SNL: 25 Years of Music DVD Box Set

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SNL: 25 Years of Music DVD Box Set

Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:13 pm

I thought I'd throw out a review, just in case anyone's thinking of buying.

It's five volumes, each one covering five years in the show's history with an appropriate 'host.' I haven't seen this sold in separate volumes, but I'm guessing it's available that way. Each one is about 70-80 minutes.

Each disc is split half and half between sketches and performances, with a larger number of performances but with sketches often running longer than the performances. Broken up into five posts, here's...

Volume One

Chevy Chase hosts this disc. This pretty much sets the tone where all the hosts tell lame jokes. Chevy occasionally seems smug, but most of his anecdotes are pretty sincere, probably because this was the cast he worked with.

Billy Joel does "Only The Good Die Young." I'm not a fan, but if you are, you'll like this performance. Next, a John Belushi sketch of him as Beethoven that takes a surreal turn when he performs Ray Charles's "What'd I Say." This is immediately followed by the real Ray Charles performing the same song in 1977, and it's a pretty good performance that reunites Ray with some of his old horn players.

Next is Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and as Chevy says beforehand, this was actually taped, not performed live, because she had bad stage fright. Also, Chevy is in the background playing cowbell and singing backup - he's got glasses on and is not lit well, but you REALLY hear him (and no, he doesn't have a good voice.) I'm not a Carly Simon fan either, but this is another straightforward performance.

Next in Steve Martin doing "King Tut," which apparently was a response to a King Tut museum tour in the mid-70's. Amusing and goofy, but overhyped for a 'classic.' You had to be there, I guess. Next is another sketch, Curtin, Newman, and Radner singing a song for Chevy Chase, who was in the hospital that week due to a bad fall from a sketch the previous week. The song's not that funny, and their singing is often off-key.

Next is the Grateful Dead doing "Casey Jones." I'm not a big Dead fan but this was a pretty good performance (I heard they were playing some of their best live shows at the time). Next is Simon & Garfunkel doing "The Boxer," just voices and acoustic guitar. A nice performance followed by the classic monologue where Paul Simon sings "Still Crazy..." in a turkey suit but ultimately can't go through with it. (pretty much uncut, all the way up to Lorne telling the audience 'we'll be right back').

Next is a HILARIOUS 'duet' of Joe Cocker with John Belushi singing "Feelin' Alright." My GOD, you have to see this, even if you don't know Cocker. Cocker even gave a very brief interview for this DVD, which is shown afterwards (he basically talks about Belushi finding out how he dressed and working hard to impersonate him).

Next is Nick Winters, Bill Murray's lounge singer, one whole sketch, the one with him doing 'Star Wars.' I have a soft spot for Murray so I liked it. Then it's Elvis Costello's notorious "Radio Radio" performance," great. The beginning has some funny editing (doesn't ruin the clip, they just intercut an interview with Howard Shore before Costello really starts playing "Less Than Zero"), but otherwise it gets every bit, even the band leaving the stage looking pretty sullen.

Then it's Andy Kaufman doing "Blue Suede Shoes" (if you've seen the film "Man on the Moon," you've seen this bit), classic, original stuff. Next is the Blues Brothers doing "Soul Man," which is okay. They have Cropper and Dunn clearly in the background, and obviously Aykroyd and Belushi will never be Sam & Dave, but a decent 'cover' nonetheless. Chase also says they got the idea to dress like that after pretending to be Chase's Secret Service when Chase visited the White House earlier that year (but I think they got the idea from John Lee Hooker - how do you explain the hats?)

Next is Patti Smith doing an awesome "Gloria," and then Gilda spoofing Patti in the first Candy Slice sketch. Then it's Lorne Michaels doing his famous Beatles offer ($3000 for all four to reunite), funny, but they cut in an interview with Lorne. Then it's a lame bit of Aykroyd as Tom Snyder interviewing Mick Jagger, followed by a so-so cover of the Temptations' "Don't Look Back" as performed by the late Peter Tosh and surprise guest Mick Jagger. It ends with the Band doing "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," which is excellent - their appearance on SNL was their last TV performance (as the original group).

(from http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedi ... Night-Live )

Elvis Costello was banned from SNL for 13 years. In December 1977, he was slated to perform with his group The Attractions. NBC and the show's producer Lorne Michaels didn't want Costello to perform "Radio, Radio," since it was an anti-media song. Costello defied them by beginning to play "Less Than Zero," stopping at the beginning, telling the audience that there was no reason to do that song, and started playing "Radio, Radio." Besides the defiance, this also infuriated Michaels because it put the show off schedule. Costello was finally invited to come back and play in 1989, and even reenacted his act of defiance on the 25th Anniversary Show with the Beastie Boys in 1999.
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Postby lukpac » Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:23 pm

So is the Costello bit included?
"I know because it is impossible for a tape to hold the compression levels of these treble boosted MFSL's like Something/Anything. The metal particulate on the tape would shatter and all you'd hear is distortion if even that." - VD

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Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:31 pm

Volume Two

Hosted by Martin Short who easily does the best job. Never smug, funny but never over-the-top, occasionally self-deprecating and very relaxed.

Interesting disc that documents the five years Lorne Michaels took off, and so Dick Ebersol ran the show. A lot of tribute is paid to Murphy, who pretty much carried the show for four years (and seriously, if it wasn't for Murphy, the show would've been cancelled long before Michaels had a change of heart).

First up is an Ed Grimley sketch with Tina Turner, who drops by his apartment and riles him up with lust. They did way too many of these - Short was on SNL one season and I think they did at least a dozen. But, this was funny, a really good Grimley sketch. This is followed by Turner doing "Better Be Good To Me" from her big comeback album, WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT. A good solid performance, but I thought the song was still a bit, well, unremarkable.

This is followed by Murphy doing James Brown's Hot Tub talk show (hilarious), followed by the REAL James Brown doing "I Got You," which was good, real solid, but not a GREAT James Brown performance (wish they had a long, funk jam instead). Then it's Ringo Starr (who hosted in 85) with Billy Crystal as Sammy Davis, Jr. and they do a duet of "A Little Help From My Friends" that is too Borscht belt for my tastes and really isn't funny. Then it's Queen doing "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." I'm not a Queen fan, but this is an all right performance.

Next is the classic Buh-Wheat commercial with Eddie Murphy singing 80's hits like "Bette Davis Eyes." HILARIOUS, one of my favorites. Then it's Randy Newman doing a solid performance of "I Love L.A.," followed by a Canon commercial parody with Stevie Wonder - man, this holds NO punches in poking fun at Stevie's blindness, I almost feel bad about laughing except Stevie had fun doing it, too.

Next is a brief clip of Martin Short as a 90+ year old songwriter on the Joe Franklin Show (a Billy Crystal character) that is more Borscht belt stuff, followed by the Go-Go's doing "We Got The Beat." Okay, but they're definitely not a great live band. Then it's the famous "Ebony & Ivory" sketch with Murphy and Piscopo that's hilarious.

Next up is Rick James doing a very good "Super Freak" with his touring band. This is followed by Rich Hall is a 'Rock Star Fashion' show, making fun of David Byrne's giant suit from STOP MAKING SENSE, which is really lame. This is followed by the Talking Heads doing "Take Me To The River" from 1979 or so (a bit of a cheat), really cool if you want to see vintage Talking Heads.

Next is Spinal Tap doing "Big Bottom," which is surprisingly amusing. I love their movie but was never a big fan of their novelty music. THIS, on the other hand, was funny. The opening joke - every instrument is a bass instrument. Double bass, bass keyboards, lead bass...

Next is Eddie Murphy doing Little Richard Simmons which works half the time when Murphy's doing the Simmons half of his persona, but not when he's singing Little Richard tunes.

Then it's a good, early performance of John Mellencamp doing "Pink Houses." This is followed by a funny, 8 minute sketch of Gumby's Christmas Special, which still feels a bit out of place, but it's pretty funny anyway. The disc ends with Duran Duran doing "Hungry Like The Wolf." If you like Duran Duran, you'll probably like this. If not, at least it's the last track.
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Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:32 pm

lukpac wrote:So is the Costello bit included?


You mean "Radio Radio"? Yeah, it's on there.
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Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 10:59 pm

Volume Three

Hosted by Al Franken. Man, this guy comes off as a real ASS. Intentionally of course. It's either hilarious or it'll rub you the wrong way.

