Rating: 
Summary: "Live"? from the Rock 'n' Roll Funouse, hmmmm....
Review: First of all The knack have been criminally ignored for the last two decades! They are so much more than "My Sharona". I have everthing they have done and always like to encourage more product to be released by this amazing band. I was so thrilled with idea to finally have a Kanck DVD, that i ignored D. Ray
Morton's very accurate review. Part of the performance seems out of synch. It seems like they have overdubbed their performance. Why they would do this I do not know. they should have just redone the thing in someone garage and that would have spared us "Jimmy Lemonjello", Fieger's "Alter-ego". Really could have done without that.
I will say that if you are fan and have never seen them live, this DVD gives you a pretty good idea of what they are like. Song selection is OK. The disc is lean on extras. Some behind the scenes stuff would have been cool. Still, at least their is a DVD of The Knack out that will hopefully spur those who haven't seen them live to check one of America's greatest rock bands live.
Rating: 
Summary: The Knack and How To Lose It
Review: First of all, I've got to say that I have been a big Knack fan ever since Columbia House sent me a copy of "Get The Knack" on 8-track in 1980. And if that wasn't enough, Doug Fieger even went to the same high school as I did in Michigan--although he was gone long before I got there.So when I saw that Direct TV was showing free previews of this DVD all weekend, I figured this would be right up my alley. Well, I've sat through this turkey twice already, and I'm still counting the ways where they went wrong with this one. First of all, the mix is awful. The guitars are WAY down, especially Berton's sublime lead work, and all that is coming through is vocals and drums. This is fine for RUN-DMC, but it ain't doing much for The Knack. Secondly, when it comes to the look of the overall piece, this thing has "cable access" written all over it . Flat lighting, uninspired set design, and arbitrary camera work hardly kept my interest for more than a few minutes, and I'm getting this for free! Finally, this performance is fairly loose and detatched for the most part. I've got a copy of their Carnegie Hall performance from a while back, and that thing runs rings around this DVD. I've got a feeling that the band has a lot riding on this one, but I think they would have been better served re-releasing the Carnegie Hall performance on DVD and leaving well-enough alone.
Rating: 
Summary: Suprisingly Good
Review: I have to admit that I was only a casual Knack fan back in their heyday but took a chance on this DVD. I'm glad I did as it is superb. It is power pop at it's finest with top notch picture and sound quality. The idea of appearing on a 60's type TV show works very well. The band looks great and really seem to be enjoying themselves. I would highly recommend this for anyone interested in seeing power pop at it's finest.
Rating:
Summary: The oddest DVD I have seen.
Review: I kinda dig The Knack, and was surprised by how excited I was to have the chance to see this. I tell you, though, although it is a lot of fun and they play all the right selections, somehow it appears to be oddly overdubbed--almost like they are lip-synching--though not to a studio track. You can see many many examples of this--especially in the vocals--I forget which song, but one of the very early tracks involves many "screams" from the singer--they simply don't match with what he is doing--one time they have the wisdom to "cut away." Why would they lip-synch to a live version of their own stuff? This is why I say it is one of the oddest DVDs I have seen. The entire recording seems as though it is not occuring as we are watching it. The drums are similarly dry and do not sound like they are coming from that "space." I am baffled and bothered by the detachment between what we are hearing and what we are seeing. They allude to the possibility of something being "up" in this regard in the little sit down bit they do before they play--but it is edited so that they never finish the thought. I would be most curious to hear what others think about this. Again, songs are great, The Knack is great, that they are still doing music in their own way is great--but I am telling you I think the whole thing is overdubbed, and the results are oddly annoying.
Rating:
Summary: The oddest DVD I have seen.
Review: I kinda dig The Knack, and was surprised by how excited I was to have the chance to see this. I tell you, though, although it is a lot of fun and they play all the right selections, somehow it appears to be oddly overdubbed--almost like they are lip-synching--though not to a studio track. You can see many many examples of this--especially in the vocals--I forget which song, but one of the very early tracks involves many "screams" from the singer--they simply don't match with what he is doing--one time they have the wisdom to "cut away." Why would they lip-synch to a live version of their own stuff? This is why I say it is one of the oddest DVDs I have seen. The entire recording seems as though it is not occuring as we are watching it. The drums are similarly dry and do not sound like they are coming from that "space." I am baffled and bothered by the detachment between what we are hearing and what we are seeing. They allude to the possibility of something being "up" in this regard in the little sit down bit they do before they play--but it is edited so that they never finish the thought. I would be most curious to hear what others think about this. Again, songs are great, The Knack is great, that they are still doing music in their own way is great--but I am telling you I think the whole thing is overdubbed, and the results are oddly annoying.
