DVD reviews

The Cure Festival 2005 (Universal)
So, after almost 30 years, The Cure are still around with their gothic brand of rock. Besides touring festivals with hordes of younger bands who draw influence from Robert Smith and Co, The Cure have released quite a few DVDs of late.

There was their best-of collection, which came with bonus acoustic versions of their hits. Then came Trilogy, with performances of three thematically linked albums in one night—Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers.

Now here is the 2005 tour that saw guitarist Porl Thompson reunited with the band. Fans, crew and big-screen cameras captured the footage and it shows. It’s never going to win an Oscar for cinematography—if you want a better-looking show, buy Trilogy—but what you do get is a powerful and dark set of Cure live performances; two-and-a-half hours, mostly songs from their 2004 self-titled album. However, there are some classics like The Blood, A Night Like This, Shake Dog Shake and Just Like Heaven. The encore brings it all crashing back down with A Forest, Plainsong, Disintegration and Faith. The Cure stole my heart a long time ago. How about giving them a glimpse of yours?—Lloyd Gedye

Lennon & Harrison
Guitars Gently Weep (ASP)
For a change, this documentary holds up George Harrison as a comparison to John Lennon rather than his songwriting partner Paul McCartney. Beginning with their early days in The Beatles, the film traces how the two songwriters developed as people and honed their craft. It focuses on the fact that crazed fans attacked both artists, relying heavily on news footage of both events. It also features interviews with producer George Martin and many old-school friends of the two Beatles. Morbidly, the DVD extras include an interview with Lennon’s murderer, Mark David Chapman, where he declares his love for The Beatles and talks about planning the murder. The fact that he asked Lennon to sign his copy of Double Fantasy hours before he murdered the star is disturbing. The DVD also comes with a bonus audio CD that contains interviews with Lennon and Harrison as well as their wives, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.—Lloyd Gedye

Gomez
Five Men in a Hut (EMI)
Gomez are on a new label with a well-received new album. It was only a matter of time, then, before the old label decide to have a bit of a cash-in, releasing some of the band’s older material. Here it is, the first Gomez DVD, which captures the band’s videos from their first four albums, alongside a couple of live performances and interviews. Their videos are a bit hit and miss, nowhere near the quality of the early songs, while I can’t believe that the live performances offered here are among the best that the label had to choose from. Perhaps it is saving those for a later cash-in. For serious fans only.—Lloyd Gedye

The Pogues
Pogue Vision (Gallo)
I was introduced to The Pogues by English radio while I was slaving away in a hot and sweaty kitchen one December. Not one for Christmas carols, I was relieved when Radio 1 insisted on regularly playing this song about a drunk in New York who gets locked up over Christmas and can’t make it to meet his lover. It was a real story, something I could relate to on a higher level than Jingle Bells. Turned out the song was called Fairytale of New York and The Pogues were this great little band that brought the sneer of punk to Irish traditional folk music. This DVD captures all their music videos and is a great insight into the band, featuring directors like Alex Cox and renditions of great Irish songs such as Dirty Old Town and Jack’s Heroes.—Lloyd Gedye

Rammstein
Volkerball (Universal)
There was a big chance of a repeat of the fireball at the Rammstein air-force-base disaster happening at the show performed live in Nimes in France, which kicks off this limited-edition DVD set. A historic building, sort of like a old coliseum surrounded by thousands of fans; at one stage one of the band members decides that it would be a thrill to ride the lake of human heads and arms with a black German rubber dingy while the rest of the lads parade on stage with flaming torches bellowing streaming flames towards the crowd.

Surely there are regulations against something like that, especially if there is a good chance that some unlucky sod gets his Guns n’ Roses bandana set alight and starts backing into the crowd? The show kicked of with Reise, Reise and ended in epic proportion with their rusty version of Stripped by Depeche mode.

The second show is in London at the Brixton Academy, while the third, in Tokyo, is amazing. The fans there are loyal and truly believe in the cause of all the bands they follow. The rest of the set is rounded off with the CD Live in Nimes and a bonus DVD that contains Anakonda im Netz, a Rammstein documentary and the making of the album Reise, Reise. The shows are epic and the songs are good heavy and solid, as one would expect from Rammstein. The box set is neatly rounded off with a fold-out box cover with fancy black-and-white shots of the different crowds. I reckon it’s about the price of two cases of beer, but it’s a gift that keeps on giving.—Rick de la Ray

Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash
The Road Show Interstate (ASP)
So the story goes that in 1954 two young southern musicians were signed to a little Memphis label dubbed Sun Records. The fact that those two Young Turks were the King of rock’n'roll and the Man in Black makes this story all the more interesting. After a short narrated bit that ties the lives of these two together, pointing out all their similarities, one is thrown headfirst into 33 early TV performances of the two stars. Some of the footage is shoddy, but, hey, it was the Fifties and this DVD contains more than enough gems to make it worth one’s while. It comes with an audio CD featuring hits by Cash and Presley as well as songs by their Sun Records label mates Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.—Lloyd Gedye

Johnny Cash
The Unauthorised Biography (Gallo)
A wealth of new Johnny Cash material has hit the shelves since his passing. This unauthorised biography tells the story of his life using classic footage, somewhat lame visual recreations and interviews with his brother, Tommy, and his drummer, WS Holland. Being a huge Cash fan, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this documentary despite the patronising American narrator. However, I would advise relative newcomers to Cash to look elsewhere for their first Cash DVD purchase. Extras include a tour of Cash’s house and studio in Tennessee.—Lloyd Gedye

Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
Real Live Roadrunning (Universal)
I am convinced! Emmylou Harris is an angel from heaven. I’m not a religious guy, but if there ever was cause to use the phrase “voice of an angel”, this is it. Three songs into this DVD, Harris broke into her song Red Dirt Girl, and the heavens opened and the birds did sing. I almost forgot that Mark Knopfler was there, which says a lot because he did write most of the material on display. You can hear the remnants of Dire Straits in Knopfler, but he has ventured further towards the folk and country traditions for this new batch of material. If you have ever been seduced by the voice of Harris, then do yourself a favour and pick up this concert DVD, for a good ol’ country hoedown.—Lloyd Gedye