|
This
doco takes a look at punk in it's place of origin from the 70's, London.
Looking at punk music in it's purest form, without the studs and spikes from
the Sex Pistols era, this disc shows bands like the Clash and other
forerunners of the punk scene from that time and what made it the way it was.
The footage taken for the most part is a very raw look at the scene at that
time and if ever there was a snapshot of a moment taken, this is certainly it.
The thing to realise is that this was made during that time, it is not a
retrospective look at punk music.
It's funny to note that for the most part, the musicians featured seemed
uncomfortable with the notion that someone else would be interested in what
they had to offer. As a result there is a lot of clowning around and not a lot
of straight answers. However you do get a feel for the time.
Another factor that must be taken into account was the fact that the doco was
made by German Wolfgang Büld and English was not their first language. So
whilst you get a lot of information, the presentation suffers at times due to
the language barrier and the way that words are pronounced. Add to that, some
of the bands found it funny the way questions were posed to them for that very
reason.
The picture quality is pretty ordinary for this one and I am amazed it's
actually the quality that it is considering the age of the footage and that I
daresay that it has never been carefully archived for future reference. I am
glad that The AV Channel saw fit to release it along with Umbrella so that we
can see how it was back then, if only for a fleeting moment.
I must confess that as a fan of punk music, I enjoyed this disc although it
was not the wild adventure I had expected it to be. Maybe when they cover the
more aggressive side of punk with the Pistols, it will be a tad more exciting.
Definitely worthy of a purchase by those intensely interested in the history
of this exciting music genre.
| 
