Customer Reviews

Live in Tokyo

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

 

 

While watching most techno groups live is quite a boring experience other than the sound and the 'screensavers' (and I'm looking at you Orbital and Crystal Method, even though I love your music), Juno Reactor Live in Tokyo is a great show thanks to the involvement of South African drum group Amampondo. All the drums are live, quite a few of the vocals are live, and even some intstruments are live. It's quite amazing to see the frentic drumming, and the occasional bit of acrobatics keeps things going. Furthermore, all the songs have been changed up a little bit (or a lot), so you shouldn't be bored even if you've listened to them a thousand times already.

On the bad side, the production values aren't very good - the video is slightly muddy and grainy (even when they're not applying special effects), the computer graphics are pretty primitive, and though the rest of the sond is pretty good, the low bass isn't as good as it could be - and bass is a pretty important part of Juno Reactor. These are the reasons I'm only giving the disk 4 out of 5 instead of 5 out of 5.

But if you're a Juno Reactor fan you really do need to get this. I don't think you'll be bored by 'best of' syndrome. This was out of print, I had it on order at Amazon for TWO YEARS, but they hung in there and got it to me now that it's available again. Get it while you can!

For the general interest of fans (after reading the other reviews) I'll mention that the guy in the pink shirt you see who occasionally plays the guitar is Ben Watkins - he pretty much IS Juno Reactor, though you'll find other people like Mike Macguire and Johann Bley showing up again and again to collaborate on albums (and Stephen Holweck for older stuff, he was the other founding member). The rest of the people you see on stage are just temporary members for the Shango CD and tour.

Track List:
The Forest
Conga Fury
Laughing Gas
Komet
Vocal and Drums
Feel the Universe
God is God
Hulelam
Pistolero
Biot Messiah (and Encore)
Insects
Guardian Angel
Masters of the Universe
Mars

I have the Japanese version too, got it some years ago. It is a great disc to have because the live performance is really special with the African drummers and percussionists. They are great. The computer animation and effects are on every track and some times the quality of the picture is not so good. Othertimes the effects are pretty nice. So that is why I give it 4 stars. There are also some pictures on the DVD. It is also in 5 channel surround sound.....

Just got the tokyo version for the DVD from their label, metropolis records. I had no problem playing it R1 NTSC. I knew that Juno had awesome rhythm, I guess my old assumption was that complex looping was handled by computer. This DVD changed all that. It is really astonishing to see. You can see them all working in amazing complex harmony. Drum heaven. The missing star is because there is no focus on the crowd, (duh, it's Tokyo hello? Show us the cute crowd at least once.) Also there is some cheesy screen overlap of computer editing like ocean scenes and whooshy stuff. I would prefer to just sit and be a part of the drums, crowd, and performance. This is a must for fans, it provides definition for the group.

First, the good aspects of the DVD...

The music was good. I like Juno Reactor. It was interesting to hear the slight variations on the songs. Also, it was cool to see the live drummers/vocalists. I'll bet it would have been neato to see live.

On the other hand...

The video on the dvd is poor. Like the reviewer before me, I also noticed that most of the images and sounds were rarely (if ever) synchronized. On top of that, the digital effects looked as though they were made in the early 90s. Very cheesy. Also, they must not have taped many performances because I saw at least two instances of the musicians dropping drumsticks or whathaveyou. Couldn't they have shown anything besides their screw-ups? Also... I hope that Ben Watkins, upon viewing this DVD, realized that he cannot dance and when he bobs around like a nancyboy he detracts from his music. And dancing next to the african dancers makes him look even more awkward in comparison.

STILL... I am glad I saw this DVD. It was pretty cool. However I would not buy it for more than $2 tops.

I can't believe how terrible this dvd is and I can't understand why people would be giving it four stars. They could have just pointed a camera at the stage and left it at that and i would have been somewhat satisfied, but they did so much editing that it is just a total mess. I can't even say anything good about it... nothing. Half the time the music doesn't even line up with what is going on on stage. And Ben Watkins needs to get a little more energy going. Try going to a Moby concert and you will know what I am talking about. It is a shame because every one of Juno Reactor's albums is great and then they release this total garbage. There aren't even any real bonus material like videos or interviews. How hard is it to put this stuff together?