Search - Korn :: Chopped Screwed Live & Unglued (W/Dvd) (Chop)

More Korn Goods Ready For Consumption

Andrew Estes | Maine | 10/03/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It's been a big year for Korn, as their most recent album, "See You On The Other Side," put the band back in the limelight. 2006 also saw a successful revamped world tour and the revival of the band's own Family Values Tour. This was arguably the best year the band have had since the turn of the century. So naturally, there have been several Korn releases for us fans to lap up. June saw the release of the band's second full-length live DVD, "Live On The Other Side" and the rather pathetic "Live & Rare," which you can blame their old record label for. "Chopped, Screwed, Live & Unglued," a supplemental three-disc set to "See You On The Other Side" contains all you could want and some stuff you don't want.



Sounds like: A greedy cash-in.



The Good:

- The live tracks on disc two are of superb quality, and I was pleased to find that the recordings of "Somebody Someone" and "Throw Me Away" were actually from the very show I attended in March.

- The DVD has both the "Twisted Transistor" and "Coming Undone" videos, plus a behind-the-scenes section where you can spot most of the back-up band unmasked.

- For what you're getting, it's a fairly inexpensive package.

- Munky's solo! Check it out at the end of the live version of "Liar."

- Both of the acoustic tracks are solid and show a different side of Korn.



The Bad:

- The entire "Chopped & Screwed" disc, "Coming Undone Wit' It" included, is absolute trash.

- The artwork is recycled from "See You On The Other Side"

- The DVD is surprisingly brief.

- "Falling Away From Me" and "Thoughtless" from the AOL Sessions are not included.



Future: Not much of one. This release will fall by the wayside and is meant strictly for the Korn enthusiast.



Personally: The novelty of having songs from a show I was at is enough to win me over, but the average Korn fan might feel left in the cold by this release. I mean, the "Chopped & Screwed" disc is absolutely horrible as it just slows down the songs to an intolerable rate. And could they have fused "Coming Undone" with a worse song/video? I'm all for mash-ups, but mashing up Korn with stale, generic hip-hop about booty, cash and cars is not something I take kindly to.



Best Listened To When: All else fails."

Fanpack contents

B. Singer | New Jersey | 09/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ehh, I had high hopes about this when I first heard that it was being released. After picking it up and listening to it, here is my review...



Chopped & Screwed:

1. Twisted Transistor

2. Hypocrites

3. Getting Off (Ft. DJ Michael "5000" Watts

4. Getting Off

5. For No One

6. Love Song

7. 10 Or A 2-Way

8. Coming Undone

9. Coming Undone Wit It (Korn Vs. Dem Franchize Boyz)



This cd may not appeal to many Korn fans. The vocals are slowed down to a crawling pace, which makes it feel like the song is dragging on. Track 4 is a remix by DJ Mike Watts, with rap overtop of the chopped "Getting Off". The 2 tracks that stood out for me were "Hypocrites" and "Love Song"



Live & Unglued

1. Hypocrites (Live)

2. Somebody Someone (Live)

3. Throw Me Away (Live)

4. Liar (Live)

5. Love Song (Live)

6. Blind (Live)

7. Coming Undone (Sleazy Days Rock Electro Remix)

8. Coming Undone (Stegnation Remix)

9. Coming Undone (AOL Acoustic Sessions)

10. Twisted Transistor (AOL Acoustic Sessions)



CD 2 is much better in my opinion. The live tracks sound great, plus the second "Coming Undone" remix is good as well. Also, this is the first source that I know of with the acoustic songs on it.



DVD

1. Twisted Transistor (Video)

2. Coming Undone (Video)

3. Twisted Transistor (AOL Acoustic Sessions)

4. Coming Undone (AOL Acoustic Sessions)

5. Liar (Video)

6. Coming Undone Wit It (Video)

7. Live Acoustic Performace / Behind The Scenes Footage



The Twisted Transistor isn't the full 7 minute + video which sucks, but oh well...you can find that on YouTube. "Liar" is an animation video that just flat out rocks! And the Live Acoustic Performance / Behind The Scenes Footage is too short in my opinion. Only about 5 minutes long. But Korn answers a few personal questions, and plays an acoustic set in a contest winners backyard.



