While the quality of the sound and visuals are surprisingly good considering their provenance, there's not much the film crew can do to improve upon the quality of the music. In fact, while this may not have been the point of the film when it was made back in 1979, Punk In England shows how music that had once been considered a threat by the establishment was co-opted and made safe for mass consumption with bands like The Jam. Aside from the brief spark of life provided by The Specials and The Selector halfway through the movie, after the opening couple of tunes by The Clash, the music becomes boring and pedestrian. No matter what the title of this DVD claims, judging by the music it presents, there's really not much punk left in England by 1979.
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Interesting article Richard, although I think you're selling Paul Weller a bit short. For a guy who started out as a Pete Townshend wanna-be, I think Weller's growth was actually pretty impressive.
He basically went from zero to This Is The Modern World to eighties blue eyed soul man with the Style Council in about ten seconds. And although his style in the Jam was a bit derivative at times (particularly of his idols The Who), they made some pretty decent records. Anyway, just my two cents there. Carry on, then...
-Glen