Our friends over at Music Video Distributors are busy as beavers with their new DVD release schedule, which includes a two-disc Queen set, amazing new Echo & the Bunnymen and New Model Army concert videos and a second volume in the This Ain’t Your Mom’s Hardcore DVD series.

The Queen DVD Collector’s Box is a two-disc documentary that is certain to be a “must have” item for hardcore Queen fans. Disc one offers behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with friends of the band, music journalists and industry insiders that tell the story of Queen’s amazing rise and continued popularity. Concentrating on the band’s ‘70s era, disc two includes performance footage of classic Queen songs as well as rare photographs and other band memorabilia. Release date for The Queen DVD Collector’s Box is June 26th, 2007.

This Ain’t Your Mom’s Hardcore, Volume 2 features more than two hours of hard-stompin’ hardcore punk fun from bands like Bury Your Dead, Haste The Day, Misery Signals and Sons of Disaster. Filmed mostly in Atlanta-area clubs, the DVD includes 28 live performances, band interviews, music videos and some hidden content. Street date is July 17, 2007.

New Model Army is a great, if underrated band that experienced a brief US notoriety with its song “51st State” back in the halcyon days of ‘80s-era college radio. The British rockers continue to release vital, hard-rocking music, however, and the upcoming Live 161203 DVD captures the band in all of its onstage glory during a December 2003 performance at the Astoria in London. A great deal of care went into the creation of Live 161203 – an amazing eight cameras were used to capture every angle of the band’s performance, and the DVD features 21 tracks, exclusive interviews with band members and over two and a half hours of music. Release date is June 26th.

Echo & the Bunnymen are one of the most beloved of the edgy ‘80s “new wave” rock bands hailing from the UK. Releasing their debut LP, Crocodiles in 1980, the band immediately captured an audience with its inspired mix of Goth gloom and doom, psychedelic instrumentation and shoegazer soundscapes. Subsequent albums like Heaven Up Here (1981), Porcupine (1982) and Ocean Rain (1984) set the band above the ranks of MTV-fueled new wave one-hit-wonders and created an influential, lasting musical legacy. Although the band has survived several break-ups and changes in roster over the past 25 years, they reformed in 1997 around the nucleus of vocalist Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant and have continued to create their own unique brand of music ever since.

Recorded live during a 2005 performance at The Shepherds Bush Empire in England, the upcoming Dancing Horses DVD featuring 20 songs, including my personal favorite – “The Cutter” – as well as hits like “The Killing Moon” and “Bring On The Dancing Horses,” and exclusive interviews with McCulloch and Sergeant. Running over two hours long, Dancing Horses is the performance video that Echo & the Bunnymen fans have been waiting for since the very beginning!

MVD Audio – the CD side of Music Video Distributors – also has a great bunch of classic rock releases on its upcoming schedule, including a live album from prog-rock legend Greg Lake, hard rockers Starz and New England and incendiary guitarist Pat Travers.

Former King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer member Greg Lake’s self-titled live album was recorded during a 2005 concert at the Stevenage Concert Hall Arena in London. The CD includes songs from across the venerable veteran’s storied career, including ELP’s “Lucky Man” and “Pictures At An Exhibition” and Crimson’s “In The Court Of The Crimson King” and “21st Century Schizoid Man.” MVD will also be releasing a Greg Lake DVD, Welcome Backstage, which includes footage of the rehearsals for the 2005 tour, backstage band interviews, and full-length performances of songs like “Karn Evil 9” and “I Believe In Father Christmas.” Release date for both CD and DVD is June 26th, 2007.

New England became minor hard rock heroes on the strength of the radio-ready, Top 40 hit song “Don’t Ever Wanna Lose You” from their self-titled 1979 debut album, co-produced by Paul Stanley of Kiss. The band spent most of 1979 and 1980 touring with AOR giants like Kiss, Styx and AC/DC and released two subsequent albums, recording with producers like Mike Stone (Queen, Asia) and Todd Rundgren. Over 25 years later, New England has retained a small but rabidly loyal fan base. The upcoming MVD Audio CD release Greatest Hits Live features twelve live tracks, reportedly recorded in 1979 during a San Francisco show. The disc includes most of the material from the band’s debut album and a handful of songs from their 1980 follow-up, Explorer Suite. Greatest Hits Live also represents the only legitimate live release from this often overlooked band. Release date is June 5th, so plan your budget accordingly!

Fans of pop-metal pioneers Starz will celebrate the stateside release of the band’s own Greatest Hits Live album, which documents an uncredited live performance, probably from their 1979 tour judging from the song selection. During the mid-to-late-70s, Starz released an album every year like clockwork, and what they lacked in polish they more than made up for with grit and energy. Distained by critics, the band’s four studio albums have nevertheless proven to be influential beyond their meager commercial fortunes, and Violation, the band’s 1977 sophomore album, was voted one of rock music’s Top 100 albums by Kerrang magazine. Greatest Hits Live pulls heavily from the band’s self-titled 1976 debut album, featuring songs like “Detroit Girls,” “Live Wire” and “Monkey Business,” as well as tracks from Violation (“Rock Six Times,” “Cherry Baby” and “Subway Terror”), 1978’s Attention Shoppers and 1979’s Coliseum Rock. Release date is June 5th.

Pat Travers has always been a personal favorite of mine, a talented guitarist that incorporates blues and hard rock into his uncompromising six-string assault, never leaning too far in either stylistic direction. Hailing from Canada (as opposed to the US or the UK, the usual breeding grounds for blooze-based rockers), Travers earned his reputation during the late-70s/early-80s with fierce recordings like Heat In The Street (1979) and Crash And Burn (1980).  The upcoming Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) CD runs nearly an hour and features original Travers songs like the title cut, “Lights Out” and “Crash And Burn” as well as the guitarist’s lively interpretations of classic material from such like-minded bands as Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Gimme Back My Bullets”) and ZZ Top (“Jesus Just Left Chicago”). Release date is June 26th, so be there or be square. Boom!