Music DVD

This week's music DVD releases reviewed

THE FALL

Last Night at the Palais Sanctuary/Universal ***

The Palais of the title was a London venue that had witnessed live music action since 1919. Before it was bulldozed in 2007 it played host to The Fall, a Manchester band with more lives than a bag of cats, and a frontman – Mark E Smith – who is correctly regarded as the Albert Tatlock of his generation: grumpy, unlovable, someone you really want to like but don't because it just seems the right thing to do. Unusually for a visual documentation of The Fall, this is professionally filmed, which means we get to actually hear the music (avant-garage, anyone?) and, more importantly, see and hear Smith harangue his way through the 12-song set. What X Factor judge Cheryl Cole would make of Smith death-rattling through a cover of Frank Zappa's Hungry Freaks, Daddyis anyone's guess, but we think he's a cracker. Extras? Don't be silly.