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Gluey Brothers: Stiff For the Elders

DTS // DVD Audio

List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Dvdempire]

Review by Aaron Beierle | posted July 31, 2001 | E-mail the Author

The Music:

Hot Tina
Walk Belly Cologne
Puerto Rican Blond
Joe Bonner
Tiny Planet
DQ2K
Indentities Last Chance
The Ballad Of Falcon Carson
Penny And The Young Buck
The Orange Monster
OMM/BBB

The DVD

SOUND: The majority of DTS's music releases have been adult-oriented; country, light-rock, R&B, bluegrass or other. Occasionally though, more eccentric and offbeat releases are coming out of DTS's surround-music label. First it was "Studio Voodoo", a fascinating and wildly experimental techno/world album that mixed beats and chants to great success in a thrilling surround-sound mix. Now, it's The Gluey Brothers, a group that mixes the Beastie Boys, Devo, Beck and other odd-rock influences into a sound that's occasionally a bit too wacky for it's own good, but enjoyable when it catches a beat and rides with it (such as the opening track, "Hot Tina").

"Stiff For The Elders" was originally released in a DTS 5.1 CD release that was highly regarded for its very agressive 5.1 mix, which reflected the group's on-stage theatrics. Now the album is available in a DVD-Audio release, which offers the album in a 24bit/48khz 5.1 DVD-Audio edition, as well as bringing back the DTS 5.1 release and having a Dolby 2.0 edition joining the party, as well, due to requirements.

The surround-sound mix is most successful when there's a lot going on; "Hot Tina" and "Orange Monster", for example, have instruments distributed around the room, as the horns coming from the rears in "Tina". Vocals frequently come from the surrounds and provide nice punctuation to the songs, answering the vocals on songs such as the begining of "DQ2K". "Orange Monster" also has backing vocals spinning around the room, bouncing from surround-to-surround. Amazingly, the album's surround-sound producers were able to restrain themselves from going too far overboard - with the Gluey's mix of funk, punk and rap, there was certainly a likely temptation to pull even more information to the surrounds or make more of the music mobile - spinning some of the instrumentals around the listening space.

The audio quality of the album was everything that one would expect from a DVD-Audio release; excellent detail, clarity and warmth to the music. There's a great sense of space and dimension, especially to the more energetic tunes on the album, as it sounds as if the band is playing all around the room. Low bass also adds a fine kick to many of the tracks. The DVD-Audio presentation was the prefered listening experience as the surround use seemed more well-defined and clarity to the chaos of some of the songs was even better. The DTS track still does provide an entertaining ride, but the DVD-Audio edition simply performs better in the essential areas.

I still think Beck and the Beastie Boys do a more interesting and less all over the place job of performing this kind of rap/funk/rock, but "Stiff For The Elders" is often funny enough and engaging enough (especially in surround) to make it worth a listen.

Extras: "Pure Human Power" and "Orange Monster" videos in DTS 5.1; credits. Menus are nicely done as well, with pictures of the Glueys acting weird.

Final Thoughts: An off-the-wall album with amusing lyrics and a mostly successful hybrid of punk, funk, rap and what can only be classifed as "other", "Stiff For The Elders" will likely be appreciated by fans of funk and punk who are looking for something fun and out of the ordinary. DTS's DVD-Audio release of the album does provide listening options for just about everyone (as do their other DVD-A titles) and a DVD-Audio track that's an improvement upon the already fine DTS edition.

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