Music DVDs

The latest releases reviewed.

HERMAN'S HERMITS

Live at the Hilton ABC Entertainment***

Herman’s Hermits were one of the few early-to-mid 1960s UK pop groups that nearly dislodged The Beatles from their throne. The clean-cut band, fronted by the toothy former child actor Peter Noone, clocked up 17 UK Top 20 hits between 1964 and 1970, and record sales of more than 40 million. This rarely viewed archive performance of a 1966 show in Australia posits the theory that the band were only as good as their covers material. Invested with vim and vigour they might have been, but they simply didn’t have the creative smarts. What they had in abundance was a proto-boyband veneer of suited and booted smiles, unthreatening sexuality and a cavalier approach to their predominantly female audience. Good fun, if dated and very much of its time. Extras include a documentary, originally filmed in 1985, that features band interviews (with Noone notably absent).

TONY CLAYTON-LEA

PINK FLOYD

Dark Side Of The Moon Edgehill Publishing***

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon(1973) is one of those rare musical moments when everything comes together, fits neatly into place, and becomes much more than the sum of its parts. This documentary attempts to parse down this sui generiswork – always a foolish task – but does manage to get some way there. Through archive footage (not as "rare" as billed) of the band alongside an array of talking heads who were involved in some way with the album, a picture is built up of the who, what and why. Probably not a good starting point for the browsing fan, but for anoraks it works very nicely indeed. And yes, it does make you want to listen to the original.

BRIAN BOYD