Home :: DVD :: Television  

A&E Home Video
BBC
Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS
Star Trek
TV Series
WGBH Boston
The Return of Spinal Tap

The Return of Spinal Tap

List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $26.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I liked it - apparently better than most!
Review: After reading other reviews, I guess I'm thinking on a different plane. I loved the video. True - it should have been called "Spinal Tap Live" or something like that. However, I bought it on-line with the expectation of getting a live concert. And I wasn't dissappointed. Those guys can rock with the best of them - especially when you take into account the fact that they are actors playing musicians. These guys didn't pretend to be jamming (ala the Monkees) they were the genuine article. I actually fast fowarded through the commentaries to get on with the music. I do suggest though that before you watch it, that you get the sound track to "This is Spinal Tap" and "Break Like the Wind" and be familiar with the basic reproitore of Spinal Tap songs. Trust me - when you know all of the verses to the songs, which you don't hear in the movie, the concert means alot more, i.e. "Stonehenge", "Flower People", "All the Way Home", etc. I loved the way during "Rock and Roll Creation" that a chicken came out of the egg and then Derek Smalls came from side-stage, reminiscent of his getting stuck in the podd in the movie. Also the oversized Stonehenge monument that couldn't fit through the door. It was these subtle reminders of movie concert footage that made the live show great. Some songs were ommitted that I would liked to have heard - like "Gimme Some Money" & "Heavy Duty Rock and Roll," but all in all I was truly impressed. The final moment when the dead doves fell on the stage was perfect.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I liked it - apparently better than most!
Review: After reading other reviews, I guess I'm thinking on a different plane. I loved the video. True - it should have been called "Spinal Tap Live" or something like that. However, I bought it on-line with the expectation of getting a live concert. And I wasn't disappointed. Those guys can rock with the best of them - especially when you take into account the fact that they are actors playing musicians. These guys didn't pretend to be jamming (ala the Monkees) they were the genuine article. I actually fast fowarded through the commentaries to get on with the music. I do suggest though that before you watch it, that you get the sound track to "This is Spinal Tap" and "Break Like the Wind" and be familiar with the basic repertoire of Spinal Tap songs. Trust me - when you know all of the verses to the songs, which you don't hear in the movie, the concert means alot more, i.e. "Stonehenge", "Listen to the Flower People", "All the Way Home", etc. I loved the way during "Rock and Roll Creation" that a chicken came out of the egg and then Derek Smalls came from side-stage, reminiscent of his getting stuck in the podd in the movie. Also the oversized Stonehenge monument that couldn't fit through the door. It was these subtle reminders of movie concert footage that made the live show great. Some songs were ommitted that I would liked to have heard - like "Gimme Some Money" & "Heavy Duty Rock and Roll," but all in all I was truly impressed. The final moment when the dead doves fell on the stage was perfect.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Bad
Review: Alot of people have been reveiwing this show and saying its not worth watching. I dont agree. I do agree that you would have to be into Spinal Tap enough to watch it. But you probably wouldnt ever watch it if you hadnt seen This Is Spinal Tap would you?

This live show from '92 is more then just a live show! It's more like a reuinion of the cast of "TISP"! With most of this DVD beeing live music, there are bits and peices thrown in from familuer faces of the "TISP" rockumentry, and also the songs played and heard in there entirety...but not the way youd have heard them if you heard the soundtrack... some songs sound much better like they have fixed them up, some sound a little weird, some sound intresting, and some sound like there new...although im not 100% sure that there actualy playing the intruments in some parts of the show? Nigel's guitar solo seemed to be making sounds that didnt sound like it wouldve had he actualy used his foot, or throw horse shoes at the guitar! But maybe he's a bit better then i thought!

Some things i think you might have to be a musicion yourself to understand? Like the bit about the capo on the amplifier?! It's more a musicions joke i think? like saying "i cant detirmine wether its a A sharp or a B flat" only a musiocn would understand it really. But overall; Its nothign compared to the original, but dont compare it, its a show they did as a reuinion, and defintly looked like the had fun doing it! And thats what its about, fun! not just laughs every second... This is Spinal Tap didnt go for a laugh every second, it brought them in every now and then wich is what made it work so well....and they have presented that the same on here!

Some jokes i dont think where picked up on tho.... i noticed the drummer was looking a bit agjitated on the walk off stage from the second encore, and by the 3rd he looked like he was sick of walking back and forth with his broken leg.... and i dont know if anyone else picked up on that or not? it was kind of hard to see that with the clips that where put in between the enchores, so who ever edited this together, i dont think they understood where the gags where and how to show them properlly?!

