NEW ON CD
Vandals CD offers
DVD footage of concert
"The Show Must Go Off!
The Vandals Live at the House of Blues"
The Vandals (Kung Fu)
For those Vandals fans (including yours truly) who couldn't make it to their Pipeline Cafe concert last month, this is the next best thing to having been there. The band's new album was recorded last July at the House of Blues in Anaheim, Calif., and includes both a conventional live CD with almost 75 minutes of driving, high-intensity music and a DVD of footage of the same performance, embellished with an assortment of extras.
KUNG FU The DVD version, which includes a "free bonus CD" soundtrack of the show, hit the street on Jan. 24. In an interesting bit of cross-marketing, the CD version with a "free bonus DVD" of the concert comes out today.
The concert opens with the hot "43210-1," one of several songs off last fall's studio album, "Internet Dating Super Studs." As with other veteran bands, the Vandals are continuing to prove that age is nothing but a number. Bassist Joe Escalante and drummer Josh Freese provide a powerful foundation for the equally aggressive work of veteran guitarist Warren Fitzgerald and lead vocalist Dave Quackenbush. They're as energetic as ever, and there's still plenty of cynical wit to be found in their music. Try "Pizza Tran," with its fleeting cultural references to old-time Vietnamese political figures, or the deliberately non-PC slant found in "Disproportioned Head" and "The Unseen Tears of the Albacore."
And there's more: "People That Are Going to Hell" and "Soccer Mom" are pure punk, with edgy, entertaining lyrics rich in cynicism, humor and some post-teenage fantasies. Add "Too Much Drama," "I've Got an Ape Drape" and "My Girlfriend's Dead," and this makes for one great live album that captures them at their best.
Go to the DVD and check out the action as captured by eight cameras, including one of drummer Freese. Another interesting option is watching the show with English subtitles that show every word sung or spoken by the group during the concert. Add all the extras, and there's no question that Vandals bassist Joe Escalante and Kung Fu Records do great work in both formats.
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