Search - Stan Ridgway's Holiday In Dirt on DVD

The thinking man's music DVD

alvaro_dd | Spain | 03/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is cult, there is obscure and then there's Stan Ridgway. For those of us who love his music but have never seen his videos, it is good to see not one but two DVD compilations on the market (the other being the excellent, career spanning "Showbussiness is My Life"). "Holiday In Dirt" is one of the best music DVDs around if you are interested in music videos as an art form on its own, linked with avant garde cinema and video art, as it was the case with bands such as The Residents or Devo (actually, Stan's DVD features two videos directed by collaborators of the aforementioned bands). All the films included here are excellent: the Barry Gifford pastiche "End of The Line" (where Ridgway ends up fighting with the director, as in Norman Mailer's "Maidstone"); the retro-futuristic black and white catwalk in "Brand New Special and Unique"; the First World War combats in "After The Storm"; expresionist computer animation in "Operator Help Me" ; faceless teenage gangs in "Garage Band'69"; and a ventriloquist dummy singing country... there's something for everyone here, but my favourite is "Beloved Movie Star Redux", a heartbreaking story of love and loss (and then again, you 'll see what I mean) shot like a real vintage silent film.

Plus, you get two vids from 1995 masterpiece "Black Diamond" (one of them, "Big Dumb Town", is one of the funniest and most disturbing satires of showbiz ever made) and, as a hidden bonus, the 1995 short film "The Drywall Incident", which features Stan the Man as himself (quite funny actually), some bad language and some NAKED women (so if you are under 17 you shouldn't even read this, as you might get sinful thoughts and go to hell!).

A must if you are interested in independent film-making, grown-up rock music, fascinating lyrics and free - thinking."