Megadeth – Arsenal of Megadeth

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impulse buy

Capitol Records
Produced by Dave Mustaine

This is the first (nearly) complete video career retrospective for one of the “big four” of thrash metal. Previous offerings have only told part of the story (Video Hits in America only and Rusted Pieces). Megadeth have always embraced the art of television interviews and promo videos, and this collection brings together much of their past exploits in one two-disc set.

Unfortunately, much of this two-disc set is the kind of the mundane collectors-only archive material that should be relegated to the “bonus features” section of a good live DVD. All the music videos from the Capitol Records years are present, but most of them are the safe-for-television broadcast edits and have almost all been available before (save for the “new edit” of the Skin O’ My Teeth video). Barely any of the interviews are complete, rather they are simply compilations of excerpts, and most of the live footage is the odd track or part-track from here or there, with no complete performances at all. And of course, as with all bands that have released music on more than one label, there’s a hole where The World Needs A Hero and The System Has Failed material should be (because those albums were on Sanctuary Records). This can’t be blamed on this DVD specifically, however.

The entire three-hour collection boils down to just three pieces of genuine, across-the-board, not-just-for-Megadeth-geeks interest. These are the performances of Sweating Bullets and Peace Sells recorded on Gigantour last year and the MTV Most Wanted 1995 performance. But you’ve got a lot of album TV spots and compiled incomplete clips to skip through first. A complete live DVD from Gigantour with the previously unreleased bits from this collection as bonus features would have been an phenomenally better idea. In fact, the bonus DVD from last year’s Back To The Start greatest hits collection was better, since it contained seven previously unreleased live tracks from the Risk tour.

If you’re not a Megadeth collector get yourself copies of the complete live DVD Rude Awakening and the video collection DVD Rusted Pieces instead.

“ mundane collectors-only archive material ”

Tracklist:
DVD1 – Peace Sells… film excerpt from Talk Radio / Peace Sells broadcast music video / Interview, 1986 / Wake Up Dead broadcast music video / Penelope Spheeris intro Cutting Edge Happy Hour interview / In My Darkest Hour broadcast music video / So Far, So Good… Compiled interview excerpts w/ video rushes / Anarchy In The U.K. music video – version without sound effects / No More Mr. Nice Guy broadcast music video w/ film footage / Marty Friedman audition (hidden track) / Rust In Peace TV spot / On the Clash Of The Titans tour, 1990 / Holy Wars…The Punishment Due broadcast music video / Mission: Megadeth Headbanger’s Ball, 1991 / Hangar 18 music video – longform unedited version / Go To Hell broadcast music video – guitar version / Countdown To Extinction TV Spot / Rock The Vote 3 Compiled Promo Clips / Symphony Of Destruction broadcast music video / Symphony Of Destruction (Edited Gristle Mix) music video / Skin O’ My Teeth broadcast music video; new edit / High Speed Dirt broadcast music video / Foreclosure Of A Dream broadcast music video / A Day In The Life of Hollywood, 1992 / Sweating Bullets broadcast music video
DVD2 – Excerpts from Evolver home video / Train Of Consequences broadcast music video / Raw footage from Train video shoot (hidden track) / Youthanasia TV Spot / Interview, 1994 / Night of The Living Megadeth, Halloween 1994 / MTV Most Wanted, 1995 / Interview, 1994 / A Tout Le Monde broadcast music video / Interview, 1994 contd. / Reckoning Day broadcast music video / Cryptic Writings TV Spot / Trust broadcast music video / Trust music video rushes (hidden track) / Cryptic TV EPK / Almost Honest broadcast music video / A Secret Place broadcast music video / Argentina , 1998 / The Drew Carey Show, 1998 / Risk teaser film / Insomnia broadcast music video / Sweating Bullets (live at Gigantour, 2005) / Peace Sells (live at Gigantour, 2005) / Youthanasia album cover shoot

Written by Andy Lye
More: Live DVDs, Thrash Metal, Megadeth