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Posted by Marti on 07-20-2006 at11:33:

 

They're here, but not very chatty since yesterday, apparently. Those of us in the Great 77less Plains wish you much happiness stemming from shorter drives to shows that doesn't involve interstate travel. Please share pictures as they become available.

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Posted by patch77s on 07-20-2006 at11:48:

  RE: DVD trailer now up....

quote:

Originally posted by JohnL quote: Originally posted by patch77s any hints on where to find the MP3's? i looked around a bit but couldn't find any. they are in the "media" section...

thanks - i found them. i was clicking on the album covers instead of the song titles.

steve

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Posted by Doctor Love on 07-20-2006 at23:56:

  the infamous Fresburg show

Omigosh, I totally remember that show. Sheila Walsh was oh-so-New Wave with her short haircut, fog and 80's light show. The rest of the night is a blur, as I had very bad Spring hay fever and it made me feel pretty miserable. I don't remember hitting the deck for It's So Sad, but we kept playing that song at least through 1985 and I fell down every time for it, so I must have done that.

Looking back, I'm not surprised that people just sat there stunned. We were out of place just about everywhere we played, and pretty much always have been except at Cornerstone and a few other places. Very few folks have ever truly 'gotten' The 77s, especially live. I have never quite understood why, but I have come to accept it over time. Perhaps we just lack what Simon Cowell refers to as the ever-elusive 'likeability' factor that he's always looking for.

Thank God for all you guys or I'd be selling insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by Rod I haven't posted before, but seeing the various incarnations of the band on the dvd brought back some cool memories. This one sticks in my mind. In 1983(?), they played with DeGarmo and Key, Joe English and Sheila Walsh in Fresno. When Mike fell down on the stage during It's So Sad, the audience just sat there, kind of stunned. Similar to the response on the dvd. The place was packed, but like 20 people applauded for them. They seemed to have a totally different vibe than the other artists. Any other Central CA. fans? Rod

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Posted by BigDork on 07-21-2006 at07:11:

 

nice triple post by the good doctor!

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Posted by Audiori J on 07-21-2006 at07:18:

 

Well Doc, had you been in place back then, maybe you'd be a 700 club host now? Thats the future career for those Simon Cowell 'likeability' factored artists; Hollywood Squares and talk shows.

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Posted by Marti on 07-21-2006 at13:35:

  RE: the infamous Fresburg show

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Love Thank God for all you guys or I'd be selling insurance.

Thank God for all you guys or we'd be listening to less music that we genuinely liked and more that we merely tolerated.

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Posted by peawinkel on 07-21-2006 at21:51:

  RE: the infamous Fresburg show

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Love Thank God for all you guys or I'd be selling insurance.

Thank God that you've continued at your incredible craft all these years.
Your dual vocal & guitar talent is indeed God-given but it has also been improved & developed throughout the years due to much hard work & practice. Very few can match your musical abilities & you have added many great tunes to the soundtrack of my life.
Thank God for you, Doctor Love.
You give me much entertainment & pleasure.

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Posted by Zudrak on 07-22-2006 at18:32:

  RE: the infamous Fresburg show

quote:

Originally posted by peawinkel quote: Originally posted by Doctor Love Thank God for all you guys or I'd be selling insurance. Thank God that you've continued at your incredible craft all these years. Your dual vocal & guitar talent is indeed God-given but it has also been improved & developed throughout the years due to much hard work & practice. Very few can match your musical abilities & you have added many great tunes to the soundtrack of my life. Thank God for you, Doctor Love. You give me much entertainment & pleasure.

Wow. I can't add anything to that. I concur!

Thanks, Mike for adding "many great tunes to the soundtrack of my life", as well.

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Posted by peawinkel on 07-25-2006 at14:09:

  RE: the infamous Fresburg show

quote:

Originally posted by Zudrak quote: Originally posted by peawinkel quote: Originally posted by Doctor Love Thank God for all you guys or I'd be selling insurance. Thank God that you've continued at your incredible craft all these years. Your dual vocal & guitar talent is indeed God-given but it has also been improved & developed throughout the years due to much hard work & practice. Very few can match your musical abilities & you have added many great tunes to the soundtrack of my life. Thank God for you, Doctor Love. You give me much entertainment & pleasure. Wow. I can't add anything to that. I concur! Thanks, Mike for adding "many great tunes to the soundtrack of my life", as well.

