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| SEX PISTOLS: LIVE FROM BRIXTON ACADEMY There'll Always Be An England FREEMANTLE Running Time: 77 minutes Extra footage 97 minutes Released 4th July 2005 �9.99 FREEMANTLE I really didn't want to watch this dvd with its bad cover graphics (bring back Jamie Reid ) but as usual curiosity got the better off me. The Pistols these days bear no ressemblence to the young sexy assassins of yore, just another retro punk band cashing in on their infamy ( Infamy, they've all got it in for me) without any of the threat or danger that made them counter culture figureheads of a disaffected generation X and targets of the establishment all those years ago . Lets not fool ourselves here, musically the Pistols were never the best live band in the world. In fact they were quite ropey at times, so to be totally honest I really wasn't expecting big things of this recent live document recorded for posterity by Julian Temple and Chris Thomas. However it turned out to be something of a surprise package! I'm of the opinion that they are damaging the reputation of the Sex Pistols by carrying on and I still believe they should call it a day once and for all. But I'd say that a very large majority of this audience at these shows never saw the Pistols live in their prime (I didn't) and that has always been the enduring attraction of the band, so I can understand the once high demand to see a piece of history in the flesh. It's good to see John Lydon has set his sights on other pastures old and began to focus his recent press attention seeking on reforming Public Image Limited in the future. His voice these days is sometimes irratating beyond belief and is better suited to PIL's experimental sonic soundwave anyway. He's obviously not gonna go away in a hurry, but at least the Sex Pistols cash in/decline will have ended. Its also good timing on his part as the novelty value of the Pistols continuous worldwide. The 'Combine Harvester' live experience is wearing off as they seem to have hit the wall on home turf and are struggling to sell out the Hammersmith Apollo in London this September. . Anyway less of the grumpy waffling from me, I got a few bottles of ice cold Bud lined up and Spikey Steve has loaded the dvd player and the entertainment began with a horrifying start . The intro music Vera Lyn's nationalistic 'There'll Always Be An England' was wafting along to frightening scenes from the foyer of the Brixton Academy. Clive Dunn's 'Grandad' would have been more appropriate as one by one like the night of the living dead they shuffled into the venue. My heart sank as I watched. Is this what we look like at the punk gigs these days? A a shiver ran down my spine, my god it was a really sad sight and time to call it a day I thought, now very depressed, we're fucking ancient. If theres one thing I hate about recently recorded punk footage is wrinkly beer bellied 40/50 + OAPs (Old Age Punks) in ill fitting retro punk t-shirts with their last few remaining tufts of hair spiked out and coloured in rainbow shades ...it looks desperate! And why do old punk punters think.that just because a camera points at them they have to start trying to jump around dementedly bringing on a cardiac arrest or the ugly gurning and giving the V-sign fingers like they're in some grotesque cliched punk inspired reproduction of Dantes inferno? Sadly theres quite a few of these relics of a bygone age in this dvd presentation and that includes the band. Give me the old stuff its less embarrassing for us old tossers. Toto we're not in 1977 anymore. I don't know if it was the drink softening me up but the Sex Pistols at the Brixton shows filmed over 5 nights were much better than I expected them to be. They were rock solid and looked like they were really enjoying themselves as they bulldozed their way through the 'Bollocks' LP plus those iconic 45's and their b sides. They were pretty damn good y'all, no compliants from me at all. For all the techno buffs reading, the sound and vision production is top quality real state of the art it can't be faulted. But better was still to come with the dvd extras 'The Knowledge' featuring the Sex Pistols London documentary in the form of a trip around the seedy underbelly of the capital in 2008 with the individual Pistols as your tour guides to places relevant in the bands life story. Its a real laugh and shows the band in a whole new light as really down to earth guys with a self depreciating sense of humour, Jonesy, Cookie, Glen and Johnny do enjoy a laugh at their own expense and deliver here in spades. John as always whines a bit but you would'nt expect anything else from the repetitive Mr Rotten would you? The whole dvd package is great (apart from the dodgey cover) and I would reccomend it to anyone, its class! I was getting increasingly jaded regarding the modern day Pistols but I now have a new found respect and more time for them in July 08 than I've had for many years prior to watching this excellent dvd last weekend. DONT MISS! Buy it without hessitation!!! Joe Donnelly (Belfast) 7th July 2008 |
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