Latest music DVDs reviewed

Warp Vision: Videos (1989-2004)
Warp
****

Eye-popping visuals have been as much a part of the Warp experience as ear-twisting audio since the label kicked off its electronic adventures in Sheffield with the release of a Forgemasters' single in 1989. Since then, a galaxy of film-makers has been on hand to chronicle Warp's squeaks and squawks, and Warp Vision is the best of that lot. From the pulped vision of Jarvis Cocker for Nightmares On Wax and Sweet Exorcist to the happily deranged widescreen nightmares concocted by Chris Cunningham, Warp on screen has been every bit as far-out as Warp on wax. By refusing to rule anything out when it comes to what goes into promo videos, Warp has been able to attract a steady stream of cutting-edge directors keen to make a splash. Warped eye-candy of the finest kind.
www.warprecords.com  Jim Carroll

Elvis Presley
Elvis '56
Wienerworld
***

They might look rather tame by today's standards, as the appropriation of softcore and hardcore pornographic images and iconography trickles down from one pop culture level to another. But back in the mid-'50s the pelvic thrusts of Elvis Presley were deemed to be dangerous to society. This DVD is as basic as they come: rare footage from the year that Presley broke through the barriers, narrated by a husky-voiced Levon Helm. Yet, the images form part of a culture that has continued from primal rock 'n' roll to The Clash and, by extension, to possibly the most innocuous band of recent times, The Libertines. And there's no doubting the power and glory of Presley at the start of his career; essentially; he's full of it - sex, ambition and iconoclasm fuse in a moment of rare serendipity to provide the first money shot of rock 'n' roll. DVD extras are virtually non-existent, but for once it tends not to matter. www.wienerworld.com  Tony Clayton-Lea