mlukfc.com Forums - View Single Post - First Guilty Pleasure DVD review Published

Evil One · 14 Oct 2012, 16:36

This package really is a mixed bag. Some thoughts in no particular order:

The band is amazing and probably the best Meat's ever had. Justin especially stands out.
Meat seems to be enjoying himself and looks much healthier than on the last DVD.
Meat's vocals are mixed much too low. At times it is difficult to make him out which is odd as his vocals are (mostly) much better than I was expecting. There are a few shaky moments during Anything For Love and Two Out Of Three, but on the whole Meat does a good job apart from one song - on Hot Patootie he is not good at all.
Rock And Roll Dreams is definitely the highlight of the concert. Dave Luther's sax during the ending is tremendous.
I still don't like the Hang Cool songs, but Meat sings two of them well.
I like the new intro to Anything For Love and hope this current band gets to do the whole song for the next DVD.
Stand In The Storm is jarringly different from the rest of the DVD. I might be wrong, but I suspect a lot of studio material was used for this song.
Boneyard and Freebird are decent, but Meat's done much better encores.
The way naughty words are edited from Paradise is ridiculous.
Ginny has a great body, but the way her arse is put into shot as Meat introduces Patti annoys me.
Paul and Randy's solos are both lovely, but I think one is enough.
The CD seems a bit half-arsed.
But not as half-arsed as the documentary. It feels cheaply made and poorly edited. And as Wario has pointed out, the use of camera audio is not acceptable. And the subject matter doesn't really interest me.
All those gripes aside, this DVD is actually very good and I give it 4/5.

Or I would do if it wasn't for two glaring problems.

The picture quality is very poor. It's too dark and pixelates far too frequently. It's a really shoddy effort that shouldn't happen with today's technology and the DVD loses a point for this.

The audio mix is bizarre. The ridiculous echo effect used on Meat's vocals throughout is incredibly distracting. I can only assume it was used to make it harder to tell which bits have been rerecorded. The beefing up of backing vocals is equally distracting. Had Paul used this style of production on Hell In A Handbasket then I would possibly be claiming that album as the best thing ever, but here it is out of place and ruins the product. Which is a shame, as those two points aside I think Paul's done a very good job. Another point lost for the audio.

So my overall score is sadly 2/5 which is frustrating as there is much to like about this DVD, but I cannot overlook two major problems. Hopefully Meat has one more DVD left in him and it will turn out better. Just keep Paul away from sound effects and keep Concert One away in general.

14 Oct 2012, 16:36	#507
Evil One Mega Loafer Join Date: 15.01.2007 Posts: 5,192	This package really is a mixed bag. Some thoughts in no particular order: The band is amazing and probably the best Meat's ever had. Justin especially stands out. Meat seems to be enjoying himself and looks much healthier than on the last DVD. Meat's vocals are mixed much too low. At times it is difficult to make him out which is odd as his vocals are (mostly) much better than I was expecting. There are a few shaky moments during Anything For Love and Two Out Of Three, but on the whole Meat does a good job apart from one song - on Hot Patootie he is not good at all. Rock And Roll Dreams is definitely the highlight of the concert. Dave Luther's sax during the ending is tremendous. I still don't like the Hang Cool songs, but Meat sings two of them well. I like the new intro to Anything For Love and hope this current band gets to do the whole song for the next DVD. Stand In The Storm is jarringly different from the rest of the DVD. I might be wrong, but I suspect a lot of studio material was used for this song. Boneyard and Freebird are decent, but Meat's done much better encores. The way naughty words are edited from Paradise is ridiculous. Ginny has a great body, but the way her arse is put into shot as Meat introduces Patti annoys me. Paul and Randy's solos are both lovely, but I think one is enough. The CD seems a bit half-arsed. But not as half-arsed as the documentary. It feels cheaply made and poorly edited. And as Wario has pointed out, the use of camera audio is not acceptable. And the subject matter doesn't really interest me. All those gripes aside, this DVD is actually very good and I give it 4/5. Or I would do if it wasn't for two glaring problems. The picture quality is very poor. It's too dark and pixelates far too frequently. It's a really shoddy effort that shouldn't happen with today's technology and the DVD loses a point for this. The audio mix is bizarre. The ridiculous echo effect used on Meat's vocals throughout is incredibly distracting. I can only assume it was used to make it harder to tell which bits have been rerecorded. The beefing up of backing vocals is equally distracting. Had Paul used this style of production on Hell In A Handbasket then I would possibly be claiming that album as the best thing ever, but here it is out of place and ruins the product. Which is a shame, as those two points aside I think Paul's done a very good job. Another point lost for the audio. So my overall score is sadly 2/5 which is frustrating as there is much to like about this DVD, but I cannot overlook two major problems. Hopefully Meat has one more DVD left in him and it will turn out better. Just keep Paul away from sound effects and keep Concert One away in general.