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Rating:  -
This is a killer DVD even tho most of it already available. The naration/no-naration option is very welcome. The naration is short and un-abtrusive. If you have 1 CLASH dvd this - should be it. If you have 1 music dvd - this should be it. If you 1 dvd - this should be it.
Rating:  -
All I can say is that this is an infuriating DVD because I think it was produced incompetently, with no regard for true fans of Clash music but at the same time has some rare footage and complete songs that are hard to turn down. Arrrgghh! Somebody please re-release this collection properly!
Rating:  -
As much as I once worshipped the ground The Clash stumbled on, the post-"London Calling" section of their catalog (not to mention Joe Strummer's solo career) is like a kick to the solar plexus or even lower, finally shattering the foolish and naïve notion that in the end, punk rock would ever be anything more than a ruse, a marketing opportunity, a chance for Levi Strauss to sell more blue jeans or Jaguar to sell more X-Types. The less said about Nissan co-opting the band's cover of Toots and the Maytals' "Pressure Drop" to sell even more of their wrecks, especially in this town, the better.
But for a few years at least, before they began to squander their greatness by encouraging Mick Jones to sing ("Lost in the Supermarket," anyone?), dumping the date they brung to the prom with "London Calling," and championing hip hop, The Clash made each note count with an impressive run of albums, singles, and B-sides that may not have all qualified as historic moments in the progression of humanity, but made a certain kid in Detroit pull his head out of the bong for a quick look-see, then scramble for a haircut and pants with narrower legs.
Calling "Revolution Rock" a "documentary" is a bit of a stretch, longtime Clash associate Don Letts providing stilted narration about the band's supposed social and sonic significance between some frantic, heart-palpitating early clips from gigs where they were absolutely white hot and storming the gates, somehow managing to combine the power, excitement, and momentum of The Who with the gristle, flaming grey matter, and manic economy of a thousand American garage bands from the 60's, knocking `em dead everywhere from London to Manchester.
On "White Riot," "1977," "Complete Control," "I Fought the Law," "Clampdown," "Safe European Home," "Tommy Gun," and "London's Burning," their collective energy is more than enough to power the entire UK grid when channeled through Strummer, who pulsates, twitches, throbs, spits, and tics like the nightmarish offspring of a tragic one-night stand between Reddy Kilowatt and Patty Duke as Helen Keller in "The Miracle Worker," Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon knees up and going for broke. Anything less would have been unacceptable, unforgivable, and inconceivable.
Their appearance on "The Tomorrow Show" isn't so much notable for their having a go at "The Magnificent Seven" and "This Is Radio Clash" as for the interview with hopelessly-out-of-touch-but-affable host Tom Snyder, redolent with the scent of Lucky Strikes, Johnny Walker, and Hai Karate after a weekend with Hef at the Playboy Mansion, Strummer a beacon of charisma gone supernova. "Joe Public speaking," indeed.
By the time the band began to fancy themselves as artistes (read "Sandinista!"), though, they were done like dinner, stowaways on the kamikaze plane that punk had become in the early 80's, torn between expressing themselves and selling records in quantities that may not have approached Fleetwood Mac-like numbers, but warranted continued support from CBS. It's obvious from their 1982 Shea Stadium appearance in support of The Who - Strummer in coonskin cap and Ray-Bans, Jones in jumpsuit and beret - they were on auto-pilot, going through the motions, looking as if they'd rather be anywhere else. You can see it in their eyes.
As a collection of clips or a snapshot in time, though, "Revolution Rock" will do quite nicely. Your best bet is to fire up the deck and view this sans Letts' travelogue, which at times veers dangerously close to apple polishing, overstating the obvious but failing to reveal anything - no matter how trivial - the band's still-foaming fan base hasn't heard ad infinitum in the last three decades. It may work fine as a lesson in Clash 101, but it's been done before and better.
Rating:  -
...the LIVE footage is great. Raw, energetic, unrivalled. The narration is moronic and it treads on the performances. You're better off picking up the From Here to Eternity: Live CD.
Rating: -
Every time I see this DVD in my collection I get angry! What a missed opportunity. There is so much great footage available out there but this eagerly awaited live DVD under-delivers in three ways:
1 - Almost all of the clips are available elsewhere (there's nothing really new)
2 - Don Letts has the cheek to include his own Tommy Gun clip which is lip-sync video not a live track
3 - The voice-over is patronizing, dumb and annoying.
What would have been great would've been a DVD which took "Clash on Broadway" as an inspiration and delivered a compilation with the same depth and integrity as that CD boxed set.
Instead we get this very lazy cash-in.
A real missed opportunity.
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