All around, I would say get this is you are a die-hard fan. I'm not thrilled with the first disc but the second and third one makes up for that."

A nice little diddy.......

Stevo | Raymore, Missouri USA | 09/30/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When I heard that this was being released, I thought it was the actual "See You On The Other Side" album with some extra tracks. Not investigating, I didn't get too excited, as I already have "SYOTOS", and it's already a 2 disc special edition--so--I didn't consider picking this up.



However, I saw this at the store, and noticed immediately that 100% of the content on this release is completely new, which is fantastic. 3 new discs of Korn goodness? Sign me up.



One thing I'd like to mention is that they went the "conserving space" route and somehow squeezed all 3 discs into a standard single disc case. You get the swinging hinged interior that holds 2 discs,a and the third disc (a DVD) is actually held inside the back tray of the case itself, making the back cover look a little weird, with the outline of a CD. Not too odd, but I've never seen it before, so I thought it would warrant a mention.



The artwork uses the "SYOTOS" theme, taking the original album artwork and chopping (get it?) it up into puzzle pieces. The booklet copies the same "Thank You's" from the band as the album, which I found a little bit weird. The CD art is the same as the album as well.



Disc one is titled "Chopped and Screwed", which means that the remixes are on this one. We get 9 tracks, including the "Coming Undone Wit It" mash up with Dem Franchize Boyz that was done by "SYOTOS" producers The Matrix. This is actually one of the better Korn remix discs released, as I've bought others ("All Mixed Up", "Good God: The French Remixes", and so on) that weren't very good. Keep in mind that these tracks really ARE "chopped and screwed" with, and at times barely resemble the original album tracks. But I guess that's a good thing. But, if you're expecting something to the effect of the dance remix of "Twisted Transistor" that was on the "SYOTOS" 2 disc, don't.



Disc 2 is titled "Live & Unglued", and has its ups and downs. We get live versions of "Hypocrites", "Somebody Someone", "Throw Me Away", "Liar", "Love Song", and "Blind". "Liar" is over seven minutes long, with an extended ending with a (Munky I'm presuming) guitar solo. Did we REALLY need ANOTHER live version of "Blind"? It's one of the weaker performances of the song, as well.



We then get two remixes of "Coming Undone" that were winners in a MTV Europe online contest that involved taking Sony Acid Planet software (the band released all the individual drum, vocal, and guitar takes from the song) and creating an completely original remix of the song. Trent Reznor did it with Nine Inch Nails' songs "The Hand That Feeds" and "Only", and then Korn followed. It was an amazing idea, and I wish other bands would do the same thing. I even downloaded the samples and have been trying (rather poorly) to make a mix of my own. The contest was limited to Holland and France, which is why you probably never heard of it here in America. Each respective country's winner is represented here, and they both are quite good.



We also get 2 acoustic versions of "Coming Undone" and "Twisted Transistor' that were recorded for a special AOL Session in mid 2006. Both are rather better than I expected. They aren't as good Nirvana Unplugged, but good nonetheless. I wouldn't be surprised to see more acoustic tracks released by the band in the future, as they went on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and did an acoustic set eariler this year.



Disc 3 is a Bonus DVD (running 28:34 according to the case) of the acoustic performances, music videos ("Liar", "Coming Undone", "Coming Undone Wit It" and the short version of "Twisted Transistor") and about 5 minutes of behind the scenes footage that isn't anything special. A nice little diddy to round out the set.



Overall, this collection is worth it for two reasons. One, if you are a die hard Korn fan, and/or two, if you just LOVED the "See You On the Other Side" album, as 85% of this set is geared towards that album. I've seen it being sold for $13.99, with the list price being $24.99. Sorry Korn, but just can't see many people picking up what is basically a remix album for 25 bucks. It IS three discs, however, but none of them are particularly jam packed. Nonetheless, it's a nice release that the band didn't have to put out, and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't just some special re-release of the "SYOTOS" album to make a few extra bucks.



Thumbs up, slightly."