Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow

Starring:Lance Bangs
Director: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Studio: Interscope Records
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

A somewhat lackluster performance DVD of a group I love on CD
Incidentally
O, You've Done It Again
EXCELLENT
Ace Rock Combo

Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow
Starring: Lance Bangs
Director: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Manufacturer: Interscope Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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I hope you are all happy now
Show Your Bones
Fever To Tell
Gold Lion/Let Me Know
The White Stripes - Under Blackpool Lights

ASIN: B00062148E
Release Date: 2004-10-19

Customer Reviews:

A somewhat lackluster performance DVD of a group I love on CD.......2006-07-15

I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but I was somewhat disappointed with this DVD. I have never seen them live and had never previously even seen a video of one of their songs. I have both of their albums and like both a great deal, but all in all this DVD just didn't move me like the CDs do.

Part of the problem is certainly sound. I have your basic 5.1 surround sound set up, but even after fudging around with the balance, I found Karen O.'s voice just didn't emerge from the overall sound very well. On CD you can crank it up and it sounds like she is singing into your ear, allowing you to get every snarl, scream, growl, and hiccup. Let's face it: Nicolas Zinner is a very good guitarist, but the reason you listen to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is Karen O.'s singing. She is one of my four favorite female rock vocalists along with Corin Tucker of the late, very great Sleater-Kinney, P. J. Harvey, and Neko Case. But if her voice isn't crystal clear, a great deal of the appeal of the band is lost.

I found it hard to watch this without constantly comparing the band to the White Stripes. The two bands have essentially the same set up, except that Jack White combines the duties of both Karen O. and Nicolas Zinner. White's increased responsibilities (and preferences, one suspects) keeps him from moving around on stage like Karen O., but I'm not sure that that is a bad thing. Other reviewers have referred to how active she is on stage, and that is absolutely true. What no one has mentioned is that she doesn't move very well. Morrissey moves around on stage a lot, but he does so very compellingly, almost hypnotically. But Karen O. is not physically graceful and her movements don't especially enhance the music. More than anything, I found her frenetic activity onstage to be a bit distracting. Continuing the comparison between the two bands, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs suffer in comparison in terms of quality of material (perhaps not a fair comparison, since Jack and Meg have had more years to build up great material, while the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a rather thin catalog of songs) and musicianship (which is merely to say that Jack White is a stud of the first order). Karen O. is the equal of Jack White as a vocalist, but the timber of his voice lends itself better to a live recording. Perhaps this is not a fair comparison. Although both bands feature a vocalist, drums, guitar, and no bass, Jack White is a staggering talent. Nonetheless, the second I finished watching this I popped the recording I made off the TV of Jack and Meg live in South America.

My gut feeling is that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs weren't ready for a concert DVD at this point in their career. Granted, it was only a couple of years ago, but they simply didn't have enough material. They had released two or three EPs and an album, FEVER TO TELL, at the time they did this DVD, which is not a whole lot of songs. Moreover, FEVER TO TELL would probably have been better released as a long EP, with a few of the weaker songs cut off. As it stands, there is a stark contrast between the really great songs like "Rich" and "Maps" and several of the weaker cuts. As a result the concert recorded here is amazingly short. Even as it stands, their stage time was padded by one of the longest gaps between the final song in their main set and the encore. By the way, the silver full body (and head) outfit that Karen O. wears for the encore (putting it on was probably the cause of the very long delay starting the encore). Then the encore itself was one of the lowpoints of the concert.

All in all, I was really disappointed by this DVD. It is getting some good reviews here, but I wonder if others are reviewing the music based on the CDs instead of what you actually see on this DVD. To sum up, I thought they didn't have enough good material, Karen O. was distracting onstage, and the sound quality was a bit on the muddy side. Instead of this DVD, I'd recommend popping either of their two albums into your CD player instead or, if you must play a DVD, the White Stripes's UNDER BLACKPOOL LIGHTS instead.

Incidentally.......2006-05-19

In response to Buddy Brown's review. Not that its relevant but Karen O's mother is Korean. For someone so keen on dismissing other people's opinions please check your facts before blathering.

O, You've Done It Again.......2006-03-30

The music is far from flawless, the footage is hardly stellar and visual wizardry is non-existent, yet this show from San Francisco's Fillmore Theatre proves the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to be the most exciting female fronted act to emerge this century. Beginning with Y Control, Karen O races on stage with the exuberance of the cocoon-fresh butterfly, yet her clothing sense remains that of the grub. It's part of her cool individual chic, and when she dances across the stage in this glitzy garbage get-up she plots a course somewhere between Patti Smith, Courtney Love and Madonna. Rockers, Maps and Black Tongue - while not sounding as clean as on their records - are some of the finest live tracks here, with the encore of Our Time finds Karen O giggling and dressed in a cheap space suit. Dodgy documentary from the generally faultless Spike Jonze, moving MTV performance of Maps, additional video clips (including banned video Y Control) and Easter eggs all add up to this being a simply brilliant package.

EXCELLENT.......2006-03-28

i love love love this dvd, half becuase of karen O being awesome live and half for the band sounding great as a whole live. if you own fever to tell and you like it, then i can gaurantee that you will like this dvd as well. and the absolute best part is that all of the unreleased songs they play on here are probably better than the songs off of fever to tell and their EP. rockers to swallow, down boy, 10x10, and sealings are addicting as hell, and combined with karen o's facial expressions and costumes this dvd is very very worth it.

Ace Rock Combo.......2006-02-22

The YYYs are an extremely talented little group. They truly sound like many more people than three are creating the music you hear here, lovely, varied guitar effects, and the drummer rocks like some kind of deranged monkey....and Karen O is, by any standard, one hell of a performer...even if the music is not, strictly speaking, your cup of tea (it's not completely mine, to be honest), this is a completely riveting concert disc.

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