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"WHO KILLED BILL? : SEX PISTOLS ON THE NEWS"
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ODEON ENTERTAINMENT
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120 MINUTES
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By: Rotten
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This new DVD has been being touted around among the Sex Pistols fan circle since last year, promising to be an overview of the bands history from 1976
to the present day through the use of the U.K.'S I.T.N. (Independent Television News) archives, who, actually own LOTS of rare material us fans want to
see. Admittedly, the footage here has all been seen on Youtube, but it is nice to have it all in great quality, So lets see what is actually on it.........
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Kicking off in 1976, with a brief excerpt from the legendary Bill Grundy TODAY show interview (only Steve Jones' comments), I couldn't see the point of
this, when what we, the fans want is the full interview from beginning to end, then shifting to Janet Street Porter's LONDON WEEKEND SHOW of 1976 showing
clips of the band at the Notre Dame Hall in London and their Denmark Street base (the infamous "I DON'T HAVE ANY HEROES" interview), then we get the
DRAGONARA HOTEL, LEEDS interview with Malcom McLaren and Leeds Polytechnic councilor interview that haven't been seen in this length before.
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One annoying point is the fact that all Pistols music has been overdubbed by sound-a-like songs from the Pistols hits, but due to the nature of the
videotape elements used, most of the time the sound of the original music is heard in the background, this is very evident on the 1977 section, dealing
with GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, using a mass of footage from L.W.T's documentary, YEAR OF THE PUNK, and as with the next section on the music press in 1978, has
little Pistols relevance.
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After a short pieces of American News footage from the Pistols ATLANTA show on the 5th January 1978 and the break up (using John in his MAD HATTER hat
walking through the streets of London- an excellent clip), we have UK and USA footage on the deaths of Sid and Nancy and a retrospective on the movie
of the same name.
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Next is a really great piece of footage, In 1979, PIL appeared on TYNE TEES TELEVISION in the Newcastle based show CHECK IT OUT, and after performing
CHANT live (not shown here), a scene of Angelic Upstarts vocalist MENSI slagging off JOHN LYDON was shown,and John's reaction and subsequent walk out is
aired here - a classic moment of British TV,and well worthy of its addition here.
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1980: Memories of The Pistols turns up a few interesting clips, a gray haired John being interviewed, a small feature on the Great Rock N Roll Swindle
movie, John on Australian TV at a Sea Life Center,
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The next two sections on Vivienne Westwood and Malcom McLaren I skipped through........Nothing of note for Pistols fans at all. But then comes the DVDS
best parts, Starting with the 1996 re-union Press Conference at the 100 Club, this brought back so many happy memories of the first re-union for me, going
through the release of the Dance Version of GOD SAVE THE QUEEN in 2002 and subsequent CRYSTAL PALACE show (some lovely rehearsal footage here, sadly though
with the audio replaced), and a lovely interview with John at Cobden Hall.
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Right up to GUITAR HERO 3 press conference and the 2007 Brixton HOLIDAYS IN THE SUN uk tour. This lot has some excellent interviews and a few private
Pistol moments and for me justified the price of the DVD.
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Sadly, the 2008 festivals tour is not mentioned.
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The DVD has one SPECIAL FEATURE - claiming to be a preview of anew SID VICIOUS documentary...........what bollocks!........Its just a truncated , 20
minute version of Odeon Entertainment's already released "SID: BY THOSE WHO KNEW HIM" DVD, which I reviewed in a previous PUNK GLOBE issue,
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This DVD is a must for SEX PISTOLS collectors, and will enthrall the casual fan, Its Just a pity about the Non- Pistols stuff and the musical
soundtrack.
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