Live From Hurrah - I bought this DVD after I read some of the reviews. I found it to be a little flawed but certainly worth the money. I had heard of some of these groups but have never seen them so it wasquite an experience to see the groups and get a feel for what the scene was like. Some of the groups, like Shox Lumania -right out of that era. I loved Lene Lovich and wish there was a whole DVD of just her. I think this is where Gwen Stefanie got her look. I love The Waitresses and their casualapproach to singing on stage while smoking a cigarette. And, The Go Go s Fleshtones, Pylon were fantastic!!! Could it have been better, sure. But I loved what I saw. I m not a critic I just love this kind of music so I was willing to overlook the misspellings and just dig the whole scene. I too hope there is a 2nd volume- Art in Oregon
The worst production ever! - The review below mine is dead on accurate. This DVD is horrible and obviously thrown together to make a quick buck.
Shoddy & a blown opportunity - The other reviews on this page must ve been written by people who are friends with the cheapskates who put out this DVD. Talk about your blown opportunities!Yes, many of the recordings by these bands are rare, and video footage is extra hard to come by. But it s just plain disrespectful to the artists to release this as is.The sound is weak - they obviously didn t remaster it at all. And the labelling of each is HORRIBLE! Liquid Liquid s name is mispelled on the cover box, and the Liquid Liquid track title is incorrect. I was also excited to see Magazine listed on the box but instead got a second Del Byzanteens track with no vocals.It s a joke! Why did they bother? To make a quick buck without a second thought to the artists or even fans of these bands. These were house recordings made by Hurrah at most of the shows they hosted. They were not shot with a future DVD release in mind (it hadn t been invented yet). The people who have released this obviously don t know anything about DVD s either.Approach with caution at best.
Rare Footage - This is the best video I ve found dealing with the early 80 s NYC club scene. Sure, its a little rough in places, but to get all of these bands (mostly before they were famous) is really a find. For anyone interested in New Wave and its origins, this DVD will be a great addition to any collection. Hope they come out with more.
A snapshot in time - It s great to finally see performances such as these on DVD. Some of the video is crude (you wouldn t know the Go-Gos had more than 3 members, except for a 10 second pan of Jane and a 3 second pan of who must be Kathy if she was in the group at the time), and you can see the dust and/or other streaks that were on the camera on your screen, but where else are you going to see The Del Byzantines - with Jim Jarmusch on vocals & keyboards - who was gome from the group by the time I saw them - or The Fleshtones, whose greatest album - Roman Gods isn t available on CD nowadays - or most of the groups on this collection? Other highlights for me include The Au Pairs, Pylon, Liquid Liquid, Polyrock, The Bongos (were we ever as young as Richard Barone looks in this video?!?!) and The Teardrop Explodes. The cover that Amazon shows lists The Lounge Lizards on the cover, but they re not on this DVD. Also, The Bush Tetras are listed on the box, but instead of them you get another song by Lene Lovich ( Night , where she plays saxophone). I would have enjoyed seeing the Bush Tetras again, who, it seems like, played weekly back in 80, 81, 82, but hopefully they ll be additional volumes of this series, or other video from other clubs will become available (like all that video that The Peppermint Lounge must have filmed). Also, the group Magazine (with Buzzcock Howard Devoto) is listed on the box, but in it s place there s a second Del Byzantines clip, which has good music, but no vocals, even when you see the singer singing into the microphone, but you take what you can. This is definitely worth your time, whether you ve heard these groups before or not.