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The Last Poets
Made In Amerikkka
(Wienerworld)

Those of you keen to trace the roots of hip hop, particularly rap acts of the more socially aware stripe (like Public Enemy or The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy), need look no further than Gary Byrd, Gil Scott Heron and, perhaps the most incendiary of them all, The Last Poets, a group of poets and musicians who arose from the black nationalist wing of the late 1960s African American civil rights movement. Rock fans will probably know them best from the track ‘Wake Up Niggers’ from the Performance film soundtrack, and this DVD of Claude Santiago’s documentary – which brings together the original surviving members Felipe Luciano, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, Umar Bin Hassan, Abiodun Oyewale and Dahveed Nelson in the studio and live onstage to reflect on the past, their legacy and their respective subsequent journeys as well as deliver a freestyle set of, what is now considered to be, classic ‘jazzoetry’ - looks at their radical (and often fractious) forty year musical journey. With Gil Scott Heron releasing I’m New Here, his best album in decades, the time is also clearly rife to rediscover these other great lodestones of hip hop, and this DVD does a spectacularly fine job of doing just that.
Drew Bass

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Little Feat
Skin It Back
(Eagle Vision)

To put this DVD, filmed at the Grugahalle in Essen Germany for Rockpalast, into some sort of historical context this show was filmed shortly before the band recorded their live album Waiting for Columbus which is still rightly considered one of the best live albums of all time, and whilst the late great Lowell George’s relationship with the band was on the wane by this stage - his song-writing contributions diminishing as the group experimented more with jazz (something in which he had little interest, indeed he even leaves the stage during the set’s weakest moment the jazz instrumental ‘Day At The Dog Races’) - this show nonetheless captures them in fine style and with a line-up also boasting Paul Barrere, Richard Hayward, Kenny Gradney, Sam Clayton and Bill Payne this is pretty much the mother-lode for all long term Feat fans. Now expanded from the VHS version with almost 30 minutes of never before seen alternative rehearsal versions including a romp through ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Doctor’ a track not found on the original set-list, if you have yet to experience the swampy, country blues'n'boogie Little Feat pretty much invented then this is a great place to start.
Ray Harper

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John Lennon
Classic Album: Plastic Ono Band
(Eagle Rock)

The latest in the increasingly indispensable Classic Album series from Eagle Rock, this extended documentary (featuring over 37 minutes of material which were not seen in the TV broadcast) looks in detail at John Lennon's first apres Beatles solo album Plastic Ono Band - not to be confused with the Yoko Ono album of exactly the same name released with an almost identical cover at the same time which is also discussed here (one fascinating snippet reveals they actually wanted to title John's album 'Primal' and Yoko's 'Scream' acknowledging Arthur Janov's primal scream therapy which was such a major influence on Lennon’s music at the time). Stripped back in direct response to the increasingly lush and elaborate material of later Beatles albums the story of Plastic Ono Band unfolds through wonderful footage, interviews with, amongst others, Ringo, Yoko, Klaus Voorman, and the engineers who mastered the record and features excellent live performances of ‘Mother’, ‘Well Well Well’ and ‘Instant Karma’. This is an imaginative and fascinating look at a genuine all time classic album told by the people who made it and, given that he is sadly no longer with us, happily includes plenty of footage of the man himself.

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Led Zeppelin
The Song Remains The Same (Warner Video)

With their recent reunion not only the hottest ticket in town but possibly the hottest in history, what better time to reacquaint ourselves with the live behemoth that was Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant, impossibly slim and toned, with the most famous mane of hair in rock, hands on hips, posing up a storm, creating the high register template for pretty much every rock and roll yelper to come, Jimmy Page, togged out in his ringmaster outfit, pirouetting and pouting around the stage delivering classic riff after classic riff, immersed in keeping the octane ratio high, John Bonham solid, rock steady, sounding like he’s hitting all manner of stuff with half house-bricks and John Paul Jones (wearing what appears to be a badly sewn chintz sofa and sporting the most hideous page boy bob) holding the whole shebang together with thundering bass and jazzy keyboards, not for nothing did Led Zeppelin have such a fearsome live reputation. The fantasy scenes still look like exactly what they were, hastily shot footage tacked on to cover up missing live film, but they don’t intrude too much and as this new release restores all the available live footage it’s well worth picking up even if you still have the original.

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Level 42
Live At Wembley
(Universal)

If ever a band have ever suffered due to their place in the history of pop it’s Level 42. Big in the ‘80s, an era that is not at all fondly recalled, with all the fashion faux pas that went along with the period, and that tendency towards over-production - stand up at the back there Trevor Horn - synthetic strings, drums and horn sounds and yes, slap bass. Bland wine bar jazz rock ruled the airwaves, and people actually thought Tony Hadley and Limahl were good looking (eek!). So spare a thought then for Mark King, Mike Lindup, Phil Gould and, erm, Boon - proper musicians, who filled Wembley Arena for eight nights (yup, that’s right, eight bloody nights), in 1986 with well-up-for-it punters keen to hear some, actually pretty good, jazz-pop songs (Something About You, Lessons In Love and Running In The Family all still stand up today) – and are today about as popular as a jobbie in your washing up. True, they look incredibly small on the Wembley stage, and the sound can best be described as pretty average, but if you were there this will doubtless offer an hour or so of happy reminiscence.

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