Art of Noise: Into Vision

Rating:
Summary: Replenishment for thirsty AON fans.
Review: Ok, so first of all, let's get the bad things out of the way about this DVD-
1) Paul Morley is a complete idiot and is prancing around on stage with a hammer, don't ask me why.
2) The 5.1 Dolby Digital mix has variances in volume which keeps you reaching for the volume control every 10 minutes.

Otherwise, this is a rare opprtunity to see this usually very private band doing what they obviously love, which is playing music. Most of the tracks on here are from the "Seduction Of Claude Debussy" album (which in my opinion is a work of genius) but I have a gripe which is that I do not understand why they did not use samples of John Hurt as the narrator from the album, instead you have Morley "hammering" the narration into the audience in his own "unique" way.
Musically, they are spot on. Anne Dudley on piano is breathtaking and on the disc's extras, there are parts where Anne plays the original Debussy pieces on grand piano, and it is a delight to behold.
There are some old tracks on here as well, they play "Moments In Love", "Peter Gunn" and "Beat Box (diversion one)/Close (to the edit)" so there is something on here for all AON fans.
On the whole, I would say that I am happy with this DVD, but I would advise anyone expecting a flashy, glitzy stage show not to purchase as it's all about the music, not stage performanceship.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Dudley & Trevor Horn at their best!
Review: Reading the other reviews on this DVD, I was stunned about the critics. What we have here is simply never been done on a stage to date! Of course Paul Morley acts like an idiot, and I miss John Hurt. However, it's still a work of a collection of genius performers, and this is precisely why you should add this item to your private Art of Noise collection. As no one took the effort to mention that Lol Creme is a guest member on stage, you'll find some more surprises on this very balanced registration of old and new songs on the best DVD in my private collection. Have the courage to experience 2 hours of sheer emotion!

Rating:
Summary: I expected a little more
Review: This dvd is about some live performances from AON with Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn and Paul Morley and some others. Into Vision was recorded during 1999 and 2000 in Chigago and Stepherd Bush.

Two things stand out:
- The band consists of quality musicians, but there performance is so serious and static, it makes this DVD bland.
- Paul Morley tries to entertain and spice thing up by acting like a moran. Jumping around on stage with a hammer in a rediculous costume. This man is very irritating and does not stop the entire concert!

The band emphasis is on recent AON music. If you like the last couple cd's, this is no problem of course. The performance are shot like a videoclip (80's clips and other visuals are blended with the concerts) to camouflage that these are small concerts, even a bit amteuristic. They started in the eighties as a hobby band, founded by the famous producer Trevor Horn and it still looks like a hobby-project today. All the music falls now in the category ambient and after a while you wonder when they will wake up and makes some noise like they did way back. But it's a continous stream of sounds in which nothing stand out. Even Beat Box is perfomed without power and lacks energy. The extra's: as you would expect a bit dull: not bad, not good. Conclusion: personally I would say there is nothing on this DVD what make this a good buy. If you like the ambient stuff from AON however this DVD is ok, but still not great.