Customer Reviews

Alice Cooper - Brutally Live - DTS

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first time I'd ever seen a Alice Cooper concert. Had no idea that it was a full blown stage show, not just a music concert. I have thoroughly enjoyed this DVD at least five times and will watch it again when time prevails.

I would like to point out that the production of this video is excellent. The video portion gives you two angles, but that is not what sells me on this DVD, it's the quality, just great! The audio portion is well done also. It gives you the feeling of being in the front row. Put this DVD to a big screen tv and a good sound system, and you are there!

I just attended an Alice Cooper concert in Cincinnati last night. It was pretty much the same as what is on the Brutally Live DVD with a few exceptions. A few of his newer songs off of the Dragontown disc had been added in place of some others.

I must say that I think that the Brutally Live DVD is better than the live show I saw. Don't get me wrong, the man and his band put on a hell of a performance, but the sound in the theater was not as good as what I get from the DVD.

In summary, if you get a chance to see Alice live, do it by all means. Then buy this DVD to enjoy when you can't see him live. In either case it's entertainment money well spent.

I saw the PPV broadcast of this DVD and the sound kicks some serious tail. Of course, the visuals are great and highlights include Alice's daughter Calico, Ryan "Glamnation" Roxie, Pete Frezein, and Gregg Smith. Alice throws in a couple of oldies which haven't seen the light of day since 1974 such as Caught In a Dream and Nervous (my favorite of the show).

Coop takes the tightest band he has had in YEARS and lays out 24 smokin' tracks from past to present.

Great production values with an alternate angle for some songs and a bonus video for "Gimme".

Recorded July 2000 in London (105 min)

The set list...

Brutal Planet, Gimme, Go to Hell, Blow Me a Kiss, I'm Eighteen, Pick Up the Bones, Feed My Frankenstein, Wicked Young Man, Dead Babies, Ballad of Dwight Fry, I Love the Dead, The Black Widow, No More Mr. Nice Guy, It's Hot Tonight, Caught Up In a Dream, It's the Little Things, Poison, Take It Like a Woman, Only Women Bleed, You Drive Me Nervous, Under My Wheels, School's Out, Billion Dollar Babies, My Generation, Elected

So what ya waitin' for?

If you care anything about Alice Cooper, you need this DVD.

Thanks Coop, you continue to rule!!!

There have been several Alice Cooper concerts released on video through the years, and this is quite possibly the best of the lot.

"Brutally Live" was recorded live on July 19th, 2000, at LaBatt's Apollo in Hammersmith, England. It finds Alice Cooper in fine shape, backed by one of his best ever touring bands, and if his voice shows small signs of wear, the band and the legendary "performance art" are there to pick it up.
The ultra-tight combo is anchored by former Kiss drummer Eric Singer, and more than a few of these songs sound better and tougher than ever in these powerful but totally focused live renditions.
Guitarists Pete Friesen and Ryan Roxie may look like 80s hair metal leftovers, but their playing is totally devoid of gimmicks and aimless showing off. And if newer songs like "Gimme" and "Pick Up The Bones" sound better than ever, early songs like "No More Mr Nice Guy", "I'm Eighteen" and "Caught In A Dream" come off sounding as fresh as they did in the 70s.

The 25-track DVD version is top notch with excellent colour schemes and terrific camera work, and the twenty-track CD features equally excellent fidelity. "Brutally Live" proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Alice Cooper is much, much more than an oldies act.
4 3/4 stars. Terrific!

Alice Cooper, a truly original innovator, was one of the first rock acts to put on a theatrical show complete with props and makeup. While this show may not be as elaborate as those from the 70's, the band or Alice don't seem to be wasted, so the performances are much better.

There are quite a variety of new and old songs on this disc and the band is in rare form! The musicians are incredibly talented, have great stage presence, and are having a blast nailing every song... as good or better than the studio recordings. Besides the music we are treated to a visual feast of colorful characters, grotesque half monster/baby creature, swords, whips, straight jacket, and of course the guillotine execution. Alice's voice cracks a little in places but he is still a great showman who always interacts with the audience. For instance, when he points out those wearing Manson, Ozzy and Kiss t-shirts in the audience and refers to them as "all of my disobedient children". Or when a lucky young boys face beams when Alice gives him his cane.

The audio options are DD 5.0, DTS 5.0 and stereo. All mixes are excellent and the absence of the subwoofer is not an issue. Not much for bonus material - a video of "Gimme" and some songs give you the option of multiple angles. When I purchased this it did not come with the DVD/CD package. It would be worth the extra cash to get that version.

Man is this good stuff! I have been an AC fan since the tender age of 9 , not sure why I was drawn in so early but it had to be the sheer artistic vision that filled all of the early LP's as well as the visual onslaught that accompanied. I recall when I was in fourth grade having a kind of "show and tell" session at school. We were asked to bring our favorite record in and play our favorite song for the class. I happened to have a copy of "Killer" and my plan was to play the masterpiece "Halo of Flies" for my fellow unsuspecting Carpenters, John Denver and Archies fans. Needless to say I did not get that far when I brandished my favorite slab of wax. Most of the kids brought in 45's but I was already into albums as well as sleeve art etc. Back in 1971 when Killer came out it had an extended sleeve that featured Alice on a noose -how delightful! My teacher took it from me immediately and kept it until after school was over.
That was fine , I turned most of the classmates onto the record anyway. Curiosity always takes over a young mind and half the class wanted to know what it was all about. I still remember it even though it was 33 years ago. I also have been listening to AC ever since.

