Customer Reviews

Live from Hurrah's New York City

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

 

 

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.

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 was
quite 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 casual
approach 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

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.

Great footage and sound on this DVD from the Go Go's,
Lene Lovich, The Fleshtones , the Au-Pairs and so much more.
Back in the day, I went to Hurrah's in NY City and this DVD really brings it all back to me. There are even bands that I have never seen footage of before. I think a lot of the footage is rare and I hope they come out with another great volume of these live, so cool and so hot performances.

This DVD may have typos, but there is nothing else out there other than this very rare footage. Some bands were beginning to have cult followings; at least one became a million seller and some were not that good. Unless you were there and had a camera, this DVD is all your getting. Although this was shot by a single camera and has some flaws, the DVD has bands that I wish I saw there (i.e. Monochrome Set, Delta 5) and some, looking back, are really good (i.e. Buzz and the Flyers, Fleshtones). When Hurrah was open, there were no other clubs in New York like it. It had many English and New York bands playing cutting edge music that were very rarely played on the radio. I can't wait for volume II.

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.

The review below mine is dead on accurate. This DVD is horrible and obviously thrown together to make a quick buck.