would offer a more accurate representation from the audience's perspective. The interaction from the camera's perspective is distracting and frustrating. The minimal lighting used in the live show impeccably complimented the essence of the composition. Here, the quality of the video/editing is harsh and over-saturated, but improves as the DVD progresses. The performance is taken from multiple venues, which makes it seem a bit disjointed. The 5.1 sound is consistently good and makes up for a lot of the issues I had with the video quality. I've been anxiously awaiting this release since attending the shows. Perhaps my expectations got the better of me."