Thoughts on 2008 DVD/CD's

[MidTN Mello]

I noticed that Blue Stars' drill seems easier than the rest of the top 10(like it was written for them not expecting the talent they had), although they did do it well. Which is where we reach the demand vs. execution question with judging.

I agree with dans on the Blue Devils, that show is really growing on me.

[Stryfe]

My thoughts on the CDs (I've seen the visual parts of each show about twice for the top six and once for the rest)

Phantom: I would have to invent a word to describe how much I love this show. It's about equal to how much I love 96, 03, and 06. Overly theatrical? What? Only about as theatrical as 89 SCV or 06 Phantom. I have no idea what overly theatrical is, in this activity anyway. We'll have to wait and see whether or not it was "revolutionary" (my guess: eh, probably not very, but it certainly was [invented word]). My favorite parts would have to be... gah, hard choice... somewhere between the gladiator sequence and the girl-just-got-killed/war sequence. And Paul Rennick is a genius.

Blue Devils: My biggest gripe about this show is the fact that the arrangers thought it would be interesting to mix in these incredibly ironic drumset fills in every place where the style dictates against it, especially in the "Latin" section. I understand the show is risking absurdity, but that just turns me off of it a bit. But other than that, I like all of the music. I especially like that ballad. Very serendipitous choice.

Cavaliers: It's very obvious when you're listening to the music that the scales were tipped a little bit this year as well visually/musically. Especially when the mixer decides it's a good idea to make a kinda-soft hornline even softer and leave it that way for most of the music. The opener of the show seems really blah to me, but pretty much everything after the tempo picks up is easily listenable. The percussion feature is amazingly well written. Overall, kinda inconsistent.

Carolina Crown: One complaint design-wise is that "Finis" seems only an appropriate title for the final movement (and kinda the first, but not very)... but whatever. I do like the first piece. [What everyone else has said about Crown being cheesy in a good way.] But it's still hard to take them very seriously when they do "Shave and a haircut, two bits!" and then move into "Clair de Lune." Like "lolwut?" It's just a little hard to switch gears that fast. I love the percussion feature after that, though, a lot. Also very well written. Overall musically impressive.

Cadets: Well, I sure do love all of the music. I actually think the opening vocal part would be better if it were acted a little better, and the first hit after that is glorious. [What everyone else has said regarding show concept not matching music,] and I just wish they would act their lines instead of reciting them. But seriously, if one tries to ignore the vocals, that section during the first radio sequence is beautiful. The rest of the music is very fun to listen to, I can't say too much else about it. Last piece is amazing of course. I think /bad/ vocals hurt this show a lot (not vocals, bad vocals).

Bluecoats: This is my second favorite show of 2008. :P (lol disagreement) I think the opening was very clever, the storytelling is very straightforward, and the use of vocals is, I won't say quite well-acted, but still interesting, and a lot better than reciting. It certainly adds to the show in this case (similarly to 07). I think they're very good at taking a serendipitous (two uses in one post, awesome) show concept and doing it incredibly well. The percussion break is very amazingly written -- I forget the writer, but he is very skilled at making a complex percussion line that still jams (as opposed to just jamming as many notes in as possible so most people in the audience can't follow it at all). Ingenuity of the bass drum speedbag thing, give me a right/left, playing on the speedbag bars, etc. etc. And the ballad is beautiful through and through. After that, the show kind of loses some momentum for me, but I do like some of the more chaotic music in there when he's getting beat up.

SCV: I really like all of the music of the music here. Certainly a lot better than the Poulan nonsense last year. I can't really say too much else. I admit to being a little deaf to certain degrees of musical dirt, but overall (and ignoring that factor, as I mostly have been) I'd say this is one of my more favorite shows of the year. The visual/musical combination of the storm section in Cloudburst was very effective. But I wish there was more. Ends a little abruptly... beautifully, but not quite resolved. Perhaps it doesn't have to be. Whatever.

Blue Stars: Some phasing problems in the beginning, which is very understandable given it's the pit like 400 yards away from the brass/battery. Musically it's all beautiful. I really wish the CDs included the whole pre-show piece too, as that's really beautiful... but you probably couldn't hear it over the crowd anyway. :X Some of my liking it kind of gets confused with all the inter-arranging Sullivan did, so I can't really say "oh I liked this piece!" Except the ballad, which is great.

As for thoughts on the CDs themselves... the balancing is really poor for Cavies, and what someone said about bringing the speedbag feature up way too much and then having to bring the bass drums back down when the hornline came in. It's obvious and a little annoying. Other than that, good stuff.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Stryfe

[ohwiseone]

The Blue Stars...The more i listen to them the more i enjoy the show, there show is really well arranged and the pieces they picked are very well done, It just took me a while to become a fan of it.

