Aerosmith's self-titled debut album, usually referred to as Dream On, was the first album I ever bought. We're talking 1976, fifth-grade here, which is how far back me and the boys from Beantown go. They have been one of my favorite bands ever since, and I have seen them in concert about six times. The first time was during their notorious, Rock In A Hard Place tour of 1982, which featured two replacement guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay, since Joe Perry and Brad Whitford had recently quite the band. Aerosmith were in a drug and alcohol-induced stupor throughout most of the 80's, but this concert still kicked my ass, even without my hero Joe Perry up on stage. I remember people in the front row throwing joints up on stage, and the guitarists eagerly sampling the goods. Hey, they had to be polite. Maybe the concert actually sucked, but, damn, I was seeing Aerosmith for the fist time. The last time I saw them was on their 2002 Just Push Play tour, and they have simply gotten better with age, which is what makes You Gotta Move such an essential DVD.
You Gotta Move was filmed during Aerosmith's 2004 tour in support of their new Honkin' On Bobo album, and originally aired as a 90-minute A&E Network TV special in June. The DVD definitely has a TV-special look and feel and to it, as the picture is the original 4:3 full frame, instead of a more deserved widescreen presentation, and the camera editing is more appropriate for a music awards show than a rock concert. You Gotta Move is primarily a musical tour documentary, not a straight concert video. Unfortunately, it was directed and produced by Mark Haefeli, the same guy who nearly ruined Paul McCartney's Back In The US DVD. Both of these videos suffer from the same problem — backstage footage and interviews edited in before, during, and after every live song performance.
As a documentary, I expect to get all of the between-song dialogue, but, forChrist's sake, not all of the DURING-song dialogue. The most annoying offenderof this was during the great performance of "Draw The Line". Duringthe first 25 seconds of the song, before the vocals kick in, you get split screens of Kramer, Tyler, and Whitford, each talking about how hard they've had to work, blah, blah, blah, while you miss out on the song's great intro. Even worse, during Perry's killer extended slide solo, you get Perry and Tyler talking over the video for over a minute! Haefeli, also broke the cardinal rule of documentary-style concert DVD production, by not providing a "Concert Only" option — for those of us who don't want to sit through all of the documentary portions every time we want to rock to some live Aerosmith. There is a "Play Songs" option, which will run through all of the live performances, skipping all of the between-song dialog, but, you are still treated to all of the great during-song dialog. This is inexcusable!
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Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
I saw Aerosmith on this last tour. When they did those first two songs on that small stage down the catwalk, they had the sound and the energy of a buncha teenage punks playing in someone's tiny rec room, hammering their instruments and making the loudest racket they possibly could. It was a serious rock 'n roll moment, and as far as I'm concerned, they could've played the entire night right there. Hope it looks good on the DVD.