Dr Feelgood - Taking No Prisoners (With Gypie 1977-1981) (4) - #141

Dr Feelgood - Taking No Prisoners (With Gypie 1977-1981) (4)

I guess, noone had in mind in 1977, that viewers in 2013 still might be interested to see vintage Dr Feelgood footage. Or, just maybe, this was state of the art technology back then. But these days, with HD being present everywhere, this (mostly) grainy and out of focus material has a certain charm. In other words, the recordings don't make the cut. But who am I to complain, it's history we're seeing and the quality is, despite all its shortcomings, quite acceptable. Don't expect high resolution videos and think back to a time when you were easier to be satisfied and, voilà, there you are.

That the footage is scraped from various sources is quite apparent, due to the uneven quality. It's indeed mostly better than what I have on DVD and VHS, but even within the presentation, the changes are quite noticeable. This goes for the audio track as well as the visuals. At least one of the promo videos surprised me in as much, as they apparently didn't find a superior version. On the other hand, the "Violent Love" video is the best copy I've seen so far. This is quite an enjoyable visual trawl through the Gypie years and it brought back many memories of Dr Feelgood live in concert. For me, this DVD is the real highlight of the boxset (plus the demo version of "Riding On The L & N" in the audio section).

There's a very extensive Gypie Mayo interview on this DVD as well and, if you can sit through it, you're awarded with a lot of insight into the machinery that was Dr Feelgood 1977 to 1981. But I'd propose to split your viewing of this section into two or three parts because, at least for me, listening to a speaker going on for nearly an hour, it's more of a monologue than an interview, at least the way it's cut, the prospect of sitting there for an hour without a chance to get a word in sideways, is not very appealing. I'd rather have a couple of thin slices, than the whole pie in one go. The Richard Gottehrer interview is not nearly as impressive and I believe, I forgot most of what he said already. That section is also much shorter than the Gypie one.

Despite its shortcomings, the boxset is a real companion to "All Through The City". It could have been different and better, but did I think I'd get to see even one boxset all those years ago? Certainly not and this really is now the third such offer of any importance. Now, are we going to see a boxset of the Gordon years and one of the Steve years? Not that I'm exactly waiting for it, but with a better plan, there might be a few surprises in there. Not the least a decent version of "See You Later Alligator" in the DVD section.

Cheers

Devon