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Hanoi Rocks - The Nottingham Tapes (1984)
R0 - America - Cherry Red Records/MVD Visual Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (5th September 2008). |
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The Film
 There are many stories about the bands that “almost made it”. Bands that had what it takes to become successful and eventually sell millions of records. Bands that had gifted, hardworking musicians, their own unique style, and, of course, attitude and quality songs. Then at the verge of that final “breakthrough”, something happens: personal conflicts, burning the candle from both ends, drugs or the tragic death of a band member. While eventually all these played a part in this story, it was the latter that finally ended the Finnish-based band “Hanoi Rocks” at the peek of their career. It was partly ironic that the death of “Hanoi Rocks” drummer Razzle happened just as they were on their first real American tour in 1984. After all, it was the local bands like “Guns N' Roses” (partly influenced by “Hanoi Rocks”), that eventually sold those millions of records and earned millions of dollars. Just before the important California-section of the tour, Razzle and his friend Vince Neil (singer of “Mötley Crüe”) were partying in Redondo Beach, California. At one point they made the fatal decision by getting into a car together, which the drunk Neil then heavily crashed. He survived, but Razzle didn´t. Just like that, the American tour was no more - and soon the same thing happened to the whole band. The major record deal with “CBS Records” included three albums, but eventually only one was recorded. In early 1985, also original bassist Sam Yaffa left (to find even more “glam rock” ties; Yaffa is currently part of the reformed “New York Dolls”). “Hanoi Rocks”, often referred to as a “family”, didn´t survive losing two of its core members. While “Hanoi Rocks”, with their relentless manager Seppo Vesterinen (now managing the successful Finnish “love metal” band “HIM”) tried to keep the band together, the final blows were already delivered and the knock-out happened in June, 1985. No millions and no true fame, just a series of broken dreams and “what if”-speculations. Fortunately, there were four studio albums (“Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks (1981)”, “Oriental Beat (1982)”, “Back to Mystery City (1983)”, and “Two Steps from the Move (1984)”) and due to that, several songs have survived the test of time. The band also played a huge number of live gigs during the relatively short period of time, so their impact in the live circles was undisputed. “Hanoi Rocks” was always proud at least in one thing; their music was genuine and real rock (sometimes mistaken to “glam metal”, which it wasn´t), no “BS”. For the good and for the bad, they weren´t faking anything. But wait a minute - the story isn´t over yet. After the years of unsuccessful (not always musically, though) solo-work and different projects, the core members, vocalist and saxophone/harmonica player Michael Monroe and the lead guitarist/main songwriter Andy McCoy, reformed the band in Finland in the early 2000s. “Twelve Shots on the Rocks (2002)”, “Another Hostile Takeover (2005)”, and “Street Poetry (2007)” are the albums that won´t be conquering the world anymore, but they showed that the band still had a genuine cult following. It hasn´t been forgotten - and the honest “rock attitude”? Still there. So the story continues… By rewinding back to the “golden period” of the band, “Hanoi Rocks - The Nottingham Tapes (1984)” live DVD shows the band performing at “The Palais” club in Nottingham, England on 23rd April, 1984. The show was apparently done during their brief UK tour from 19th April-5th May. It included the best-known (musical wise also) line-up of the band; in addition to singer Monroe, lead guitarist McCoy, drummer Razzle and bassist Yaffa, also the rhythm guitarist Nasty Suicide took the stage. The result is a very energetic, fast and loud rock concert, which includes most of the best-known numbers of “Hanoi Rocks” (while e.g. “Million Miles Away”, “Oriental Beat” and “Dead By X-mas” are missing). Set list is as follows: *Back to Mystery City *Up Around the Bend (“CCR” cover) *I Can't Get It *Motorvatin' *Mental Beat *Boulevard of Broken Dreams *Don't You Ever Leave Me *Tragedy *Malibu Beach *Underwater World *Lost in the City *I Feel Alright (“The Stooges” cover AKA “1970”) *Taxi Driver *Blitzkrieg Bop (“Ramones” cover) Note: Songs "Lightnin' Bar Blues" and "Don't Follow Me" listed on the back cover/menu, but not included ("Mental Beat" and "Lost in the City" included instead). While the set-list, line up and the general period favoured the band, I´m not entirely sure how good this concert actually was in their standards. First of all, the stage is quite small and tight, so the ever-flexible Monroe doesn´t have much room to run or jump. The concert still has an intimate feel for sure, since from time to time the audience