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Great music, not the greatest video
For Steely Dan fans, this video is a must. The performances and sound are absolutely wonderful. No complaints there. But the video direction and editing are less than great. Admittedly, SD is not the most visually dynamic band on stage, and I imagine it was difficult to try to breathe life into a bunch of guys basically standing (or sitting) there. But the shots used in this video, which I'm sure someone thought were very artistic, are more often annoying. Out of focus shots, extreme off-center shots, shaky-cam shots, all edited together very sloppily make for a distracting experience. Rarely does the camera give us a close up on a soloing player -- I want to watch that player play! Instead we cut to a slightly fuzzy shot of the drummer on a 15-degree angle stuck down in the lower left corner of the frame (or something to that effect). They should have gone with a more conventional style on this video.
I know I've spent a lot of words complaining about this point, which might make it sound like I didn't enjoy the video. The truth is that it's very worth watching, the weakness of the visuals aside. It's still a great band and a great performance, and there are brief vignettes between songs that I found very entertaining. If you dig the Dan, you must check out this vid. Try not to be too disappointed with the camera/editing work; if it gets irritating just close your eyes -- you won't be missing much anyway.
I know I've spent a lot of words complaining about this point, which might make it sound like I didn't enjoy the video. The truth is that it's very worth watching, the weakness of the visuals aside. It's still a great band and a great performance, and there are brief vignettes between songs that I found very entertaining. If you dig the Dan, you must check out this vid. Try not to be too disappointed with the camera/editing work; if it gets irritating just close your eyes -- you won't be missing much anyway.
helpful•30
- ron2112
- May 30, 2002
Details
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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