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Category:    Home > Reviews > Concert > Rock > Punk > Post Punk > Bad Religion - Along The Way

Bad Religion – Along The Way (DVD-Video)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Main Program: B-

 

 

Originally released in 1990 on VHS, Along The Way offers concert footage with a few brief interview clips with the band Bad Religion.  During their post-Punk reign in the 1980s and 1990s, there were times I would hear people actually criticizing this band, but they always seemed interesting.  After taking the time to watch this show, it turns out they were much better than many were giving them credit for.

 

The majority concert portions of this program are from an August 1989 date on the band’s Suffer Tour in Germany.  It captures the band in good form and shows their energy while showing off their outspoken material that is actually about something.  Too bad this was too much for the mainstream and even those who would be more likely to support them, supposedly who know music.  The songs are:

 

1)     Suffer

2)     Land Of Competition

3)     1000 More Fools

4)     Doing Time

5)     Damned To Be Free

6)     Latch Key Kids

7)     Part II (The Numbers Game)

8)     How Much Is Enough? [Interview 1]

9)     Along The Way

10)  Do What You Want

11)  Faith In God

12)  We’re Only Gonna Die (From Our Own Arrogance)/Part III

13)  Drastic Action [Interview 2]

14)  Delirium Of Disorder

15)  You Are (The Government)

16)  Yesterday

17)  Forbidden Beat

18)  Voice Of God Is Government

19)  Frogger [Interview 3]

20)  When

21)  F@*# Armageddon, This Is Hell

22)  Give You Nothing

23)  Best For You [Interview 4]

24)  Bad Religion

25)  Politics

26)  World War III

 

 

At first, al the music may “sound the same” until you really hear what is being sung and the idea is to do it at a high-level of energy.  Co-edited, produced and taped by Matthias Kollek and Thorsten Bach, it holds up well enough for a project that was taped, partly because the band at hand is as good as they are, but then I realized this is not as long as it could have been considering how many tracks are here.  Playing faster goes through material faster.

 

Lead singer Greg Graffin has a great voice for this kind of material and with drummer Peter Finestone, bassist Jay Bentley, and co-guitarists Brett Gurrewitz and Greg Hetson, they make up one of the few second-generation Punk bands that really will ever matter.  Most are about no ideas, constant angst and populism, but Bad Religion even challenged the slacker/posers and that is a real Rock victory these days if there ever was one.

 

The full frame 1.33 X 1 image was taped on analog videotape back in 1990 and shows its age.  The limits of definition and color, especially in the dark, but I am more likely to believe this was PAL than NTSC, as it does not bleed badly.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best with no surround information at all, though I had to wonder if this might have sounded clearer in a PCM playback, but there is some compression from the time of the taping throughout that extends to the master.  Some unnecessary compression from the Dolby has to be figured in due to the nature of the format.  There are no extras, except the interview snippets within the main program, but there is much here to experience in its 70 minutes.  Too bad there is not more or that the band was still together.  No wonder the country is in such trouble.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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