The Stool Pigeon music newspaper

A lot of these tour documentaries are used by the record companies to encourage people to buy the CD. Not a bad idea at all, but this one is slightly different: the emphasis is on the film, although there is an accompanying EP of National off-cuts too. And it’s a far better watch than most - a grainy, moody, black and white number shot by a French guy called Vincent Moon. Don’t sound too French to me. A lot of his footage, mostly of England while the Brooklyn-based band are on the road, is stunning but there’s a problem here: very little happens. You assume hardcore fans of the band will be picking this up, not film nerds. They won’t learn much. Bands, eh? They sit around most of the time waiting for orders. Nice life, but not very compelling to watch.

Growing up in the 1970s, you cannot forget that gut feeling of hearing The Sex Pistols for the first time. On seeing this DVD, my guts turned for very different reasons. It’s a sad world when John Lydon turns to a crowd and says “I’m your friend, don’t be shy,” and means it. Thirty years ago we’d have spat at him in reverence. Now people just wave their iPhone. Although this is a really piss poor cash-in, you can’t help but love Steve Jones’ guitar work. Only a dozen songs in 30 years but what gems. Chuck Berry must be mad as hell. The thievery is heavily disguised as subversion, but you still feel the cosh on the back of your head and the vague feeling of hearing someone say, “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?”

Smith is best known as leader of British punk band The Adverts. The band released their debut Crossing The Red Sea with The Adverts in 1977, and then split in 1979. Thirty years later, and to commemorate their first gigs, backed by Los Quattros (a Spanish punk band renamed The Bored Teenagers for the gig) he returned to the 100 Club to play the album again in its entirety. TV Smith looks remarkable compared to many of his peers doing the pension tours and it starts out a very lively performance. However, after half a dozen songs he’s visibly tired, but he comes fighting back with the brilliant ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’. This DVD is a truly entertaining reminder of a underrated British band.

If I was 16 and picked this up, I’d cream my pants thinking that there’s a whole world out there that looks progressive and exciting. This is such a simple idea, but it works really well: compile a bunch of music videos of artists with a fun, DIY approach to filmmaking (Holy Fuck, Operator Please, Matt & Kim) and run them alongside interviews with bands, funky short films and interesting artwork. A DVD magazine, in other words. Somehow people think the internet is a better place for doing such a thing. Not true - this manages to put popular culture into an organised and edited framework. It has more effect as a consequence. Some other peeps featured: The Teenagers and two Pigeon contributors: Emmy The Great and Jeffrey Lewis.