Music DVDs

Latest music DVDs reviewed

DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS
The Bridge Universal ***

No doubt Kevin Rowland often looks back on his career and curses Come on Eileen. The song, a UK No 1, brought the band the fame, but with it legions of Top of the Pops kids only keen on their big hit. DMR had been hawking their brass-infused northern soul since the 1970s and, while Geno hit the top of the charts, it was the raggle-taggle exuberance of Eileen that made them stars. The Bridge, recorded at their 1982 peak, is a stellar performance of a band at their best. While low on extras (and songs from the first album) it features a rousing Jackie Wilson Says, an epic cover of R.E.S.P.E.C.T, non-album Kevin Rowland's Band and that Eileen anthem, capturing the band's vim and Rowland's mercurial song-writing skills. Sinéad Gleeson

CHRIS DIFFORD
South East Side Story Luna ***

Heirs to the songwriting legacy of The Kinks and The Beatles, Squeeze were one of a kind: a post-punk group with supremely witty pop sensibilities. They weren't as successful as Madness (their only other valid UK competitors), but history has proven them better. Chris Difford, the lesser known of Squeeze's songwriting team, is the guy who provided most of the lyrics (Glenn Tilbrook supplied most of the melodies), and his rough, ready and boisterous live performance at his former band's spiritual home of the Albany Empire in Deptford is a jolt to the system with regard to how many brilliant songhe helped to write: Up the Junction, Labelled with Love, Cool for Cats, Goodbye Girl, Black Coffee in Bed, Slap and Tickle and more are all present and correct and still very much fab. The package also comes with a ten track audio disc. www.chrisdifford.com  Tony Clayton-Lea