Just Watched 1978 Legacy DVD

[Scerpella]

A Review 25 years after the fact! :P

Sorry in advance for offending anyone!

First of all, the sound is great. Had the Theatre Stereo cranked to 11!

Couple things I never noticed before. As great sounding as Spirits hornline was, the absolute best sounding one of 78 (at least from the DVDs) was Blue Stars. The ensemble sound was gorgeous! It was the full tonal range, tight and powerful. I dont know if standards have changed because the musicians are so much better now than then. Musicality was a little used commodity back then, maybe thats why Blue Stars sounded so fricken good.

The interesting thing about years is that they gives you perspective. Personally I dont know how SCV and PR were 1-2, the sound was all over the place. SCV had a nice drill but PRs was unremarkable. SCVs show after the opener was pretty much a snooze fest. I recall seeing a tape of the broadcast hearing Pete Emmons say he thought SCV blew it and that Scouts would win.

Blue Devils spanned the spectrum. Great book in fact, probably the most difficult in DCI that year, great drill, but moments of awful intonation during Chicago Suite. Madison (us) was pretty tight, tighter I thought than all three corps above us but our baris were in the back 40 the whole dang show. You could hardly hear us. We marched pretty good that year as well. I think what ultimately held us back was the show was too pop, and too easy. They came up with the repertoire before they knew the talent was going to be that good. Drumline (12 snares) was awesome. PR beat us because of PA only. SCV was 2/10ths up in execution. 77-78 possibly the two greatest Scout drumlines ever.

Bridgemen were very polished and had taken the hype down a tick from 77. Hornline blend was awesome and they probably has the best sop soloist in DCI that year. Spanish Dreams was chocked full of under appreciated sop work. It was drill that lacked.

I found 27th to be in a holding pattern in 78. I guess they were getting ready for their big run a couple years later. Nothing really memorable.

As for Crossmen, I wish I could have picked out Hopkins in there before he became the locus for all evil in drumcorps. Hey the Scouts can be blamed for dancing guards, but Crossmen have to take the blame for Hopkins! I did like Maynards "Something in the Way She Smiles". They could swing!

Dont have much to say about Kilts, Guardsmen, Freelancers. or North Star, except that as today, their shows had something missing although also like today, their shows were more entertaining than top 6. Very talented section leaders in all those corps. I think the depth wasnt there though, although that took second to the show design problems.

Biggest thing one notices is how slow the pictures formed compared to today. I even saw many instances of something you rarely see now, which is people marking time in one spot for more than 4 counts! Its also quite evident youve got better musicians now as well instruments.

[TerriDitt57]

Alot of the horn players in Guardsmen went on to march in 1979. Pretty talented group. We never could march however and the drumline was always iffy. Nice guard tho.

[kiltiesdrumguy]

Kind of off topic but I loved Guardsmen's show in '79. I also have the '78 Legacy DVD's and the only corps I can't bear to watch is my own (Kilts)..hated the show.

I have say that Madison's drum line in '78 got hosed huge in finals, they had a 19.something in prelims (that was when getting a 19 in drums actually meant something), clearly the best line that season.

Just my $.02 as always

[byline]

I recall seeing a tape of the broadcast hearing Pete Emmons say he thought SCV blew it and that Scouts would win.

I can't recall Emmons singling out Madison, specifically, but he was obviously disappointed in Santa Clara's performance and felt that they did not deliver a winning performance.

I remember thinking it odd that he had to do commentary on his own corps. He was fine for all the other corps, and obviously was a voice of experience from within the corps ranks, so in that regard he was a good announcer. But to have to sit there and watch his own corps, and then critique their performance afterward as part of the telecast? I didn't envy him being in that position.

I remember loving Santa Clara's show when I saw it--their subtlety has always been one of my favorite corps styles--but was surprised at some of the visual errors that are apparent on the video and DVD. At the time, I thought there was no question that Santa Clara won it. But watching the DVD, it seems to me that any of the other top four corps--Phantom, Blue Devils or Madison--were capable of pulling out a win over Santa Clara. But, then again, the telecast angles give you only a limited perspective, so I hate to base my final conclusion only on that.

