Flotsam And Jetsam - Live In Japan
Crash Music - CMU 61168 - 2006
By Philip Whitehouse
See those five, slightly grainy pictures haphazardly arranged on the back of the DVD case? They're an early warning. You can deduce almost everything that you need to know about the DVD from them. For instance - that's the actual quality of the video footage. Nope, they're not just dodgily compressed JPEGs - that's what the DVD actually looks like. Also, those are pretty much the only five camera angles you'll see throughout the 40 minutes or so that the band are playing for. And, beyond some basic panning and zooming, the camerawork is pretty much static. And the editing is sloppy, missing out soloing guitarists, and failing to even approximate the rhythm of the songs.
Oh,did I mention the concert only lasts around 40 minutes? Sure, I know the back of the DVD case states a running time of 55 minutes - but that's only because of the long, long stretches of complete silence and black screen that's been left between the concert and the only extra feature on the DVD (a ludicrously low-budget and visually horrendous promo video for
'Straight To Hell') in a shameless attempt to bump up the running time to make this seem like a more justifiable purchase. Shame on you, Crash Music.
To be fair, the sound quality is decent, if not outstanding - and when you're dealing with a band as longstanding as
Flotsam And Jetsam, you know the performance is going to be tight. Sadly, the band don't seem particularly energetic until
'Nothing To Say' gets an airing, and by then you're a third of the way through the paltry content of the DVD.
Sorry, but no matter how much of a fan of
Flotsam And Jetsam you might be, I can't recommend this at all. It's a blatant, shoddily put together cash-grab that reeks of laziness and greed from a mile away.
2/10
UM's Review Rating Scale
Flotsam And Jetsam's Official Website
Crash Music's Official Website
Peace!
