Wa ona ke
. ba .

Rage Against the
Machine

The Video
Sony/Epic Music Video

lhis video has me RAGING!! I have
Pen trampling capitalists under my
ental feet since I first watched this
ly worthy home video. For those who
eady own a few concert videos of their
ourite bands, you should know that
e current trend in concert film editing
chniques owes much to the MTV
hethod of attention deficit disorder
mp-cut and splice. This is not the case
ith Rage.
The video contains eleven (although
ly ten tracks are listed, there is a
bnus live cut) tracks culled from the
st four years of RATM’s existence. The
kage contains a bonus CD single

th a new song, “The Ghost of Tom
ad.’ This is also the first song on the
deo. Now this is classy, folks. Not only
b you get a concert video for the
asonable price of $14.99, but you also
t a bonus disc included; PLUS you get
ive version of the new song thrown in
r good measure!! What a savvy bunch
guys.

This band ills live and this video
akes the prima facie case for the
osecution in the case of RATM and

e Butchered Boppers. The shows
atured are the Reading Festival

gland, 1996), The Pink Pop Festival

SA, 1994), the Rockam Ring Festival
SA, 1996), and Irvine Meadows,

Tix Ticketmaster
This band has 5 dust
bleased a daub ive
bum on DROG records,
d now they're coming
D town to hump it (so

   

a&e@op.douglas.be.ca

California (Sept. 1997). Now kids, don’t
worry, all of your favourites are in-
cluded:

The Ghost of Tom Joad

VietNow

People of the Sun

Bulls On Parade

Know Your Enemy

Tire Me

Bombtrack

Zapata's Blood

Bullet in the Head

Killing in the Name

Freedom (pssst, hey buddy. This is
the bonus track I was talking about)

The rest of the tape contains the six
unedited videos that the band has made
to date. These are the first vid’s worth
watching in a long time, because the
performances were recorded especially
for the videos, live in the studio so to
speak.

But enough about them, back to the
concert footage. I am a huge fan of
guitarist Tom Morello’s innovative use of
simple elements (e.g. foot activated
effect boxes as well as switches already
on his guitars) to simulate a DJ’s
turntable scratching or generate some
Southeast Asian sounding snarling
drone, as in the intro to “People of the
Sun.’ To put it simply, the man kicks
mucho beaucoup ass. He's put the “Chi

‘Minh’ back with Ho, if you catch my

drift.

The song that I find myself watching
most often is all of them. No kidding.
All of them. They are all great perform-
ances. The editing is smooth and uses
mostly long takes as opposed the
aforementioned jump cutting so in
vogue these days. But if I had to single
out one song over the others it would be
the supersecret bonus track, ‘Freedom.’
This is the last song on their epony-
mously titled debut album and here in
concert it is delivered with all the force
of a bullet from Che Guevara’s M-1 to
the skull of a running dogYanqui
imperialist, Morello is better known for
his angular approaches to soloing but
here he takes a lyrical bent and moves
what was a good song into the category
where it can play footsies with greatness.

Rage Against the Machine are not

Rheostatics @ Richards on Richards

known for their subtlety of approach but
their sincerity is never in question. This
video confirms this statement while
simultaneously ensconcing the group in
the pantheon of astonishing live acts.
Patria O Muerte
Venceremos

EB

WOR iP
UNO RAL

 

Tibetan Freedom
Concert
Grand Royal Records

This set hit the street in early December
and caught the sweet tooth of the eager
record buying public by surprise. By
sweet tooth I mean that although this
three CD set is very well recorded, it is
still composed of performances from
rock/pop bands, and thus misses out on
the “serious music” appellation that it
nearly deserves.

This collection has one tune from
each of the performers at the 1997
Tibetan Freedom Concert held in New
York City last summer. The line-up of
artists was diverse, within the narrow
confines of pop, and included such
luminaries as U2, Bjork, KRS 1,
Pavement, Sonic Youth, Taj Mahal, Blur,
Radiohead, and of course the Beastie
Boys, whose show this was. The first two
discs feature these artists, as well as the
rest of the groups and individuals from
the weekend, but there is also a third
enhanced CD with five tracks from the
1996 Tibetan concert in San Francisco's
Golden Gate Park (also organized and
headlined by the Beasties).