Rating:
Summary: This is good stuff
Review: I really enjoyed this DVD. I "get" the cheesey production values and the emcee character Jimmy Lemonjello, and I didn't much care for it but thankfully it's kept to a minimum. As far as the music, the band really nails a nice selection of songs and they are indeed in fine form. They're a tight unit. The somewhat bad vocal editing, in my opinion, probobly couldn't be helped, I see it all the time in live concert productions for video. Unlike a few reviewers, I didn't think the whole show was a pantomine, they are indeed playing. Even though it's unbelievably tight, that's just the Knack trademark, clean, tight playing and songwriting. In my DVD the bass booms a bit, and is hard to clean up on my EQ, but the guitar sounds are amazing. Doug's fender strat just is so clean yet heavily distorted, and Berton's guitar work is amazing. It's so cool to watch him in the background just getting OFF! Holmes Jones is a sledgehammering machine on the drums playing with a heavy beat a la Chic. This release is long overdue for a band underappreciated for their brand of power pop. I'll give 5-stars any day. WEll done guys!
Rating:
Summary: This is good stuff
Review: I really enjoyed this DVD. I "get" the cheesey production values and the emcee character Jimmy Lemonjello, and I didn't much care for it but thankfully it's kept to a minimum. As far as the music, the band really nails a nice selection of songs and they are indeed in fine form. They're a tight unit. The somewhat bad vocal editing, in my opinion, probobly couldn't be helped, I see it all the time in live concert productions for video. Unlike a few reviewers, I didn't think the whole show was a pantomine, they are indeed playing. Even though it's unbelievably tight, that's just the Knack trademark, clean, tight playing and songwriting. In my DVD the bass booms a bit, and is hard to clean up on my EQ, but the guitar sounds are amazing. Doug's fender strat just is so clean yet heavily distorted, and Berton's guitar work is amazing. It's so cool to watch him in the background just getting OFF! Holmes Jones is a sledgehammering machine on the drums playing with a heavy beat a la Chic. This release is long overdue for a band underappreciated for their brand of power pop. I'll give 5-stars any day. WEll done guys!
Rating:
Summary: Love the Knack, but Not This
Review: I was disappointed with this DVD. I could not get past the cheesy production, poor lip-sync and the overall ho hum feeling of this performance. Let me say that I am a big Knack fan from the late 70's and was looking forward to another performance video to add to my collection. I think what the band was trying to do was a send off of the British 60's variety shows such as Ready, Steady Go..and that would explain the bad lip sync. In short, groups used to re-record their songs and then lip to these recordings because of union rules about playing records on television in the 60's in the UK. The problem, is that the modern production takes away from that feeling. Each member playing on a separate ministage limits interaction among the group members. Also, the moderator could have been done away with. Why didn't the band just do a live compliation video of performances? The main problem with the "Fun House" is that there is no fun. The audience looks as if they are on xanax. Comparing this to the Carnegie Hall video...well you really can't so I won't go there. On the bright side, the song selection is quite good and Doug F's guitars are AMAZING. What is that...a new Epiphone Casino with the Bigsby tailpiece? Yummy. And the Harrison '64 Rick 12 string will jingle jangle you out of your seat, not to mention the (new?) Gretch Tennessean, Yee Haw. How about the Gibson J 160 E, Lennon/Harrison would be proud! Overall I'd rather have this than not, but I wish that the concept was played out more cleanly and that there were more extras. By the way the discography on the DVD is incomplete, for some reason it omits "Zoom"(!?!).
Rating:
Summary: Incredible live performance!
Review: if youve never seen the knack in person here is the next best thing. they are excellent musicians and there songs have incredible hooks! most people only remember "My Sharona", but the knack have dozens of other great songs.....i highly recommend this dvd to all fans and anyone into good power pop music!
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun DVD for Knack fans
Review: Knack fans are really getting spoilt at the moment, with the band releasing this DVD (also on video), a live CD and their digitally remastered catalogue. This DVD is a fun concept and the band seem to enjoy themselves. It is a very good performance but, like another reviewer, I noted the strange lip-synching (is this meant to be part of the idea of the band performing for a TV show?). Other than this, I have no major complaints. The show has a great selection of Knack songs and we get to see Doug Fieger's acting skills! The DVD has only a few extras (a photo gallery, song list and discography)but overall it is very good value.
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