Customer Reviews

Meat Puppets - Alive in the Nineties

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

 

 

I was more than pleased with this DVD. The audio is far better than I had expected, since the Puppets' performances were captured on camcorders. The visuals are obviously nothing spectacular, but one is not purchasing this DVD for the visuals.

There's a whole range of styles and sounds. During more than one song, I thought that Jimmi Hendrix would have been impressed with some of the guitar work; I certainly was mesmerized.

The Meat Puppets are a unique band, and this DVD successfully showcases their talent. My 19 year old nephew, who is more of a mainstream pop and hip-hop listener, was intrigued by what he saw and heard.

For Meat Puppet fans, this is a must have item and would rate as a five star DVD. For lovers of music, this would rate as a three star item. I'm trying to be fair and consistent with my reviews.

I am biased; I love the Puppets.

This DVD is so GREAT!! some of my favorite songs, good performances, the backstage footage is hilarious and a good personal look at the band. so glad to finally have some Meat Puppets concert footage in my collection.

ALSO- this DVD is REGION O- it can be viewed in any country. i know that is important to a lot of my international Puppets fan friends. and this listing on Amazon says differently-dont belive what it says on there.

I personally got into the Meat Puppets in 2002, by which the band had already been defunct for several years. Listening to various live recordings, as well as reading what I could find about the band, it seemed apparent that the Pups seemed to tap into a whole new energy pool when it came to playing live. This DVD is a testament to the days when the band soared high, and for the first time in their extensive career scored a gold album. The DVD's live fottage is compromised of mostly fan-taped material from at least 4 different shows.

The first see's the Pups in their new found glory as an alternative arena band. The footage here features the band, plus additonal back-up guitarist, playing Attacked by Monsters from their 1989 album "Monsters" as well as Backwater and Never to Be Found from their gold record "Too High To Die". The sound quality for this show is pretty good overall, but at times the various stage lighting effects whites out the picture.

The second segment is compromised of the songs Station, Coming Down, Violet Eyes (all from "Too High To Die") and the unreleased Paul Leary written Wonderful Song. Since the band are playing acoustically there's some great recordings here, and when you see the performance of Violet Eyes you really get a sense of a band that are capable of doing whatever they want with their music.

The third segment features one of the bands most well known songs Plateau as well as Sam. Derrick Bostrom's notes that this concert was one of the first acoustic shows they did, and it shows. Half-way through Sam, the band misses a beat, however Bostrom recovers nicely with hilarious drumsolo.

The final segment with the songs Automatic Mojo, Lake of Fire, Six Gallon Pie and Popskull is perhaps my favorite. This is a semi-professional concert shoot from when the band toured Italy. The sound quality here is awesome, the image relatively clear, and edited nicely. However, most importantly, this concert seems to me to depict what the Pups were all about when they were best. 3 guys in their own strange little universe, but with the power and talent to unleash it to the rest of us.

The bonus material features some great anecdotes by Derrick Bostom, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE) plus a few extra videos and a slide show. Additionally, there's some hidden concert material which are both appereances on talk shows. The first is a fierce performance of Lake of Fire, on some talk show (I have no clue which). On the second, the band performs Backwater on Conan 'O Brien, and is also briefly interview, naturally the Pups make sure to derrange things up a bit. Just another reason as to why I love this band.

All in all, if you're a fan, this DVD is definitely worth the money. For any non-Meatheads out there, I would probably recommend you to check out their records first before turning your attention to this. And finally, I would hope that a similiar DVD with earlier footage will come out someday.

All though the Meat Puppets never met the success of Nirvana, Pearl Jam , AIC etc.. People that were fans of the band knew something special when they heard it. Kurt Cobain knowing this brought the masses to the band and that in turn brought the puppets their hard earned respect and a top 40 tune w/ Backwater from the certified gold record Too High to Die.This DVD Covers everything and more on the bands career and even has a hidden bonus w/ a Jon Stewart performance thats worth the $15 alone. I think the coolest part of this DVD is the instore acoustic performance from 1994 promoting THTD. Curt, Cris, & Derrick play steller tunes that will blow any listener away.If you never heard of the band or just heard Backwater on the radio buy this DVD you will become a fan after watching it. Crank it up and enjoy! Also check out the most underrated rock cd of last year Eyes Adrift you wont be sorry!

This collection of live Puppets performance is a must for any collection. It does NOT have a dull moment on it - it is COMPLETELY interesting and entertaining. I am so thankful MP released this!!

Be prepared to see/hear extremely poor video/audio.
I give it a 3 out of 5 stars because it is only $10.