Pads & Panels

Title: Less Than Jake DVD [Anthology]

Format: DVD

Label: Sleep it Off Records

Rating:

Review by: Bill Jones

Despite the rather plain and simple name on the box of Less Than Jake DVD, the Gainesville ska band’s video-centric release contains four discs packed with more than eight hours of footage, effectively earning its other name, Anthology. And with six full album performances, extra live tracks and plenty more from over the years, it’s a collection Less Than Jake fans don’t need to think twice about picking up.

The first three discs contain three shows apiece, featuring the entire album performances of six of the band’s albums from a string of shows in Florida in 2007. Albums performed are Hello Rockview, Pezcore, Anthem, Borders and Boundaries, Losing Streak and In With the Out Crowd. The performances are the same as those seen on the bonus DVDs included with the Sleep It Off album rereleases (including the audio problems with Losing Streak), but they are uncut from start to finish, and each show features “bonus tracks” in this collection not seen on the other versions. (more…)

Artist: Iggy Pop

Album: Roadkill Rising: The Bootleg Collection: 1977-2009

Label: Shout! Factory

Rating:

Written By: Thomas Braaksma

Iggy Pop has had a long illustrious career, which has already been immortalized by numerous albums, anthologies, greatest hits, and live performance compilations. Is there any justification of yet another release containing a career spanning set of discs? With this latest release from Mr. Pop, there really is no better answer than no.

Yes, diehard fans will eat this compilation up and say they couldn’t do without it, but the rest of the world can let this sink away into the abyss without a second look. How can there be a fair review of this without either siding with the followers or the naysayers? There really can’t be, since Roadkill Rising is a stupendous collection of Iggy’s live work from the 1970s to the present, but the necessity of it seems pointless. With twenty plus releases from Iggy, this collection of live performances has no intentions of weaning new fans into the following but teeters on the ledge of being just another way to bring money into the bank. If the listener didn’t like or hear of Iggy Pop before Roadkill, there is far and few chances that Rising will bring them into the fold. (more…)