2010 Blue Devils "vs" 1991 Blue Devils....

[GMichael1230]

The thing I remember about this show -- and the thing that impressed me at the time -- was the guard. Generally I don't like sabers on the field because they're so hard to see . . . but this was one kick-### saber line. And the whole guard was wonderful in a sort of "see if I care" cool way. I remember loving the brass line, and thinking they chose some wild music to put on the field, but wondering about the drill, which I thought left a bit to be desired. Can't really comment on the drum line, as I never get that part right, LOL!

yes. The sabres were excellent that year. I remember thinking how are they gonna pull it off, but it was nice to see them sp radical (1990) then so cool the year after.

G

[jjeffeory]

I point out 1991 in a critical fashion due to the fact that it was sandwiched between two "best guard" years.....I felt it was a competent book and performance but there was always something in the back of my mind that said "Something is missing" .....I absolutely loved the opening , up front and the way they slithered in and out of each formation...that visual book was hot, some say no but I say it totally enhanced and sold the musical program, constantly telling you where to look and what to see without having to think too much. I call that brilliant, and the execution of the brass while playing what they did ??....wow.

From what I see of this years show I see similar design elements in the opener and I see a much faster paced brassline and they are playing some pretty intense stuff......I can see so many comparisons..and the irony is that "los suertos" was used in 1992 but I see no comparisions, yet of that year and 10'.

G

Heh, I know! It's a different world today for sure.

[Lance]

Okay, let's call it a "missive", then.

Point is, there's got to be some sort of balancing point between fair minded criticism of BD versus taking everything as some sort of attack against the organization for its successes, 'cause that's what every BD thread lately has turned into.

Constructive criticism and analysis (re: this thread) is how we find out about opposing viewpoints, and is the very basis of how the Blue Devils and other corps are judged. No one is trying to beat the current product down in this thread.

Therefore, if G is going to couch BD 2010 in a legitimate, compare/contrast kind of thread versus 1991, it's not meant to be a soapbox for our own issues with BD fans, BD haters or others. We've got a ton of threads for that already.

I think there's some validity in comparing the current product to 1991; a lot of us here saw that show live, and can draw the parallels between the shows, for better or worse.

My only point, again, is to not make this "us v. them" here. We're all on the same "drum corps" team here.

For reals.

exactly

91 bd was the first thing that came to mind when i first watched the 2010 show. there are even a couple of quotes from the 91 rep in the 2010 rep.

[NakedEye]

The thing I remember about this show -- and the thing that impressed me at the time -- was the guard. Generally I don't like sabers on the field because they're so hard to see . . . but this was one kick-### saber line. And the whole guard was wonderful in a sort of "see if I care" cool way. I remember loving the brass line, and thinking they chose some wild music to put on the field, but wondering about the drill, which I thought left a bit to be desired. Can't really comment on the drum line, as I never get that part right, LOL!

I can't fairly compare this year's show to '91, as I haven't seen it live yet, only on the Fan Network. I'll be better able to judge after I see them in Buffalo. I had the good fortune of seeing them in August '91 at the Bloomington show, and I remember it well!

Their guard was great, and one of the first to seriously use sabers (and real ones at that, not the plastic kind that were popular then). Unfortunately they had to deal with "death by PVC" that year. They were housed during finals at the school where I taught and were forever having to repair these giant plastic pipe things that looked sort of like music notes. As you can see in the video, the repairs didn't work out so well - many of them broke again during the last performance.

At first I thought the show was really weird, but after watching them practice it over and over I totally loved the music.

[cajal]

91 for me, HOWEVER: I think the 2010 arrangements of slightly similar music are going to change substantially, far more than they did back in 91. 91 now, who knows in August.

my .02 on the complaints about 91 vs. 2010:

I didn't hear many complaints about the Devils in 91 either. If they would've been a threat to beat (insert your favorite top corps here), there would've been plenty of complaints.

Edited July 7, 2010 by cajal

[GMichael1230]

Their guard was great, and one of the first to seriously use sabers (and real ones at that, not the plastic kind that were popular then). Unfortunately they had to deal with "death by PVC" that year. They were housed during finals at the school where I taught and were forever having to repair these giant plastic pipe things that looked sort of like music notes. As you can see in the video, the repairs didn't work out so well - many of them broke again during the last performance.

