Massive Attack - Eleven Promos (2002)

Plain and Simple

I give 4 stars to this DVD just because it's plain and simple 11 promos. So, I would like to see more... the 'Live With Me' video would be a great addition to this. As far as the 'make your own cover art' described on the product information, it's a joke! The Massive Attack website is messy, too loaded with things, video on background... hard to find anything... so, I couldn't find a cover to this! I thought it would be easier.
Also, it took a little while to put my hands on this one, since I live in Brazil and it took too long to get here. Maybe more than 3 weeks. Just to mention: i ordered some CDs from some Japan store after I purchased this Massive Attack DVD and the CDs arrived at my house before this DVD from Amazon, so... not so good and fast shipping.
I had an earlier issue with Amazon...
My sister lives in the US, and I sent her some money to buy a lot of CDs from Amazon, maybe 7 or 8 CDs, including some box sets. The problem is that ALL the goods, except for one CD single... they arrived with cracked cases, torn covers and everything... Some of them I bought as gifts to my friends. My sister said the items arrived without any plastic or bubble wrap whatsoever. So, I was pretty upset with that because if I only knew that the 'free shipping' was gonna be that sort of 'free', I would offer to pay for it. The items sent directly to Brazil arrived in perfect condition, tho. But I paid for the shipping, so... I think that maybe Amazon should have a look at their japanese competition. It took only 6 DAYS to get my hands on the CDs from Japan! Amazingly, on a saturday, with the post offices closed! The DVD is fine, tho. Not so happy with this issue I had before with the shipping. I was quite amazed because Amazon did that inside the US, so before I decided to get this one with them, I had a lot to think about, since they would have to send it to Brazil... I've purchased other CDs from Amazon marketplace. Not here yet... (almost 4 weeks) Grrr... August 7, 2008

Best band with the Worst Videos...

Massive Attack is one of the best bands ever in my opinion, so it's twice the shame that their videos should feel like rejected concepts tossed at other bands. Rapping at a table. Bad lip-syncing down a boring street. Returning to a gritty apartment. A white guy watching his wife cheat on him with two black men. A baby singing in the womb. A stripper video that is a great example of nudity for nudity's sake. These are some of the worst video concepts ever completed, even early 90's Madonna videos had more taste than this. It's astonishing when the band and their live shows are so clearly intending to bring us something different.

I have to say though, that the video for ANGEL should be seen, as it is the one great video they've done. March 2, 2006

Great Videos MONO SOUNDTRACK

I was pretty disappointed with the DVD's sound. I have not a problem if the band decided to release the videos in mono, but somebody along the way forgot to inform the customers about this decision, and the disc itself has printed "LPCM Stereo" on it. That is the ONLY problem I have with the soundtrack.

I don't ask for 5.1 sound, simply because 90% of music DVD's with 5.1 are "faux", in other words, echo and reverb added on the surrounds, which results in horrible sound imaging. Much better off with PCM Stereo and using your amplifier's Dolby Prologic II if you can.

Why am I disappointed? Well, I don't recall if the videos were in stereo when I watched them on TV, but if they were, which I highly think the case, then a mono soundtrack doesn't hold true to the original video as it was conceived.

Anyway, still a collection of great videos from some amazing directors like Gondry and Sednaoui.

Recommended April 10, 2004

My Mind is Upside Down!

This is a nearly perfect music-DVD. The videos (the good ones) are top notch. They will continue to bring you back for more viewings.
There are, however, very dissapointing things on this DVD. The actual DVD menu is absolutely sparse and pretty bad. And the first four or five videos you can forget about - one of which is pretty much soft-core porn (seems bizarre and stupid).
Disregarding those minor draw-backs the remaining videos shine! If it were not for the bad things mentioned above this would easily be five stars.
Some videos are genious - they are simply works of art created around songs that are works of art unto themselves.
This DVD is no question worth the price - i could watch the videos of Angel, Teardrop, Inertia Creeps, or Karmacoma at least ten more times. I can also imagine this as a backdrop for a chill-out time with your friends
THOUGHT PROVOKING, INTERESTING, TWISTED, BUT SOMETIMES UTTERLY STUPID.
(sorry if i'm being too harsh) February 13, 2004

For the Value - It's Worth it!

I seem to buy a lot of DVDs with videos on them, and I could not pass up these 11 promo videos from Massive Attack. It's like a GREATEST HITS or SINGLES package, so it should please the casual as well as obsessive fan. Songs go chronilogically in order throughout the disc. There are no extras - just eleven videos in stereo with no bells or whistles. But most of these don't need explaining. The good part is that you have many guest vocalists near the end - Tracy Thorne of EBTG, and Tricky to name two. So it seems to lend itself to parties or bar settings! Video quality is fine, though on widescreen televisions you may see some funky aspect ratios. This is built for squares! It's only in 2.0 stereo, but so were the singles. Wish more bands would release their videos this way! July 21, 2003

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