To tell the truth, I never heard one full album from Adolescents in the past because 1) I am really lazy to discover great Californian bands like Adolescents, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, DRI and many more that is not Bad Religion and 2) I am dumb. So, I really should thank Kung Fu Records for releasing this double DVD plus CD from this germinal punk band of the 80’s. The CD features the recording of a recent live show The Adolescents played on October 3, 2003, at The House Of Blues, with 19 songs, and a lot of special features: band commentary, multi-angle feature, photo gallery, and the most interesting stuff, a vintage concert footage recorded back in 1982 where the band plays in the old punk fashion. The best songs, and as far as I know, the most important in the Adolescents’ career, are “Kids Of The Black Hole”, “Amoeba”, “Democracy”, “California Son”, “L.A. Girl”, that see the band playing with enough energy to give the new-school bands a major lesson in the ways of punk rock. I must admit this is truly a piece of punk history and I think now I will go out and buy some more albums from Adolescents. Bye.

The 11th installment of Kung Fu DVD series is the one I find more interesting, yet short. Goldfinger is one of my favorite band ever: they have catchy songs, ska core anthems, and their first two albums are two of the best records I ever heard. On this DVD, unfortunately, I foudn only 14 songs, when the band recorded surely nearly 100 songs on their records, including covers. Anyway, the DVD is a must see thing: the band performance is great, they jump, are sweaty, play in a really punk bad way, and even if John Feldman is not that young, he still is a great live act. The set is strong too: all of the best Goldfinger songs like “Mable”, the “99 Red Balloons” cover, “Miles Away”, “Superman”, “Question”, “Here In Your Bedroom” are all included. Plus, the DVD has got a ton of special features, as band commentary, pics, animal rights info ( GF support animal rights), subtitles and much much more. If you’re a fan of good live acts, this Goldfinger DVD is a pearl in your collection.

The latest installment in the Kung Fu DVD series comes from pop punkers ZEBRAHEAD. I do not excatcly know this band’s discography, except for the song “Playmate Of The Year”. The DVD anyhow features 20 songs from the band’s career. The show is intense, long, powerful and fun, even tough sometimes I really got bored watching these 30 year old men playing poppy songs with embarassing lyrics. The DVD also features pics, band comments and some more fun stuff. If you ever been a fan of ZEBRAHEAD get your hands on this, I still think the GOLDFINGER dvd was so much better: faster, shorter and louder.

Epitaph babies The Macthes put up a show on October 21 2003 supporting pop punksters Zebrahead at the House Of Blues and the Kung Fu cameras were there to record everything. And they did! Here is the DVD. The band put up a funny show, and even tough I am totally ignorant with any songs of these four guys, I had some tremendous fun while watching these kids, who sound like second hand Sum41 with some less pop punk and more rock riffs. It’s fun, songs like ” and”" are surely fun, and The Matches are a talented live act, but after watching the DVD for once, I don’t think it will ever be in my DVD-player again.

Kung Fu had the nice idea to do a double release of the Guttermouth live album. The label’s releasing the DVD of the show with a bonus CD and, separately, a CD with the show on it and with a bonus DVD. You can buy both, but you get the same thing, under a different form. Anyway, that said, let’s get to the music. Even tough Guttermouth has been on the scene since the early 90’s, and even tough I started listening to punk with the likes of the O.C. punk bands on Epitaph and Nitro ( which includes Guttermouth ), I have never been very fond of this band. Yet I also saw them live, and I must tell you, even if I did not know half of the songs they played, these five guys really know how to entertain you. And this is the reason why I think that even tough their studio albums are boring, this live recording ( on DVD and on CD ) is absolutely perfect for my collection. During the 21 songs of the show, Guttermouth really delivers energy and fun, and really know how to get the crowed warm. Such tunes as “Lipstick”, “A Perfect World”, “Lucky the Donkey”, “1-2-3 Slam” and “That’s Life” are pretty popular, and the way Mark Atkins and friends put up a show, it’s quite unique. The DVD also features a lot of special features, as a band commentary, a photo gallery, bonus footage, and that nice thing called “alternative angle option”, where YOU decide what you want to see of the show. Recommended if you’re a fan or if you like to have fun.

The latest release of the Kung Fu DVD series comes from Reel Big Fish, one of the most funny live band ever. I personally enjoy all of this band’s records and music and the live recording of this show is just great. You will find such songs as “Sell Out”, “Beer”, the cover of “Take On Me”, “Thank You For Not Moshing”, “The Set Up”, “Alternative Baby” and more and more songs for more than an hour of show. Plus, the DVD has also got some super cool extra goodies, as pics, band commentary of the whole show and some funny scenes that see Aaron as the main character, speaking to a bunch of die hard fans. Good DVD to spend some time with one of the finest ska core bands of the last decade.

The ninth episode in “The Show Must Go Off” DVD series comes from The Vandals. Actually this is something like the third Vandals DVD, after the 1992 “Sweatin’ To The Oldies” and the “Oi To The World” Christmas themed DVD, but this is the first DVD where The Vandals actually play their full set. Featuring all of the finest tracks by The Vandals, the DVD lives great moments on such songs as “It’s A Fact”, “Oi To The World”, “People That Are Going To Hell”, “The New You”, “Merry Me”, “My Girlfriend’s Dead” and the classic closer “I Have A Date”, featuring Warren on vocals. The DVD comes out with a free music CD where you can listen the same show; plus, you can also buy the CD with the bonus DVD, so you can actually choose, as it’s been for the Guttermouth live DVD+CD, between two diffent packages. The nice thing about the DVD, and that’s what makes this show special, is the “Josh Freese cam”: a lot of drummers buy the Vandals’ CD’s and DVD’s just to study the ability of Freese and so director Joe Escalante had the great idea to film all of Josh’s works with two cameras ( one for the kick pedal and one as the normal camera), so yes, you can watch the best drummer ever to perform during the entire show, and trust me, it values the cost.