Backbeat Vol. 1 (Punk Rock video magazine)

 

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

 

 

After music and television segments of the DVD market turned out to be a boom like never before, a few labels have tried out the idea of a magazine on video.  Playboy and Penthouse notwithstanding, the idea has been to literally offer a magazine-like format.  Backbeat Volume 1 (2003) offers some very rare footage of bands being interviewed and sounding smart.  Often, these bands are not talked to and then they talk at the camera or not at all.  This is a nice change of pace.

 

The earlier part has an interview followed by a music number, then it goes into concert footage and even behind the scenes segments as the following line-up demonstrates:

 

1)     HOT WATER MUSIC interview

2)     “Free Radio Gainesville”

3)     ALL interview

4)     “Carnage”

5)     ARMSTRONG interview

6)     “Alone”

7)     THRICE interview

8)     “Betrayal Is A Symptom”

9)     NERF HEARDER footage/interview

10)  “Mr. Spock” clip

11)  WARPED TOUR ’02 with: HOT WATER MUSIC

12)  FLOGGING MOLLY – “Drunken Lullabies”

13)  MXPX – “My Life Story”

14)  LAGWAGON – “Violins”

15)  NOFX – “A Perfect Government”/”Quart In Session”

16)  PUNK ROCK KARAOKE

17)  THE SPITS – “Tired & Lonely”/”Saturday Night”

18)  FABULOUS DISASTER interview

19)  “Down The Drain”

20)  AVAIL interview

21)  “Model”

22)  BONUS FOOTAGE: DIVIT/THE NERVE AGENTS/AMERICAN NOTHING/AFI

 

The band names are in bold.  This is a good, diverse line-up- within the genre and fans should be most satisfied with what is offered here.

 

The full frame analog video is limited in fidelity, but passable.  Much of this is documentary-like, but feels more like a TV series that should be on the air and is not.  The sound is available in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with surrounds or Dolby 5.1 AC-3 with a mixed amount of varying bass.  The 5.1 is much better in clarity for some reason, where the 2.0 feels flat.  There are no extras to speak of, because everything is treated like a magazine section.

 

Whether 2004 will bring a second edition or not is not known, but this is not badly done at all and may even inspire more such DVDs.  You get 140 minutes of material, so that’s not bad either.  With all the films, TV and outright music programs in the format, this might seem like a niche unlikely to grow, but if it is done as well as Backbeat, the industry could be in for another pleasant surprise.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo