Boing Well Do It Live!

I started on guitar in 1972 at the age of 11. I have not put it down since. Back then you got your chops on your own; by listening to records, lifting riffs, jamming constantly with older, more mature and hopefully better musicians, and enduring a lot of abuse from the same older, more mature, and hopefully better musicians for the privilege of watching them up close, or even sitting in every so often when they felt magnanimous. Mastering a new lick, or coming up with a new original short burst of a riff was a wet dream. There were no instructional tapes, CD's, DVD's and certainly no free internet lessons. If you were lucky and could afford a teacher, you learned what HE wanted you to learn, not what was floating on the airwaves. Eventually you found your own voice, style and tone, and maybe, just maybe you began to aspire to something more, venturing into the world of professional performance.I opted out of the professional performer bit in my late 20's, after close to 2 decades of gigging, and chose instead for a much, much more lucrative and stable long term occupation in finance. My parents had had the vision to encourage my "little hobby", but not at the expense of a proper higher education. They even gave me the option of going to Music school and eventually Conservatory, but the course work for Business school and the follow up MBA looked a lot easier at the time.Now, after watching Gutherie and Company, I could well and truly administer a thorough and much deserved self-thrashing! I actually turned to my wife, who was watching this with me (she learned long ago that there is a fine line where the guitar and all things guitar take precedence with me) to hear me say …"Oh God I want to BE him; Other than you and the kids, I would give it all up; the houses, the cars, the lifestyle…all of it, if I could just do it all over again – to be that good, to speak with so many voices, the infinity of his tones; Good God it does not get any better than this!"A momentary thrall, yes, but sometimes the road not taken does overcome us as Hornsby sang all those years ago.If a name can be hung on the world's most versatile and probably most proficient electric guitarist performing today, it must be Mr. Gutherie Govan, for he is truly without peer. I don't say this lightly, or because I'm an old "Fan Boy". I have been playing continually for over 40 years, and am well versed in a variety of styles on the instrument with no small understanding of applied musical theory, and the infinite possibilities of tone. For even though I don't play out professionally anymore, I have kept up my chops all this time. And not taking away anything from the ever growing list of "Guitar Gods", and all those fabulous innovators that have come along since Reinhardt, Johnson and Christian, this man, and the musical company he currently keeps is nothing short of astounding! I have seen footage of him mimicking most of the greats, down to the exact tone articulation, and style like no other can do, with an almost frightening accuracy, and pure intuitive feel. And it is in this respect, this gem of a DVD is every modern guitarist's dream, and truly worthy of this 5 star review.The performances by all of the British GG, the German Marco Minnemann (What were they thinking not flat out giving him Portnoy's vacant drum throne in Dream Theater – Good on you Marco, you have fared much, much better), and the American Bryan Beller, whose compositional prowess alone is quite noteworthy, even before you consider his chops, are nothing short of flawless, remarkable and outstanding. It is a "tour de force" of modern musical expression, ranging from Fusion to Jazz, to Metal, with a even a touch of Country here and there, plus a generous helping of seemingly atonal high intensity mayhem that is in fact layered with such exquisite subtlety amidst the sometimes mind boggling technical prowess of all 3 members of the trio. Mind you, no one is "showing off" here, they don't need to it just flows naturally.This is not your average power trio, no indeed, this is I hope a promise of even greater things to come. After now almost 2 years of playing this material live, they are starting to venture and stretch a bit with it, and it shows; time for a new set of inspired demos for The Aristocrats II release gentlemen.If you are reading this, then you are either a fan who owns the album already and want to watch it on DVD, or are considering buying this for a friend or loved one who is a fan, or have heard about the band and want to expand your musical horizons and grow your "concert" DVD collection by considering this "Deluxe Edition" for the added value. Either way, you will not be disappointed. The "concert", and it cannot truly be called that, as it is more of a "live in the studio" performance before a greatly reduced yet enthralled audience, is superbly filmed and recorded. No bells and whistles or tricks of the light here; effects unnecessary. This is an opportunity to closely monitor what the musicians are doing, as if you are up there with them and watch their interactions, cues, and moments of fancy and adventure. It is very "up close and personal"; what a "film" is to a movie, without the gratuitous visual fireworks, and tricks of the light. As a matter of fact, the only explosions here are the intended musical ones in the audio, and in the pleasure centers of your brain. This production value is uncommon, but then again, this band is also equally uncommon.The material covered here, is as Bryan states "The Entire Repertoire". This means you will see and hear all of the Aristocrats album, plus choice material from Bryan's and Marco's prior solo releases, and a couple of tracks from GG's now finally back in print Erotic Cakes stylistic tour de force. That's a good solid 16 track helping, considering that the Aristocrats album was only 9 tracks long, with a special hat's off to Bryan for his fantastic Flatlands tune, (my personal favorite), and Marco's jaw dropping drum solo.The bonus DVD material is brief, but not what I would call lackluster. I had fun switching effects on my surround sound system listening to the "Sound Check Audio" segments. It can actually give you an aural baseline by which you can tweak your optimum playback sound as appropriate to your living room/media room environment. (I'm curious, if when I revisit this at a different time of the day/night, my settings will still sound as good, or if I will tweak them again, and maybe that's the whole point and purpose here).The "Interviews" again are uncommon. They are simply each of the musicians demonstrating an aspect of one or more of his compositions and/or how it was recorded or embellished into its final format. It is unconventional, but very appealing to the musician viewer who is either a guitarist, bassist, or drummer, and I found it much more intimate and appealing, than the odd number of blokes sitting on a sofa cracking wise or sounding off on one subject or another.But again and again, one comes back to the music, the sheer brute force of the individual and collective performances, the sound quality, the close camera work and the very, very enjoyable, and inspiring mode this generates in your musical brain. Next time through, I will watch with guitar in hand, learning, thinking, and wishing for the 10th time, that …… oh well, enough said; enjoy!

Why do I love the Aristocrats as much as I do? I was never a big progressive rock or jazz fusion fan. Is it because of their astounding musicianship? The Aristocrats are breaking new ground and pushing the boundaries of music to the outer stratosphere.Guthrie Govan is the most exciting new guitarist to appear on the scene in a very long time. His exquisite boutique tone and lightening fast finger work are somewhat reminiscent of Jeff Beck or Joe Satriani but Govan has carved out a unique musical niche all his own. Marco Minnemann is a consummate virtuoso on the drums. He is as good (or better) than any rock drummer you can name though his unique approach is far closer to Jazz. In fact The Aristocrats unexpectedly found their new album "Culture Clash" at number 4 on the contemporary jazz charts as bassist Bryan Beller informed us with a shrug at the show last night. Mr. Beller is as accomplished on the bass as either of his compatriots rounding out the band's sound beautifully with super fast killer bass lines that turn on a dime.All three band members write songs and they break up the composition duties equally on their recordings. They hail from England (Govan), Germany (Minnemann) and America (Bellar) respectively. The closest I can come to a musical niche for them is Jazz Metal. If you see them live your head is liable to be bobbing up and down like it would at a metal show but chances are you will be shaking it in 5/4 or 6/8 time. None of The Aristocrats songs are in standard time signatures.Technique alone is not enough to make me truly love a band. The music has to communicate feeling commensurate with technique to win me over. The Aristocrats exude joy when they play. They obviously love what they do and they don't take themselves too seriously as evidenced by extended solos played on rubber chickens, pigs and smart phones when they play live.I reviewed The Aristocrats' "Boing, We'll Do It Live" rather than their outstanding studio work because for me live performance is the essence of this band. They constantly grin at each other on stage sharing private jokes and surprising each other with new feats of stellar virtuosity. I was very fortunate to catch them at The North Star Bar in Philadelphia last night. They blew the doors off the place!!! I strongly suspect they are destined for greatness so if you have a chance to seem them play a small club my advice is to do it soon!

Three fantastic musicians playing live. What more could you want? Guthrie Govan is simply amazing! Yes I agree he is reminiscent of Jeff Beck, but a modern version. I hope the three lads keep doing this for decades. This is exactly the type of music I like. Its challenging and it takes more than one listening session to really get all of it. As stated by other, yes this is progressive rock, almost jazz in nature! So plenty if lengthy solos and best of all, its instrumental all the way! Yes! I love it!

Ces 3 lascars déménagent un maximum . Beau et très bon concert . Très bien filmé dans une petite salle .Je ne vous parle pas de la musique , c 'es FABULEUX . quel talent .2 CD et un DVD de quoi passer du bon temps pendant cette période de confinement .

Great recording of a small gig by the band. Also features a 5.1 mix by Steven Wilson.

全員「神」です。こんなセンスはどうやって身につけるのでしょうか…唯一無二とはこのこと！

Vale cada peso este boxset, ampliamente recomendado si te gusta el progresivo instrumental, cada músico brilla por cuenta propia, calidad garantizada