It’s that time again when our friends at Music Video Distributors get ready to release a bunch of cool new titles on DVD. This August 28th, the company will be releasing live concert discs from both the legendary Johnny Thunders and hardcore heroes the Cro-Mags.

Who’s Been Talking? features Johnny Thunders live in concert on April 3rd, 1991 performing with the Odd Balls in Osaka, Japan. The 99-minute DVD offers up a spirited mix of New York Dolls songs like “Personality Crisis” along with Thunders’ solo material like “Too Much Junkie Business” and “So Alone” as well as classic rock covers like “Pipeline” and “Little Queenie.” This is one of the last concerts performed by Thunders before his tragic death, and possibly the last show caught on tape. I can’t vouch for its quality, only its rarity, and the performance has not been previously released in the US on DVD.

In August, MVD will also be releasing Final Quarrel: Live At CBGB 2001, documenting the final performance by hardcore punk legends the Cro-Mags, appearing at the infamous NYC Bowery club CBGB and captured by a multi-camera shoot. The band performs almost all of their classic 1986 Age of Quarrel album onstage, as well as other choice songs and a few well-chosen covers like the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop.” The DVD also includes a full performance from Cro-Mags’ frontman Harley Flanagan’s post-Mags band, Harley’s War, which includes members of Murphy’s Law and Warzone, and features a bonus segment of Harley giving a tour of the now-closed club and talking about what the club’s Hardcore Matinees meant to him and other kids. This is an integral slice of hardcore punk history and well worth adding to your collection if you’re a punk rock fan!

Finally, MVD will be releasing Lene Lovich’s Live From New York At Studio 54 DVD on August 28th, a rare 60-minute document of a performance by the one-of-a-kind vocalist from December 1981 that includes Thomas Dolby on synthesizer. Lovich is one of the “new wave” era’s best-kept secrets, an interesting and original performer that followed her own muse rather than commercial-driven trends. Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote about this performance, "Miss Lovich put on a fascinating show in which she sang, played the saxophone and danced with a lurching spontaneity that seemed half-demented. Her favorite mode is a wild, hiccupy vocal attack that often breaks into semi-improvisatory bird calling that soars easily to an E-flat above high C." Got it? Get it!!!

(Click on the DVD covers to buy Cro-Mags or Lene Lovich discs from Amazon.com)