The opening joke is Franken visiting SNL's Studio 8H, going from spot to spot and saying, "The first Coneheads sketch was right here..." etc., then the camera pulls back and the background goes static-y then green, revealing he's not really at Studio 8H, and he starts making weird comments as he continues the charade, saying "Belushi, he died right here....and Gilda died...somewhere over there..."

Anyway, first is the Bangles, preceded with a snide remark that of all the musical guests, they stood out in terms of musicianship. The performance is okay, it's their cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter," but it's kind of stiff. They seem relaxed but they sound stiff. Anyway, Franken says you'll be seeing them next on VH-1's "Where Are They Now?" Then it's a great Wayne's World sketch, complete and uncut, with Tom Hanks as a roadie and Aerosmith.

(BTW, I forgot to mention, brief interviews of Joe Piscopo were included on the last volume, cut here and there between performances, and on this volume, they get G.E. Smith, the musical director at the time, also known for touring with David Bowie around SCARY MONSTERS, Bob Dylan in the late 80's, and recording with Hall & Oates).

After Wayne's World is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers doing a pretty good "Free Fallin'," with a different solo towards the end but otherwise a note-for-note match. Then it's a really good performance of Paul Simon and I'm guessing a group of young performers from South Africa doing "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes," around the time GRACELAND came out. Next is Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze doing their Chippendales sketch, Farley's break-out SNL performance, HILARIOUS even if it's a one-joke sketch.

The best TV performance EVER is next: Neil Young doing ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD, heard for the first time in public. This KILLS everything else, Neil Young was written off at this point, no one thought he could do anything remotely like this anymore, and BAM. Supposedly this was re-edited in subsequent broadcasts because Young leaps out of a few shots leaving blank space for a few seconds. He's still leaping all over the place, but I'm not sure if this is the edited version. At least the music sounds complete (I think the editing didn't require any cutting of the sound..at least I HOPE, but it doesn't appear to).

Next is Dana Carvey doing 'Choppin Broccoli,' the first sketch I remember seeing on SNL. They cut in some interview with Lorne (for crissakes, Lorne, how often do you have to butt in to these things?) but it's the whole thing, amusing stuff about a rock musician who's meeting some execs and obviously has nothing written but has to make up stuff on the spot to save his ass.

Then it's Roy Orbison doing one of his last TV performances, maybe his last, "O Pretty Woman." He actually got to do 3 songs, a rarity - I have the tape somewhere, but he did two sets, one of one song, another with two, and I think "Pretty Woman" was the last song of the two-song set. Anyway, the mix is BETTER - if you've ever seen this on TV, the mix SUCKED. 80's echo on the drums, overwhelmed everything. This whole set, and I think every other disc, was remixed, with the 5.1 on all tracks coming from Sound Stage Studios in Nashville and the mastering by Ted Jensen at Sterling. I don't have a 5.1 setup right now, but I'm guessing the early ones suck because they were taped in mono.

Next is a Tommy Flanagan sketch (Jon Lovitz) with Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, pretty funny stuff, has everything except the closing 'Live from New York' by Mick, as it dissolves before then.

The Pretenders made their first appearance on SNL in 1986, after their peak, and they take "Don't Get Me Wrong" from that. A good single and a decent performance, regardless.

Next is the Sinatra Group with the late great Phil Hartman that's HILARIOUS, and it's all Hartman. Sting as Billy Idol, Hooks as Sinead O'Connor, Chris Rock as a guy from 2 Live Crew, Mike Myers and Victoria Jackson as two hanger-ons for Frank. Franken says this sketch was created because Rob Smigel came up with a line, "I have chunks of guys like you in my stool." They wanted to use that, so they all sat down and thought, who'd say such a thing? Lorne also does a brief interview where he says Hartman's Sinatra was different than Piscopo's because Lorne's writers used Sinatra as a way of dumping on the current generation.

Next is the Fine Young Cannibals doing "She Drives Me Crazy," a great flash-in-the-pan group that really did themselves in by never recording a follow-up. This is a decent performance, but the falsetto sounds a bit rough here.

Next is a really lame sketch with Valerie Bertinelli and her husband, Eddie Van Halen (who actually performed an impromptu jam for the broadcast with G.E. Smith - I think they kept it for syndication). The joke is Eddie brings his roadies home (Carvey, Nealon, Dennis Miller) to crew their dinner. Franken makes a crack beforehand that guests, usually the female ones, often come to SNL and sleep with the writers, and unfortunately Bertinelli brought her husband, which made everything a bit "awkward."