But overall, i think apart from probably needing a few extra features, its a pretty good show.... if your into the music anyway

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The next best thing to seeing Tap live
Review: Better this account of the band's 1992 return than none at all. Essential a gussied-up concert video, this tape's best bits are in-between the songs, where we catch up with what Nigel, David, and Derek have been doing since the disastrous 1984 tour, not to mention other supporting players like Artie Fufkin and Marty DiBergi. Some may remember this as a two-hour TV special broadcast on NBC for New Year's Eve in 1992; it's unchanged, less the commercials. Still, since Tap so rarely tours and there's no official live album, this Royal Albert Hall performance-plus-bits deserves a place in any Taphead's collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: good
Review: goo

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Unfortunatley, your only hearing half of the soundtrack!
Review: Granted it's not as good as the original "This Is Spinal Tap" movie.. I still would have given this film 4 stars but there is a serious audio issue.
Either I have a defective copy, which I seriously doubt, or apparently I'm the only person that has noticed that half the sound track is missing on this entire dvd.

Michael McKean (played by David St.Hubbins) might as well be strumming a broomstick throuout the film...his rhythm guitar is mostly non exsistent through out the proceedings. All I am hearing is a little "bleed through" from the missing audio channel. Since the audio of the dvd is 100% mono, this leads me to believe that someone got careless during the transfer process and didn't bother to make sure the left and right stereo audio were present during the final stages of preparation. If this really IS the way the film is SUPPOSED to sound, the person who was responsible for mixing it needs should look for another occupation.
This may not be an issue for a lot of you but from a musician's standpoint it's really annoying to not be able to hear the songs like they were designed to sound.
It's like listening to The Beatles Sgt.Pepper CD with just the left audio channel on. It doesn't quite work.

I paid [good money] for this thing...Wish I could get a refund and wait for a corrected copy...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: While "This Is Spinal Tap!" went to 11; this one falls to 10
Review: I am one of the biggest Spinal Tap fans out there and I must say i was somewhat dissapointed with the film or should I say concert. I love the Spinal Tap music, but I dont think they should've named the film "The Return of Spinal Tap." A better title would be "Spinal Tap: Live."(Since the show is %85-%90 concert footage. But it wasn't really the music that made me fast forward through %85 of it. It was the boringness (is that a word?) of the concert itself which lacked all the vintage Spinal Tap jokes and gags. It was also the cheap "made for T.V." quality that dissapointed me. But I must say I got a kick out of the foldable wine glass and amp capo invented by Nigel (perhaps the best part of the show.) But if you are a die-hard Spinal Tap fan like I am, you'll appreciate the efforts made to produce a sequel to one of the greatest and funniest movies ever made.... "This Is Spinal Tap!" I STRONGLY suggest you pre-order the Special Edition version of "This Is Spinal Tap!" right here at good ole' Amazon before the greatest movie or rock-u-mentary ever made is gone.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not a Hardcore fan :-)
Review: I guess I'm not as much a Spinal Tap fan as I thought: Fastforwarded through much of the set... and even the improv remarks of Reiner, Martin Short, etc... lacked a little something in this context. Maybe that's because these guys have done so much "better", more polished work with Waiting for Guffman, Mighty Wind, etc.... This disc seems a bit "old" now, as the kids say.

One big tip: Add the option for Subtitles!!! First off, a lot of Tap fans are probably hard of hearing. Second, the lyrics are what's funny, but I couldn't understand a lot of them as they were sung. Are Tap like the Stones, not providing lyrics so we catch on to them after repeated listenings?!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not a Hardcore fan :-)
Review: I guess I'm not as much a Spinal Tap fan as I thought: Fastforwarded through much of the set... and even the improv remarks of Reiner, Martin Short, etc... lacked a little something in this context. Maybe that's because these guys have done so much "better", more polished work with Waiting for Guffman, Mighty Wind, etc.... This disc seems a bit "old" now, as the kids say.

One big tip: Add the option for Subtitles!!! First off, a lot of Tap fans are probably hard of hearing. Second, the lyrics are what's funny, but I couldn't understand a lot of them as they were sung. Are Tap like the Stones, not providing lyrics so we catch on to them after repeated listenings?!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Return Of Spinal Tap
Review: I totally dug the concert. The segments between the concert were not that good, But the music smoked. I watched it 5 times in the first day.


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates