Midnight Oil

[Powderworks] The DVD!

Dan Brunner dmanwi at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 9 13:46:01 MDT 2004


Nice post.  I wish I had the NTSC version so I could
comment on some things.  I eagerly await responses to
some of your questions put forth.

I just want to go on record stating that I would MUCH
rather have a DVD of this last tour over the MTV
unplugged show.  




--- Björn_Blomquist
<bjorn.blomquist at mbox301.swipnet.se> wrote:
> There hasn’t been that much discussion about the
> "Best of Both Worlds"
> DVD, that one could have expected. Apart from some
> unlucky US fellas
> waiting for the right format to arrive, I suppose
> that most Powderworkes
> have got it by now. Maybe everyone is just busy
> watching it? ;-)
> 
> Anyway, I have watched it – each of the show – three
> times now. Plus
> listened a few times to the "Oils on the Water" gig
> on the audio cd. So
> here I go:
> 
> I definitely prefer the Goat Island gig to the one
> in Capitol Theatre.
> The reason is simply that in 1982 the band hadn’t
> yet put out their best
> work; of course the fantastic ’10, 9, 8…’ album was
> released, but ’Bird
> Noises’ and ’Postcard’ are among my least favourite
> Oils material. Am I
> the only one who thinks that the studio recording of
> "No time for games"
> – and to a lesser extent "Lucky country" too – is
> BETTER than the
> speeded-up live version? Well… 
> 
> Interesting that some of the performances in this
> show are the same that
> appear on the ’Scream in Blue’ live album – I now
> understand what the
> squeaking noise in "Brave faces" comes from (I
> thought it was something
> coming out of Pete’s mouth)! Because of the
> aforementioned album, it is
> very annoying hearing the edit in the final number
> "Powderworks". It’s
> not even synchronised with the song’s "flow", is it?
> Also I wonder if
> the short take of "Burnie" was performed that way,
> or if it was edited
> too? I’m not a sucker for that kind of image
> "trickery" with stills and
> stuff which the footage for this number presents. I
> want to see the
> "real thing", if you know that I mean. Then the
> bonus clip: Title 6,
> Chapter 1 for you who don’t know how to find it
> outside a computer. I
> liked the letter from "Youth" there too (and there’s
> another one by Jim
> elsewhere on the dvd).
> 
> Finally you can’t help wondering what has happened
> to the rest of the
> concert footage. I supposed that they did tape the
> whole thing? Did they
> play more nights at the same venue, or was this
> material from one show
> only? "Armistice Day" clip on the "20,000 Watt"
> compilation: not the
> same as this one, right?
> 
> The "extra songs" on audio only: were these from the
> very same concert?
> Why couldn’t they have been mixed to equally good
> sound quality? I could
> live without those tracks.
> 
> What impresses me most about this concert is that it
> SOUNDS very good,
> in fact better than more recent concert films I have
> watched. (Twenty
> years later nothing in this world is any better…)
> Congratulations to the
> sound engineers both at location and to those
> cleaning it up for the dvd
> release!
> 
> Over to "Oils on the Water" a.k.a. Goat Island gig.
> This show is
> interesting in a number of ways: 
> 
> 1) The very unusual setting for a rock concert: a
> harbour in the
> background. I just can’t help wondering: was this a
> free-entry gig? If
> so, I think there should be more people there! As
> you watch the gig, the
> sky changes from blue to black, sunshine becomes
> rain, early evening
> turns into night time… And it lasted only 80
> minutes? Fascinating
> indeed. 
> 
> 2) This is the first time we get live material from
> ’Red Sails’
> officially released! I have often wondered why
> neither ’Scream in Blue’
> nor ’The Real Thing’ have got any ’Red Sails’
> numbers on them. (Yes, I
> know there were two clips on the "20,000 Watt
> R.S.L." video collection,
> but one of them reappears here, and this time you
> get it on a CD too.)
> And I wonder even more now, as it turns out that
> those songs worked very
> well live. Especially the version of "Minutes to
> midnight" is great! And
> "Kosciusko"... Yes, I still use the old spelling and
> won’t change it!
> ’Red Sails’ is still not my favourite Oil album, but
> I think that the
> songs from it become more powerful live, much thanks
> to the sound. Here
> the drums sound like drums, just compare the
> "Generals" intro on the
> album version with Goat Island...
> 
> 3) The band messes it up in "When the generals
> talk"! Hahaha hihihi.
> 
> 4) "Giffo" in action. Nothing to argue about
> considering his bass
> playing I think, but he hasn’t really got a singing
> voice as good as
> Bones.
> 
> Questions:
> 
> 1. Who is the fellow who helps out with percussion
> on "When the generals
> talk" and plays the bass drum on "Jimmy Sharman’s
> boxers"? (I just ask
> in case he is a Powderworker. You’ll never know…)
> 
> 2. Who is the fellow who joins Garrett’s
> maniac-dancing during "Stand in
> line"? He IS a Powderworker, I’d be surprised if
> that’s not the case!
> ;-) And the "Read about it" bloke should not be
> forgotten either. Well
> done, guys! How did they manage to get up on stage
> in the first place?
> Don’t you have any "stage guards" in Australia? But
> what the heck – this
> was in 1985 after all. Ancient times...
> 
> 3. Why were no songs from ’Species Deceases’ played?
> The EP must have
> been released at this time? I wouldn’t have minded a
> "Progress" or a
> "Blossom and blood" here...
> 
> 4. What is Garrett raving about between the songs?
> His broad Aussie
> accent really bugs me. I can hardly decipher a
> sentence besides "J J J
> is ten todaaaaay..." ;-)
> 
> 5. Was this an entire concert, ie. showed from start
> to finish? If not,
> what is left out? Didn’t I read somewhere that this
> edition features
> material not included in the original broadcast of
> this "JJJ 10th
> Anniversary Concert", or whatever it was called?
> 
> 6. Why no "Bakerman"?!? For God’s sake, there was
> even a brass section.
> :-)
> 
> Again, the extra audio clips, the "rehearsal tapes"
> do not much for me.
> Interesting though that they did "Lucky country" the
> day before instead
> of "Back to the borderline". Otherwise it’s the
> second half of the show…
> Did they play a complete "rehearsal" gig too, with
> an audience? 
> 
> The reason that the last three numbers were selected
> on the "20,000
> Watt" compilation – is that the fanatical on-stage
> maniac-dancing
> Powderworkers? It’s no coincidence that "No time for
> games" was chosen
> from the Capitol show, for the same reason I
> guess...
> 
> All in all, nice to have this dvd. And the audio cd
> is a welcome bonus,
> even though I’m not overwhelmed about live
> recordings. The fact that
> some numbers appear on both concerts is not a big
> problem. Let alone
> that "Only the strong" is not a favourite of mine
> (at least it’s not
> twice "Stand in line" or "Knife’s edge"), but you
> can 
=== message truncated ===>
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=====
Dan Brunner
dmanwi at yahoo.com


	
		
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