Now about this concert dvd. This was filmed in 2000 at the Hammersmith in London and it is a treat to watch a master performer do his thing at 52 years of age , you would never know it. This show is very entertaining and all of AC's musical styles are represented well by a superb band that captures the creativity that singed many brain cells from 1970 to 1974. Alice is in command here and he looks and sounds better than ever . Imagine what it would be like if Bowie succesfully pulled off his Ziggy character in current times , that would be really cool. In my opinion that is what AC accomplishes in this concert , the past energy and the look is in full throttle and filmed with the optimum technology and sound options .

Visually the show is what you would expect, lots of props and a great looking set with creepy and campy stuff going on with nurses , mental ward orderlys , executioners , and a whip lady (who is actually Alice's daughter Calico). One of the things that I have always like about the Coop is that he mixes many things together and takes chances artistically, plus he does not leave his sense of humor backstage. He is the Salvador Dali of rock history in a sense .

If you are a fan , buying this dvd is a no brainer , you won't be disappointed. It is all here , the early trash can lid rock of "School's Out" and "You Drive Me Nervous" were great to see and hear. Also we have some of his great ballads like "The Ballad of Dwight Frye" that sounds great. The show opens with the more recent bludgeoning of the nu-metal proto type "Brutal Planet". This is a newer sound and it is not as great as the old stuff but it is better than any of the nu-metal stuff that would normally come to mind. Vincent / Alice has a way of even making that genre infectious , in fact I watched the opening number "Brutal Planet" three times the first time I sat down to watch this dvd.

Gimme this , Gimme that!

For those of you wanting to know whether or not to purchase this DVD, here's something that might be of some help. Ingnore the negative reviews that claim the sound is awful, I took the chance on that and purchased the DVD and it sounded great. I do have high end amps and speakers, but the DVD should sound good on any system that's setup properly. Picture quality is just as good as any professionally recorded video these days. The refereces to things being a bit fuzzy is due to the type of lighting used during the show and video compression on the DVD player. My player had no problems, but my friend's player had the fuzzy stuff. To truely experience the DVD you have to listen to it in DTS. Stereo is ok, but the DTS sounded so much better.

Now, as for the show. The show was great! Of course you have to be expecting an Alice Cooper show, not the typical run-of-the-mill rock concerts they have these days. This show wasn't as theatrical as Alice's Welcome to my Nightmare, but there was still a common theme/story being told throughout the entire show. Think of it as a play, or some reasonable facimalty thereof; it's not just four fat guys on stage making a lot of noise and swearing at the croud. I've compared this to my Metallica Cunning Stunts Live show DVD, and there really is no comparison. Alice puts on a performance while other bands are just there, they really don't do anything accept walk around the stage. Alice has props, blood, costumes, babies, a couple of actors, swords, and that damn guillotine. The songs range the full 30 plus years of Alice's career. It's great to hear all the different styles of rock he went through. Several of his songs were chopped and tied together in some manner in order to tell a particular part of the story. I feel this is more interesting than just playing one song right after another like you may hear on the album.

Well, I don't want to give anymore of the show away. It's a great show, if you're in to Alice Cooper; it sounds great, the best live mix I've heard, it looks great, it's entertaining. Take my word for it, I am a professional musician, have been a part of the music business since I was born, I know what music is supposed to sound like, and I can tell when there's something great about a show. Regular concerts these days are fun, but they just can't compare to a show like that put on by Alice Cooper. I will even go as far to say that the musicians playing for him on this tour are better than any of the big name bands that are on the top of the business today.

That's just my opinion.

On October 31, 2000, I had the HONOR of seeing the final show of this tour in New York City to a packed crowd, and no Halloween will ever be the same. To see a similar show on DVD proved that I missed quite a spectacle while staring in awe at the master. What a great concert. On top of some killer new songs from the epic Brutal Planet, Alice Cooper and company dig deep and dish out some rare classics. Awesome songs, stage props, the guillotine, his hot daughter as a nurse and executioner, you can't go wrong... unless your pulse is stagnant.

I've seen enough live shows to know that even on DVD, Brutally Live is better than more performers can dream to exhibit...

I have been a AC fan since 1972. I was at the Alice Cooper BRUTAL PLANET show on Oct. 6, 2000 in Portland, ME, USA. When I saw this DVD for the first time I thought it was filmed at the same show, until they showed the audience from the stage. If you missed the BRUTAL PLANET tour this DVD is EXACTLY what was done during the show. I haven't seen Alice live since 1977 and was thrilled to see that Alice is as great as ever! If you've never seen Alice live, it's all here. The only thing not here from the old days was the snake and the song KILLER. If you like Alice you'll love it. Alice shows that he can still out rock most of todays best! BUY IT! You will NOT be disappointed! WHAT HAVE WE BECOME HERE ON BRUTAL PLANET?

This is a great DVD. It's Alice Cooper doing his Brutal Planet concert. The stage set up is pretty cool. It looks like a possible near future after an apocolypse, with broken machinery scattered about on the floor. The show starts off with a man connected to electronics whose body is half missing, warning the crowd to leave before the ruler of this near future (Alice Cooper) arrives. Well Alice shows up and the crowd decides to stay. Alice Cooper is so talented on stage. He is able to do an old classic from the 70s right after a new song and is able to connect them together with his stage theatrics. This makes every song a part of the Brutal Planet theme. He always has a new style. But of course the classic guillotine shows up. There are plenty of songs on this concert and it was good to hear "Caught In A Dream", and "It's Hot Tonight". There are two versions of this DVD to purchase. One is just the concert and the other is the concert with a cd of the concert. There is also a video to the song "Gimme" on the DVD.