The Screamers--Live In San Francisco Sept. 2nd 1978
MVD/Target 2004
Talk about your great musical travesties of all time. While wildly popular on the west coast during the seventies, the Screamers are probably the best band nobody has ever heard of. For some unknown reason, this visionary punk rock outfit never recorded an actual album. If not for collections of live and demo tracks such as the essential In A Better World double CD, this band's important contribution to the world of music would've dissipated into the ether long ago. That's what makes this DVD from the Target video archives, Live In San Francisco Sept. 2nd 1978, such a treasure. With immaculately remastered sound and picture, this is the definitive Screamers document.
For the uninitiated, one of the things that made the Screamers unique amongst the punk pack was their instrumentation. Instead of the traditional bass and guitar tandem, the Screamers featured fuzzed out Fender Rhodes electric piano being augmented by an Arp Odessey synthesizer. This is the genesis of synthpunk, a sound that has been best approximated and carried on by bands such as the Lost Sounds and Phantom Limbs. It is amazing how much darker and more powerful the Screamers sound was in comparison to all the punk legends operating around that same time. This fact makes the band's obscurity that much more heartbreaking.
Thankfully, Live In San Francisco Sept. 2nd 1978 should go a long way in rectifying that wrong. Perhaps the biggest treat of this DVD is the clarity of the audio. This is far from the muddy sounding Screamers sets you've had to make due with until now--every voice rings through perfectly clear, providing you the best opportunity ever to really get what the Screamers were all about. The picture is equally without flaw--the whole thing like a dream come true. Make no mistake--the crucial point about the video portion of this program is that it brings to light the fact late frontman Tomata DuPlenty was one of the greatest and most charismatic ever, punk or otherwise. His stage presence is hypnotic as he leads the band through classics such as "Vertigo," "Punish Or Be Damned," and "In A Better World." On top of the concert footage, you get five studio shot videos of the band in action. These provide an even greater insight into the brilliance of the Screamers, stripped of distractions such as crowd noise. Here, the audio and video quality is just as amazing as during the concert itself. Someone should really get an award for this thing.
Diehards might wish certain songs like "The Scream" had turned up, but nobody is going to be disappointed in Live In San Francisco Sept. 2nd 1978. If you're already familiar with the Screamers, you know you absolutely need this. That said, if you're a newcomer this is also definitely the place to start. Considering the lack of Screamers stuff available in general, on top of the quality, this is one of the top must own music DVDs ever released. Prepared for what you'll consume here or not, this one will change your life--no joke, arguably the best punk band ever.
Score this DVD directly from MVD
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