The Smiley Smile Message Board

I bought two versions of the CD last year when it was released, and was anxiously looking forward to the concert DVD, which was released this month on the 27th (in the U.S.).  I haven't bought it yet for a couple of reasons...1) Money is a little tight right now, and 2) I've read that the performance is good, but the presentation is a little bit sterile.  I've also read a post from someone who thinks Brian's vocal track is exactly the same vocal track that was on the CD.  Not sure what to think about that.  Anyway, I'll probably still buy the thing because I happen to like the music, but the answer to my question will likely determine when I buy it.  Does the concert DVD include the video segments that were shown during the "Hearbeat of L.A." narrations at the live shows?  If so, I guess I'll be heading for the big box store (the only place in my town that is stocking this) today.  If not, I think I can wait until money is not so tight. 
Thanks,
A.

Yes the dvd includes the video and animation segments from the live show.

The person who posted that Brian's vocal is exactly the same performance from the cd is wrong.  It is compiled from the several run throughs of TLOS that they perfomed at the tower though.  And I do agree that that the performance while quite good is a little bit sterile. 

But the DVD is VERY MUCH WORTH HAVING.  In fact I love it for the following reasons:

The Going Home documentary is well done (it is no Endless Harmony by any means but it tells a good story)

The outakes of making TLOS - GREAT footage.  There are many who think Brian is a helpless vega - table whom Darian, Jeff and Scott have to do ALL the work for.  This section of the dvd demonstrates that Brian did do a bunch of work on TLOS (writing good songs being the main thing) and many REAL moments and great stories are contained here.  No doubt that there will be some who claim everything was staged (the fact that Brian's people have stage footage before is no help - I know) and that Brian actually died in 1988 and has been a badly programmed robot for the last two decades...

I enjoy the Black Cab session - it is loose and fun and worthy of keeping.

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My favorite part of the dvd though is...

The Nissan Live set.  WAAAAAYYYY better than the performances from the basement of the tower.  Brian is at his best here (and the band of course is Brilliant).  Though the picture quality isn't perfect, the audio kicks.  The mix is perfect and Brian's vocals sound wonderful. 

Let me also go out on a limb and say that Brian and the band's performance on the Nissan live set version of Midnight's Another Day is THE DEFINITIVE live version of the song.  The demo of MAD is the best version of the song, but the live version presented here is much better than the final cd version of MAD and the best live version of the song that I have ever heard (and I have heard at least 20 different live versions of MAD).

Even with the good but not great live version of TLOS (the bad editing / synching bugs me - and I miss the bridge of Southern California) there are so many extras (over 2.5 hours of stuff here) that it is well worth the money.

Thank you, sir.  I guess I'll be buying this today after work.

I totally agree with Rich (hi Rich!!!) on his review. I thought it was just me with the sync of Bri's singing in the concert part. Thank God someone else caught it too!!!! Thought I lost it for awhile! It's well worth the money!!

I'm so happy people are positive on this DVD--it's not perfect but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I enjoyed the DVD.  Highlights include the studio outtakes, and there are some great pictures in the documentary that I hadn't seen before (like the one of Brian in a crowd of teenage girls all holding "Little Girl I Once Knew" 45s!)

Also I love the part where Brian asks someone behind the camera "are you cool?"  and then follows up with "how cool are you?"  :)

Question: Does anyone know who the man in the suit that is in the control room next to Brian a lot of the time is?

I really like the DVD.

Re: The performance at Capitol.  Given the fantastic sounding live performance of TLOS that is streaming from NPR it seems a shame that it was deemed necessary to release such a heavily edited performance on the DVD when Brian has performed the piece so well at actual live shows in theaters.

Cheers

Really looking foward to this DVD. My local online store isn't shipping till the 2nd of Feb - but sounds like it'll be well worth the wait.

I was watching the samples of the DVD on Brian's site with headphones on & I'm pretty sure I picked up some double tracking of Brian's lead in places - might of been Jeff backing him up though, as he often does. I really prefer "warts n all" live footage - not smoothed over edited stuff. Oh well.....

Question: Does anyone know who the man in the suit that is in the control room next to Brian a lot of the time is?
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Pay NO ATTENTION  to that man behind the curtain!!!!!