Music Video Distributors tends to fly under the radar for many music fans. Overshadowed by highly-marketed DVD releases from Koch, Eagle and the majors, MVD has nevertheless built a large, impressive catalog through the years of some of the most interesting and essential videos to be found in the punk, metal and alt-rock universe.
The good folks at MVD have a slew of cool new stuff coming out between now and Christmas. To show that the Reverend and this blog is not just a dark corner of negativity in cyberspace, here are my personal choices of the best video releases that you'll find on the shelf over the next month. Please, click on the DVD covers to go to Amazon.com if you'd like to purchase any of these. Descriptions in italics are courtesty of MVD, embellished by the Reverend for your pleasure.
EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND AT ROCKPALAST
While most of their contemporaries in London were into the ideals of love & peace in the late sixties, the Edgar Broughton Band anticipated the virago of punk rock. Recorded by the Rockpalast at the Crossroads Festival March 24, 2006 in Bonn, Germany - nearly forty years after the band's formation - this DVD features the original line up with the addition of Edgar's son, Luke. The music still has the hard, rebel edge its always had and "Out Demons Out" is still a relevant today as it was in 1969. Bonus features include a backstage interview, and bonus Track: "Green Lights" (Unplugged). DVD length: 85 minutes
The Edgar Broughton Band were one of the wiggiest, most far-out outfits that came out of the psychedelic era of the '60s. If you listen to the band's late-60s/early-70s musical output, they clearly were moving from a noodly guitar-oriented sound with weird lyrical subject matter towards a more prog-rock vibe. Don't know about this performance, but the mere fact that anybody still cares about Broughton is encouraging enough in its own right. If you possess a strong sense of musical adventure, I'd check this one out!
NILS LOFGREN & FRIENDS - LIVE ACOUSTIC
This DVD features a full-length live performance of Nils Lofgren and friends including Jeffrey "Skunk" Baxter, Mary Ann Redmond, Tommy Lofgren, Buck Brown, Paul Bell, Mike Lofgren and Mark Lofgren. It's a six-camera shoot from a gig at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia (February 2006). As a singer/guitarist, Lofgren is best known for his work with Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen, yet he has produced a substantial body of work as a solo artist. Here he and his band perform eighteen brilliant songs for the many fans in attendance. Bonus features include six additional songs and two extra featurettes: interview footage and rehearsals. DVD length: 96 minutes
Nils Lofgren has always been one of my favorite artists. I remember reading about him in Creem magazine way back in the day, right after the break-up of his band Grin. I bought Lofgren's self-titled solo debut album, with the great song "Keith Don't Go" (about Keith Richards) and followed up by purchasing everything that Lofgren released as it came along. When Lofgren was picked by "The Boss" to be Little Steven's replacement in the E Street Band, I was overjoyed - finally, Nils would get some respect. Evidently not, 'cause thirty years after Lofgren's amazing debut album, for some inexplicable reason, his entire catalog circa 1975-85 remains sadly out-of-print. They were briefly available on CD from RykoDisc in the early-90s, so if you run across titles like Cry Tough, Night Fades Away, I Came To Dance or Nils' self-titled debut, grab 'em up - they're full o' gut-level, guitar-driven rock & roll.
WENDY O. WILLIAMS & THE PLASMATICS - 10 YEARS OF REVOLUTIONARY ROCK & ROLL
Banned in London, busted in Cleveland and Milwaukee, the legendary Wendy O. Williams (aka "Queen of Shock Rock", "Queen of Punk," "Dominatrix of the Decibels", and "High Priestess of Metal") and the Plasmatics, the band of changing musicians built around her, revolutionized American culture and music creating a seismic shock wave still being felt today. "Way more than a rock band," as John Levy said in a recent interview on VH1, Wendy O. Williams and the Plasmatics "were a phenomenon." They introduced the mohawk to mass American culture, fused punk and metal when these groups despised each other and produced stage shows which included the chainsawing of guitars and the blowing up of full size cars that Roman Kozak of Billboard called "The absolute limit of what can be accomplished in rock and roll theatrics" and have yet to be equalled today. DVD length: 191 minutes
What can you say about the Plasmatics? One of the most outrageous bands to grace the punk rock sphere, Wendy O. Williams was at once both repellant and sexually turbocharged while the band played faster and louder than just about anybody else. The band's onstage theatrics never translated to albums like New Hope For The Wretched (1980), Beyond The Valley of 1984 (1981) and Coup D'Etat (1982) however, and they ended up self-imploding after a brief, illustrious career. An appearance on Tom Snyder's late-night TV show brought the band a fair degree of notoriety, but I remember their dismantling of a log cabin on SCTV with John Candy as one of their best television performances. This DVD is a monster for long-suffering fans of the band, including a two-hour "rockumentary" with live footage and rare interviews and performances of classic Plasmatics' songs like "Butcher Baby."
DIAMOND HEAD - TO THE DEVIL HIS DUE
This powerful performance was recorded at the London Astoria on November 4, 2005. The show captures the resurrected band storming through all their classics including "The Prince," "Sucking My Love" and "Lightning To The Nations." The DVD includes an exclusive interview with the band and as a bonus, the making of "All Will Be Revealed" filmed by Mike De Jager has been included. Deeply affected by Diamond Head's idiosyncratic style, metal legends Metallica have covered "Am I Evil?", "It's Electric" and "Helpless," all of which are featured on the DVD. Both Metallica and Megadeth have famously cited the band as an important early influence. DVD length: 142 minutes
Although virtually ignored in the United States, Diamond Head were, perhaps, one of the most important of the "New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Bands' (NWOBHM) from 1978-82. Although Judas Priest and Iron Maiden were the best known of the bunch and UK punters like Raven, Samson and Witchfynde earned cult audiences stateside, Diamond Head has proved to have a long-lasting influence far beyond the band's meager commercial status. Most of the band's reputation is built upon their inauspicious 1981 debut album, Lightning To The Nations (reissued in the US in 1986 by Metal Blade as Behold The Beginning with bonus tracks). As young musicians continue to delve into the NWOBHM, they inevitably run across Diamond Head.
The folks at Music Video Distributors have also launched a regular "record label" called MVD Audio, to reissue classic discs from bands like black metal stalwarts Vader, neo-proggers Pendragon and Collage, US punks Bad Brains and many more in the punk, metal and prog-rock genres. A recently-inked deal between MVD and Roadrunner will allow the company to reissue some truly HEAVY music from bands like Solitude Aeturnus, Xentrix, Last Crack and Crimson Glory. More info on those releases to come....
