Some things shouldn't go through the hassle of being reissued. Case in point: Rhino's recently-released Faith No More "double feature." The set compiles two VHS releases onto a couple of DVDs, without much of an upgrade to either feature in content or mastering. Disc one,
Live at the Brixton Academy, London: You Fat Bastards, is a Faith No More concert from 1990, while the band was at the apex of their popularity from MTV rotation due to the success of their biggest single, "Epic." Disc two is
Who Cares A Lot? Greatest Videos, which is of course a bit silly since
all of the band's music videos are collected on the DVD.
The London concert isn't what it could be or should be. It's a shame that a band with a history of exciting and bizarre live shows (
check it out on Wikipedia) has this lackluster document as its only official concert release. Of course, while at the time of this 1990 concert the band had yet to record their best album [1992's
Angel Dust], the songs are still solid and well-performed. But is it really worth it? The sound quality is almost identical to the album tracks, and without actual live dynamics, the concert comes off as a mostly boring deal.
Meanwhile, the videos aren't just disappointing; they're also a little disorienting in their arrangement. Since the content is ordered straight from the tape, the videos aren't arranged chronologically, or even given proper or uniform titling. But they're a tame, extremely dated mixed bag anyway. Most of them outline just about everything that I find awful and boring in music videos: random ideas with little relation to the actual music, stuff that tries to be fun and cool ends up being cloying and not much fun to watch. Exploding fish, a man being quartered and transsexuals may be interesting music video fodder in theory, but here they just end up being lame. One of the best parts of this disc, in fact, isn't a "music video" at all, but an MTV live performance of "Caffeine," which made me wish that Rhino would've picked up more live performances for this reissue - although I have to give them a little credit (a teensy bit) for filling out this earlier release with the last few videos Faith No More did.
Even with its flaws, however, this is the best treatment this stuff is going to get. I do wish that Rhino would touch these packages up a little better; I know there's only so much that can be done as far as sound and picture quality goes, but some logical arrangement and proper titling would be nice for stuff like this in the future. In its current configuration, though, the Faith No More double feature feels a lot like the original releases themselves - a rush job or a cash-in or both. In short, these programs should have been left where they belonged: in someone's VCR.
- Jon Cameron
Unofficial Site
Buy It
from Amazon
See Also:
Now this is an idea for a music video.
