There's an ancient proverb about five blind men and an elephant. Each man is lead to a part of the elephant, and after touching a leg, ear or trunk, each man comes away with a different perspective about the same animal. This story became the basis for the title of Michael Nesmith's ground breaking 'video album' ELEPHANT PARTS. A combination of comedy, parody and music video, ELEPHANT PARTS is the father of MTV and, in fact, all music videos.

Following in the wake of theatrical sketch comedies such as "Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Loose Shoes", and the TV success of "Saturday Night Live", ELEPHANT PARTS is a hodge-podge of parodies & one-liners, but adds the new concept of music videos. Some of the comedy highlights include "Gasoline Prices", where Nesmith address the audience directly about the soaring price of gas until the director (Bill Dear) tells him to "stick to comedy". "Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority" is a TV ad parody, which seeks to help people with unruly neighbors by offering the ultimate deterrent. There are game show parodies ("Name That Drug"), nature show parodies ("Vegetable Safari"), film noir parodies ("Wrong Apartment Bogart"), as well as the running gag "Pirate Alpha bet" ("ARRRR"). Most influential, though, are the five music videos. Nesmith explains in his commentary that when he did the first one -"Rio" - he discovered that if the images stayed true to the song's beat, there was no need to have continuity like regular films or commercials. Adding every video effect available at the time, viola!, a new art form was born. Each video in ELEPHANT PARTS has a different slant, but the influence on early music videos is obvious. In fact, the concept of "Music Television" was created by Nesmith and his production company, but sold to Time Warner because of Time Warner's cable ownership.

The afore-mentioned commentary track by Michael Nesmith is required listening for fans of ELEPHANT PARTS. Nesmith reveals the background of the project, which was shot for practically no money with a cast of unknowns on virtually a single sound stage. Nesmith points out the garbage bags used as a video's backdrop, the problems with getting a snap (explosive device) to ignite, and all the trials and tribulations of his pioneering work.

Our pals at Anchor Bay have released ELEPHANT PARTS with an unique chapter search ability - there's 41 sketches in the video; therefore, there's 41 chapter stops - even the 30 second bits have their own. Besides the necessary Nesmith commentary, the DVD includes a selection of production stills provided by Nesmith, showing behind-the-scenes images.

Since ELEPHANT PARTS was originally produced for TV, the DVD is full frame, but the picture image is excellent. As one would expect from a musician, the sound is also very good and remastered in Dolby Digital with Dolby Surround 2.0.

After the success of ELEPHANT PARTS, Nesmith created several more 'video albums' - I hope he will release these as well. So if TV history is your thing, this is the starting point for the whole video revolution. Without ELEPHANT PARTS, there would be no MTV. And if you find that disturbing, remember the parable of the blind men, and give it a little perspective. Here's to you, Nez!