Sooner Or Later In Spain

A funny thing happened to me while watching this DVD. At first I was pretty freakin disappointed. Where was the big stage, lights and bombs? Where the hell was my DTS, or at least 5.1 sound field? What, no overdubs - how dare they! Then the realization hit me and washed over me like a soothing wave. This ain't Bon Jovi! This ain't "Slippery when Wet" - this was MARAH - this was "Slippery with Sweat"! I was back in LUV! This is exactly why I fell in love with MARAH in the first place. This is music played by 5 guys who get it - by it I mean Life and Music. This is not music for the masses - all CGI and DTS. This is music played by two brothers dancing drunk on the ledge of a 50 story building - piss drunk at that! MARAH is the only band I would even dare to compare to "Exile" era Stones. The difference is these boys do it in real time, no overdubs, and in your face. Mick and Keith had a year, 100 reels of 2" tape, substances to abuse and 50 takes per song! If your heart beats, if you've ever loved and lost it all, if the closest you'll ever come to a silver spoon in your mouth is with a wad of cotton and a book of matches - then this is your music. Buy this now! And MARAH - keep break'n hearts man - see ya on tour.By the way, am I the only one who thinks "Round Eye Blues" is the greatest song in the world. "I think about those sweet motown girls they left behind and the..."

If you already own and like even one Marah CD, but haven't seen the boys live, then by all means get this. It's more raucous than their CDs, but I'm betting 90% of you will like it. Of course, anyone who has seen them live will already be getting this. But if you are NEW to the band ... well, then the DVD quality might put you off and this isn't the best introduction to Marah. Instead, you should buy "If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry" and check them out.

If you havnt heard of these guys yet, they bring their own Ragged-But-Right style of Rock-n-Roll to the table with a sensability not unlike the early Stones or Faces. You may have heard about their comparisons to THE REPLACEMENTS. They are undoubtly one of the Best Live American RAWK Bands right up there with TOM PETTY/HEARTBREAKES, SPRINGSTEEN/E-STREET, THE BLACK CROWES, THE BOTTLE ROCKETS. All honest praise-well deserved.But man, I'm really on the fence on this new MARAH release. The video, filmed in a small but packed club in Spain is grainy and a bit rough by today's standards. Alot of the video was shot right over the audience. It tries to establish that you-are-there feelin' and kinda fits the bands style. There's no 5.1 Dolby - sound is just PCM Stereo. Which woulda been OK if it had been a bit hotter, punchier, but its not. Kinda muddy. However, the band's performance is Exceptional! These Kids from Philly were SMOKIN' this night in Mataro, Spain. 11 on a Ten Scale! You get over 20 tracks so its a Full show, plus some bonus footage in other cities. Its just that the quality of Audio & Video of the Main Show is normally reserved for the Bonus Materials section of most other Artist's DVDs. I found my copy in the CD section of my local Mega Store. Its indexed on Amazon under CD's also, yet the CD is really the Bonus part of the package for it only has 7 tracks (which greatfully are Not repeats of the DVD's tracks). Normally the record company has a Full length CD release and throws in a Bonus DVD as an incentive to Buy, not Download said disc. Here its just the opposite but wisely they're not marketing it as a DVD.All-in-All a lot of Bang for the Buck. If you're a fan of MARAH, you need this record of the Sweat & Heart this band pumps out any night, every night they play. If you're nit picky about A/V quality, save your money and try out any of their CD releases first.