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Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Awesome live concert from three fine musicians. Dennis Chambers steals the show with two mind-numbingly incredible drum solos. This cat is the best drummer on the planet bar none! Crank it up and let it rip your ears off. Highlight tracks are "Paydirt"(?) and Klaghorn.One wish? That Billy and Dennis could have more room to flex their musical muscle - can be a little B3 heavy at times. Billy Sheenan's bass solos remind me of Hendrix's backward solos from Axis Bold as Love. By the way this is a zone free disc - just NTSC playback required.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT FUSION "BAND"
Review: BLOOD,SWEAT AND BEERS captures Niacin during their first year together. I have seen Niacin many times and even though they are even better now, this DVD does capture a great fusion band live.
Niacin is John Novello on the Organ, Billy Sheehan on Bass, and the awe-inspiring Dennis Chambers on Drums. Together these 3 musicians are an amazing fusion trio that reminds many of a modern Tony Williams Lifetime.
The music is heavy on the keyboards, but I found Novello to be very good and he does a majority of the composing for the band along with Sheehan. He has many shining moments, but I found "Paydirt" to be especially enjoyable with its keyboard heavy themes. The man can write and play with the best of the Hammond B-3 players. Having been a fan of Sheehan for years, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he can play in this genre. Highlights for him are the short, chord dominated intro to "Do A Little Dirty Work" called "Clean-Up Crew" a fine solo during 'One Less Worry' and he even does Jaco proud during the band's rendition of "Birdland". Dennis Chambers is, in my opinion, the greatest drummer on the planet. His playing on other recordings and with different bands is better, but that is mostly due to the passage of time. Considering that this is from the mid 90's he shows improvement over his recordings with the Brecker Brothers. Will this guy ever peak out?? So far-NO. He has a nice Fill-Solo during "One Less Worry" and delivers all of the goods during "Klaghorn" which turns into an extended drum solo.
With 3 gifted musicians one would expect a whole bunch of extended jamming, but that never happens. Niacin is about the 3 members playing actual songs. I love fusion jamming but this was a pleasant change of pace. The songs aren't simplistic and all 3 have interplay with each other at different points in time. The interplay is based around the groove, melody or rhythm and not about soloing. There are solo spots but they are short and concise and don't ruin the songs. Most of the songs are dominated by the organ but Sheehan and Chambers have their aforementioned moments. The often covered Weather Report classic "Birdland" and a great version of "Keep Me Hanging On" (the motown tune)are mixed in with Niacin originals from their first disc. The disc is only an hour long, but it is a great hour of music. HIGHLY recommended for all types of jazz/fusion fans.
*NOTE: The songs are different than those on the CD. There are some that are the same but they were recorded on different nights and the CD has songs that aren't repeated on this. If you like the CD or DVD then get the other.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Clocking in at 57 minutes, this DVD is a must have item if you are into Niacin as much as I am. If you are not familiar with Niacin, imagine a futuristic instrumental version of ELP. Billy Sheehan's bass playing continues to amaze me- 16 years after I first heard him! 'Three Feet Back' is not really on the DVD- it merely plays over the end credits, *BUT* for all of you bassists out there the short but amazing 'Clean Up Crew' is present. The next DVD should be longer in length and include different angles to toggle between- one for each amazing player! (that would make it the perfect DVD, IMHO)
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome musicianship! Let's see some more!
Review: Clocking in at 57 minutes, this DVD is a must have item if you are into Niacin as much as I am. If you are not familiar with Niacin, imagine a futuristic instrumental version of ELP. Billy Sheehan's bass playing continues to amaze me- 16 years after I first heard him! 'Three Feet Back' is not really on the DVD- it merely plays over the end credits, *BUT* for all of you bassists out there the short but amazing 'Clean Up Crew' is present. The next DVD should be longer in length and include different angles to toggle between- one for each amazing player! (that would make it the perfect DVD, IMHO)
Rating:
Summary: The best music DVD ever made!!
Review: First off, this is the other Munari, Steven, and I want anyone out there even thinking about buying this dvd, to know that this is far & away the greatest sounding & stunning visual dvd they will find today!! All that and the thing is 5 years old!! Niacin
is a Power/Fusion trio who's 3 musicians are all virtuoso's on their respective instruments. Of course Niacin has released a # of great cd's: the self titled "Niacin"-"Deep"-their most recent "Time Crunch" which con-
tains a great 8 min. version of King Crimson's, anthem, "RED" &
an incredible cover of Jan Hammer's(w/Jeff Beck)great "Blue Wind", which just blazes, & Sheehan(the best bassist playing today!)is awesome, somehow making his bass also sound like a lead guitar! Lastly their finest cd, "High Bias", takes up the majority of the incredible DVD! If you admire virtuoso playing &
also love to see an artists soul & passion come out when they're
playing in a "live" situation, you'll get it all when you buy the "Blood Sweat & Beer's" dvd. It was recorded from a concert played at Tokyo's famed "Blue Note" club, but only 1 hour of that incredible performance is on the dvd; & what an unbelieveable hour it is! While it's totally a "group" effort, there is no doubt the groundshaking playing of both Sheehan & Modern Drummer Magazine's 2001 Hall of Fame inductee, Dennis Chambers are the star's of this dvd. This dvd is so remarkable(&
I believe in quality over quanity)that 1 purchased 2 additional
dvd's to give to my 2 best friends(both musicians like myself)at Xmas in 1998. BTW, I bought my 1st copy here, but when I went to
buy the other 2 as gifts, it was'nt here any longer, & was missing in action from Amazon's dvd list for 2 years, so you owe it to yourself to buy a copy, NOW! Sure everyone wants a dvd like this to be 2 hours in length, w/lots of special features(I would too)but this dvd is like a sleek, bare bones Ferratti, built to look as fine as possible, but also intended to be the
fastest thing going. I personally have lobbied Niacin to do another dvd, & I certainly hope they will, but I sure am glad I have this one to "show off" to visiting friends! It's use is twofold for me, it shows off my stereo/dvd set-up, and I get to
be the 1st person to lay this GEM on anyone who visits! Buy It!!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent DVD
Review: I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at this show in Tokyo. It was great then, and arguably even better to have the show on this DVD. The sound quality is magnificent. At the live performance, the room was so small and the band so powerful, that the sound became distorted. This recording and mixing have corrected for these problems. There is excellent separation between the instruments. The video is clear and clean, but this is a no-frills DVD. It's only an hour long, but what an hour it is. If you like Niacin, like fusion, or just need a dose of vitamin B3 -- look no further. Great stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Shredding!
Review: This is the best jazz fusion concert I've heard to date. It is truly "intense". All songs are presented in their entirety. The audio gets 4 stars, video 4 stars, and performance 5 stars. Dennis provides 2 (short but intense) drum solos and Joe and Billy are incredible. This DVD is short but if you like ripping fusion, buy it! Now if someone would just release "Alan Holdsworth - Live in Japan"!
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: This trio is the best fusion there is..... If you don't buy it now you will never know great fusion.
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