This is followed by Sting (and Branford Marsalis on sax) doing "We'll Be Together." I'm not a solo Sting fan, but this is one of his better solo songs and it gets a good performance. Sounds REALLY dated, a really slick, 80's sound, and this is a LIVE performance.

Ends with Franken making a lame joke about helping Elvis Costello come up with a title for "Veronica" (basically Elvis wanted to use a stereotypical name for an ugly girl like Esther or something, and Franken told him to use Veronica). I'm not a SPIKE fan, but this is a decent performance, but a really odd choice. You already got "Radio Radio" on Volume One (Elvis is the only artist with more than one performance on these sets outside of Paul Simon, and with Simon, it was one with Garfunkel, one joke, and one genuine one without Garfunkel).
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Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:21 pm

VOLUME FOUR

Jay Mohr hosts, and he comes off really smug, worse than the sports agent he played in JERRY MAGUIRE (which is really odd because I never thought he was a smug guy from his talk show appearances).

First up is "Losing My Religion" by REM, excellent performance from the original configuration plus a guitar player (Scott Litt?). Vintage REM.

Next is the point/counterpoint with Mike Myers as Mick Jagger, and Mick Jagger as Keith Richards, which is pretty amusing and surreal.

Next up, is another classic, WAR by Sinead O'Connor. Apparently never shown again until this DVD was made, they go out of their way to have both Mohr AND Michaels talk about how they didn't know she planned to tear up the Pope's picture, how everyone was shocked, blah blah (see the recent spoken history of SNL by Shales to get more details). Pretty bold, but a poor choice in how to protest, O'Connor was protesting the church's silence/looking the other way when it came to priest's abusing children (notice how she stresses CHILD ABUSE over and over in the song), but no one got the message because they could only zero in on the tearing of the photo. The controversy finally exploded a few years back, thanks to a Boston Globe investigation. As much as I respect O'Connor for trying, man, did her choice of how to speak out back-fire...

Then it's Madonna doing a crappy "Fever," a crappy track from her underrated EROTICA album. This is followed by Madonna's best performance on SNL - the Wayne's World sketch where she pops up in their fantasies (almost complete, they leave out much of the set-up, which was Wayne and Garth unveiling their top ten babes list).

Next is an Aretha Franklin performance preceded by Jay Mohr making a joke about Aretha Franklin's dress and giant breasts (and presumably her girth). From the 90's, but Aretha's voice is still in top shape and the backing is excellent, she does an excellent "Chain Of Fools."

Then it's Mohr paying brief respects to Phil Hartman and Chris Farley, followed by a brief clip that shows why Hartman's Sinatra was funnier than Piscopo's - it's from the Duets recording session, but only the part where Adam Sandler comes in as Bono. Hartman is funny playing Sinatra as an ass, and Sandler is hilarious mocking Bono's singing.

Then it's Eric Clapton doing "Wonderful Tonight" for the umpteenth fucking time, followed by a crappy sketch mocking a TV commercial for a CD featuring hip-hop hits for suburban white kids.

Then it's on to Nirvana doing an excellent "Rape Me" with Pat Smear also sitting in, followed by G.E. Smith paying respect to Nirvana. After that, it's Sandler singing "Red Hooded Sweatshirt" on Weekend Update, and I'm kind of sick of Sandler's novelty songs because I had a roommate who played his CD's night and day for weeks at a time, but if you're fresh to it, it's pretty funny.

Then it's the Chris Farley show with Paul McCartney. I love these sketches because this is where Farley attains his full potential. Complete and uncut, very funny, it's followed by a rusty "Hey Jude" with Paul McCartney and his touring band circa OFF THE GROUND. It starts off shakey, but gets pretty good in the extended coda, with Paul's vocals getting stronger, too.

Then it's En Vogue doing "Free Your Mind," which is all right, but I was never a big En Vogue fan, nor a Counting Crows fan, who perform "Round Here" next.

Next is Bruce Springsteen doing "Living Proof" from LUCKY TOWN, with a band that includes Roy Bittan but no one else from the E Street Band. It's actually a good song and a good performance (I never bought the idea that studio pros ruined LUCKY TOWN and HUMAN TOUCH - I doubt the E Street Band would've been much an improvement, and even then they can't overcome the fact that most of those songs sucked). This was Springsteen's first appearance on SNL, his next one wouldn't happen until 2002 with the reunited E Street Band.

