Arms & Legs: The Story So Far (DVD)

If you have Radiohead: OK Computer - A Classic Album Under Review and Radiohead - Homework - Unauthorized Documentary then don't waste your money. This is just a repackaged version with a new cover. If you don't have either of those you aren't really missing much anyway as the people interviewed aren't as knowledgeable about Radiohead as any ardent fan is. Which is to say if you are a fan of the band then you already know everything that these supposed experts talk about in the DVDs. Not to mention that some of them have some questionable opinions about "what Radiohead meant when they wrote this song". And there are some downright inaccuracies as well. For example, there is one guy that goes on and on about the line in Paranoid Android "Ambition makes you look very ugly" When the actual line is "Ambition makes you look pretty ugly". That might seem like a minor misquote to some but the guy uses that line to expound that Thom Yorke was putting forth the idea that Ambition is ugly. However, "pretty ugly" can be viewed as a paradoxical juxtoposition therefore steering clear of making any such grand pronouncements. And I think even the most casual fan would surmise that Thom Yorke isn't the type of person to make grand pronoucements in his lyrics. If anything his lyrics are quite the opposite.

Also in case you don't have the 2 previous DVDs mentioned or if you have them and you forgot.."The Story So Far" is a highly deceptive subtitle since this only covers up to 2003 at best and very shabbily at that. In short, I would only recommend this to people who know next to nothing about Radiohead because that sure seems to be what the people interviewed in these DVDs know.

So it seems like there are really just two DVDs currently infiltrating our living rooms continiously under different aliases. Radiohead OK Computer: Album Under Review and Radiohead: Homework. This particular Arms and Legs - 2 Disk Documentary (The Story So Far) is simply the 2 aforementioned DVDs in one package. Much to my chagrin, this 2 disk set is the same exact product as Radiohead- The DVD Box Unauthorized (2008) (which i own) except for the packaging and title. To make things more complicated and put a Radiohead Fan over the edge; the DVD titled Radiohead: Logical Emotions is Radiohead: Homework repackaged and renamed.

Long story short, if you want Radiohead: Homework and Radiohead OK Computer: Album Under Review (both of which are terrible DVDs) buy this 2 disk set or the other 2 disk set; which-ever is going for a lesser rate. I must warn all fellow Radiohead fans though, both DVD's are monotonous, uninformative, at times contain glaring inaccuracies and are both very poorly produced. Radiohead OK Computer: Album Under Review (1st disk in this set) is a 1 hour documentary of 4 Radiohead fans/no name writer's trying to decipher Thom's lyrics and 1 Prog-Rock keyboards player--turned lounge act piano player fingering OK Computer riffs on his piano (while also attempting to decipher Thom's lyrics). No drugs would make this film even marginally watchable.

Radiohead: Homework is much of the same. Except in this DVD's case none of Radiohead's vast discography is used in the soundtrack. The main title reads something like "None of Radiohead's music is included in this video". It should have read "Probably should have kept your receipt for return". I must say, however, that Radiohead: Homework (2nd disk in this set) offers footage of Oxford's current pubs, clubs and concert venues. The same venues in which Radiohead used to perform in the early 90's. Radiohead fans who can't afford to travel to England might find this footage and accompanying Oxford town facts interesting.

1/5 stars