Customer Reviews

Zen X Four + Bonus dvd

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

 

 

I will admit to being a great fan of the "Sixteen Stone" album, one of the major albums of the 1990s grunge era. The following album "Razorblade Suitcase" was not bad either, but then things spiraled downwards pretty quickly. Bush went out with a whimper when guitarist Nigel Pulsford left the band a couple of years ago, shortly after their last album "The Golden State" bombed.

Now comes "Zen x Four" a DVD-CD combo. The DVD (13 tracks; 56 min.) compiles the 11 videos from Bush's first three album. There are some great ones, and some ridiculous ones too. Writes Nigel Pulsford in the entertaining liner notes: "Low point was being up as a baby, placed in a womb and covered in goo for the "Greedy Fly" video by some crazy German director", haha! There is also an unnecessary "making of" segment on the Chemicals Between Us video and the Science of Things album.

The CD (9 tracks; 49 min.) is a very interesting collection of live tracks. (And, contrary to what the Spotlight reviewer states, the track listing here on Amazon in 100% correct.) The initial 3 tracks are acoustic, live radio-show tracks, in particular "Comedown" shines. The remaining 6 tracks are from the December 1995 "KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas" concert. It shows Bush at their peak: theu have by then toured the "Sixteen Stone" songs to no end, and sound very tight. There is no weak track here, and the energy is amazing. Check out the 7+ min. version of "Bomb", but also "Machinehead" and closer "Little Things" are outstanding. Please note that all tracks on here are from the first album only.

An obscure outfit called Kirkland Records issued this combo and with it, one gap in the Bush catalogue (a live CD) has been more or less taken care of, but it is incomprehensible that there still is no proper greatest hits compilation on Bush. The Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, even Nirvana, all have their "Greatest Hits" album. When will Bush issue theirs?

Bush is still one of my favorite bands, so I already have all the songs on this CD (including the live and accoustic, since they are primarily from previously released CD singles.)
Would have liked to see the inclusion of an unreleased or, since the band is broken up, at least a more rare bside or import song as an added incentive to buy. Most other recent Greatest Hits are doing that.
Was mostly interested in the DVD, but it is a very incomplete collection. There are quite a few Bush videos not included here, and what is here was already released a few years ago as a different Bush video compilation! Basically, this DVD is a rerelease of that one...
Some different footage, on the CD or DVD, or some live video footage would have made this a worthwhile new old collection.
But, as it is, there is nothing new here for the Bush 'fanatic' to purchase.
If you like Bush, but hadn't bought other DVD or CD releases, this is a great introduction, but there are great songs out there you will be missing!

First of all, this tracklist is incorrect. There's 11 songs on disc one, the missing two are "Warm Machine" and "Letting The Cables Sleep". Some of these songs are acoustic, some live, though they're all pretty good. Disc two is a DVD, and also has 11 tracks. There's a track about the "Science Of Things" album, one on the making of the "Chemicals Between Us" video, and the other tracks are again live or acoustic performances of basically the tracks on disc one. This is all good stuff, but like I said, only really for the biggest of fans. What I initially thought this might be, and what they need, is a simple 15-18 track "Greatest Hits". Every other grunge-era band has released one at this point, and considering that Gavin is already in a new band, why hasn't Bush given us "6teen Hits"? All we currently have is the so-so import "Best Of".

When I first saw this Zen x 4 disc and the Greatest hits disc out on the shelves I just wrote them off as jokes. I already own all the albums plus the 1994//1999 import DVD so why would I bother needing the same stuff re-released in new packaging? After I looked at the greatest hits package I felt the same way, the bonus disc is just the audio from the much superior 1994//1999 DVD included concert. No big win for fans who already own both. Like I sais, just the same old stuff in new packaging. However, when I looked at the Zen x 4 collection I was happily surprised to find the complete radio recordings of the band which have never been released together in a single package. I have some of the songs from internet bootlegs but the quality on the disc is FAR better. The tracks are all standout rare recordings, from very intimate U.S. sets. The DVD has the video for "Cold Contagious" which was not included on the 1994//1999 DVD (although the 1994//1999 DVD has the Alleys and Motorways special feature not included on the Zen x 4 set), other than that the two are identical, both containing the same special features. This release is not a huge bang for the fan who already has the previous CD's and DVD's but the rare recordings and bonus video are both excellent and worth owning.

