The Toy Dolls – Our Last DVD?
Music Video Distributors
Another UK punk mainstay of the past 25 years gets a video release on MVD. They’ve been on quite a frenzy lately of releasing rather high quality live DVDs of long-time punk rock bands, especially from overseas and this is no exception.
This disc was recorded in Holland in 2004 on their alleged “last tour”. Whether or not it really was I’m not sure, but I thought they were playing out this year. Since I was mostly into North American punk, I didn’t get around to picking up a lot of the UK punk rock stuff I missed out on until fairly recently and The Toy Dolls are among the group of bands I neglected when I was younger. Obviously I never went to see them so this was the first time I’ve been exposed to what they are like live, and I have to say it sure looks like it would be a fun show to attend. This particular set consisted of 28 songs, so it’s a safe bet nearly any song you’d want to hear was probably played at this show. In between songs there was plenty of entertaining banter with the crowd and it was fairly obvious that the band were having a great time up there on stage. You can hear the crowd singing along to lots of the songs as well.
The image quality is excellent, it is presented in full-frame as it was originally shot and the quality is super sharp and the colors are quite vivid. There are two sound options; 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo. The stereo option seemed to have a lot more low end to it. Either one sounded really good on my sound system but I think the nod goes to the stereo track. The live show was one hour and 12 minutes in length. At different points in the show, Olga would don some props for songs such as “Fiery Jack” and “Yul Brenner was a Skinhead” that were pretty entertaining.
The disc has a few bonus features as well. “On the Road” is a 35 minute feature of various rehearsal footage where the band is practicing not only their songs, but at one point their choreography, which consisted of Olga and Tommy jumping backwards four times in unison to the beat of a song. It also features various footage from the tour. There is also a 43 minute interview with Olga that covers the tour and various other topics that was pretty interesting. A biography and photos round out the bonus features and overall it felt like a pretty healthy amount of material.
Rabid Toy Dolls fans are definitely going to want this in their collection. As someone who never really followed them very closely, the disc did a great job of getting me up to speed with what I missed for the past two decades, thumbs up!
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Glad you finally got around to watching this DVD. I’ve been a fan of their’s for 20+ years. A Far Out Disc was my first exposure to them. We will have to check them out if they ever come to the USA.
Olga plays guitar on the Dickies MVD DVD that was recorded at a show in Europe.
I’ll have to borrow this from you. I’ve been a fan since ’85. I dragged Kristine to a show at the Metro just before or just after we were married so it had to be about 10 or 11 years ago. We saw two sets the all ages and then the 21 and over show. It was great, I think they were better than when I saw them in the late 80 (88 or 89). One of the best parts was during a break Olga sat down on the drum stand pulled out a banjo and started to play dueling banjos. It was amazing. Even on the early albums it was obvious to me that they were not just a goofy, high pitched, not hiding their accents, British punk band but they were damn good musicians too.
You have to come out for dinner sometime soon, if you don’t mind driving out to damn near Iowa.
BTW: I agree with Bob in the comments section about the TG reunion show. ‘Skittles’ obviously has now idea about the Punk Vault or Spontanous Combustion’s history.