Starring: Thomas Dolby Average Rating: Binding: DVD Format: NTSC Label: Lost Toy People Number of Items: 200 Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 21, 2006 Running Time: 90 minutes Theatrical Release Date: November 21, 2006
Product Description: Live performance of Dolby's pioneering electronic work w/ special features: - Thomas Dolby: An Interview by David Hoffman - Layering/looping technique explained - Story behind the songs - A voyage round his gig
He's surfaced! After disappearing to the corporate world to bring us polyphonic ringtones, Dolby's back! The performance, interviews and behind-the-scenes look at his "rig" were all intriguing. Now that he's reconnected with his roots, I can't wait to see what he creates moving forward. This DVD is a must-have for every Dolby fan.
Excellent This dvd is brilliant, he is absolutely amazing. Can't wait to see him in Pgh on 9/15/07 at the Rex Theatre!!!!
If you're a Thomas Dolby fan, you should love it ... ... or, at the very least, find it interesting. Dolby made a number of Top 40 hits in the late 80's (She Blinded Me With Schience, Hyperactive), made a few bucks, got totally fed up with the corporate aspect of the music business, and dropped out of the public eye. His few (four is the number, I think) studio albums are much beloved by the cult following that has survived in his wake.
Well, now he's On His Way Back. The concert recorded and nicely documented in this video was the evening half of a day-night doubleheader at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA, in the fall of 2006. As an extension of his daytime clinic with Berklee students, his evening performance provides fascinating insights into how he goes about writing, producing, and performing his odd, evocative, often industrial-sounding music.
This is a solo act all the way. Except for the video guru who mans a camera and the projection gear (great footage projected on a screen in the hall is nicely intercut in the edit to really enhance the music and life-behind-the-music scenes from Dolby's life that inspire his work), and an occasional roadie, it's one man, a heap of electronic gear, all of which Dolby explains lovingly at some point during the show or on one of the interesting addead features on the disc.
I've always loved his music, so I'm not the cherished unbiased observer. The individual songs, while not many in number, are quality nuggets of pure-est and pur-ist Dolby. He's quirky -- no lie -- how else do you explain a wildly overproportioned military trenchcoat and aviator goggles worn atop his shaved head? -- but it's OK. What you get is in a sense a love-in between an artist and his appreciative fans.
Good news is delivered during the concert. Dolby allows that he's influenced the music business enough during his absence to be inspired to write new stuff and distribute it "soon." I got the impression that we should look for a new studio (I hope, I hope) album in 2007. I hope that's all true, becuase the only thing better to a Dolby fan than TD on stage alone is TD on disc with a host of talented studio musicians making a joyful noise (check out his "Astronauts and Heretics" effort if you're as yet not a believer).
I've played this DVD twice on my home theater rig and watched it once more on my iPod. It worked in both formats.
and god smiled wow Dolby is the most amazing solo musician and i think he is having fun as well Buy it
Awesome!! I've been a fan of TD for years, and I was thrilled to see him do a one man show like this. Being a keyboard fan, I was particularly impressed with the extras where he goes through his rig and shows what equipment he uses and why. This was filmed at Berkley where he was giving a seminar on electronic music, so alot of the extra material is stuff he did for the seminar. Excellent quality, and he does a great job with this.
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