Yeah..I think I'll copy & paste that one to his MySpace comments...the other day all I could think of was.....Hey!

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Posted by jeffrey k. on 07-25-2006 at23:33:

 

quote:

Originally posted by Audiori J Well Doc, had you been in place back then, maybe you'd be a 700 club host now? Thats the future career for those Simon Cowell 'likeability' factored artists; Hollywood Squares and talk shows.

Maybe he could still host a music show with Pat Boone...







jeffrey k.

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Posted by Pfiagra on 08-10-2006 at07:45:

 

I'm not one for words and others have certainly echoed my own thoughts and feelings in their glowing reviews about this DVD, so I'll just say: It's excellent!

jeffrey k, Thank you for putting this together. I did have one question: I noticed that the concert footage DVD did not have songs from the "Pray Naked" album even though there are quite a few concerts represented during that era.

What drove your decisions regarding which songs to include? Audio? Video? Length? Based on most of the footage, I presume that you had the entire set from each concert to pick from. Just curious.

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Posted by jeffrey k. on 08-10-2006 at09:11:

 

quote:

[i]jeffrey k, Thank you for putting this together. I did have one question: I noticed that the concert footage DVD did not have songs from the "Pray Naked" album even though there are quite a few concerts represented during that era. What drove your decisions regarding which songs to include? Audio? Video? Length? Based on most of the footage, I presume that you had the entire set from each concert to pick from. Just curious.

First off, your welcome....it was an honor to do it.

Second, the decisions about what to include were made by Mike. I made initial decisions about what footage was usable in terms of if the audio/video could actually be restored....but then everything that could be used was sent to Mike and he waded through it all and made song choices. I gave my opinions on things, but in the end it's his band and was his call.

In terms of if we had full sets to choose from, actually only in a couple cases. In some cases we had to take 3 versions of the same show and splice it together to create even a couple usable songs. The Pray Naked era stuff actually only came up in one or two of the concerts....the Cornerstone show from the mainstage had the most. There was a great version of Woody that Mike wanted to use...the problem was that every version we had of the show had actual audio and visual gaps during that one song.....and trying to splice it together and make it all look and sound the same was an excercise in futility...so it was cut. Overall though, there really wasn't much footage from Pray Naked....and anything else that was there Mike rejected for his own reasons.

So there you go! Hope that answers your questions. Glad you are enjoying the DVD....

jeffrey k.

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Posted by Doctor Love on 08-10-2006 at15:13:

 

oooo I had almost forgot about having to cut that performance of "Woody" -- what a drag. It totally rocked.

I actually had not noticed the lack of Pray Naked stuff. In the end, I had to pick performances that I either liked, loved or at worst tolerated. "The Lust" almost didn't make it either, believe it or not, but Jeff talked me into approving that thin sounding and rather rushed-through 1989 version simply because "it would have been criminal" to have not included that song. I didn't agree, but I let it go because I'm certain that many of you would have felt quite the same.

As far as how I chose the songs for the DVD, I used the same criteria that I used when assembling the live It's For You tracks, which is that they had to have something about them that held up over repeated listenings. At best, that 'something' was a magical entertaining quality, or at worst, it retained the same with some severe flaws. However, if the 'flaw' was real irritating, the tune got axed, usually.

In the case of the 1989 performance of The Lust, it had neither, but was acceptable to include alongside the other songs from that show. I really wish I had found a killer "Lust", but for the most part we very rarely play it better than just 'ok' -- it is deceptively simple, yes, and very difficult to play to an outstanding level. Ask Aaron Smith, who had to be taught how to play it correctly by Steve Griffith on the original session. That kind of drunken loose feel is usually best accomplished by musicians that are indeed, drunken, and that is never The 77s (except on the 1995 1-2-3 tour when whiskey was the only medicine I had {until I eventually got to emergency in Philly} for what would prove to be a disastrous case of bronchitis. Playing 'drunk' was difficult because I was not used to it. Fun in a goofy sort of way, but ultimately difficult because I had to learn how to mentally concentrate within the alcohol fog.)

