I actually saw the VCR tape in a used record store today
the obessive completist collector geek that lives inside me was ready to waste good money
til the sensible voice in my head reminded me I dont own a videotape player and already have this material in a less official dvd format elsewhere
and yes this is a surprisingly lame video from someone who just a couple of years before did The Wall film
but not much more or less lame than the Final Cut video ep
one good thing about this: theres a second long glimpse of filmed concert footage. meaning maybe Rogers got a proper Radio KAOS video he's forgotten about in one of his vaults somewhere?
The concept of "Radio KAOS" is great, and musically it is sad this project wasn't recorded by Pink Floyd. On the other hand, this pop-machine generated songs and sometimes up-tempo songs doesn't make any good match with Mr Gilmours blues-styled lead guitar as he did on "The Wall".
Over all, the concept of "Radio KAOS" do fit with Mr Waters narrative style of singing, and blends perfectly with harmonies from the female singers and the vocals of Paul Carrack.
One more thing: The live version opens up with interaction between the artist and his audience. That's a strange direction after all we know from the idea behind of building his wall...
If anyone suggest Mr Waters to do a re-make of "Radio KAOS", I will be the first one too agree. There are plenty of good music that got wasted by demand of the record company, if we should buy Mr Waters own excuse.
It is what it is. I watched this a lot back in the days, and still got my VHS from 88/89. Not great, but I really enjoy it. It can not be compared to The Wall, a film shot on film, this is a promo video shot on video.
In my opinion, a waste of the KAOS concept. Should've been a more narrative based video with the entire album, including songs like Going to Live in L.A.,Molly's Song, and maybe a few others.
Show the mines closing, show Benny's pub crawl, show what's going through Billy's head. Sure, they explain it all in the beginning, but this is a VIDEO. Show, don't tell, guys!
...hold on, I'm going to jot that idea down. I think I have something in the works.
"The local police... Calling all cars!" it's worth it for that shot of Roger dressed as a cop in a police car.
But the video packaging is really misleading. (I haven't got it but a friend has)
A shot of Roger with a bass hanging from his neck with an arm raised in triumph.
"That looks so cool! Looks like we might get... Oh." was how I remembered the main bulletin points from watching it.
Although it has been a while.