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Music has adapted well to DVD. From concert recordings, to video collections to documentaries, artists and filmmakers have found innovative ways to add new dimensions to their work using the digital formats expanded possibilities. And while DVD is great for contemporary artists with an experimental streak and multimedia vision, a la the Flaming Lips, it has also given new life to older music related video material that has been left behind technologically or forgotten altogether. The Talking Heads Stop Making Sense is a perfect example of an older film that, with a video remastering, audio remix, bonus tracks, band and director commentary, storyboard comparison and interviews is absolutely brilliant on DVD. Even features that come from farther off the map are being given some fairly impressive packages. The 1983 animated rock opera Rock and Rule featuring contributions from Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, and Earth, Wind & Fire is coming soon in a two-disc special edition that includes commentary, making of materials, an alternate version and a half hour animated short. In light of the potential of the DVD format and all of the great updates being offered of both revered classics and cult fare, it is extremely disappointing that two new offerings from legendary German bands Faust and Einsturezende Neubatuen stand as examples of how these things can go very wrong. At this point, the legend of Kraut Rock pioneers Faust should be great enough that only the lightest of introductions is necessary. The most abstract of the core Kraut Rock bands, Faust formed in 1969 and shortly thereafter moved into an old schoolhouse in Wumme, Germany, between Hamburg and Bremen. Between 1970 and 1973, with the schoolhouse converted into a studio and the band in a state of voluntary isolation from the outside world, the band had its most productive years. This period produced the body of work for which the band is famous, and made their name synonymous with avant-garde songwriting and pioneering sound experimentation. Faust became one of the first bands to use studio production effects as an important instrument in the bands sound. On the recent DVD release Faust Impressions, original band member Zappi-W-Diermaier has assembled eleven Faust tracks from the 70s, 80s and 90s, including three that are previously unreleased, and pairs them with videos that spring from his interpretations of the themes of the original tracks. On many recordings, Zappi also accompanies the original Faust recordings with recent percussive and sound-collage material that he recorded for the DVD. A DVD of classic songs with new accompaniment and interpretive homemade videos sounds like a risky undertaking, and unfortunately Faust Impressions falls prey to all the pitfalls inherent in the concept. The most obvious gaffe on the DVD is the videos. Every song plays over a rapidly changing video collage of rather mundane scenes run garishly through the most obnoxious video effects that Final Cup Pro and Adobe Premier can muster. It feels like a really long student film experiment with great music as a weak justification. And Fausts music deserves so much better than that. Secondly, and perhaps more blasphemously are the additions to the music. While never so ostentatious as to actually obscure the original tracks, Zappis additions never seamlessly integrate either. Rather, listeners intimately familiar with the originals will likely feel just slightly put-off by the new audio, as if they are experiencing warped-mirror versions of the old favorites. The discs final failing is its lack of any bonus material that might justify its other shortcomings. With a band whose history is as long and rich as Fausts it seems ludicrous that really nothing, not interviews, image galleries nor commentaries could be cobbled together for this. Instead an intro featuring an admittedly humorous polar bear suit and a collection of short explications of the reason behind each video treatment is all the Faust disc has to offer. An audio CD is packaged with the DVD that contains four tracks of solo material by Zappi-W-Diermaier that will be part of a future DVD from him. The fact that the three unreleased Faust tracks, the DVDs only real draw, arent included on the audio CD is just a final frustrating failure. On May 10th, Einsturzende Neubautens 1986 film Halber Mench, by the influential Japanese director Sogo Ishii, is getting a domestic release on DVD courtesy of Some Bizarre Records. Einsturzende Neubauten, an ideological descendent of Fausts who deal in abrasive industrial sound experiments and write love songs of collapse, join Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire as the grandfathers of Industrial music. Unfortunately, the DVD is being released without the bands consent, and should be avoided by fans of both Einsturzende and fair business practices alike. The band will receive no royalties from the sale of the DVD, just as they never saw any money from their early albums that Some Bizarre released in Britain and the US. In fact, Einsturzende Neubauten plans on releasing its own version of the film on DVD soon, a version that they promise will be zone-free and will possibly contain extra features contributed by the band. In contrast, the unsanctioned Some Bizarre version contains no extra features, and hasnt been noticeably digitally enhanced in sound or video from its original version. Though the film itself is a fascinating mix of performance and choreography that features some of the bands more famous early recordings, conscientious consumers would do well to wait for the bands approved version.
The Faust DVD, Faust
Impressions can be purchased from
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