Tenacious D - The Complete Masterworks (DVD)

Whereas the Tenacious D album uses pre-written skits to precede and give reference to the lyrics, the HBO episode skits are used only to fill in the empty space between live versions of the album songs; the story is merely there to accommodate the music, which brings in very little new, worthwhile material. The “pure-rock-energy,” the very soul of the duo, is completely lost when Jack and Kyle try to ‘act’ (how can you act as a character that is yourself?). These episodes fail, on all accounts, to capture the raw, impulsive Tenacious D power. The spontaneity and pragmatic appeal of ‘real-life people pretending to be Rock and Roll Gods’ gets buried beneath long-winded, boring narratives and repetitious recreations of album tracks you’ve also seen in the concert footage, music videos, TV appearances, and in all the behind-the-scenes documentaries (not to mention how many times you’ve listened to the album). Thankfully, the rest of the material is much more interesting. What is considered to be the bulk of The Complete Master Works, the Brixton Academy concert footage, is more of a stand-up comedy show than a rock-concert, since it’s just KJ and JB each with a microphone and an acoustic guitar. Tenacious D doesn’t need to have a full band line-up to rock-the-fuck-out, which is why I think they recorded mainly with acoustic guitars. The hilarious off-the-cuff swings at British culture, brotherly squabbles, and vocal solos make up for the lack of drums, bass, and keyboards. The highlight is seeing Jack Black play the worst guitar solo of all time during “Rock Your Socks Off.” The real gem of this DVD is the music video section, where SPUMCO (the Ren and Stimpy animation studio) conceives the perfect visual realization of “Fuck Her Gently,” Spike Jonze creates a charmingly epic video for “Wonderboy,” and David Grohl stars as Beelzebub in the clever “Tribute” video. The videos are so ridiculously well envisioned that I wish the whole DVD was one full-length video covering the entirety of the album. Even for those fans who revel in the lewd, profane humor of Tenacious D’s debut record may feel a bit aghast at the sheer level of obnoxious and unnecessary semen, shit, and unfunny sex-related jokes in the Short Films section. I’m sure that all of you new Jack Black fans, those hot off of the family-oriented School of Rock bandwagon, will LOVE having your wholesomeness shot in the back while you watch some of the most uninteresting, needlessly-disgusting “comedy” skits that I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching. I can deal with cock-pushups, hard-fucking, and Jack Black figuratively shooting his juice all over the goddamn place, but these “films” are just annoying and utterly shameless. Whether or not this is a purchase worth making is dependent on your tolerance for stupidity. In my opinion, the HBO episodes suck, but the concert footage is excellent. The music videos are fantastic, unfortunately there are only three. There’s certainly enough good stuff for psycho fans, but the casual fan will probably get turned off from the less than virtuous sections. It's a hard call to make. [www.tenaciousd.com]