Posted on: October 2, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Punk Core Records Presents: Pure Punk Rock / 2006 Punk Core / http://www.punkcore.com / http://www.myspace.com/punkcore / 

The shortness of the segments that are on “Pure Punk Rock” are great for those individuals that do not have a long attention span. Even the interview segments of this DVD are short enough that individuals will not be bored out of their minds with the facts being spouted out by individuals like Mike from Cheap Sex. One of the best things about this DVD is the fact that everything is marked well. Individuals will know from the start which band is playing the song, what song it is, and what the name of each member is in the band. This is a marked difference from a number of other DVDs, which presume some sense of familiarity with the acts that are covered. Punk Core really makes a ploy for this DVD to be a guidebook for anyone new that is coming into punk rock, with information about band formation, concert venues, and with enough music to tie everything together.

The presence of older footage is a godsend as well on this DVD, as it shows the evolution of a number of Punk Core bands. The most interesting old footage that is dredged up comes from The Virus, who have found a clip of them performing “Celebrity Gossip” from all the way back in 1998. This is not just a DVD focusing in on all of the usual bands on Punk Core, but showcase a few of the newer acts on the label. This means that The Scarred and Action both find their way onto this DVD. The video is typically pretty clear, while the vocals present on both the live footage and the filmed documentary type of footage is as great as one can hope for. Individuals may not always be able to dissect each of the tracks and hear what bands have to say, but most of the time things come through in a clear fashion. I would like to see Punk Core do another DVD every five years or so, just to update individuals about the new bands on the label and to capture any rogue footage that may still be floating around their offices. For each type of person there is something that the Pure Punk Rock DVD can get; for individuals that are trying to start a band, each act gives a few hints on how to be a success.

For those individuals that are running a music video show, everything is introduced perfectly. For fans of the band, one can hear some of their favorite songs by Action, Cheap Sex, The Casualties, Defiance, The Havoc, The Lower Class Brats, The Scarred and The Virus. Throw a few extra extras into the mix (music videos from Blood or Whiskey, Defiance, and The Messengers), and individuals have one of the best punk rock DVDs since the first edition of The Decline of Western Civilization came out all those years ago .Kudos to Punk Core for giving a number of these bands a dynamism that is not always shown by their studio recordings.

Top Tracks: The Casualties “For The Punx”, The Virus’ “Celebrity Gossip”

Rating: 7.0/10

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