Then it's "Raise Your Hands" sketch parodying "We Are The World" and others. It's lame, but still amusing to see cast members dress up as then-famous acts like the Proclaimers, or Rob Schneider as k.d. lang...oh, and Michael Bolton as himself (shudder)....

I'm not a fan of Blind Melon or Live so I'm biased against "I Alone" and "No Rain" which close the set. "No Rain," remember the video for that? The girl in the bee suit? Ah, nostalgia...
Last edited by MK on Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:40 pm

VOLUME FIVE

Weakest of the bunch, by far, and goes back to an earlier post I made about how SNL's musical guests SUCK now. This covers 2000-2005. The chirpy, perky Cheri Oteri is the host.

It opens with a sketch on the Celine Dion show which is amusing for having Matthew Broderick as Gloria Estefan. BTW, remember that penis sketch he did the first time he hosted? That shrimpy kid has packed on about 30 lbs. of muscle by the time this aired.

Next is Mariah Carey doing "Butterfly," and it still sucks. Then it's "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, which is okay fluff, but I'm not a No Doubt fan. Then it's Alanis Morissette doing "Hand In My Pocket" which still sucks.

Then we catch a break with Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, and Paula Abdul (???) doing a cheerleader sketch which is amusing if occasionally too chirpy.

Then it's the Spice Girls with "Wannabe." Wow, the compilers really know which timeless gems to pick!

This is followed by Garbage with "Special," which is okay, but I'm not a big Garbage fan.

This is followed by a crappy sketch with Jon Lovitz (when he hosted) where he wins a trip to some log cabin with Jewel (played by Ana Gasteyer). It's a crappy one-note sketch where Gasteyer basically mocks Jewel's singing.

This is followed by Jewel doing "Who Will Save Your Soul" which ain't too bad, but I'm still not a fan.

Then it's Hanson with "Mmm Bop." For crissakes, enough with the fucking one-hit wonders, this isn't "Louie Louie," this is plain shit.

Then it's an amusing Weed Doctor sketch with Kevin Spacey as a doctor who's pretty free with prescribing weed, and it has cameos by Beck and Michael Palin (who later introduces himself as Tim Allen). This is followed by an awesome performance of Beck and his standard touring band doing "Where It's At," and man I'm pissed I passed on a $10 ticket to see his show on the Odelay tour, fucking classes...

Next up is Snoop doing "Snoop's Upside Your Head," not one of Snoop's best tracks but it's a pretty solid performance. Then it's Metallica doing "Fuel," which I'm lukewarm to. They got them 10 years too late, IMO. Then it's an amusing sketch with Garth Brooks (who's a better actor than he is a singer...but not that good, period) and Will Ferrell as Satan who takes Brooks soul in exchange for a hit song. Unfortunately, Satan can't come up with a decent song. Then it's Garth Brooks doing "Two Pina Coladas."

Next up is Dave Matthews Band doing "What Would You Say," which I got sick of the second time I heard it in 1997. Then it's the fucking Backstreet Boys. Then it's a boy band parody sketch called Seven Degrees Celsius that is pretty lame. Then it's Ricky Martin doing his one American hit, "Livin' La Vida Loca," which actually ain't bad, but feels like a relic already. There's one last track of Paula Cole doing "I Don't Want To Wait," which I'm not a fan of.

There's a bonus track. The other volumes waste it by including a sketch from the subsequent volume (which makes sense if these were sold separately, but not so when it's a box set). Rather than include something from Volume 1, this volume includes U2 doing "Elevation," which is an excellent example of what you could've seen on the Elevation tour, which Bono doing his shtick of walking into the audience, mixing other songs into "Elevation" (this time, it's "Instant Karma") and stopping by host Val Kilmer to make a lyrical reference to "Light My Fire."
"When people speak to you about a preventive war, you tell them to go and fight it. After my experience, I have come to hate war." – Dwight D. Eisenhower



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Postby Beatlesfan03 » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:41 pm

MK wrote:VOLUME FOUR

Next up, is another classic, WAR by Sinead O'Connor. Apparently never shown again until this DVD was made, they go out of their way to have both Mohr AND Michaels talk about how they didn't know she planned to tear up the Pope's picture, how everyone was shocked, blah blah (see the recent spoken history of SNL by Shales to get more details). Pretty bold, but a poor choice in how to protest, O'Connor was protesting the church's silence/looking the other way when it came to priest's abusing children (notice how she stresses CHILD ABUSE over and over in the song), but no one got the message because they could only zero in on the tearing of the photo. The controversy finally exploded a few years back, thanks to a Boston Globe investigation. As much as I respect O'Connor for trying, man, did her choice of how to speak out back-fire...


