Michael Schenker Group: World Wide Live 2004 DVD
I don’t know why Michael Schenker doesn’t just retire those old MSG & UFO songs given the fact that he can’t play them nearly as well as he used to. He sounds like a geriatric imitation of his glorious past. His hands these days have no electricity or elasticity. There is very little passion in the man’s sound or body language.
Dig, those old chestnuts are meant to be performed with a youthful pizzazz, full of vim & vigor, and sweat dripping off the end of one’s nose, but those qualities are not on this dvd.
He’s a shell thrice removed from how well he could play back in the early 80’s.
The band he’s employing look and sound like they should be playing Death Metal or some form of Spastic Rock. They play their parts adequately but don’t play with any true soul or artistry. The keyboards sound rinky-dink cheap & amateurish. The vocals are generic modern-day Hard Rock, nothing especially good or bad about them, they get the job done and that’s about it. And the same can be said for the rest of the band.
The picture quality is outstanding.
And you do indeed get to see Schenker’s hands often enough, but the thing is, there isn’t much to watch. Or, better stated, what you see are 8 fingers and 2 thumbs moving minimalistically. They hit just enough notes for us to recognize the skeletons of past virtuosic solos. He plays just enough to get by.
The interview is pure crap because the interviewer sounds like he’s asking questions from a sheet of paper and does not rebound off the answers provided. All you get from this interview are short, chirpy answers to very lame, over-asked questions.
It’s a red-faced shame that this dvd is the only video document of Schenker in concert ever to be officially released in the USA or England (as of this day in December 2004). If you want pro-shot videos of Schenker performing in his heyday then you will have to surf & search the www and/or make contact with video suppliers in Japan. Look for MSG Rock Will Never Die (Live at the Hammersmith 1983), MSG Rockpalast 1981, MSG Dortmund 1983, and MSG Super Rock 1984 Live in Japan.
Bottom line: I don’t like this dvd. You'd be wiser to get one of his audio concerts such as Back To Attack or Reactivate or Rock Will Never Die.
Dig, those old chestnuts are meant to be performed with a youthful pizzazz, full of vim & vigor, and sweat dripping off the end of one’s nose, but those qualities are not on this dvd.
He’s a shell thrice removed from how well he could play back in the early 80’s.
The band he’s employing look and sound like they should be playing Death Metal or some form of Spastic Rock. They play their parts adequately but don’t play with any true soul or artistry. The keyboards sound rinky-dink cheap & amateurish. The vocals are generic modern-day Hard Rock, nothing especially good or bad about them, they get the job done and that’s about it. And the same can be said for the rest of the band.
The picture quality is outstanding.
And you do indeed get to see Schenker’s hands often enough, but the thing is, there isn’t much to watch. Or, better stated, what you see are 8 fingers and 2 thumbs moving minimalistically. They hit just enough notes for us to recognize the skeletons of past virtuosic solos. He plays just enough to get by.
The interview is pure crap because the interviewer sounds like he’s asking questions from a sheet of paper and does not rebound off the answers provided. All you get from this interview are short, chirpy answers to very lame, over-asked questions.
It’s a red-faced shame that this dvd is the only video document of Schenker in concert ever to be officially released in the USA or England (as of this day in December 2004). If you want pro-shot videos of Schenker performing in his heyday then you will have to surf & search the www and/or make contact with video suppliers in Japan. Look for MSG Rock Will Never Die (Live at the Hammersmith 1983), MSG Rockpalast 1981, MSG Dortmund 1983, and MSG Super Rock 1984 Live in Japan.
Bottom line: I don’t like this dvd. You'd be wiser to get one of his audio concerts such as Back To Attack or Reactivate or Rock Will Never Die.
posted by Alexander T. Newport at 9:25 PM
2 Comments:
Happy New Year!
Hello Newport,
Thanks for the email, I spotted the advaita/Ramana Maharshi type of material quoted after a few lines as I've been following it myself a long time.
I found your blog via supernatural/paranormal interest blogs, and yours was on the list. I'm not sure about the downloading question, but being stuck on dialup I download audio but can't spend so long downloading more than short video clips rather than complete tv programmes (eg Star Trek Enterprises I missed...). By the way, your audio link seems to be off at the moment.
My previous girlfriend is an Aquarius, but I also have a friend born a few days after me so the answer is yes. I think that covers everything, Kingsbury is where I live rather than my name, even the people nearby don't seem to know it exists. I posted this back on your blog so you could find it as well as on my own, David
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