Customer Reviews

World Wide Live 2004

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

WOW what can I say, I was awaiting this DVD. I'm very disappointed with this DVD, where to start, the sound is so compressed it can't drive my 5.1 setup well at all, the mix is aweful. I had to turn it way up just to hear it a bit. Most DVDS you see all the speaker meters full to the limit with driven sound, this DVD does not even move the the meters at all. His choice of vocalist is not good at all, this guy just does not have the energy that I expect, most strained and unskilled.The people in the crowd seem to be dead or sleeping little wonder. the fact is I have always enjoyed Michael Schenker, but without a vocalist the caliber of Phil{UFO}Mogg. This band sinks Like a german U-boat. Even the soul felt playing of Schenker can't save this DVD from the bad sound and poor vocals. Do yourself a favor if your a UFO fan, pull out the old albums and have a listen, save your money better spent.

I just received my copy and being a HUGE Michael Schenker fan since the 70's, I must say this is a big let down. First the sound quality is horrible, whats up with that in this day and age?? Compared to many other concert DVD's I've purchased this one by far is the worst sounding. My next nit is this: Where's Michael Schenker? The camera is shooting everyone BUT MS. Maybe a better description of this disk should be: "If you look close and quickly, you might notice Michael Schenker on guitar". I can really do without his bass player's drama and posing, obviously has some major self esteem issues. It seems to me that MS gets maybe 20/30% camera time. This is HIS concert right???
They could have found a better crowd for shooting a live concert DVD, this crowd was, lets say, non existant for a better word. My advice is to save your money. I'm still a big MS fan, always will be, but this disk just does not due the man justice.

I don't know why Michael Schenker doesn't just retire those old MSG & UFO songs given the fact that he can't play them nearly as well as he used to. He sounds like a geriatric imitation of his glorious past. His hands these days have no electricity or elasticity. There is very little passion in the man's sound or body language.

Dig, those old chestnuts are meant to be performed with a youthful pizzazz, full of vim & vigor, and sweat dripping off the end of one's nose, but those qualities are not on this dvd.

He's a shell thrice removed from how well he could play back in the early 80's.

The band he's employing look and sound like they should be playing Death Metal or some form of Spastic Rock. They play their parts adequately but don't play with any true soul or artistry. The keyboards sound rinky-dink cheap & amateurish. The vocals are generic modern-day Hard Rock, nothing especially good or bad about them, they get the job done and that's about it. And the same can be said for the rest of the band.

The picture quality is outstanding.
And you do indeed get to see Schenker's hands often enough, but the thing is, there isn't much to watch. Or, better stated, what you see are 8 fingers and 2 thumbs moving minimalistically. They hit just enough notes for us to recognize the skeletons of past virtuosic solos. He plays just enough to get by.

The interview is pure crap because the interviewer sounds like he's asking questions from a sheet of paper and does not rebound off the answers provided. All you get from this interview are short, chirpy answers to very lame, over-asked questions.

It's a red-faced shame that this dvd is the only video document of Schenker in concert ever to be officially released in the USA or England (as of this day in December 2004). If you want pro-shot videos of Schenker performing in his heyday then you will have to surf & search the www and/or make contact with video suppliers in Japan. Look for MSG Rock Will Never Die (Live at the Hammersmith 1983), MSG Rockpalast 1981, MSG Dortmund 1983, and MSG Super Rock 1984 Live in Japan.

Bottom line:
I don't like this dvd. You'd be wiser to get one of his audio concerts such as Back To Attack or Reactivate or Rock Will Never Die.

Shot in Poland I believe, the copy I saw from Rev Jones (Bass) player has KILLER production. There's like 20 cameras...amazing angles...and of course..Michael Schenker. If you're a fan, you can't go wrong!

When I originally wrote this review...the DVD wasn't even released. I saw the copy on a TV on Michael's tour bus. I still stand by my initial review that the production is killer. The video is done with lots of cameras, something you couldn't afford to do in the USA. The audio of the concert is middle road....not great. I've never really heard a good 5.1 DVD of a concert. Since the human ear hears it in Stereo...I prefer concerts in stereo. It's a complex and expensive process to record a show in true 5.1.

After having watched the whole show now several times, the crowd could be more enthusiastic...but then again, they're in Poland.

As for Chris Logan...Chris had been singing with Michael for a couple years now, starting with the Beware Of the Scorpion CD. Chris is no longer in the band, but he still does a good job of covering the songs vocally. His not the most charismatic singer...but then again..they're in Poland.

This is STILL a great deal...getting the DVD and CD version for under 20 bucks.

