They got me again. Drum Philosophy is another case of repackaging something very old in a box with a very modern look so when you put it in your DVD player you get this time warp kinda sensation going. At this point I should just be able to smell one of these things and know its coming. Granted just because an instructional is old doesn’t mean it’s bad (just look at Joe Morello’s videos) but this feels like false advertising.

Content

Drum Philosophy isn’t as philosophical as some of the other drum DVDs I’ve reviewed but it’s philosophical enough that I don’t think they picked this title because they couldn’t think of anything else. Usually when I think of a philosophical drum instructional I think of Secret Weapons and both of Billy Ward’s DVDs. Drum Philosophy strikes me as an attempt for Paul to… I don’t know, self-aggrandize? The majority of the video is Paul playing some music from his quintet and giving kinda random thoughts about things he thinks and does when playing and creating music. That’s fine and dandy but there are very large chunks of time devoted to people he’s worked with talking about how great he is to play with. It’s almost like a commercial for the DVD it’s playing on. It’s completely unnecessary and chews up a lot of time Paul could have been attempting to communicate something of value to the audience. It’s already only an hour DVD most of which is occupied by musical performance. Instructional DVD get points in content for teaching something original or teaching something old in a really effective manner. This DVD doesn’t accomplish too much of either and anyone who has watched a few of some of the new DVD’s on the market will find little of worth here.

Presentation

I’ll give credit where credit is due and say that after reviewing Arrival: Behind the Glass it was nice to find a DVD with a menu system that was actually negotiable. Funny enough the camera work and quality was on par with Arrival as well. It’s kinda grainy and old skool lookin. Paul is personable enough, better then average actually but there isn’t enough detailed information in this DVD for his potential as a good host to be fully realized.

Extras

It actually has some! How bout that? It may actually contain the strangest extra I’ve ever encountered on an instructional DVD of any sort. It’s called Metrum 3 and it’s this weird independent art short kinda thing with Paul Wertico playing a jazzy drum solo over a lady painting a picture of a swimmer. Weird I know right? It also has a very interesting drum solo and a clip of Paul’s appearance on some kind of TV program dedicated to profiling artists.

Bottom line is that this video isn’t really worth buying or renting. This video was provided for me by the guys at Fork’s Drum Closet so without them I couldn’t provide this review. Show them your appreciation for their support of drummertalk.org by hitting up their website and buy some stuff. Just not this… this is really bad.

And now a Public Service Announcement.

Every day cymbals are dealt irreparable damage because someone lost a lowly cymbal felt in their rush to play drums. Those felts need a home and those cymbals need a cushion so remember to save the felts. Do it for the children.