Customer Reviews

Live in Tokyo 1997

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

 

 

I tought i would never get those two performances of the " master of the flying v" on dvd. i saw those videos but i hope that the dvd has got something else (BETTER SOUND QUALITY OR PICTURE QUALITY - I"M NOT SURE about THAT). what i saw IN THOSE TWO VIDEOS WERE "live in tokyo 1997" that has only one camera "shot". the sound quality was average and the next video that called " the unforgiven world tour , japan 2000" has better sound quality . i hope this original release has better sound quality. but this is a must have for any fan...."as is..." and you will get here two performances you only had dreamed you would get those . take it now in special price and you will get songs from The Michael Schenker Story Live video and the bonus show footage is an excerpt from the Michael Schenker Live in Japan - unfogiven world tour (video). Both videos were released from Michael's own label (MSR)
michael schenker - lead/acoustic guitars ,backing vocals david van landing , barry sparks - bass , backing vocals seth bernstein - rhythm /acoustic guitars /keyboards and hane gaalaas on drums + leif sundin - vocals /rythm and acoustic guitars +
also included desktop images and weblinks,26-minute interview in which Michael talks about his career, 5.1 Surround Sound.

THE STORY LIVE FEATURES THE HIGHLIGHTS OF ALL STAGES OF SCHENKER CARREER FROM : UFO, SCORPIONS AND MSG CLASSIC TRACKS!!!

The Michael Schenker Story Live, recorded in Tokyo, March 19th, 1997: ( tracklist were taken from all the websites )

1. In the Search of the Peace of Mind (Scorpions)
2. Doctor Doctor (UFO)
3. Let it Roll (UFO)
4. Natural Thing
5. Lights Out (UFO)
6. Only You Can Rock Me (UFO)
7. Another Piece of Meat (Scorpions)
8. Into the Arena (Michael Schenker Group)
9. Are You Ready to Rock (Michael Schenker Group)
10. Assault Attack (Michael Schenker group
11. Captain Nemo (Michael Schenker Group)
12. No Time for Losers (McAuley Schenker Group)
13. Save Yourself (McAuley Schenker Group)
14. All the Way from Memphis (Contraband)
15. Pushed to the Limit (UFO)
16. Written in the Sand (Michael Schenker Group)
17. Back to Life (Michael Schenker Group)
18. Love Never Dies (Michael Schenker Group)
19. Essence (Michael Schenker Group)
20. Never Ending Nightmare (McAuley Schenker Group)
21. Bijou Pleasurette (Michael Schenker Group)
22. Positive Forward (Michael Schenker)
23. Lost Horizon (Michael Schenker Group)
24. Too Hot to Handle (UFO)
25. Attack of the Mad Axeman (Michael Schenker Group)
26. Love to Love (UFO)
27. On and On (Michael Schenker Group)
28. Armed and Ready (Michael Schenker Group)
29. Feels Like a Good Thing (Michael Schenker Group)
30. Rock Bottom (UFO)

Bonus Footage - The Unforgiven World Tour, Japan 2000:

Cry for the Nations, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, Rock My Nights Away, 3 Fish Dancing, Pilot of Your Soul, In and Out of
Time, The Mess I've Made, Hello Angel, Fat City, Looking for Love

TAL.

Well UFO/MSG/SCORPS fans I just received my DVD and viewed it from start to finish. I have to say I was excited when the announcment of this release was made, hoping that it would be a major upgrade to the other copies being sold online, but... it was not to be.

I HAVE TO RATE THIS IN TWO PARTS PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE

First production, ZERO STARS, For all those that have the boot version of this floating around out there online, IT IS THE SAME RELEASE, yes the one where it's shot from one camera in the nose bleed section that's being operated by someone possibly a monkee ??? because all they're capable of doing is zooming in and out at all the wrong moments. And yet no explanation as to why you see a camera in the front row throughout the show sliding from left to right, this is by far the worst display of filming/editing I've seen to date. I did compare my boot version bought online and the picture/sound quality is better on the boot and the boot menu is almost as good as the official release. What a shame this was filmed in Japan right?? The DVD/video equipment technology mecca of the world?? As for the rest of the DVD, The bootleg footage from 2000 UNFG Tour is also poor quality, the extras are nothing special and the interview is the same one from the MSG WWL 2004 DVD, which by the way I'm not sure which audience was in a coma more the Japan or the Poland audience from WWL 2004, COME ON PEOPLE WAKE UP! This is the #1 guitar GOD of the world, Where's the love? Why didn't they film any of the HOB shows in Chicago in recent years? the crowds were in a rabid frenzy from start to finish. Maybe someday the poor overall production of this supposed pro shot show can be explained? It must have been a technical disaster for the front camera footage to be ommitted from the release all together. There should have been a minnimum

of eight cameras filming this show.