Is the picture being torn shown or not?

I'm not certain if these are available individually or not, but I believe these were shown on VH-1 at one point though heavilly edited.
Last edited by Beatlesfan03 on Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby MK » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:43 pm

Yup, the whole thing, uncut, including the audience's silence (director Dave Wilson felt angry and sucker-punched by the picture, expecting her to hold up a child's photo as she did in rehearsal - Sinead even asked for his permission regarding the child's photo as well as a close-up for the photo during broadcast which he agreed to - so he didn't light the applause sign.)

I could've worded all this better, but I'm tired....snore....

BTW, this is for David (found on an SNL site):

Frank Zappa had been banned from the show after his hosting stint on October 21, 1978. His acerbic and often misunderstood sense of humor made him more than unfavorable with the cast and crew. During his performance, he made a habit of reading cue-cards and mugging the camera. Many cast members (save for John Belushi) stood noticeably far from him during the goodnights.
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Postby JWB » Sat Jun 04, 2005 11:57 pm

MK wrote:I'm not a fan of Blind Lemon or Live so I'm biased against "I Alone" and "No Rain" which close the set. "No Rain," remember the video for that? The girl in the bee suit? Ah, nostalgia...


I have a soft spot for Live. I really liked their SNL performance. I'm glad they used it for the DVD...I wouldn't have expected that.

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Postby Andreas » Sun Jun 05, 2005 1:37 am

Is Brian Wilson on this set? He sang Good Vibrations in 1976 and Love Is A Woman in 1977. Objectively, these are terrible performances that show Brian in very bad shape. But the historical importance is immense.

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Postby Bennett Cerf » Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:45 am

The reason for the slight editing on Costello's "Less Than Zero" is to remove Don Pardo's "Once again, Elvis Costello" voiceover, which originally appeared over the opening notes of the song.

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Postby MK » Sun Jun 05, 2005 11:54 am

No, Brian Wilson is not on the set. I mentioned every sketch and performance, in the order it was shown on the DVD, so if you don't see an artist mentioned, he wasn't on the DVD.

No, you DO hear Don Pardo's announcment, but the editing for "Radio Radio" was a little funky. They include Don Pardo's announcement, but a few seconds later they cut to Howard Shore or someone else giving an interview on the performance - they actually cut back and forth a bit between interview and performance (you hear the interview the whole time) as they give background info on what happened, then they finally cut back to the actual performance, but back-tracking a bit so they start right after Don Pardo has already made his announcement. They then show the remainder of the performance uncut.
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Postby Xenu » Sun Jun 05, 2005 4:00 pm

MK wrote:Frank Zappa had been banned from the show after his hosting stint on October 21, 1978. His acerbic and often misunderstood sense of humor made him more than unfavorable with the cast and crew. During his performance, he made a habit of reading cue-cards and mugging the camera. Many cast members (save for John Belushi) stood noticeably far from him during the goodnights.


I had heard about the crappy showing on his hosting stint (why the heck did he want to host SNL?), but I heard nothing about him being "banned." I always assumed he just never felt like going back after the 70s.

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Postby Bennett Cerf » Sun Jun 05, 2005 5:08 pm

MK wrote:No, you DO hear Don Pardo's announcment, but the editing for "Radio Radio" was a little funky. They include Don Pardo's announcement, but a few seconds later they cut to Howard Shore or someone else giving an interview on the performance - they actually cut back and forth a bit between interview and performance (you hear the interview the whole time) as they give background info on what happened, then they finally cut back to the actual performance, but back-tracking a bit so they start right after Don Pardo has already made his announcement. They then show the remainder of the performance uncut.


Oops, you're right. I was thinking of the SNL25 CD, which fabricates the opening notes on "Less Than Zero."