(MVD)

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BY JIM ALLEN

In the late-'70s, young German filmmaker Wolfgang Buld followed his passion for the British underground music scene and made three sharp-shooting documentaries that are finally getting the full DVD treatment three decades later. The first, Punk in London, took aim at the world of ripped T-shirts, bondage pants, and three-chord cries of outrage just as it was reaching its apex. In a style he'd follow with his subsequent films, Buld keeps the production values and presentation minimal and low-tech, in sympathy with the gritty feel of his subject matter. Live footage of the expected icons like the Clash shares space with that of lesser-known names like The Lurkers and The Adverts, achieving a balance that would be near-impossible if the same film were being assembled retrospectively today.

A short time later, but a century's difference in punk years, Buld delivered the somewhat misleadingly titled Punk in England, documenting the first flowerings of post-punk and new wave. This isn't post-punk of the Joy Division-descended variety that revisionist history identifies as the genre's be-all and end-all, but rather a very literal interpretation of the term, very simply the next steps taken by the kids who were swept up in punk. Stirring onstage scenes from neo-mod masters like The Jam and Secret Affair lives alongside live footage of ska scenemakers The Specials and Madness, while also-ran oddities like Spizz Energi provide some color, and a young Pretenders foreshadow new wave's commercial potential (an endearingly clumsy moment comes when the narrator mispronounces Chrissie Hynde's last name). An invaluable extra on this disc is the bonus Buld feature Women in Rock, a half-hour film featuring the likes of the Slits and Liliput.

The most interesting entry in the trilogy, though, is Reggae In A Babylon, which covers the British reggae scene of the period. Part of the appeal is that the subject matter is so comparatively underexposed. Never mind Steel Pulse, where else are you going to see Dennis Bovell's band Matumbi on film, much less names lost to time like reggae girl group 15-16-17, a sort of distaff Musical Youth named for the ages of the band members? With a minimum amount of flash but a maximum amount of passion, Buld truly captures what he sticks his camera in front of throughout this entrancing trilogy.

Special Features: Reggae In A Babylon, none (80 mins); Punk In London, Clash Live in Munich, Trailers & interview with Wolfgang Buld (45 mins); Punk in England, Women in Rock documentary, The Adverts live footage, Trailers (90 mins).