2nd Performance, This was a historic MSG event/tour it's great

to see MS regardless of the quality considering the minnimum

quantity of pro shot official release footage available.

Undoubtedly he is a genius and every true fan should have a copy

of this show documenting the span of his entire career that's

why I gave it FOUR stars, after all it is Michael Schenker even

on his worst nights he's nothing short of amazing !

As the Mad Axeman always says KEEP ON ROCKING !

Peace Out Flying V Army, Are you Armed and Ready !!!

No matter the causes, or the resources of the artist involved, no matter what, an official release of a live concert could never, NEVER, feature a concert filmed using only ONE CAMERA!! This is cheating, this is wrong. I'm a huge fan of Schenker, have almost all of his records (quite a hard work obtaining some of them!), but can't forgive him (or probably his record company) for releasing such a cheap product.

Alas, this DVD is a 'mixed blessing'. On the one hand, there is not much commercial MSG stuff out on DVD, so anything we fans can get our hands on is exciting. There are 2 shows on this DVD, the main 1997 Tokyo live show, and a bootlegged live 2000 Japanese show. Lengthwise, the DVD clocks in at 236 minutes, which includes an excellent interview with Mister Guitar God himself as a 'bonus'. Contentwise, the choice of songs played spans Michael's UFO, Scorpions, and MSG days, which is great. And they play 30 songs to boot for the 1997 show. The 'fly in the ointment' however, is the quality of the video, and the production. Even on his commercially recorded 1997 show, there seems to be only ONE CAMERA! And it is located about 40 rows back! Periodically, the camera does zoom in on band members, including Mike's profile, but it looks unprofessional and a bit distorted and unclear during parts of filming! In fact, at times, the 1997 performance looks almost like the bootlegged 2000 performance, which is INEXCUSABLE for a world class rock band like MSG! Fortunately, the 'saving grace', if you could call it that, is Michael's ungodly and masterful playing itself. The camera shots do, at times, get decent shots of Mike's fretwork and facial expressions, but from a bit of a distance. I almost gave this DVD a 3 star rating because of it's shortcomings, but since there is a dearth of MSG DVD's out there, I bumped it up to a 4. If you are a fan, this is worth purchasing. That said, I am still hopeful that we fans can one day get a much better quality DVD with better camera work, closeups, and overall production quality! Long live Michael Schenker!!!

Yet another letdown from my guitar hero. When I read the cover in the store, I was excited beyond measure. Got my cup of coffee, threw on the headphones (to crank it) and popped in the DVD. During the first song, I kept expecting the camera angle to change...thinking that maybe just the first song was filmed from the top row to give the video an ambient feel. Much to my dismay, after the first three songs or so, I realized that there was a SINGLE camera used for the whole show. There was a camera rolling back and forth in front of the stage; it must have been either for the concert video screen or for the singer, as most of the time it seemed to be focused on him.

Overall, the amateur camera operator (singular) does an OK job. Understandably, focus can be an issue at that distance in low light, so many of the zoom-ins are fuzzy until the spotlight kicks in, and then thankfully so does the focus.

A few song acoustic set is included during the concert. During "Bijou Pleasurette", the camera man for some inexplicable reason keeps going to the keyboard player during Schenker's beautiful lead breaks. Really, the entire acoustic set is a waste, because you really can't see anything with any detail.

I must note that the camera man really likes the mirror ball above the stage. He takes a number of nice, long shots of it.

Sound quality is pretty good, overall. Schenker's playing really shines through most of the early part of the video. However, he does get distracted with his pedals toward the end of the set, and is obviously not happy with his sound. After a little break with a lot of effects, he bends over and quickly turns a bunch of knobs. Ooops! After that, he can't quite get the kick he has had throughout the night. Now he is obviously preoccupied, and continuously fiddling with his pedals and keeps checking his volume and tone control on the guitar, shaking his head. Once all of that happens, and with his attention diverted elsewhere, his lead breaks start to suffer. Even "Love to Love" outro lead break is unrecognizable and slightly out of kilter. By the end of the night he seems to have it straightened out, but the luster is gone from his playing. Too bad as he was really cooking earlier in the night.

I really can't comment on the other bootleg (at least they admit this portion is bootlegged) video. I didn't really watch too much of it as it was obviously of poorer quality than the main portion. If that opinion changes, I will edit this review.

In summary, I love to watch Schenker stuff, any Schenker stuff. But I agree with the earlier reviewer-it really is a ripoff to get basically a boot leg video for the price of a well-produced one. Another crack-pot business decision from the Flying-V master. He really should stick to playing guitar.

You're better off playing this on your PC and liten to the sound and forget the video because there is only one camara angle. The sound is decent which is the only decent part of this set.

The Michael Schenker Group - Live in Tokyo 1997.