is actually moshing from the stage. Cameras have also a bit too limited view for my taste (for a concert DVD) and often the “main” camera angle is the one that captures the gig from the “side” (instead of the “front”). It´s also too focused to lead singer Monroe and when there are some shots from the audience, they´re very dark (more of this in the “video”-section). Stage lighting is very basic and since the DVD content was produced in the “old school” 1980s, there are also rather amateurish “video effects”. No thrills on the visual front for sure. The musical side is also a mixed pack, since although the band is rocking the stage, their performance feels more like a “routine” than the magical live moment. While Monroe is a solid singer with his strong and distinctive voice (and of course playing his saxophone in a couple of songs), McCoy doesn´t always impress with his guitar work (he doesn´t play many solos, but one e.g. in “Don't You Ever Leave Me”). You probably get the better feeling of the band from their records than this particular live concert (then again, you do feel the energy of the band). There are still some classic “Hanoi moments”, so you hear the superb rock tune “Tragedy”, wild “Malibu Beach”, totally catchy “Motorvatin'” and moody “Underwater World”. Their awesome ballad (“Don't Cry” from “G'N'R”, move over!) “Don't You Ever Leave Me” is of course included. From the cover songs “Up Around the Bend” doesn´t work that well (although it was very much part of their legacy), but “I Feel Alright” is a great (and punk-ish) moment. The concert ends (before this, Monroe shouts to the light crew; “turn the f**king lights on, we´re doing another one!”) to the Ramones-cover “Blitzkrieg Bop”, where Monroe moves to the drums and Razzle takes care of the singing. This last number is just for fun and even the audience comes onto the stage. When the late Razzle shouts “Hey! Ho! Let's go!" to the mic, you can´t help but feel mixed emotions; sadness, since Razzle is now gone - and the great run of the original “Hanoi Rocks” ended quite rapidly, and joy, since the band managed to record some solid rock tunes and showed everybody that hard work can bring results. For the rock band from the cold and small Finland, it´s not all that bad. “I'm goin' to rock till I drop, Around the clock, And never ever gonna stop.. Gonna send you a postcard from Hanoi, I won't be comin' back..” *Hanoi Rocks: “Oriental Beat” (Andy McCoy, 1982)
Video
The visual presentation is a disappointment for sure. Keeping the OAR 4:3, the transfer is taken from the tape source (perhaps not even Betacam SP or similar), so it´s partly soft, dark and murky. The transfer is often so dark, that it´s hard to see many details. There are also compression issues, which seem to be due to the sloppy conversion (the DVD is using roughly half of the “single layer” disc and the video bitrate seems to “fixed” around 5.0-5.2 Mbps). The bigger screen you have, the uglier compression artifact you´ll see. The source is luckily relatively clean, so I guess this could be worse. The disc is coded “R0” and runs 57:43 minutes (NTSC). 14 chapters.
Audio
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is the sole audio track and there are no subtitles. The sound is a bit rough and “tinny”, but still quite clear. You can still enjoy the concert via this DVD, but just don´t expect any modern day mix. If you´re a Hanoi “newcomer”, I would advise you to listen to the proper CDs first, since the sound is far from ideal.
Extras
There are no real extras, but some bonus excerpts (with artist/band info) of the UK-based “Cherry Red Records” DVD catalogue are included: *“Danielle Dax: Bad Miss M” (1:25 min) *“Gun Club: Hacienda Live” (1:26 min) *“Flesh For Lulu: Roman Candle” (1:24 min) *“Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers - Dead or Alive” (1:44 min) *“Goldblade - Testify!” (1:26 min) *“Toyah - Wild Essence” (1:27 min) There´s also “full DVD listing” text notes (2 pages) of the “Cherry Red Records” releases and brief liner notes (from Richard King) on the back cover.
Overall
The music from “Hanoi Rocks” can be roughly described to be somewhere in between “Ramones” and “Guns 'N' Roses”, but the band mixed up many elements into their music. First and foremost it still always was (well, still is) a genuine rock and live band, which can be witnessed in this live DVD. While the gig as a whole leaves something to be desired (part of the blame is the venue, low budget values of the recording and a murky source tape), it´s a “must” for the Hanoi-fans (not that many of their live concerts are available in the first place). Like the back cover states, this is a “gritty” concert (also in terms of A/V presentation), so put this DVD in your player on the next Friday night, take a few bottles of cold beer and enjoy good rock and roll. The live DVD was originally produced and filmed by “Jettisoundz Productions”. For more info, please visit the homepage of MVD Entertainment Group.
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