Extras: 85 minute documentary, no-man videos, Live Photo Gallery, Chronology
no-man is the combination of vocalist Tim Bowness and guitarist/proggod Steven Wilson, and over the last 20 years, they have released six albums, numerous collections, singles and ep's, invented trip-hop and pioneered the use of capitalletterless titles. In 2008, the band released schoolyard ghosts which was described in Silhobbit as containing beautiful songs that you should know by reviewer 4Chords and completed a short tour with dates at the Bush Hall in London, De Boerderij in Zoetermeer, Netherlands (their first mainland European date), and at the Savoy Theatre in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The two-disc mixtaped is the first DVD to be released by the band, and features the whole concert from the Bush Hall in 5.1 mix, along with an 85 minute career spanning documentary, and several other extras.
Disc one, entitled mixtaped contains the entire Bush Hall show and a live photo gallery. The 90 minute concert has been beautifully recorded with the minimum of fuss, and captures the atmospheric lighting perfectly. Crowd interaction is kept to a minimum as the band are obviously happiest letting their music do the talking for them, and with such music as this, it is a wise decision. It is difficult to pick out highlights as the whole thing is on such a high level, but is was good to hear older tracks such as time travel in texas, pretty genius, days in the trees, things change and watching over me getting a 2008 reworking, while recent tracks such as schoolyard ghosts' all sweet things and wherever there is light sound even better in the live environment! Sonically, it all sounds like perfection to me, though my setup doesn't allow me to appreciate the 5.1 mix as intended. But bearing in mind that Steven Wilson is fast becoming the Prog Rock world's Mr 5.1 I would imagine it's top notch!
The live photo gallery contains a slide show of images from the mini tour along to a live version of housekeeping.
Disc two brings us a fascinating documentary into the history of no-man, with several early clips of the band playing live, including their second ever gig, at the Battle Of The Bands competition, held at the Pavilion in Hemel Hempstead in 1989. I found that quite shocking as I was there that day, but supporting another band that a friend of mine was in! And no, I didn't become a no-man convert then. In fact, I hadn't remembered it at all until seeing the clip. The documentary includes interviews with Steven & Tim, as well as other figures from the bands history, such as Theo Travis, Ben Coleman, Carl Glover and Chris Maitland. The documentary concludes with footage from the 2008 tour and a classic quote from Steven discussing the no-man sound: "It's progressive with elements of country. No, it's country. No, it's folk. No, it's pop. Yeah, it's Prog."
The extras on this disc include a couple of out-takes from the documentary, though don't expect to see Steven tripping up or Tim farting, as the two sections were only removed for artistic reasons. There are also the official videos to colours, sweetheart raw, you grow more beautiful, the ballet beast and back when you were beautiful. It's all rounded off with an detailed no-man chronology.
This is an excellent release by a band who have done so much for the musical texture over the last 20 years, and also a welcome introduction to the band for any newcomers. It also almost makes up for the fact that I missed the Bush Hall show as I was away on holiday, though I realise now that I missed something special.
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