Popa Chubby (Ohne Filter)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Concert: B-
I had
never heard of Popa Chubby, nor had anyone at the site, but it turns out he is
a Bluesman out of New York City with a post-Punk look. His 1997 Live
– Ohne Filter concert from the German TV show of that name is on DVD and is
not bad, if following the usually predictable path of the genre. He puts his sweat and effort into the
following selections:
1)
Heart Attack & Vine
2)
Trail O’ Tears
3)
Angel On My Shoulders
4)
Stoop Down Baby
5)
Caffeine & Nicotine
6)
Isis
7)
Dance The Night Away
8)
It’s Chubby Time
The set
last about an hour in all, and is good, but only Blues fans will really
appreciate it. Otherwise, it feels like
much of what we have seen before, even when he does it well. The Ohne
Filter series is about musicianship and on that level, this one
delivers. A variety of genres have been
covered in the 300+ shows that have been taped so far, excluding the
post-modern music like Rap, Hip Hop, DJing, Turntablists and Electronica. That is the appeal of the show, though I do
like some of the music it skips, we do not get enough of the musician type of
music.
The full
frame PAL color video is not what one would expect for a recent taping, having
limits in its good color and limited definition. It is unusually hazy for such a taping. The sound is available in an unusually
compressed and limited PCM CD Stereo, as well as a better Dolby Digital 5.1
AC-3, which plays better all around.
There is not the depth in the 5.1 here heard in the Mark King, Tony Joe
White or even the band America’s DVD from the series, all
reviewed elsewhere on this site. Besides
repeating the same stereo cords plug, other DVDs in the series, and Ohne Filter producer interview, it has
a biography of Chubby as well.
That
makes it a competent installment of the Ohne
Filter series, if not one of the outstanding shows. Too bad U.S. TV does not have an equivalent,
though it used to many years ago and a new Pepsi-sponsored series in the U.S. does not look like the next
answer. That is why, even with it
limits, this Pop Chubby Ohne Filter installment feels like the
last of a long line of great television that really is about music.
- Nicholas Sheffo
