(MVD/Brink, 91 Minutes)
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Since the advent of the electric guitar and subsequently the distorted electric guitar, players have embraced electronics as a means to amazing tone or far-out special effects: Clif Taylor’s Fuzz is to these guys as Trekkies was to fans of Star Trek—a love letter to the devout and a document of a phenomenon. Where did these stompboxes originate and how did they come to be highly-prized artifacts and tools for amateur and professional guitarists? Where did the Big Muff come from and what laconic indie rock guitar hero bought them all up because of their scarcity? (A: noted gearhound J. Mascis.) How does a Dunlop Crybaby wah pedal differ from a Vox? Why do they call them stompboxes and how do they withstand the nightly abuse? These questions and more are answered as Taylor interviews players like Billy F. Gibbons, Peter Frampton and Wolfmother’s Chris Ross and the mad scientists behind the devices, often demoing the gadgets to show how they fit into the rock lexicon. Sadly the storytelling is exclusive: if you don’t have a guitar, amp and stompbox yourself, it’s hard to follow the casual, conversational exposition. And even if you do, it’s not enough to stay interested.

Special features: Technical, collectible featurettes.   RANDY HARWARD