For those of us that have waited and waited years for the chance to see and hear a good video of one of the most influential guitarists in rock, this is video delivers in some ways, and disappoints in others.

True, there are weaknesses in the video. But there are many strengths as well. I have given this concert several views, and it does grow on you.

Michael Schenker has lost some of his precision and pizzazz as a guitarist, but then most of us pushing 50 have. One thing that we learn is to play within our limits, and it seems as though Michael has scaled back his extensive soloing to accommodate this lack of fluidity. His band is tight though, something he has not always had to back him.

Here are some items of note, some negative, some positive:
-Chris Logan on vocals does a pretty good job. There is a lot of criticism of him concerning this DVD, but we have to remember that he is covering at least three other vocalists. His own songs are the strongest, as you would expect. His performance on "Assault Attack" is probably the weakest, which stands to reason, as Graham Bonnet is a superb vocalist who is difficult to cover. There is another shot in the video where the vocal does not match his mouth movement, an obvious studio "fix", but it passes quickly. But it does make me wonder how much doctoring went on with his vocals. His stage presence is lacking, not the most charismatic front man around.

-There are a couple of places where the keyboard sounds absolutely sick, most notably during the lead break on "Let it Roll". It does nothing to enhance the song; I think the keyboard player should try to stick to the originals a little closer.

-The drummer is dead on; he does a superb job throughout. I heard nothing from him other than good, solid drumming.

-Rev Jones, the bass player is fun to watch, and he is a superb player to match. He is a definite asset to the band.

-As far as Michael goes, there are a lot of ups and downs. He makes a couple of pretty noticeable gaffs during his lead breaks, and sometimes his improvisation will be a disappointment to those who want to hear a note-for-note performance. For example, the famous solo on "Rock Bottom" is really lame, a real downer for the last song of the video. There are times, though, where Michael shines.... but these times are just a little too few and far between for my liking. The songs Michael loves to play are obvious, as he actually gets swaying and moving, notably "Into the Arena" and "Lights Out".

There are a couple of other things that are irritants, as well. The camera shots are generally great, clear with decent editing. But when you are buying a video that should showcase the star, the camera cuts away nearly every solo Michael performs, either to another band member or to his picking hand. Maybe that's niggling, but I want to see the fret board hand! And the shots of his picking hand are a continual reminder that Michael has never taken the protective plastic off his guitar's pick guard, and it is peeling down. That just seems kind of unprofessional....which brings me to the homemade sign on his amps advertising his web site. It looks like either a 5th grader made it, or it was put up as an afterthought. Either way, it degrades an otherwise nice stage appearance.

Michael Schenker purists will love the chance to see him in action, but for me there is an undercurrent of disappointment with the video. There are those of us who always believed that Michael could do no wrong, but this video shows that he is a mere mortal. And that he can still play a pretty mean guitar.

O.K., first the pro: this is a killer value for the money; a CD & DVD for the first 3,000 copies. He has a great bass player albeit he looks like he should be in Dope instead of MSG. Schenker plays well, but honestly except for James Jones (bass) & occasionally Wayne Findlay (keyboards/guitar), they look as if they're going through the motions. Chris Logan is a good but not great singer & he really isn't a very good front man in terms of crowd interaction (the standard crap). The crowd is anemic & comatose for most of the set. The sound is decent, but not great. The treble sounds a bit in the background, almost under the bass though the vocals come through well. Pete Holmes does a good yet unspectacular job on drums (love Black 'N' Blue!). Lastly, since half of the set is UFO material, I must say that I don't care for this band's versions, expecially compared to the classic live "Strangers In The Night" from UFO. I must admit to skipping over the majority of them in viewing the dvd. The accompanying interview with Mr. Schenk is o.k., but he keeps sniffing the whole time (coke?). All in all, with the time allotted to them in preparing this package, it comes off a bit rushed. The sound could've been tweaked a bit more & the biography on the extra features is poorly written & edited. The band could've been a bit more pumped for a live recording; no energy from the majority of the band or crowd! Just the facts... The Wolf

After finally having gotten this DVD and watching it a couple times I have to say that the critics of it may be flying off the handle a bit. It certainly could be better in terms of video production, but the concert itself is vastly superior to his VHS concert release from the 80s - I think it was called "Rock Will Never Die"? - and a godsend for video-starved Schenker fans. 'Hope he comes out with some more of these in the future, minus the...