I simply do not understand musicans who add chemicals to an already extreme sensory overload -- what's the point? Music should be the high.

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Posted by jeffrey k. on 08-10-2006 at15:34:

 

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Love oooo I had almost forgot about having to cut that performance of "Woody" -- what a drag. It totally rocked.

It really did....it was painful to have to cut it too....but the gaps were so severe....and to complicate matters we had 2 or 3 versions of that show, all shot from different angles by different people...so one version would have totally blown out audio but decent visuals, one version was somewhat "pro-shot" and was the best, but still had gaps during Woody, and the other version was just a total mess both in audio and visual and was shot by some numbnut that talked while he was shooting. His version has his running commentary and him screaming WOOOO-HOOOO off and on! Oh well....we tried.

The only other show that featured Pray Naked stuff was Ichthus 93....but overall that show was sorta.....uh...not great.....the mix is really bass heavy and booms in and out....plus you guys played as it was getting dark, and since the stage only seems to have 2 tiny light trees, as it gets darker you guys can't even be seen...poor Aaron literally vanishes behind the kit..... There is a decent version of Pray Naked on it....but if you remember you guys are playing in the dark by that point...so including it would have been silly....

jeffrey k.

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Posted by Chesterdox on 08-19-2006 at08:35:

 

The 77's DVD is the best purchase I've made in a looong time!

The '82 footage is awesome (although I wonder at the camera guy for missing the 1st have of Mike's guitar solo on Ping Pong (?)!

Mike's jockey move on This is the Way Love Is is absolutely hilarious!

And my favorite is the 87 Warehouse b/w footage, I only wish Mary & the Baby Elvis & Wild Blue were on there.

Spectacular!

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Posted by MarkyMark77 on 09-11-2006 at08:33:

  A few questions...

I just got the DVD set. It's great to have all that varying footage in one place. I really have no criticism, because just to have it at all is good, and I really enjoyed it. But I do have a couple of questions:
1) Most of the second disc audio seems to be audience recorded. It could be my crappy TV audio, but I'm not sure. I know that "When Numbers Get Serious" contained an amalgamation of performances over a decade, most of which seem to be semi-professional/soundboard recordings. So my question is, why was there no soundboards or semi-professional audio recorded of these shows that were videotaped? I'm assuming that shows that were well recorded audio-wise were not videotaped and vice-versa, but I don't know, so that's why I'm asking the question. The first performance from 1982 seems to have some of the best audio, in my opinion.
2) The lack of videos from either "The 77's" or "Sticks and Stones" seems really weird, especially considering that either one of these discs were/are the most popular, well-known and most marketed. I'm just curious why Island couldn't find a way to make a video for "The 77's" when Exit could make two for "All Fall Down".

Again, no criticism here, just curiousity. It's really good. I really enjoyed it. I will watch it again and again. It was much better than "Cats".

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Posted by Doctor Love on 09-11-2006 at11:30:

  RE: A few questions...

I'm certain that Jeffrey K. will have input on these two questions too, but the short answers are as follows:

Most "fan" videotapes were shot with hand-held amateur video equipment, so the sound will be a result of the camera mic they were using. It would be a rare occurance for us to have a quality soundboard of the same show, although that may have been the case on one or two of these? I doubt it. Even it is was, synching an audio tape to a video tape is a nightmare due to time smear and drift between two disparate pieces of technology. I'll let Jeff explain that one in more detail.....

As far as the dearth of videos during the Island era, it's not surprising. That label wouldn't even release our album on CD, let alone spring for a video. It was a 'pressing and distribution' agreement with Exit Records anyway, so techically Exit was responsible for doing a video. Since we all hated videos and were too busy playing and recording at the time, we just kinda let it go, at least from what I remember. It's too bad 'cuz I looked great during that period. I would have rather been visually represented at that point than later on, but who cares? We certainly didn't, evidently.

