Starring New Model Army
Written By:
Directed By: Dave Meehan
Studio: MVD/ Secret Films
Buy on Amazon.com link

I never heard of New Model Army until I started to listen to the Levellers. I knew the Levellers were influenced by them, and I think Simon Friend used to be roadie for the band? They are sort of similar bands but not really. So it was only a matter of time that I would start to listen to the political-charged UK rock band called New Model Army. The band plays a mixture of rock, folk rock, punk, post-punk and sometimes they even sound a little goth. Although I could be completely wrong with how they sound but those genres of music are what come to mind when I listen to New Model Army. Now since I’ve only listened to the band for a few months now, I didn’t know every song that they played on this DVD. But once I heard these songs, it makes me want to go out and get all their albums!

New Model Army’s Live 161203 DVD was filmed & recorded at the Astoria in London on December 16th 2003. The DVD is beautifully shot, which is to be expected from director Dave Meehan. He seems to be the director of the last few MVD DVDs I reviewed and he does a great job of capturing bands’ live shows. There are 21 songs that stretch over 100 minutes or so. That’s quite a lot of songs and time for a DVD. Most of the music DVDs I watch, there only seems to be an hour and fifteen minutes worth of material. NMA open up with “Orange Tree Roads,” which is a great song to open with. I just love the keyboards in that song. I keep listening to New Model Army’s Great Expectations – Singles Collection and there’s quite a few songs from that album. I really like the songs “Vagabonds” and “Brave New World” but the band doesn’t play those songs on this DVD. They do however, play other great songs like “51st State,” “Poison Street,” “No Rest,” “Here Comes The War” and “Stupid Questions.” All those songs that are listed before are some of my favorites from the band. For seeing the band play the songs in concert, Justin Sullivan REALLY gets into the songs. I thought his head was ready to explode at one point. Even though I think this DVD is great, I think seeing New Model Army in person would be so much better. You just don’t have that overall environment of a live show on a DVD but this DVD is good if you want to just see the band perform the songs. New Model Army have a new album coming out in August and will be touring the United States in the fall so be sure to see them live.

Features:
Interviews

Audio:
Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Video:
1.33:1

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Orange Tree Roads, No Pain, 51st State, Heres Comes the War, Poison Street, Stupid Questions, No Rest, Green & Grey
Rating: NR
Running Time: 152 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: