Hmph. While I was chomping at the bit to finally get to see the Stooges reunion (all live reports I've read said it was pretty great), this has all the downsides one associates with an audience-filmed video and virtually no upsides.
Average sound? Check. Dull camera work and standard-issue long-shot filming with nominal closeups? Check. No menu or features whatsoever? Check. (You have to advance tracks manually to access them, and that tends to land you not somewhere "near" the ending/beginning of songs, but definitely not between them.) There's even a blank TV screen you get to watch for the first two minutes, even though the music itsel is playing.
Other than the outstanding packaging here -- full-color 2-sided sleeve slid into the clear clamshell jacket, plus an additional title insert inside the clamshell; picture disc; all with a "Stooges"-logo art motif -- you might as well be forking out your cash to those clowns at Living After Midnite video (who sell high-priced VHS tapes in Goldmine Magazine ads)!
All that aside, it's still kind of thrilling to see the band, after all these years, getting the collective mojo working. Somewhat long in the tooth (excluding newly-drafted bassist Mike Watt), but hey, they all took lickings and have kept on ticking. All the material comes from the first two Stooges recs with the exception of "Skull Ring," from Iggy Pop's recent LP of the same name. --OSWALD