As far as the "Broken" era goes, Joe Taylor and Gene Eugene were only licensing "Sticks & Stones" and "88" from us, so once again the burden of video budget would have been in our laps at that point. We still hated videos so we didn't do any then. Once Myrrh Records got involved financially for the Drowning album, things changed. Joe Taylor also sprung for my "Boat Ashore" video on his Innocent Media label, but that one was a real low-budget thing. Looking back, we should have done more of those ourselves over the years, but we were camera-shy and hated videos, mostly.

quote:

Originally posted by MarkyMark77 I just got the DVD set. It's great to have all that varying footage in one place. I really have no criticism, because just to have it at all is good, and I really enjoyed it. But I do have a couple of questions: 1) Most of the second disc audio seems to be audience recorded. It could be my crappy TV audio, but I'm not sure. I know that "When Numbers Get Serious" contained an amalgamation of performances over a decade, most of which seem to be semi-professional/soundboard recordings. So my question is, why was there no soundboards or semi-professional audio recorded of these shows that were videotaped? I'm assuming that shows that were well recorded audio-wise were not videotaped and vice-versa, but I don't know, so that's why I'm asking the question. The first performance from 1982 seems to have some of the best audio, in my opinion. 2) The lack of videos from either "The 77's" or "Sticks and Stones" seems really weird, especially considering that either one of these discs were/are the most popular, well-known and most marketed. I'm just curious why Island couldn't find a way to make a video for "The 77's" when Exit could make two for "All Fall Down". Again, no criticism here, just curiousity. It's really good. I really enjoyed it. I will watch it again and again. It was much better than "Cats".

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Posted by MarkyMark77 on 09-11-2006 at11:46:

  RE: A few questions...

Well, that makes sense.
Having edited video and audio mostly from digital sources, I forgot about tape speeds and all that stuff. Remembering having tried to sync tapes to each other a couple of times, I understand better. It's very, very hard, if you can do it at all. Us musicians are very spoiled now with our relatively inexpensive multi-track audio and video!

Still, a great DVD. Thanks for doing it for us!

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Posted by jeffrey k. on 09-12-2006 at15:37:

  RE: A few questions...

quote:

Originally posted by Doctor Love I'm certain that Jeffrey K. will have input on these two questions too, but the short answers are as follows: Most "fan" videotapes were shot with hand-held amateur video equipment, so the sound will be a result of the camera mic they were using. It would be a rare occurance for us to have a quality soundboard of the same show, although that may have been the case on one or two of these? I doubt it. Even it is was, synching an audio tape to a video tape is a nightmare due to time smear and drift between two disparate pieces of technology. I'll let Jeff explain that one in more detail.....

I think the only soundboard source we had to sync with footage was the "Safe As Milk" show....otherwise, whatever audio that was on the video tape was what we had to work with. Why people didn't have soundboard audio to go along with their video? Probably has everything to do with almost everything on the live part of the DVD was more or less filmed for private collections. I don't think anyone filming this stuff probably ever figured it would end up on some big official comp.....not to mention that the live footage spans like 20 years, and the options and ease and affordability of equipment for soundboard recordings was a lot different than it is today....so as far as I know they just don't exist.

jeffrey k.

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Posted by MarkyMark77 on 09-13-2006 at08:42:

RE: A few questions...

quote:

Probably has everything to do with almost everything on the live part of the DVD was more or less filmed for private collections. I don't think anyone filming this stuff probably ever figured it would end up on some big official comp.

I knew that this was the case. But, I'm an archivist by nature, so I've taped virtually everything I've done by every band i've been in spanning back 15 years, from my mono Sony reel to reel to Minidisc. So, I tend to wonder why people didn't record this or that or in this or that way. Not that any of my stuff will ever end up on an official compilation...

The "Safe as Milk" stuff sounds to me like an audience recording. Still great, though. And I don't doubt that what we got was the best possible stuff. Thanks again for your work!