My shocker off the cd the Blue Knight, Such power and sound off that show, plus the mix on it is VERY VERY Good (IMO)

[HockeyDad]

Ultimate SCV compliment:

OK, my kids have pretty much lost all patience with my love for drum corps. They profess no interest in it whatsoever. But, one evening on the way to hockey practice (!) my nine-year-old asked me to play the drum corps "that doesn't sound like drum corps, you know, with all the drums." So I thought Cavies and put them on and he said no, that's not it. Then he said, "you know, the music that sounds like Egyptian music." Ahhh.....I know what you're talking about....SCV. Now, never in any discussion did it come up that their second movement (? somewhere about in the middle of their show) does sound "Egyptian". Wow - they say they have no interest....but they do listen (even though pretending not to, as it's not cool).

[kevingamin]

SCV: I really like all of the music of the music here. Certainly a lot better than the Poulan nonsense last year. I can't really say too much else. I admit to being a little deaf to certain degrees of musical dirt, but overall (and ignoring that factor, as I mostly have been) I'd say this is one of my more favorite shows of the year. The visual/musical combination of the storm section in Cloudburst was very effective. But I wish there was more. Ends a little abruptly... beautifully, but not quite resolved. Perhaps it doesn't have to be. Whatever.

'06 was the Poulan original book, not '07.

[dcifan2002]

sorry BONES design was

2 points better than Madison

3 better than colts.

[Stryfe]

'06 was the Poulan original book, not '07.

Poulan did the arranging in '07, did he not? Either way, it was repetitive and obnoxious at times... I remember the end being decent, but the front end of it was disappointing. It also might be involved with a Poulan grudge... but he's quite fond of that "dah dah dat-dah dadadada dah dat-dah dah dah dadadada dat-dah dah dah dah datatadah dah dah dah" on one chord for four minutes deal, even in his band stuff (I don't mean minimalism, either, hah)... what I've heard, anyway. Even if he wrote/arranged something good I'd never admit it. (Ah, just found out he arranged 08 too... well, it doesn't count., he must have been possessed etc. etc.)

Edited January 4, 2009 by Stryfe

[Stryfe]

sorry BONES design was

2 points better than Madison

3 better than colts.

Hm.... weird! My sources say Crossmen's show was actually .425 points worse than the Scouts... and .775 better than the Colts, not 3. I mean, I'm just going off the website, you'd think that'd be reliable. :\ Where are you getting your information? Maybe we can figure out this mystery.

[spirit7698]

Speaking of the dvd's.... What's up with getting rid of the "old" features ? ( i.e. being able to watch the brass, percussion or guard section for an entire show, judge tapes, other drum corps bonus stuff from the summer). Not happy about Tom Blair's production of this video ( i.e. the sound is hi freq. heavy and there's no body to the brass sound compared to videos of old).

[brown55061]

I got my DVD set for xmas so I've only watched it a little....eh who am I kidding, Ive watched the top 6 at least 10 times lol. The sound quality is decent but there's little midrange and bass, seems like the high frequencies are sharper. Every year the sound is different though.

I have some complaints. The DVD didnt have the drum judge which I loved listening to because you hear things the main 5.1 surround doesnt pick up from a distance. So that was a heartbreak for me, I really wanted to hear how clean the top 6 lines were. The coats especially, they had SOOO many notes in the book this year and it was squeaky clean to boot. I am guessing DCI did this so they could reduce the number of CD's they used in a set. Money is a big factor for DCI right now so I let that slide if it means DCI grows.

After watching the DVD I disagree with some scoring but what do I know? I'm glad Phantom won because their show deserved it versus the Devil's being confusing to a lot of people. If the show cant connect at all to folks I cant see it winning. But thats just a common sense non juding perspective. I could watch the PR show over and over and not get sick of it. The ballad was perfectly arranged, well balanced brass thru the show, clean perc, solid guard, and spectacular drill/music design. I hate saying it but Madison's show was just bleh. Did nothing for me compared to how they used to inspire me back in the 90's. Crossmen just didnt fight hard enough at semis I guess. All I can say is next year the top 12 is going to be one tough nut to crack! I think the top 7 will be very competetive too. The coats had a yong bunch and will be even tighter in 09, Holy Name sounds like a favorite already, Crown isnt going to lose much, and you know BD is PO'd right about now. So I think the top 6 will be insane this year. CANT WAIT!