Extras:
“Augenblik” - A Homage to Kraftwerk, “Tea, Coffee and Trouser Press Census” -
Bill’s Tour Diary, Play Songs Only
Director:
Nick Morris
Cast:
Himself: Bill Bailey
Kraftwerk: Kevin Eldon, Martin Trenaman, John Moloney
Part Troll is the second DVD to be released by the multi-talented comedian/actor/musician Bill Bailey.
Recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2004, it contains the same kind of
elements that made his previous DVD,
Bewilderness
such a big hit, with musings on such profoundly important themes as Argos and
Kit Kat Chunkies, and some devastatingly accurate musical parodies.
During the course of the show Bill wanders between the various musical
instruments on stage, delivering one liners such as "there’s more evil in
the charts than in Al Qaeda’s suggestion box", and talking about drugs,
politics and woodland animals - in between playing hillbilly versions of Led
Zeppelin and demonstrating a catastrophic technical failure at a U2 concert.
This show originated at the Edinburgh Festival in 2003 and since then Bill
Bailey has taken it all round the UK and Ireland, and many other parts of the
world. The show has gradually evolved since 2003, but a lot of it remains the
same. Some fans might recognize the considerable chunk of the material that
is taken from the American version of his show Bewilderness, which has had a
limited release on CD.
Although this means that a lot of the material will seem very familiar to
anyone who follows his work, it also means that he is now very much at ease
with it and is able to wander away from the subject in hand to engage with the
audience, or indulge one of his many flights of fancy, before returning
comfortably to his set.
As a result, the show has a pleasantly rambling feel to it. Bill seamlessly
blends clever improvisation with well crafted lines and routines, exuding the
air of someone simply having a friendly chat with the audience. In the hands
of another comedian this approach might become a little tiresome over a long
period but Bill keeps it lively by punctuating it with musical numbers - a
mixture of fresh takes on old songs (Zip-a-dee-doo-dah performed by
Portishead) and his own original compositions.
These are the highlights of the show, having both musical and comedic value.
His hilarious mock love ballad is as good as anything in the charts, and his
song on American porn expenditure, I Will Not Look at Titties for a Year,
is incredibly catchy.
Unfortunately there are perhaps not enough of these songs in this show. Although
there are a large number of musical pieces, many of them are mere adaptations
of other music and do not seem to reflect Bill’s musical talent as much as
previous works like Unisex Chip Shop and Insect Nation.
However, apart from the familiarity of the material to some fans, this is the
only drawback to an otherwise excellent show. There are as many endlessly
quotable one-liners, and as much off-the-wall bizarreness as in Bewilderness,
and he manages to cover a broader range of subjects – moving effortlessly
between drugs, Argos, and the war on Iraq.
Fans of Bill Bailey will no doubt already own this, but to people who only
know him through
Black Books
and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and are as yet unfamiliar with his
stand-up, this really is an essential buy.
Presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio, the picture quality is adequate for a
stand-up DVD and the 5.1 Surround Sound really does justice to his music and
is great if you want to feel like you’re in the audience.
Like the Bewilderness DVD, the extras are sparse but fairly enjoyable. The
main feature is a 25 minute tour diary called Tea, Coffee and Trouser Press
Census which is mostly composed of Bill’s quest for the tea and coffee
making facilities in every hotel room he stays in. Although the first few
minutes seem pretty tedious, you eventually find yourself becoming hooked and
the mundanity of Bill’s tour around motorways and travelodges becomes utterly
compelling. "Where are the tea and coffee making facilities" is
destined to become something of a catchphrase for him.
Augenblik – A Homage to Kraftwerk is a slightly bizarre 5-minute clip
of Bill and three other comedians preparing for his Kraftwerk tribute
“Das Hokey Kokey” while talking about fruit in German. It’s amusing in an
odd sort of way but ends rather pointlessly with Das Hokey Kokey, which can
be seen elsewhere in the main feature.
You can also choose to play just the musical parts of the show. Unfortunately,
like Bewilderness, the DVD has no subtitles and there is a minor
disappointment for fans in the lack of the famous “BB” logo at the beginning
of the DVD.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
