Customer Reviews

Bond - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Okay, I'll admit that Bond's not the self-inclusive symphony that it has been hyped by the record label as. However, anyone who says that their 'Coyote Ugly'-esque costumes are the evidence that Bond 'isn't about making classical music cool, it's about sex' don't know too many 24-year-old women. My credentials in this area come from two sources: first as a classically trained singer (as such I'm professionally familiar with orchestras) and as the friend of numerous women in their twenties. From women at my work to women I've sung with, I've covered many differant personality-types, and with only a few exceptions they would all love to get out on stage and play sex-kitten for a night. As a band, Bond is about re-vamping Classical music, the leather pants and low-cut silk shirts are simply the natural result of young women getting to pick their wardrobes when money is no object. With that out of the way...

Bond has to be one of greatest ideas for a 'reinvention' of a genre ever. Quickly after William Orbit's 'Barber's Adagio for strings' took over clubs some record excutive decided to see if he could make a band out of it. Are the four 'Bond girls' a manufactored quintet, of course! But when was the last time you heard of a twelve piece orchestra coming together because they met in college and thought playing together would be fun? Of course Bond is four string-players, but they tour with an actual orchestra, complemented by DJs and a standard rock-band. So the CD is an orchestral endevour, Bond is simply the figure-head. Kind of like Bruce Springsteen's last album.

In sort, disregard what you've heard disparaging Bond's artistic credibility. Think only of Paul Oakenfold getting a hold of Beethoven's fifth symphony, run through a few bars, and if you like, jump on the Bond wagon. This is classical fused with techno, and unlike most orchestras, the stage show's just as good as the music.

As I sit here listening to their performance on my laptop, I'm struck with the performers' joy and exuberance. Too often I see an emotionless performer on stage giving a short bow or nod to the applause of the audience. Do I usually see performers glancing at each other in sheer enjoyment? Not likely!

I read the other reviews on this site and noted that one reviewer put them down as being amateurish. Perhaps naive?

And don't I love that about them? They're having fun. They're working hard. They're wearing their expressions on their faces ... their hearts on their sleeves, as it were. And isn't that a good thing? Doesn't it touch our hearts?

I get tired of hackneyed performers that are on stage solely for the money and could care less about it. Show me the money, they say!

I think we'll see this band of performers on larger stages and will look back at this DVD with great appreciation as one of their early works.

This is a group that brings joy to the stage and to its listeners. Have fun listening to (and watching) them!

Ned Hune
ned1@aol.com

Forget everything you have heard, or not heard about this namd. It means nothing. Yes, these girls were thrown off the classical charts. Yes, the infuce dance beats into classical music. These are things that people already know about the group.
What you might not know, is that these girls can play very well. Haylie and Eos play first and second violin without completing, which is often found in such quartets. Tania provides great sound from the Viola, and Gay-Yee Westerhoff's cello performance is spectacular.
I am a huge fan of string insturments. Mostly I have listened to Yo-Yo Ma and Vanessa Mae, but this group has put together a performance that rivals either of the former. You can say that it is because they are attractive women. And yes that is why I first started watching them. But that can only take you so far with me. After about two-three minutes you have to prove that you have talent to keep my intrest. These girls have that talent. They are a joy to listen to, and even greater joy to see live.

I had hoped that the live performance of Bond would be released on video and DVD. Now, it is here. Superb performance. A must see for any Bond fan!

This DVD is a surprise, I have never heard of bond till 2 weeks ago. I was in my local home theater store and caught them on one of the screening rooms. The music was upbeat, the girls looks great but what caught my eye were the emotions flowing thru. it looks like they are having the time of their life.

This is so refreshing since what you get from most live performance from established performer is an act. A show put together by expert structured to get the audience emotionally involve, with perfectly timed high and low point. To see a group that's actually having great fun on stage was so unique that I have to ask the sales person who they are and bought a copy of the DVD on the spot.

I have since picked up the Japanese import for Born and I would say the DVD is much better. The background music on the CD was much more pronounced and was actually overshadowing the string instruments on some tracks. The concert performance has clean up some of the arrangement and move the string instruments back to stage front. I still enjoy the CD but I'm hoping that they will release the concert on audio CD.

In conclusion, If you know bond and like their CD, the DVD is a must buy. If you were like me and have never heard of them before. give the DVD a try.

I'm over 40, but this is the kind of video that lets me understand why teenagers are drawn to MTV. It hits my demographic with a sledgehammer. The music is great, juiced up classical music played by talented, classically trained artists that just happen to be beautiful.

Even though I thought the Spice Girls were a blast, I was hoping Bond would NOT turn out to be a new-age/classical-goes-Top-40 reincarnation (not having heard the CD, this disc is my true introduction to these artists). The quartet may have been assembled by someone with dollar signs in mind, but no matter: these women are fine, classically trained musicians, having honed their skills through session work and/or orchestral experience.

Each of the thirteen tracks is superb, with "Quixote," "Alexander the Great," "Kismet," "Korobushka," and "Victory" being my favorite songs. Not truly classical, but the accompanying band and string section provide a symphonic feel to the moving musical themes. While not yet fully poised and articulate on stage (each one takes a turn at addressing the audience), the women score highly in musical aptitude, cohesion as an ensemble, energy and flair. Perhaps too much flair at times: the running around on stage and violin bow theatrics may have been a tad excessive. Also, Haylie's (first violin) giddy, rah-rah introductions and her rock 'n' roll body language seemed an odd mix in comparison to her more subdued band mates. The "babe factor" is clearly pumped up by the midriff-baring outfits and some gyrating hips during the more danceable tunes. I also noticed: the audio-video aspects seemed to be slightly out of sync for some of the show, with the sound ahead by a split second. I tried hard not to dwell on this. The camera/editing work is very good, alternating between the individuals and interacting band mates, yet thankfully minimizing the overly rapid edits. I could have done without the overhead spinning camera.

Aside from the performance itself, the DVD "extras" include four videos, which I though were REAL cool, although two of them you can't get to without first taking a quiz (fun...the first time). The 13-minute "exclusive" interview was so-so, with hollow-sounding voices and camera shots superimposed on a still background. The photo gallery is no big deal.

Overall, these "Bond girls" are truly accomplished musicians who can put on a captivating show. This is a performance which showcases some inspiring music, great sound, interesting musicianship, and even a little choreography thrown in to spice up the event.

As Haylie says in the concert, "This is the very first live performance ever".

Being a fan of Bond's, I love the music. To see the music being played visually by the 4 members of the classically-trained quartet, was amazing. It's always nice to see the people behind the sounds of the music, and in the case of Bond, not bad at all.

The DVD features tracks from their first album, "Born", "Dallas", and a mix of "Victory".

The DVD itself has some extras, one music video of "Wintersun" and another of a performance of "Viva [Orion Mix]". There is also an inteviews with the members of Bond, and even a short 10 question quiz. Answering correctly on all questions unlocks a video of "Victory" and their stay in Cuba where they had taped the music video for "Victory". The questions themselves are not hard to answer, if you make a mistake you can always re-take the quiz. It has the same questions again.

The actual concert was quite a drag in sense of excitement, visuals, performance, and prescence. The girls walk around and dance when they are not playing their instruments, I don't think having an actual dance choregraphy would have helped either sides. It was understandable that they would remain rigid and still to play their instruments. The girls played their songs back to back.. there was no real scene changes or clothes changes. The stage itself didn't lend much help as the lighting was simple and the stage itself, very small and bare. The one thing I liked about the concert was that it was truly live.. there was a small group of people playing in the background, with the band consisting of a guitar, bass, drums, percussions, and a keyboard/mixer. In between songs however, one of the girls would say something about the concert or say something about themselves. Gay-Yee introduced the members of the band, though I thought that was unneccesary. After all, do they introduce the characters in a play mid-way? They could have kept the mood going, without interruptions. It was basically just song after song that were played.. "Duel" was interesting to watch as Haylie and Eos "dueled" with their instruments while they played. "Victory" and after that was "Victory (Carnival Mix)" which I did not notice a difference between the two songs. During the Carnival Mix, a bunch of dancers come out, clowns come, lights go crazy.. it's pretty bland. Their attempt at making that songs "carnival-like" and more "fun".

It was awesome to see Bond actually perform live.. but the performance lacked so much. As they are going on tour in the U.S. of the summer of 2004.. I hope they improve greatly on the performance itself, because the music, especially their new album, "Classified" does not need any work, and never had.

I went into an electronics store to get something and on the way out I caught notice of a big screen TV playing a live performance. I watched for 20 minutes and decided I must have the DVD. I've watched the whole thing once and a couple of tracks many times. Outstanding! There's no other word to describe it. It's four very beautiful, talented young women doing what they enjoy most. By the time you've gone 10 minutes into the DVD you'll realize this. These girls are really having fun! I hope they do another soon.
Included on this DVD are two videos they've done. The first, "Viva" contains enough energy to launch a rocket! I never knew a string quartet could sound (or look) so good.

I finally got around to renting Bond's dvd "Live at the Royal Albert Hall". I have been a big fan of the classical/pop quartet for almost five years now. I unfortunately had other prior engagments around the time of their concert last year and had to miss seeing them live so I had to see what they were like live (sort of).

Their performance at the Royal Albert Hall was their debut live performance back in 2001. I will start with the two flaws I found with the dvd. The production on the dvd sounded awfully like the music came from the studio as opposed to a live performance. In other words, the allegedly live dvd did not exactly sound 'live' per say. This cheapens the band's reputation as a band if the performance dvd sounds much too polished. The second flaw with the dvd is that I could not tell if I was hearing the girls play their stringed instruments of if that was the orchestra. Including other musicians playing stringed instruments drowned out the girls' playing.

With that aside, I found the performance engergetic and invigorating unlike a lot of rock bands nowadays. The girls showed a lot of enthusiasm towards performing which I don't see in a lot of rock bands today who just stand there on the stage and play their bloody instruments. I just loved how excited the girls were to be performing live. A lot of rock bands today could learn a thing or two about showing a little more enthusiasm towards performing from them.

I loved all of the songs but I especially loved the band's cover of the "Dallas" theme song. I wished that was included on any of their albums. It had that huge epic sound that I have always loved. My other favorite song they performed was the sweeping ballad "Belladonna". Just a beautiful song.

The bonus footage was pretty minimal. I liked the interviews and the two videos for "Viva" and "Wintersun". What no "Victory"? If and when the band puts out another live dvd, I sure hope the sound quality is more convincing that what I heard on this dvd. All in all, I did enjoy this dvd despite its flaws.