3.5 / 5

Metal Mind Productions, 236 minutes.

released July 12, 2005

Legendary hard rock / metal guitarist Michael Schenker celebrates his 25th anniversary as a recording artist on this 2005 DVD release. Born on January 10, 1955 in Sarstedt, Germany, truly he is one of the chief architects of hard rock and heavy metal and remains a vital guitarist and songwriter. I've never seen him live, mostly due to the fact that he was always overshadowed by the groups that he used to be in and wasn't given a chance to form his own foothold in North America. He's big in Japan, though. I don't recall him every playing my city, Winnipeg.

From reading the back of the DVD case, I was immediately impressed with the huge number of songs included - 40! Schenker was a founding member of The Scorpions and recorded on their 1972 album, Lonesome Crow when he was 15. He then joined the British band UFO from 1973 to 1979, before rejoining the Scorpions for 1979's Lovedrive, and then heading out on a solo career. Schenker's output with UFO coincided with their most popular recordings, including 1977's Lights Out and 1978's Obsession and the massive hit, "Only You Can Rock Me."

Despite the fact the Scorpion' Love Drive album contains several notable tracks, such as "Loving You Sunday Morning", "Coast To Coast", the title track and "Holiday," only "Another Piece of Meat" in included on the DVD.

It's hard to believe that someone of Schenker's status would release such a bush league DVD. What do I mean by that? There's only one camera used to film the 30-song Tokyo concert!!! Sure, it zooms in once in a while, but it's not as good as a full film crew with multiple cameras.

On the plus side, the sound is acceptable. Schenker's guitar is razor sharp and vocalist David Van Landing is clear as a bell. Due to his classical sounds, you can hear why Schenker was an influence on Yngwie Malmsteen. The guitar playing is glorious. Listening to this DVD as I type away or surf the Internet, I feel like I am reliving the glory days of 70's hard rock, before thrash metal came along and placed more emphasis on speed than melody and whose seriousness took the fun out of music. This music "breathes" and feels less congested than much of the metal that came later and I love it! Obvious non-MSG highlights for me include the UFO classics "Doctor Doctor", "Lights Out", "Only You Can Rock Me" and Contraband's "All The Way From Memphis" (a Mott the Hoople cover.) Even when the songs aren't so hot and sound rather like pedestrian hard rock, Schenker's guitar playing drew me in.

I have a wide screen stereo TV but not surround sound decoder so I can't tell how great the sound is, but I think once you're into the music, none of that will really matter.

If you're a fan of Michael Schenker, UFO and The Scorpions, you will want to drop the $18 US price to buy this. How does it compare to last year's "Michael Schenker Group - World Wide Live 2004" DVD? I can't say, since I haven't seen it. That DVD is 105 minutes long and contains 15 tracks along with some interviews. In one interview, Schenker recalls how Chris Logan quit in the middle of a tour and how the group frantically searched for a repalcement for that evening at an Internet cafe, and ended up with Leif Sundin. He flew in and had only 30 minutes to prepare for the show. He sang from sheets and they pulled audience members on stage to sing, in addition to getting the opening band's singer join them, as well. The subsequent shows were better received than the Chris Logan shows. Schenker also spoke about how he was asked to join Ozzy Osbourne's band, right after the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads and how he was asked to audition for the Rolling Stones.

This DVD is comprised of footage from a single camera and was not shot for release. The sound is not horrible but there is really not much to watch since the camera is mostly distant and the quality is just raw and substandard. I give the item 2 stars because the Bonus material includes an interview with Michael Schenker that is a great glimpse into a rather reclusive and reluctant guitar god's history. I would highly recommend that you rent or borrow this item and I am a slobering UFO/MSG fan but this DVD has nothing to offer and is really an officially released bootleg.

I don't believe there was ever a plan to release this video. It appears to have been recorded by the venue rather than by the band itself. As most people have mentioned, it was shot with one camera from the back of the theater. While you do get some panning and zooming, it's obviously no substitute for a well positioned and edited multi-cam recording. Don't expect Dolby Digital 5.0 sound either - but it's of entirely acceptable quality. Once you get past those facts, the show itself is a classic. There are ton of great songs spread across Michael's entire career. The band and Michael are tight and appear to really be enjoying themselves.

If I had to guess, I would say the motivation for releasing it was to prevent bootleggers from profiting off the footage. This show has been circulating in trading circles for some time, but now you can get the best quality possible here. I accept it for what it is. In my opinion, and if you love Michael Shenker, this DVD is worth your time and money.

The Good:

- LOTS of songs, 2 whole concerts, one of them VERY long

- The concerts play through with no interruption for interviews etc

- I really enjoyed the performances by and large, tho maybe the start was a tad slow

The Bad:

- Yes, Virginia, there is only one camera angle

- Not a lot of motion from the band

The Ugly:

- The video looks like a 13th generation dub from VHS. This is BELOW bootleg quality. Yuck.

Frankly, I watched only parts of this. It will get more use as audio ripped to my iPod. For that purpose, I'll really enjoy this.