Let's just start by saying that if you've not seen the live stage show that this album comes from, you probably won't understand it, there's a fair chance you won't like the music, and you'll be left scratching your head saying "huh?"
On the other hand, if you have seen the show, then this will make total sense to you. A warning though : this album comes on CD and on DVD. DO NOT BUY THE CD. The audio reproduction on the CD is lousy, and the stereo separation is just plain awful. Get the DVD. That way you get DTS Digital and Dolby Digital 5.1 channels of surround sound. The key point is that the bass channel is recorded separately for your subwoofer (like 5.1 channel soundtracks on moview), and this single feature makes all the difference between the CD and DVD versions.
It's very hard to describe the Blue Man Group. I've got a link to a review of their live show at the bottom of this review to help out. They've been around since 1991 but only became noticed when Intel hired them to do the Pentium 4 adverts on TV. Their stageshows became sell-out items and they moved into the Luxor in Las Vegas to do 7 shows a week. The live show is very interactive, highly entertaining, and a mix of music and set comedy pieces performed with unerring precision and deadpan faces. The DVD, then, is just the audio portion of the show. Actually, most of the show tracks are here, but some are missing, and a couple of tracks on the DVD aren't in the show. The music is pretty unique. They've made instruments out of PVC pipes of varying lengths, and huge steel oil drums. The sound is unique too - there's no normal musical instrument can reproduce these sounds. As for the type of music? Again hard to describe. If you ever listened to 'The Shamen' back in the 90's, it's similar to that but without the words. Sort of a primal rhythmic percussion. They're backed up by a complement of other percussionists on more conventional drums and some electric guitar work. A Couple of their feature instruments are the Boss Drum - a massive drum big enough to stand in - and the Drumbone - a collection of variable length PVC pipes that works like a trombone. These two instruments simply don't work on a stereo system. You need to have a 5.1 channel surround system to get even an inkling of how they sound when you hear them live.
When you look at the DVD, it's two-sided. The first side has a little video interview with the creators of the Blue Man Group, and the other side has the album. When you put the album side on, the DVD menu comes up and while you're reading the various options, the background music is the same music they play at the live show while the audience is coming in and being seated. That's a neat touch. Another neat touch is the inclusion of the Blue Man version of the KLF's hardcore "Last Train to Trancentral" track. (That's missing from the CD Version). This is the music that pumps out during the pre-finale at the live show.
Most of the show tracks are on the DVD, and each one comes with a changing slideshow on screen while the track is playing. The best visual tracks from the show are here - PVC4, Utne Wire Man, and Rods and Cones. Although this is pure audio, if you've seen the show, you'll easily be able to recollect the visuals once you start listening to the tracks.
Again, if you've seen the show, you'll know how much of a part the bass notes play in Blue Man Group. This is why you should absolutely get the DVD and play it through a well set up 5.1 channel surround system. The second half of 'Rods and Cones', where they hammer out massive sounds on the Boss Drum reproduces pretty well on a 5.1 channel system. Listening to the same track off CD, I was left wondering "what happened to the bass?"
The only thing I missed was that White Rabbit isn't on the album, which is a shame, because it's one of the better pieces in the live show.
In all, you'll far better appreciate this show if you've seen Blue Man Group play live. See my review here for more info.
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