Soft Machine Legacy – The Paris Concert / 2006 MVD / http://www.mvdb2b.com / There are so many acts on this world that I’ve never even heard of, and yet they have provided a font of inspiration for hundreds of acts. Soft Machine Legacy is one of those acts, and it will undoubtedly be a happy day when each Soft Machine Legacy fan hears that there is this new DVD out…
Sodom – Lords of Depravity / 2006 SPV / http://www.sodomized.info / http://www.spv.de / There is little time for discussion on the second DVD of this 2-DVD set. Sodom has decided to separate discussion from metal, and the results are perfect. This means that the second disc assaults listeners with the essence of Sodom for about 100 minutes. Lesser individuals will be destroyed by this amount of metal, but true fans…
Social Distortion – Live In Orange County / 2004 Time Bomb Recordings / 15 Tracks / http://www.socialdistortion.com / http://www.timebombrecordings.com / Starting out slowly with “Making Believeâ€, all the variables that tend to hold a band from achieving their full potential on a live DVD, including poor sound and vocals are simply not present on “Live in Orange Countyâ€. The disc sounds even more professional than 1998’s “Live At The Roxyâ€,…
Sham 69 – Hersham Boys / 2006 MVD / 74 Minutes / http://www.mvdb2b.com / Now this is what I want when I see a concert DVD. There are cameras that are on tracks and gradual changes between the different cameras, all done within the first two minutes of the concert. During the first track of the concert, “What Have We Gotâ€, Sham 69 shows that they still have it.
Secret Weapons of Kung Fu (for Burnt Zine) Living in a suburb really limits your chances in catching a punk video on the local tv stations, but fret not : Kung Fu Records has made a video compilation that collects videos from some of the biggest punk stars and some up and coming acts. While the list of great acts is not fully represented on this disc, some great tracks…
Sean Lennon – Friendly Fire / 2006 Capitol / 1 Track / http://www.capitolrecords.com/seanlennon / http://www.capitolrecords.com / Man, as the years go by, it becomes more and more easy to tell that Sean Lennon is the son of John Lennon. Anyways, this DVD is a movie trailer for Friendly Fire, an “ego trip†for Sean Lennon in the sense that the music that ey made is linked to video footage to…
The Rolling Stones – Under Review 1962-1966 / 2006 MVD / 82 Minutes / http://www.rollingstones.com / http://www.mvdb2b.com / This Under Review features The Rolling Stones in the first four years of their existence as a band. One can expect MVD in the next three or four years to come out with other Under Review DVDs that will bring individuals up to the current period in The Rolling Stones’ life. This…
Queen – Under Review: 1980-1991 / 2006 MVD / 90 Minutes / http://www.mvdb2b.com / Queen is a great act, but I thought they really fell off during the 1980s. I guess I was wrong; just because none of the radio stations play anything that Queen created after 1980 does not mean that they became weaker in any way. Being only a casual fan of Queen, I had no clue that…
Poison – Seven Days Live / 2006 MVD / 82 Minutes / http://www.poisonweb.com / http://www.mvdb2b.com / One really has to debate whether, as posed on their press sheet, that Poison was “at the height of their international success†in 1993, when this show was filmed. The one thing that individuals cannot debate is that Poison brings it, and brings it hard with this. Coming out after “Flesh & Bloodâ€, this…
Philly ZineFest Documentary 2004 / 2005 Outhouse publishing / http://www.njghost.com / This is really a documentary, replete with interviews with a number of the attendants at the title event (The 2004 edition of the Philly ZineFest. However, some of the pieces are definitely weaker than the others. Starting off with BenT (Unshaven Chi), one really might wonder why such a stilted and silence-filled interview was allowed to have the opening…
Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry – The Ultimate Alien / 2006 MVD / 120 Minutes / http://www.mvdb2b.com / I’ve had this DVD sitting in my place for a while now, and the amount of times that I heard the name Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry has dramatically increased since then. This is a good thing, as “I Am A Madman†is some of the most interesting music to ever come out. The style of…
Pain – Live is Overrated / 2006 MVD / 120 Minutes / http://www.mvdb2b.com / Pain is a perfect example of those industrial metal bands that have a blend of styles that tie together influences like Ministry, Nine Inch Nails and earlier metal like Judas Priest. “Supersonic Bitch†is a kick-start to this live set, which was filmed at Metalmania 2005. Where most other acts would not use a live drummer,…
New York Dolls – All Dolled Up / 2005 MVD / 95 Minutes / http://www.newyorkdollsdvd.com / http://www.mvdb2b.com / One just can tell that this documentary was created sometime in the seventies, as the extremely cheesy opening (going back in time to recast the New York Dolls as gangsters, with a Volkswagen bug taking the place of the old Studebakers) is what awaits viewers. The raw fury of the Dolls is…
Kiss – Kissology Volume 2 / 2007 VH1 Classics / 407 Minutes / http://www.kissonline.com / http://www.vh1classic.com / I find it harder and harder for record labels and bands to keep individuals interested when subsequent volumes of material are issued. The best case in point that I can come up with has to be the third volume of Van Morrison’s greatest hits, which had none of the hits that even my…
MxPx – B-Movie / 2004 SideOneDummy / http://www.mxpx.com / http://www.sideonedummy.com / Hey, I didn’t realize that MxPx had been doing music for twelve years. I remember getting introduced to them when their song “Chick Magnet†hit the air in 1998. Well, that’s been what? 7 years – and thats when they got incredibly, almost annoying large in terms of punk music. However, the anger that I felt about “Chick Magnet 
Molly Hatchet – Live In Hamburg / 2006 SPV / http://www.mollyhatchet.com / http://www.spv.de / There does not seem to be any better place for Molly Hatchet in a world context than a biker’s get-together in Germany. Of course, the visual production of “Live in Hamburg†is beyond reproach; this could be a movie if the producers decided to cast it in those terms. In much the same way, the sound…
Finesse Mitchell – Snap-Famous / 2007 Image / 52 Minutes / http://www.finessemitchell.com / http://www.image-entertainment.com / Finesse Mitchell was on Saturday Night Live for a little bit. After that, my knowledge about the comedian decreased to effectively zero. Apparently, ey was doing the comedy circuits as popular knowledge decreased. However, there is not a complete break with the past during “Snap Famousâ€. Mitchell describes in (often-times) hilarious detail about eir time…
The Matches – Live From The House of Blues / 2004 Kung Fu / http://www.thematches.com / http://www.kungfurecords.com/ Starting out their concert with “Dog Eared Pageâ€, The Matches play each track with the energy and talent that was so present on “E. Von Dahl Killed The Localsâ€. The print looks pretty dark, and while the venue is only using a bank of lights in which to illuminate the band, the light…
The Mae Shi – Lock the Skull, Load the Gun / 2006 5RC / http://www.mae-shi.com / http://www.5rc.com / The Mae Shi are a very good act. I was able to go and get their split with Rapider than Horsepower, and to get something that is much more active and colorful out of the band is really a treat. In a sense, what The Mae Shi do during “Lock the Skull,…
Lucero – Dreaming In America / 2005 Eastwest / 72 Minutes / http://www.luceromusic.com / http://www.eastwestrock.com / The first thing that individuals get to see about Lucero is that they are extraordinarily lucid for the style of music that they create. The creators of such amazing tracks like “That Much Further West†are shown by Aaron Goldman to be human, at times pitiable (the fact that they do not look good…