Flaws:
First off - yes, this is in fact one of those concert vids that will leave you with an overwhelming urge to do extreme violence to whoever was in charge of the cameras. The crew clearly is not even remotely familiar with the music. Actually that's being charitable - they don't even seem aware of which particular musician is Michael Schenker because, as others have amply pointed out, you catch only an occasional glimpse of him throughout the show. And it's not limited to Schenker. One would expect even the most dense of camera directors to find his way eventually to the musician who's in the middle of a solo, if by statistical odds or process of elimination if nothing else - but there are entire lead breaks during which the camera just never gets there! It may be lounging around on one of the other players, sweeping dramatically from side to side, tilting 45 degrees while sweeping dramatically from side to side, panning the crowd, examining the lighting rig, sulking in the corner, etc. This is not to say there's anything wrong with snazzy camera movement - in the hands of someone competent and intimately familiar with the songs it can make for a great production. But for this concert it's obvious the director of photography was utterly oblivious to the subject matter. It's almost as if the camera direction was coming from a stoned 13-year-old.

On the other hand:
Despite the psychotic camera work and lethargic crowd, this is a surprisingly pumped-up and electrifying show. I say "surprisingly" because as a lifelong Schenker fan I've been disappointed by almost all of the MSG releases when compared to UFO in the Schenker/Mogg/Way/Raymond/Parker/Nevison lineup. (The two recent throwaway discs from Shrapnel/Varney can't even be considered to be UFO.) The older MSG tunes benefit from the strength and energy of Schenker's new band and have an intensity live that was always lacking on the studio versions. The UFO tunes, which you have gotta think Schenker is bored to tears with having to play for the umpty-thousandth time, definitely do not have the freshness of the classic "Strangers" performances but that's an unfair comparison in any case - that was a full twenty-five years ago. It's fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable to listen to what a more mature Schenker, backed by a solid band of younger players, does with that older UFO material. The results are tighter and somewhat more raw versions of classics.

The other thing that comes out loud and clear is the timelessness of those original songs - "Lights Out," "Rock Bottom" and "Mother Mary" sound like they could have been written last summer, not a quarter of a century ago.

The band is as strong as the best of the MSG lineups, which to my mind would be the "Assault Attack" and "Perfect Timing" incarnations. Chris Logan is not the most flamboyant showman on the planet, but his voice is dead-on and rock solid on every tune, even on Graham Bonnet's range-stretching wails in "Assault Attack." Wayne Findlay does a great job filling the Paul Raymond dual role of keys and guitars, even pulling off an impressive guitar solo himself on one track. Pete Holmes is, well, he's not Neil Peart or Jeff Sipe, but he gets the job done with authority. The standout is bassist James Jones, who I think gets a bumb rap as "helicopter boy" or any of the other perjoratives thrown his way. The guy is definitely a character - to my mind he doesn't come across as a "poser" at all, just someone who's way, way into what he's doing. But *that dude can play that bass*!

As for the crowd, well, this show was shot in Poland for Polish television. I forget who it was, but I remember reading an interview with a rock star - somebody from Rush or the Scorps if I'm not mistaken - who pointed out that crowds differ vastly by country. In North America we're rowdy and no-holds-barred, in Japan and much of Europe they sit virtually motionless, almost politely, and just watch. I've seen that on quite a few European and Japanese concert vids. It's a cultural thing, don't sweat it.

The bottom line is, I'm interested in what's happening on the stage, not in the audience. So a pox on the camera director but kudos to Schenker and the band for slamming this home. All in all it could have been a better production, but the performance is great - a welcome and long-overdue video addition to the body of Schenker's work.

Last week I donated mine to a "send your DVDs to the troops in Iraq" thing my employer is doing (along with the new S.R.V. Montreaux 82/84 DVD,) so I'm off to pick up my second MSG DVD - it's that good. And somewhere in Iraq some soldiers are grinning ear to ear...

After a long , long waiting finally i got it ( i ordered it in july) and this limited edition is worth my waiting ( also the dvd alone is great). this is the best professional dvd from michael schenker ??? - yes it is true - this is the fact , best sound and picture quality comparing to his ( VERY EXPENSIVE ONE)Vhs releases or any of his unofficial dvd's out there. finally we got here great performance ( only 13 tracks but...) + his first intreview
and important one. michael schenker is talking on everything from the period he was 7 years old until now - he telling us all the secrets about all the past members , his brother ( he didnt mantion his name but we know ...
why he didnt join to any band -to ozzy osbourne, deep purple or to the scorpions and tell us why he replaced cozy powel, graham bonnet or any of his band members.....see yourself- 20 min. finally i watched michael schenker talking about himself.
This is a live show with chris logen with out any of the band members from " arachnophopiac" and if you didnt like the last album - there is only two tracks on it - "rock'n'roll belivers" and" arachnophobiac" and more 11 great old songs from the past , but with new band members -new life! ( with out comparing them to anybody).
total 105 min ( including the 20 min intreview).
yes- we didn't get michael live story live or unforgiven tour live ( double cd- that wasn't released officially on dvd) but i like it and i"m happy to get for the first time a great dvd from michael. i added the tracklist at july but someone toldd me how you gave 5 stars for something that released on october 5,
so i delate it but if you need it here it is again :
Track listing: Are You Ready to Rock, Mother Mary, Assault Attack, Let it Roll, Lights Out, Rock 'N' Roll Believer, Arachnophobiac, Into the Arena, Only You Can Rock Me, On and On, Too Hot to Handle, Attack of the Mad Axeman, Armed and Ready, Doctor Doctor, Rock Bottom
Release date: October 26th, 2004 (US and Europe