At first I thought the show was really weird, but after watching them practice it over and over I totally loved the music.

yes, the yellow "P"s......one broke in semis, or came off...love the silk colors that year !

G

[supersop]

91 for me, HOWEVER: I think the 2010 arrangements of slightly similar music are going to change substantially, far more than they did back in 91. 91 now, who knows in August.

my .02 on the complaints about 91 vs. 2010:

I didn't hear many complaints about the Devils in 91 either. If they would've been a threat to beat (insert your favorite top corps here), there would've been plenty of complaints.

That's an interesting point. Cadets had fallen off the map after winning the year prior. BD was caught by PR in 1990 to share the 4th spot which was their lowest placement in about FOREVER. They just seemed vulnerable after the TOmmy year because you could tell they were going in a different direction. Star proved they were on the rise and even though they were still considered the "spoiled rotten kids of DCI", they were quickly becoming the fan$ sweetheart corps. Cavies had turned in their 5th top 3 performance in 6 years and PR was staying HOT after taking 2nd in 89 and 4th in 90.

In my humble opinion, SCV, BD and Cadets were lucky not to get jumped by Madison that year. All 4 corps were quite dirty and the finals scores were probably alot higher than deserved. Out of that group, I would have to say Scouts had the most fan friendly show, SCV had the most punch, BD was dirty but wicked cool .... just didn't care for the total percussion book ... and Cadets got a gift (no offense to my brothers and sisters that I marched with the year prior ... I know they busted their butts to get that show working but it was the worst offering Cadets had put on the field in over a decade).

Those were definitely transitional years for MOST of the corps in DCI.... and I would have to say that's a byproduct of what Garfield and CBC had done in the 9 years prior ... the other corps were catching up to the innovations and finding their way in making the Garfield example work with their own style. Talk about growing pains. Flipside ... that's why I loved everything prior to it so much ... more variety in style, design, execution and pageantry. After 1991 everything started to blur more and more and more as the years went on. It all started to look, sound and feel the same with the exception of a few corps here and there.

Sorry I went OT for a bit, but I felt compelled to comment on the quote.

[hughesmr]

To me the 91 vs 10 differences are musically glaring. Dissonance? No ... of course both shows have it -- that's the nature of the pieces chosen. It's in the arranging style, obviously.

Listen through the 91 show. Musical ideas are given time to develop and are much better explored/fleshed out. Not 20 seconds and then, BAM, kneejerk into something else. The show has a cohesion and flow that is MUSICAL, that has an overarching structure. BD charts of recent vintage in contrast seem like a bunch of disjointed Lego pieces slapped together (at the mercy of visual phrases) that collectively do not musically enhnace or support something larger than their component parts.

91 wins by a mile.

Edited July 8, 2010 by hughesmr

[Cron]

I love both of the shows, and 91 might be my favorite BD show. I think the corps as a whole is achieving a higher performance level this year, but I think I like 91 a bit more music wise. For overall show design, though, I have to go with 2010, since the corps is firing on all cylinders, whereas in '91, it was pretty much the stellar brass that carried them through the season.

[BRASSO]

I feel like the 1991 show (musically) is similar to 1993 Star, in that many people didn't like it then, but can't talk enough now about how ahead of its time and game-changing it was. I'm certainly in that camp. That show caused EVERYONE to have to step their game up in light of what they showed a hornline could do.

The evidence does not support this at all. For example, a poll on DCP last week asked DCP's to list their 5 legendary corps shows of all time. I went and tallied the results. And then presented the results on a separate thread below. There were dozens and dozens of reponses.... and dozens and dozens of Corps shows mentioned.

BD 1991 was not on the radar screen. So the data does not support your contention that with BD '91, we "can't talk enough about it now, and how ahead of it's time and game changing it was ", and so forth

There were Corps shows that several DCP'ers referred to as" game changers " ( ie, 84 Cadets, 93 Star, 75 Madison ), but 91 BD was not mentioned at all.

The first time in memory that 91 BD has been mentioned frankly is on this thread.

Edited July 7, 2010 by BRASSO