International Supervideos! [DVD] [2001]

Description

A DVD accompaniment to their greatest hits album, International Supervideos collects together American punk rockers Green Day's entire visual history to date. Now something of the elder statesmen of the movement, the compilation starts with tracks from their breakthrough major label debut Dookie and brings us up to date with the Warning album and its three singles. While their music has always stuck fairly close to the three-minute punk-pop template, the band have explored the video medium well. Managing to avoid the clichéd live performance approach, the majority of the clips instead place the band in various environments, from a mental hospital (the excellent "Basket Case") to the clever sports pastiche of "Nice Guys Finish Last". Ironically, the best track of the lot is the one that owes nothing to their usual influences, the emotive, acoustic "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". With this willingness to step outside of there own parameters and the later material easily equal to the best of their career, International Supervideos is not only an essential purchase but one that hints at a bright future for the band. On the DVD: While punk rock isn't always about sound quality and clarity, International Supervideos is blessed with hi-fi crispness, providing an equally satisfying aural and visual experience. The almost cartoonish, Day-Glo quality of many of the videos is enhanced by the picture quality. Extras, however, are at a frustrating minimum. There's a web link, chapter selection and a subtitle facility, at last helping to make sense of Billie Joe's less than defined lyrics. --Phil Udell