The Clash – Live: Revolution Rock [DVD]

The Clash need no introduction. They’re simply one of the most influential bands ever; that’s all there is to it. They are The Clash and that’s that.

Live: Revolution Rock is an 82 minute DVD that captured the band in the live setting over a six year period (1977-1982). It takes twenty songs from the band’s distinguished career and transplants them into the live setting, be it on TV appearances on The Tomorrow Show With Tom Snyder or playing to a sold out crowd of over 200,000 people – Revolution Rock captures the band from every angle. They hit songs like I Fought The Law, (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais, Tommy Gun, London Calling, Train In Vain, This Is Radio Clash, Career Opportunities, White Riot and Should I Stay or Should I Go among others; but the track listing makes a very small difference in the delivery of the DVD as any song by The Clash would be worth a listen.

What does matter is the overall quality of the DVD; and like all DVDs, it has its ups and downs.

First is the image quality of the recordings. As they are almost thirty years old they do tend to pale in comparison to today’s footage. It is rather grainy and dark for the most part; and Brand New Cadillac looks like an old-school VCR recording with distorted colours and wavy lines throughout. But this dark, grainy feel rarely becomes overbearing; in fact it adds an extra layer of authenticity to the work. It gives the DVD an old fashion feel and without a million different angles it plays through as if you were there while still never lingering on one angle for too long.

Sonically they have the same problem as the DVD isn’t always crystal clear. Take The Guns of Brixton for example, it’s barely audible. Many of the songs lack a certain audio clarity that would make it all the better but considering the time frame it’s not too bad. Particularly when you listen to Train In Vain, I Fought The Law, Career Opportunities, White Riot or any of the Tom Snyder clips – all those ones sound great.

As an added bonus, the entire DVD can be played with additional commentary playing throughout. This does cover a few of the song’s outros but its worth it as it places all the songs into context and gives a slight historical overview of the band. It never dives deep into the history of The Clash but still gives a nice little recap of the band’s illustrious career.