This third disc has tracks from Beck

(‘Asshole’) and Rage Against the
Machine (‘Bulls On Parade’), but the
key component is the enhanced aspect.
If you have the technology to make it go
(don’t ask me what you need, but don’t
even bother without a current or no less
than a year old Pentium or Mac), then
sit back and enjoy a well presented
videography of last year’s concert, with
video clips of some of the key perfomers
as well as words of wisdom and
encouragement from His Holiness the
Dalai Lama himself. (There is also a
virtual tour of a Tibetan monastery.)

However, this is all window dressing
for the music. The general take on the
music as a whole is that it is one of the
best dollar value music buys in recent
memory. If the roster of performers jogs
your interest then don't hesitate:
purchase. Favourites include Radiohead
who turn in a beautiful reading of ‘Fake
Plastic Trees’ from The Bends; Pavement
who show some not inconsiderable Rock
Power in their very heavy jamming on
“Type Slowly,’ from Brighten The
Corners; and England’s Blur, who
demonstrate why they're the real
heavyweights in their media fought duel
with Oasis, caught in the act of aping
the Beatles’ own brand of grandiose rock
gesturing with their own ‘Beetlebum.’

This set is also one of the best
examples of outstanding live recording,
period (with the exception of the third
disc from the 1996 concert, which is
slightly less good). The aforementioned
tracks all contain detailed passages that
would have been lost without consider-
able care and attention. If you enjoy
these musicians and dig top-notch
performances that vastly outstrip their
studio counterparts, then belly up to the
bar and lay your money down.

EB
By Divine Right
All Hail Discordia
Nettwerk

Generally, when various members of the
Other Press collective keep asking “What
is this?” about the CD playing in our

roomy and comfortable office, without a
hint of derision in their collective voices,

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 1998

tine IAD ‘Seodwn.... ses +06

aft

ne : mund Fitzgerald
efully this show will
a e up for the fiasco
which ensued at their
Surprise show the, night
before their opening slot

   

ie at th end of our set in s

for the Hip at ue Coli-
seum be an wh Te
thousands of Fp a
yahoos ee he Gate
in the hope of seeing
the Hip and instead got

  

   

‘BY DIVINE RIGHT

   

 

L HALL DISCORD

it is a pretty good sign. Keeping the CD
on for three complete revolutions is also
a bit of a good omen.

All Hail Discordia is sixteen songs,
thirty some minutes, of clever West
Coast alterno-pop (sounding occasion-
ally like the Odds) (but different) that
never seems to stand still, or take itself
seriously. The first track, ‘I Love
Everybody,’ contains lyrics (J memorized
the alphabetlso I could be a space cadet)
that nicely juxtapose Jn spite of everything
/I believe in everyone/I do, I do/because of
you.

Beware: the whole album is like this.

Lyrics such as Bigfoot / doesnt watch tv /
Sasquatch | doesnt wear a watch (‘Bigfoov),
and one song, whose sole lyric is We put the
high in high school (‘Rock High), may seem
discordant (hence the album title), like they
are part of an obnoxious collection of party
tunes, but By Divine Right does have the
skill to properly mix it up. Sandwiched
between the glee are true moments of
poignancy and an occasional bona fide
grunge crescendo. Its like the class down
trying to hide the fact that he, too, does hold
some things sacred.

The accompanying press release did
not shed much light on the band. They
seem to be a creature of the cabaret, and
have apparently been around for years.
But, whatever the bios include or omit,
the Nettwerk label continues to
impresses through their bands. All Hail
Discordia stands up to the company’s
rather tasty standards, which continue to
remind the listening public that
domestic animals can be just as fascinat-
ing as those from foreign shores.

Jim

the Rheos, It wasn’t a
pe night or sight.

eres hoping we've,
learned from our mis-
takes, eh.

  
     

EB

 

The Other Press January 28.1998 5