Don't know about others having problems with their sound and video quality, but mine was great. Sounds even better on 5.1 than most videos I've seen. This video was filmed in Poland and due to sound setup, the fans didn't play much of a part in the audio mix (which is fine with me). I assume they knew it was an MSG performance but some fans appeared as though they just happened to have shown up at a concert without knowing who was playing. The crowd was not as enthusiastic as seen on some videos, but the good part is that the crowd noise did not interfere with the band's sound.

Pros: Schenker is a great guitarist and despite having played for many years and probably having carpal tunnel syndrome to some degree, he still belted out some very nice riffs that are very hard to duplicate. There are some that want to see the man of 30 years ago, but hey, that was then and this is now. Better to see him still doing a great job than not at all. He missed a couple of his fingerings at times, but then again, this video is a live performance. I've seen Satriani and Vai blow some stuff on their G3 performance, so I don't hold gaffs against an individual guitarist.

Loved the bass player (Rev Jones) who not only plays well, but puts on quite a show with his hair swinging around to the beat. This guy has some serious tattoos and looks like he's a wired performer with lots of energy. Had a great solo piece that I wish was a little longer in Into The Arena. The drummer and backup guitarist/keyboard player were good too so can't really fault them for anything considering they are playing songs played by others.

I couldn't find the drummer making any mistakes and he appeared as though he had been with Shenker for years. The lead singer has a good voice, but seemed awkward at times and somewhat out of place for this ensemble.

I think the song selection was great too. Especially liked Into the Arena, Doctor Doctor, Rock Bottom and Arachnaphobia.

Cons: The crowd appeared somewhat dead when they were shown, which was rarely. Chris Logan said a couple of dopey things during lead-ins to a song that seemed out of place, but it's about the music, not the intros. Some of his depictions (depicting a crawling spider in Arachnaphobia for example) seemed almost corny.

More time should have been spent on Schenker when he would launch in to his solos rather than using quick cuts from one member to another. Could almost hear the director thinking whoops, Schenker is playing so we better get this. The visuals on his guitar neck fingering could have been better since a picking hand doesn't reveal much from the angles used. Don't get me wrong, they show his fingerings but the angle, distance, and duration left me wanting a better, longer, visual. Sometimes the keyboard volume was stepping on Shenker's solo but not so much it was bothersome.

Bottom Line: This is a great video despite what others may say. Many people have never seen Schenker in concert and don't remember his old UFO days so to compare his playing to years ago is somewhat unfair. For people that like good solid rock music with songs that are still entertaining and well played by all of the members of the band, this is a great video. It's hard to imagine someone watching this video and walking away feeling as though their money wasn't well spent. Buy it, I think you'll like it. Can't wait to see the next MSG concert or maybe some older UFO stuff with the right sound mix.

Take no heed on reviews criticising the Michael Schenker DVD. It is excellent--and worth every penny. Accusations of limited on-camara time of Michael Schenker are totally unfounded. The Polish production crew has produced a glossy live concert video with multiple angles (including a moving boom view) and tight camera directing. This is never dull--not a single moment. Furthermore, some have accused the audience of being non-responsive. Some directors do not root a microphone in the audience to keep noise down during the performance, and that appears to be the case here. Need proof? Watch the audience as the camera pans. They're going berserk--you just don't hear them very loudly. If the video quality is first-rate, the sound quality is also top-notch. *ALL* members get equal time on camera, and the director follows where the action is but avoids staying in one spot too long--hence keeping up the excitement. If you're looking for an hour and a half of extreme close-ups of Michael's fingers, this isn't the video for you. But if you want a video showing Michael and his band put on a stunning show, buy this DVD. I've been a Michael Schenker fan for over 20 years. This is a first-class video. Watching James Jones twirl his locks around like he does is worth the price alone--not to mention a surprise or two in the Schenker interview (I won't spoil it for you). This video is Armed and Ready!