DEVO - Live 1980 DualDisc Review

[Naitze Teng]

From the October edition of AVRev.com...

DEVO - Live 1980

Performance: 7
Sound: 3


Looking back 25 years later at DEVO, what sticks in my mind the most isn¹t
the red spud energy hats or the legless white uniform space suits. It is the
numbers of bands who have since driven down the alternative rock road that
DEVO paved. Like Frank Zappa before them, DEVO took ³weird² rock and turned
it into something people would actually listen to on the radio. From
legendary alt rockers like Oingo Boingo and the B-52¹s to modern-day punkers
like Green Day and The Offspring, these groups all owe a little thanks to
DEVO for having the guts to make quirky pop music and not be apologetic
about it.

The closest thing to a direct modern copy of DEVO comes by way of the
Aquabats, a group of zany ska rockers who dress up as superheroes and turn
their live show into a live action comic book. They had their 15 minutes of
fame with the minor hit ³Superrad,² but while watching this DEVO disc, I
can¹t help but think back to seeing the Aquabats live.

There was no MTV yet at the time of this recording. To see bands perform
live, you¹d have to stay up late and catch them on shows like ³Don
Kirshner¹s Rock Concert² or ³Saturday Night Live.² Now that there are so
many non-music-related TV shows on MTV and MTV2, you rarely ever get to see
to see any live concert performances, let alone an entire show start to
finish. This DualDisc contains a full-length concert video from the August
17, 1980 performance by DEVO at the Phoenix Theater in Petaluma, California.
It has a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD side, as well as some bonus
concert footage, and the CD side has a 16-bit stereo version of the same
concert.

Read the full review at http://www.audiorevolution.com/music/revs/devo.shtml

[f-erenc szabo]

Post by Naitze Teng
Performance: 7
Sound: 3

Was the sound in sync with the video? I tried
my disc in three places (1 computer and 2 DVD
Players) and they all show the exact same "out
of sync" by a few frames.

It really makes the entire experience suck because
so much of the choreography is quite "percussive"
in nature - in other words, it relies on good timing.

I've seen Devo live twice (1981, 1988) and have seen
various other concert footage (The Men Who Make The
Music, Fridays, Saturday Night Live, Rising Sun 2003,
Lollapalooza 1996, Letterman, San Francisco, Urgh A
Music War) so I have an excellent idea of how it's
supposed to look (timing-wise).


f-erenc

[Boom]

On Thu, 27 Oct 2005 21:38:39 -0400, f-erenc szabo

Post by f-erenc szabo

Post by Naitze Teng
Performance: 7
Sound: 3

Was the sound in sync with the video? I tried
my disc in three places (1 computer and 2 DVD
Players) and they all show the exact same "out
of sync" by a few frames.
It really makes the entire experience suck because
so much of the choreography is quite "percussive"
in nature - in other words, it relies on good timing.
I've seen Devo live twice (1981, 1988) and have seen
various other concert footage (The Men Who Make The
Music, Fridays, Saturday Night Live, Rising Sun 2003,
Lollapalooza 1996, Letterman, San Francisco, Urgh A
Music War) so I have an excellent idea of how it's
supposed to look (timing-wise).

Not only is the sync off for me, but it's also off on the Live 1996
video. But the weird part is the extra stuff with Dove is perfectly
in sync. With all the stuff they've got to fix it with nowadays, I
can't believe they let those two go like that.

[Rev. Richard Skull]

I frequently have the same problems with my DVD's.

The root cause it that we have the $89 Walmart Special DVD players.

The more expensive players have better sound and more fancy gizmos to
keep the show form regressing into a Japanese Monster Movie.

Also better players have programable features that allow you to play
the "chapters" in any order you damned well please!

[Boom]

Post by Rev. Richard Skull
I frequently have the same problems with my DVD's.
The root cause it that we have the $89 Walmart Special DVD players.
The more expensive players have better sound and more fancy gizmos to
keep the show form regressing into a Japanese Monster Movie.
Also better players have programable features that allow you to play
the "chapters" in any order you damned well please!

Other DVD's play just fine in my Walmart special. I don't think it's
the player.

[Rev. Richard Skull]

<<Other DVD's play just fine in my Walmart special. I don't think it's

the player. >>
Same here. But I take the same DVD to a friends house and they play
fine.

They also play fine on my nephew's PS2. AND, when I hit puase, then
start the show up again, the sound "sync's up" fro about 30 seconds
then goes out of phase again.

And several DVD'd I borrowed from others have "gone Japanese" on me.
And they played perfictly in others Players.

If I was not a cheap Bastard, I'd go out now and buy a "Real DVD
Player", but as long as this one still works, I'll keep it for now.

BEsides, when you watching Porn, who cares about the dialoge!

[f-erenc szabo]

Post by Boom
Other DVD's play just fine in my Walmart special. I don't think it's
the player.

Right. I've subsequently played the DVD in a few more
Players and computers with the exact same bad result.
Two of the DVD players were high end ones (well, if
you can call $300 high end?) and some were cheapos and
The computers were Mac and Windows of varying speeds,
DVD mechanisms and vintages.

The synch is out exactly the same in all of them.

And other DVDs play perfectly fine.

f-erenc

[ƒ®∂nk p∂ⁿuCĉI]

I frequently have the same problems with my DVD's.>
The root cause it that we have the $89 Walmart Special DVD players.

Everything plays fine here on the $29 Phillips and Funnyname players
from WalMart, Circuit City, Value City and elsewhere. I have yet to see
an out-of-sync DVD on those or any of my acquaintances' cheapies. My
antique Apex 1100W plays the DEVO LIVE disc fine.

Probably you're not adjusting the "secret knobs" right.

____________________
www.frankpanucci.com
http://reperkussionz.blogspot.com/