( DVD Review | Genre: Music | Reviewed by M. Reel )
Directed by: Various
Smog Veil Records
_________________________________________________
DVD
You may not know it, it hasn't hit the news circuits yet, but the Holy Grail has been found. I'm not joking! It exists, but it's not some silly mug... It's a DVD, and here it is: THOR, The Rock Warrior! You may think you know metal, hell, you may even know about Thor! But you just don't have a clue, not even the slightest idea...
You want to know about Rock? Showmanship? Pure motherfucking entertainment?
Thor's been rocking a long time now. He went from being Mr. Universe to Metal God. And what makes this DVD so damn special is that it documents it! Imagine, if you will, a muscle-bound hard rocker on the Merv Griffin show. They wouldn't allow heavy metal, so he has to sing a big band rendition. So, you have this guy come out with a handlebar moustache, poofy 70's hair, carrying a hammer and acting like a male stripper! Turning a rock anthem into latter-day Elvis, and then...
Blowing up a hot water bottle, no Donnie Osmond can't do that.
Then leaping into the air and playing to the ladies, and all the while the house band is on stage with their jaws on the floor. It's metal history in the making!
So why is Thor still relatively unknown? I don't really have the answer for you. You start the DVD, and you will see an entire decade's worth of evolution from 70's glam rock to balls-out 80's metal! Perhaps he came out a few years too late, because in another universe, Thor could have been the biggest act in music history. Bigger than KISS, Gwar, and Manowar combined. And what makes it so bittersweet is because Thor comes off as a giant doe-eyed pussycat. Everything he does here is done with such sincerety, despite how silly and campy it is.
But I digress, there's plenty of Thorship to go around here. Let's look at the DVD. This DVD pretty much contains the best film and video clips of Thor out there, and I'm just narrowing it down to the Merv griffin appearance and the Sleeping Giant/Keep the Dogs Away videos. The Merv griffin appearance is just pure entertainment, and pretty much the blueprint for Thor's performances in the years to come, despite how the music changes. The videos for Sleeping Giant and Keep the Dogs Away are two of my personal favorites. Not only are they both my favorite songs in Thor's catalogue, but the videos are polished and glammed all the way to hell and back. Lots of leather, stage presence, and psychedelic/disco lighting and camera filters are flattering, coupled with Thor's stage antics of flexing, pumping his fists, and shaking his hips. It's jaw dropping fun!
You'll also find a nice cross-section of news clips and television appearances. The newsclips are great, because they happen early on in Thor's career. They are fun, you get to see him doing his best Elvis impersonation and frenching the ladies in the front row. His TV appearances are an absolute hoot! Especially this DVD, because it contains a lot of stuff I haven't seen before. The appearance on the Uncle Floyd Show, which looks like a bizarre public access send-up of Andy Kaufman's television special. Out comes Thor, he blows up a hot-water bottle, much to the delight of Floyd's raunchy studio audience. Later on in the DVD, you get to see Thor's appearance on Channel 72, which is just as campy as the Floyd segment. You get to see him do his steel bar routine, then play a couple renditions of Anger and Thunder on the Tundra. The DVD also contains a few commercials, which are fun.
The bulk of the DVD, however, are his live performances. Now, I'm not a big fan of concert footage from anyone, even Thor. Still, most of the live stuff is a cross section from Thor's greatest period, namely the Keep the Dogs Away/Unchained period. I don't know, I just really like his glam stuff. It's really catchy and fun. Of course, with Unchained, you're getting more into metal but some of the earlier rock elements are there. It's fun to see that era live, especially with Thor's antics... Flailing the mic-stand, playing to the audience... This earlier stuff, however, doesn't have many of the more theatrical elements or feats of strength, but the performances are strong and the songs are good. You do see Thor in a fight and having cinder blocks crushed on his chest with a sledge-hammer during the Gladiator Stomp number (apparently his ribs were crushed during that). The only really weak live number was Rosie. I don't really care for the song, and the camera work there was rather boring. This is rounded out with some of Thor's harder stuff from Only the Strong.
Finally, there are a few more music videos. The Knock 'Em Down video is his most polished. It's a great track from Only the Strong, and it comes off as Thor's answer to the big hair/cock rock videos of the time. Good fun! But there's more! You also have a bonus video for Lightning Strikes, which I have never seen before, and here you see Thor in a pony-tail pulling off some of his wackiest antics yet. Seriously, his facial expressions in this video must be seen to be believed! Follow this with the Anger video. Now, I know that there are two different edits of this video. I can't really remember what the differences are, but at least you get one of the versions here. This is another personal favorite of mine, it's like Manowar done on a high-school budget with some of the cheesiest shit you'll ever see. Swords flashing, crappy effects, and Thor doing his thing... What's not to love?
The DVD also has an audio commentary, which is great. Thor is with Frank Meyer, the producer of his latest album Thor Against the World. It's a really engaging commentary. Thor's funny as hell and well-prepared. He'll tell you about every single performance and video here in great detail.
Finally, you have a couple recent videos from Thor. These days his act has become even more surreal, and sadly these videos don't really do him justice. I See Things is the better of the two, it looks like he's catering to the goth crowd here. It's a fun video, for no other reason than to see Thor in a suit. Glimmer is for the USA TV movie, Murder at the Presidio. It's not that great of a video (or movie for that matter), but you go see him in sunglasses pulling another David Bowie-esque performance. Has Lou Diamond Phillips...
Anyway, that brings me to the downside of the DVD. Most of this stuff has been floating around in bootleg format, and sadly the DVD has left me wanting more! As I just stated, Thor's work becomes more bizarre and surreal as the years go on... These days he's like an even-more-post-modern Gwar, punking it up, making concept albums... I would have loved it to see this as a 2-DVD set showcasing his whole career. Oh well, let's hope Smog Veil Records gets a second An-THOR-Logy out soon, because when I say Holy Grail, I'm not kidding. If it were to come out that this DVD could cure the sick, I wouldn't be surprised. The ultimate party DVD!
Specs
- Main
- Opening/News Clips (1979)
- Action live on Merv Griffin (1976)
- Sleeping Giant video (1977)
- Keep the Dogs Away video (1977)
- Catch a Tiger video (1977)
- Keep the Dogs Away live (1979)
- Rosie live (1979)
- Thor-u-mentary
- Rag-Na-Rock live (1981)
- Special Flight live (1981)
- Phantom of My Nightmare live (1981)
- Uncle Floyd Show (1982)
- Gladiator Stomp live (1982)
- Channel 72 TV Appearance
- Thunder on the Tundra Channel 72
- Anger Channel 72
- Only the Strong/When Gods Collide live (84-85)
- Chevy TV Commercial (1985)
- Kromer TV Commercial (1985)
- U68 Power Hour promos (1985)
- Knock 'Em Down video (1985)
- End Credits
- Bonus
- Audio Commentary with Thor & Frank Meyer
- Lightning Strikes aborted video clips (1983)
- Anger aborted video clips (1983)
- I See Things video (2002)
- Glimmer video (2005)
- Scrapbook
_________________________________________________