I'll admit right off the bat that I hesitated purchasing this album to due to lack of audio tracks presented here. It's their really good early stuff but can I get more than 9 tracks? It's always great to hear new or re-recorded versions of old favorite, but it's still not enough. With that said, the recordings sound good.

The DVD is almost worth the price itself. All the great videos including the rarely-seen and my personal favorite, "Letting the Cables Sleep". It was cool to see all the older videos that MTV hasn't shown since they were big.

My only complaint is that the DVD audio mix isn't in sorround, only advanced stereo. Oh well.

Bottom line: I can't reccomend this to anyone but diehard Bush fans. I think anyone other than that wouldn't get a good look at how great this band was.

I was expecting a bit more from the acoustic set ... i think it did not capture their magic live ...

Its one of my favorite dvd's/cd's and besides the Institute cd this was the only thing that tempered the sting of knowing there was no more Bush! In fact I'm going to go watch and listen again! :) I highly recommend Zen X Four with the Bonus DVD! What I need now is an acoustic Bush performance on DVD!

It is great to have a DVD with all of Bush's videos on it. I always wanted to have that. As you probably know well, the videos are sweet.
As for the music, the acoustic versions are rough - exactly as they should be. The sound quality is good. If you enjoy the band, Bush, this cd is a great purchase. I consider it to be an excellent buy.
I also enjoy Institute's album as well as Sixteen Stone, Razorblade Suitcase, Golden State, and The Chemicals Between Us.

THE GROUP BUSH WAS ONE OF THE BEST ROCK/GRUNGE/ALTERNATIVE BANDS TO COME OUT OF THE 1990'S.
THIS CD/DVD PACKAGE SHOWS WHY THEY RULED THE AIR~WAVES AND MTV IN THE EARLY 90'S.THIS HAS ALL THE VIDEO'S THAT WERE PLAYED 100X A DAY ON MTV;AND HELPED MTV RISE TO THE FAME IT IS TODAY.
THESE SONG'S WERE HIT MAKING CHART TOPPERS AND WERE PLAYED AT THE
WOODSTOCK 1994 CONCERT EVENT;AND ON RADIO STATIONS ACROSS AMERICA ON A DAILY BASIS.
NOW ALL THESE GREAT SONG'S AND VIDEO'S ARE ALL HERE FOR YOU TO ENJOY IN ONE PERFECT PACKAGE;THAT IS ABOUT THE SAME PRICE AS A DVD ALONE.IT'S ALMOST LIKE GETTING 2 FOR THE PRICE OF 1.
THE SOUND & PICTURE QUALITY ON THE DVD IS GREAT. IT MAKES YOUR SPEAKERS SCREAM AND THE VISION ON THE T.V. SCREEN MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE THERE.
ALL THE SONG'S ON THE DVD ARE ORIGINAL AND THE SOUND IS THE STUDIO VERSION.THE CD IS LIVE ACOUSTIC VERSION'S BUT IT IS DONE WITH SUCH STYLE IT SOUND'S LIKE THE ORIGINAL ALBUM VERSION'S.
THIS IS A CD/DVD PACKAGE YOU WILL ENJOY FOR YEARS TO COME.
PUT THE CD & DVD IN YOUR PLAYERS AND TURN THE VOLUME ON MAX.AND IT WILL BE A LONG TIME BEFORE YOU TAKE THEM OUT.
{ROME,NEW YORK}/[HOME OF WOODSTOCK 1999]

Are bands and record lables and execs special? I mean, how difficult is it to get a complete video compilation on a dvd which holds more then enough space. Do you understand? I don't! It's like we are in resource room. Most bands simply don't care to see what drible these labels are puting out. I mean why not put all the videos on a short dvd? Because thats what fans would actually want. It's like why remaster the Beatles albums, let's wait for the baby boomers to die. I have time I'm not in my sixties, fifties, or forties. Wake up or maybe nobody cares.