[Scerpella]

I remember loving Santa Clara's show when I saw it--their subtlety has always been one of my favorite corps styles--but was surprised at some of the visual errors that are apparent on the video and DVD. At the time, I thought there was no question that Santa Clara won it. But watching the DVD, it seems to me that any of the other top four corps--Phantom, Blue Devils or Madison--were capable of pulling out a win over Santa Clara. But, then again, the telecast angles give you only a limited perspective, so I hate to base my final conclusion only on that.

I cant say whether 25 years has permanently fogged my memory, it may be that I thought SCV was the greatest thing since sliced toast in 78. Looking back, the show just didnt have any pop after the opener.

The fact is SCV HAD been able to come up with great exciting and subtle shows previously, so 78 seems a blip to me. Once again, it could just be the years talking. Imagine for example how a disco number in Scouts show looks now!

[Scerpella]

Kind of off topic but I loved Guardsmen's show in '79. I also have the '78 Legacy DVD's and the only corps I can't bear to watch is my own (Kilts)..hated the show.

I have say that Madison's drum line in '78 got hosed huge in finals, they had a 19.something in prelims (that was when getting a 19 in drums actually meant something), clearly the best line that season.

Just my $.02 as always

Madisons drums took 3rd overall, second in execution to SCV and third to PR because of the PA score. It was the hornline that was our weak link score wise. We took 6th. Although that was an improvement from prelims where we took 13th. The thing is, Ive listened extensively to the finals, most of my bias is gone now I think, and I cant see how we placed that low.

[byline]

I cant say whether 25 years has permanently fogged my memory, it may be that I thought SCV was the greatest thing since sliced toast in 78. Looking back, the show just didnt have any pop after the opener.

Oh, I dunno, that full-guard "Bottle Dance" still gives me goosebumps all these years later! :)

But you're right, a lot of what happened in between the opener and the closer doesn't do a whole lot for me now when I watch it on DVD.

I find that watching a lot of Santa Clara's shows, they look cluttered, especially in close-up shots. I just don't think their shows were ever designed for close-ups. Of course, none were, really, but it's especially apparent with Santa Clara. From a distance, their show makes sense. Up close, it looks oddly cluttered, which is not how I remember them.

[Jd83]

I was one of those who was at DCI Finals in '78 (around the 10 yard line). Really liked SCV then (but not too impressed with that show now), PR, Madison, Bridgemen, Blue Stars, Crossmen, North Star, and Guardsmen. Being on the Bleu Raeder rifle line at the time, I paid close attention to the Guardsmen and Madison, watching and learning from them.

At least I can also say I saw the Kilties' last DCI Finals performance and their first DCA Prelims performance live.

[Malibu]

Thanks Dan for that review. I agree that the quality of musicians are more so today than they were 20+ years ago. Not to take anything away from us "old pharts" but as you know, many in the hornlines back then couldn't read a note. They were given a piece of paper with their fingerings on it. Those that could read were a God send! I believe that is why along with the old bugles for the sound we heard back then. It was a tough job trying to get them to play the music....forget about intonation....just play loud was their theory. Now BD on the other hand, did focus a lot on their intonation. Their philosophy was if you played in tune you would sound louder without having to actually "play" louder. This method is used by so many corps today.

[mobrien]

I have all of the Legacy DVD's for the 70s with the exception of '78, and suspect it's because of what Dan's talking about - for the most part, it wasn't a great year from a design standpoint. I saw SCV in Wheeling in June and thought the show was great - saw them in August, and the show had actually contracted rather than grown (horn parts were watered down). PR was just 'blocky' - chunky and stiff. BD had a great first half and a warmed over second half (and the Mangione closer was played for crap everytime I heard it - did not reflect well on the '76 concert version).

DID think Madison had the strongest overall show that year, and would have been happy to see them win. The show was totally pop was it was well-played pop (even the BeeGees number worked, for criminee's sake). :P

Blue Stars usually had great musicality in the horn line back then. May have been ahead of their time in their performance values since they seemed to stress sound quality over volume.

Kilts '78 was just sad. Not because of the girls in the guard, but because of how patched together the whole show was. But the Santana concert was useful anytime I wanted to get my kids energized up when they were younger - they've since graduated to the real Santana.