Cheap Vnv Nation - Pastperfect Limited Edition (DVD) Price

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Customer Reviews of Vnv Nation - Pastperfect Limited Edition

A Good DVD but VNV's Energy Is Hard to Translate
To some extent I have to agree with both the supporters and critics of this DVD. The main point should be that VNV is one of the world's premier electronic bands, their music is grand and forceful, and they give excellent, energetic performances. The DVD has the ability to show elements of what makes their shows so good, but fails to fully translate the energy and mystery of actually being there. To me this DVD, despite meticulous editing and wonderful sound quality, is better at highlighting the flaws or what's missing from a VNV show than it is at showing what's great about them. When you are actually there, the power of the music, the majesty of the video accents and passion of Ronan flow directly to you. I have to violently disagree with our friend in SF who claims that VNV is better seen than heard. Their shows are great but this DVD can't capture that magic... had he ever gone to a show he would know that. That is the conclusion that one can draw... not that they are poor live.

Having said all of that, I still am glad that I own the DVD. The interviews and extra footage were interesting even though it's not as insightful as you'd hope from artists with such a painstakingly creative vision. To be honest, I find the Apoptygma Berzerk DVD better although I slightly prefer the music of VNV.

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Some Bands are Better Not Seen / Video Killed the Radio Star
I just watched this last night.

I love VNV and think they are a great mix of electronic music styles. The music in the DVD sounds great (but like a lot of electronic acts, most of it was not produced live). But on stage, Ronan comes across as quite the dorky frontman.

For me, VNV's music invokes a grandiose, cold, authoritarian feeling (Futurepop is a perfect description). But Ronan is not any of those: he's sorta like me: a big goof (and his gut is even bigger than mine). So I think he should just stick to the studio. Or at least not try to dance.

Still a VNV fan, but trying to get their live image out of my head.

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disappointed
Let me start by saying I am a *huge* VNV fan. I attended the DC show where a portion of this was shot. And I was at the VNV/Apop show earlier that year when Apop cancelled at the last minute. And it saddens me to have to say...as far as production quality goes, this DVD is excellent. However, as a "live" DVD, it's awful. As a previous reviewer stated, the video clips are a mishmash. S/He liked the technique, I don't. A single song has one audio clip (live from say, NY for example) while the video may come from half a dozen sources. One shot the band may be in a dark club in front of 200 fans, while a second later, they're shown on stage in the rain in front of 20,000 fans. I don't like it at all. It is reminiscent of a Motley Crue video from the 80s (what was that ballad with the piano?). Also, it leads to the audio not synching with the video, typically during Ronan's banter in the middle of songs. Example: Ronan may be saying "Give me your hands!" while the video is showing him standing in the rain with both hands (and mic) raised (in slow motion no less). Yuck. I would have much preferred a whole song with it's original video. You can pick "song a" from NY, "song b" from DC, "song c" from Philly if you want, but don't pick snippet by snippet from all over the world with an audio track that only mostly matches.

I haven't gotten into the second DVD or the CDROM, but I'm sure both of those will be great (since I doubt the can pull the same technique with them).