Tag: dvd

200 Motels DVD – Review by SOTCAA

Frank Zappa’s 1971 big-screen venture 200 Motels has not been particularly well-preserved on VHS over the years. Although there have been several releases and re-releases, these have tended to be sourced from the same slightly iffy video masters with no attempts at any kind of upgrade.

The first ever (official) DVD release of the film last month on the Voiceprint label should have been the perfect opportunity to rectify this. Sadly, this release – overseen and ‘restored’ by original co-director Tony Palmer – stands out as not only the worst edition of the film ever commercially released but could actually hold the honour of being the worst DVD ever compiled. (…)

It looks like shit.

Full – very very detailed – article here (see our previous post about the DVD!) Just one side-note: on the official site of the DVD one will find where the trailer should be: “This video is no longer available because of copyright reasons – belonging to  Metro-Goldwin-Mayer”.
(Sorry, the latter had to be translated back to English from Hungarian… I’m not sure whether it’s perfect, but you’ll understand anyway.)

Ban(ne)d From Utopia — Stuttgart, 1994


In the summer of 1994, promoters from the Jazz Open festival in in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, southern Germany, contacted the Fowler Brothers.

Chad Wackerman interview at Idiot Bastard:

The Fowler Brothers [Tom & Bruce] got a call from a festival in Stuttgart to play a set of Zappa music. This became the Banned From Utopia. I was called at the last minute to be a guest, so I played a couple of tunes with them at the festival. We then went into the studio and recorded various Zappa tunes and originals over a five year period, and the result was the CD, So Yuh Don’t Like Modern Art.

Agreeing to the project at the last minute, the ten members of Band From Utopia formed for and headlined the 1994 festival. The concert was recorded on 32 track mobile digital and also filmed for broadcast on german television (from which the above clips, “The Illinois Enema Bandit” and “Be-Bop Tango” were recorded). This was the first time all of these musicians collectively had taken the same stage at the same time.

Other tracks such as “I Ain’t Got No Heart“, “Zombie Woof” and “Yo Cats” are available as fan videos (audio only).

Parts of their Jazz Open performance are available on DVD, while a more complete performance is available on CD.

The Ban(ne)d From Utopia are:

Ike Willis – guitars, vocals
Bruce Fowler – trombone
Kurt McGettrick – baritone sax
Bobby Martin – tenor sax, keyboards, vocals
Tommy Mars – piano, keyboards, vocals
Tom Fowler – violin, bass
Arthur Barrow – bass, guitar, vocals
Ed Mann – vibes, percussion
Jay Dittamo – drums
Chad Wackerman – drums, percussion

Note: Their name, The Band From Utopia, eventually morphed into Banned From Utopia.

Update (11/05/09): Thanks to Andrew for enlightening me on the difference between the CD (that contains 15 tracks from the festival) and the DVD (which only replicates three on the CD). Thus the DVD is not a complete performance.

Son of Roxy & Elsewhere – DVD Preview


News from The Idiot Bastard: 1.) New ZPZ DVD sometimes: Son Of Roxy; 2.) new singer soon to be announced (ohh-ohh – might it be Ahmet?…), 3.) new post on the ZPZ blog, not really mentioning the above (yet?); and with some solo-samples.
The DVD above was recorded on the 12th of december – see the setlist here. I think I’ll buy it – along with One Shot Deal.

Tubes Wild West Show — Mondo Bondage

Did someone mention The Tubes? For your entertainment pleasure, here is an updated theatrical version of The Tubes classic “Mondo Bondage” taken from their DVD, “Wild In London” (Recorded at the Shepherds Bush Empire, Dec 2004).

Beware: An aging Fee in leather bondage attire may either offend, or perhaps even excite certain viewers. You are hereby warned.

Joe’s M’ssage

Joe Travers’ letter, on the audio-tracks of the new DVD – found on the Usenet group alt.fan.frank-zappa:

I’m sorry Mark, but it’s Dolby Digital. We originally were going to with PCM audio but we decided that we would go Dolby since we did not treat the audio in any way, nor remix. We went for picture quality instead. But when we switched the audio, the print work had already been completed.
That’s the story. We are planning on a special edition-type release with (hopefully) the full shows & all remixed in surround. The Nina Blackwood stuff should be on that.

Enjoy & thanks!!!
Joe

Khm.

New Live FZ DVD: The Torture Never Stops

Well, apparently today is Zappa-news day. A new DVD, hot off the press at Barfko Swill: FZ: The Torture Never Stops. As per the blurb:

  • $21.98
  • Halloween, New York City, 1981 – Live at The Palladium
  • edited, performed & music composed & conducted by FZ
  • with Ray White, Steve Vai, Bobby Martin, Tommy Mars,Ed Mann, Scott Thunes, Chad Wackerman
  • 2 hours with xtras – ratta tat too!
  • DVD 9 Dual Layer, NTSC, American English, Dolby Digital 2.0

This appears to be a fully captured version of the Halloween ’81 show, perhaps most famous for this rendition of “Stevie’s Spanking”, as previously featured in the Dub Room Special DVD. (See Also)

Visuals? Yup:

The Torture Never Stops DVD

Have to admit I for one didn’t see that one coming. Whatever happened to frost on pumpkins and such?

Update: