Customer Reviews

The Fantomas/Melvin Big Band: Kentish Town Forum - London

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

$8?!?!?! don't hesitate, pick this up! I would've paid the typical $20 concert video price. even more probably.
over an hour of the tightest, heaviest, craziest stuff you've ever heard or seen (unless you've already seen it, of course).

tracklist:
1) sacrifice
2) page 27
3) night goat
4) page 28
5) page 3
6) electric long thin wire
7) the bit
8) page 14
9) pigs of the roman empire
10) the omen
11) hooch
12) mombius hibachi
13) page 23
14) skin horse
15) cape fear
16) let it all be
17) lowrider
18) 04/02/05 saturday
19) page 29
20) 04/08/05 friday
21) spider baby

if you're a FANTOMAS fan, you'll love it. a MELVINS fan - you'll probably like it, if you enjoy some of their more experimental stuff (there are a few classics on here though).
Dale Crover and King Buzzo, Trevor Dunn, Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, and David Scott Stone crammed on a stage together. 2 drummers, a bassist (sometimes 2), and a guitarist (mostly 2), oh and also samples, noise, and vocals. all at the same time, a meshing of MELVINS and FANTOMAS simultaneously. songs from both bands performed by all.
if you liked the CD they put out a few years back, you'll definitely dig this DVD. a lot of the same tracklist, but still a lot of new stuff.
the sound is great (super heavy), plenty of cameras with an intentional grainy feel, and occasional special effects, graphics, and animation (which is great in itself, wish there were more). sometimes it's like watching a horror film from the 70's.
there's also a commentary track featuring Danny DeVito, Buzz, Dale, and some other folks. haven't watched all of it (commentary) yet.
VERY worthwhile purchase.
if you're not familiar with the music, it's difficult to explain. this (FANTOMAS) is not improv, it's calculated, written, noise. having the albums really makes you appreciate the show, because you can see the precision and try to imagine the rehearsals. craziness. MELVINS are beyond description - heavy, classic, unlike anyone else, the best.
really good stuff, great bargain, and highly recommended.
Dale needs mentioned more, PHENOMENAL drummer. how he just walked in, picked it up, and obliterated it - makes me respect him even more. not being a member of FANTOMAS and playing alongside another unreal drummer - wow.

I don't think it is necessary to tell you that if you're a big fan of Fantomas or the Melvins you should've bought this by now. It is a great DVD, and I have to disagree with the reviewer above me who said that the 'camera tricks' are 'cheesy'. It alternates between crystal clear high definition, and darker and grainy image with a light 'splash' of camera effects and graphics. This gotta be the first show I've seen with computer graphics added that don't suck a big one (like a few i've seen with big explosions, outer space images and planets coming at you, or some others with colorful distorted computer polygons or whatever, now that's cheesy).

It is done in my opinion in a very artistic taste and it succeeds in creating a proper atmosphere. The music sound loud and again great sound quality. It would've been neat if they played at least one excerpt from "Delirivm Cordia", but the 'song' selection is alright anyways.

The only thing that prevented me from giving this DVD a 5 star rating instead of 4, is that the audio is NOT in surround, NOT in stereo but in MONO. Yes, that means that the surround speakers from your home theater are completely useless when you play this DVD. Only the front, left and right speakers are the ones that you're going to get any sound from.

I thought it was pretty weird that somebody releases a DVD that is not even in stereo, but maybe that's why the price is so cheap.

Besides that detail, it sounds great, I totally recomend this to anybody who digs Patton or the melvins and I wish they release more in the future.

I really like it. Really, really, really, lots and lots. Having seen these guys live twice, I think this DVD does great justice to their live performance.

I think the Melvins tracks come out particularly amazing when given the dual drummer and vocalist treatment.

Forget all those dodgy you tube boot legs and amateur HD shots and just get this.

Once again Patton brings a full experience of these amazing bands.
Play loud.
It is well filmed, but he sound would be much better in a 5.1 system.
anyway sounds good, and the performance is amazing.
a must have for any music fan
(even if you dont like the music, the performance would surprise any listener)

this is one of the most tigh dvd concerts you'll ever see.
the MOST original band in the universe (FANTOMAS), meets ONE OF THE MOST underrated band of the last 30 years (THE MELVINS), for a sonic explosion with cool/original photography editing (nice visuals).
your ears have never heard this, and your eyes will see the making of a ¨MUSIC-FRANKENSTEIN¨.

Seeing two drum legends onstage playing together.lombardo,drummer for slayer playing melvins songs with Dale Crover.It doesn't get much better than that.Pick it up if your a melvins,slayer,fantomas,or Mike Patton fan.

this melvins fantomas big band live show is one of the best concerts i`ve ever seen(on dvd)if your a fan of the melvins or fantomas you should have this already,bands like this take you back in time to when a concert was theatre,not just some guys standing around playing that song on the radio.the melvins material is gold,the mix with fantomas stuff is amazing,real musicianship

I'm a huge fan of Mike Patton, Fantomas, and the Melvins. This DVD captures them perfectly. The video is raw with a lot of artsy effects that add to the experience. The sound is great and the commentary is a lot of fun. I wish Patton and Lombardo were on the commentary, but the Melvins and Danny DeVito are great. Now will someone please let Fantomas do the next James Bond song?!!

Line up:
Mike Patton (vocals, samples, sound effects, etc.) - Fantomas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, ex-Mr. Bungle, ex-Faith No More.
Buzz Osborne (guitar, vocals) - The Melvins, Fantomas.
Dale Crover (drums, vocals) - The Melvins.
Dave Lombardo (drums) - Fantomas, Slayer.
Trevor Dunn (bass) - Fantomas, Trio Convulsant, John Zorn, ex-Mr. Bungle.
David Scott Stone (guitar, bass, noise) - occasional member of The Melvins and Big Business, as well as numerous other projects.

The Fantomas Melvins Big Band is a combination of members of Fantomas and The Melvins. They occasionally play shows together as a collective, and this DVD perfectly captures the heavy Sludge of The Melvins and the noisy insanity of Fantomas. The only other product that has been released for public consumption by this beastly musical collective is a live album from 2002 entitled MILLENIUM MONSTERWORK 2000. This live DVD surpases that live album by leaps and bounds in many apsects. For one, you can actually witness this display of unbelievable musicianship with your own eyes. The sound quality is also a lot better and so is the track list, which is heavy on The Melvins discography, has bits and pieces from different Fantomas albums, and has two cover songs ("Lowrider" by WAR and the show opener "Sacrifice" by Flipper).

The audio quality on the DVD is pretty good for the most part, however pretty inaudible during "The Omen", partly because there was so much going on in that song. The video quality is not outstanding, but very watchable. It's a lot of grainy footage with added effects to make the show a bit more interesting (superimposed fire, weird robot-looking things, a random Sesame Steet puppet, etc.). The actual show itself is fantastic. The musicianship is phenomenal and I often found myself thinking about how they could possibly keep up with each other during the Fantomas songs. My personal highlights of the DVD included the almost freestyle improv session at the end of "Page 14", the beautiful rendition of Melvins' "Skin Horse", the strange cover of "Lowrider", the encore performance of "Spider Baby", and Dale Crover absolutely annihilating the drums, almost putting Dave Lombardo to shame. My only complaints are that I wish they would have included more songs from the SUSPENDED ANIMATION album, the intro to "Page 14" was incredibly slow and drug on for what seemed like forever which feels like it killed the momentum of the show, the lack of DVD extras (some rehearsal footage maybe?), and the video quality and camera shots left much to be desired. However, those are all minor. The DVD has a run time of about an hour and twenty minutes and is an absolute must see for fans of (either/or) Fantomas and The Melvins.

The only DVD extra is a full commentary by Dale and Buzz of The Melvins, Danny Devito (yes, the actor), Ipecac Recordings co-owner Greg Werckman, and the guy who booked the Live in London show. It's actually not as dumb as you might think it would be with the random inclusion of Danny Devito (and the absence of Mike Patton). For the most part it's the guys asking each other questions and telling stories. I would have liked to have seen a full commentary with the entire band(s), but this one is still worth checking out.

4 stars

A great show for Fantomas and Melvins fans alike.
If your a fan of both, like me, you'll love it.
The track list is a little different than the live CD they put out a few years ago, there's more songs, and its better quality.
Gotta love the 2 drummers up there together - 2 legends at the top of their game.