Spend
An Evening With Saddle Creek
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B- Documentary: B-
Saddle Creek is not a band, but a record label that came
from both The Internet and a set of ambitious artists/bands in Omaha, Nebraska
in 1993 and have been home for them for ten years. A few did leave, with Smashmouth being the one that hit it being
on a major label, but there are plenty of other talented bands here and the new
documentary Spend An Evening With Saddle Creek from 2004.
Jason Kulbel and Rob Walters co-directed this runs 90
minutes and gives us the untold story of a label that has received a criminally
low amount of national press. Since
major labels are part of other media, why promote the competition? Up until the early 1970s, independent labels
such as this were very common and would have national hits all the time, many
started out of garages and even kitchens.
Today, the Punk version of this is DIY (do it yourself) everywhere you
turn. However, some DIY better than
others and bands like Cursive and The Faint still managed to have national
penetration. Other bands like with
names like “son, ambulance”, “lullaby for the working class” and “now it’s
over” may be to confusing to be popular, sounding like son titles or something
just too abstract to catch on.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is sometimes,
on the soft side, but is also color rich and consistent for the most part,
while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has just enough surrounds to be make the
music even more enjoyable. Pro Logic
surrounds are not overwhelming, but palpable enough to enjoy if you wish. Extras add up to a length almost as long as
the main program itself, including live performances, home movies, more
interviews, archival footage, some abstract bits you will have to encounter for
yourself like a photo shoot for an album cover, while the DVD case has a
booklet that shows the current artists and notes those who departed. This is very thorough, not unlike the Cameo
Parkway CD set recently covered on the site. It may sound corny, but anyone who loves originality, Rock music
and the beginning of something great should really get this DVD and Spend An
Evening With Saddle Creek.
- Nicholas Sheffo
