In a very short time, Classic Pictures Entertainment has earned a reputation for presenting classic rock artists in a cutting edge format on DVD. Quite simply, this company locates vintage music performances from the 1960s and 70s and spends the dough needed to completely overhaul the video sources and (most importantly) remaster the sound quality to both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 surround sound. It is money well spent for Classic Pictures Entertainment as the sales for their low budget DVD EP series can attest. The Classic Pictures Entertainment roster contains some of Rock’s most accomplished musicians (like Rick Wakeman, Jack Bruce, Edgar Winter) and most influential bands (like ALICE COOPER, DEEP PURPLE, THE WHO) and their efforts replicate the live experience of these stellar Rock legends. For this review, we examine undoubtedly Classic Pictures Entertainment’s heaviest offering yet—MOTORHEAD: SPECIAL EDITION EP. The three piece band known as MOTORHEAD are one of the originators of the Punk/Metal movement, a band that relies on its catalog of gritty Biker Rock tunes that always transfer well to a live performance. And over the years the group has endured a revolving-door membership, one thing has stayed constant; bassist/vocalist/hellraiser Lemmy has persevered and done things his way. Even to this day, MOTORHEAD has established a reputation as a blistering live act.

The core material for the MOTORHEAD: SPECIAL EDITION EP comes from a German TV taping from 1978. Though the performances by the original lineup (with drummer Filthy Phil Taylor and guitarist Fast Eddie Clark) are truly killer, the small lackluster crowd in attendance do not know how to react to the sonic fury of MOTORHEAD. You’ll notice a lot of people staring blankly, and general listlessness from the uncomprehending audience (who probably did not know what they were in store for when they entered that small club that evening). Luckily for us, the band themselves and the television crew were well prepared to produce something special. Culled from the intimate performance that evening are three classic MOTORHEAD songs done right by Classic Pictures Entertainment. The band kick things off with their self-titled shredder, Motorhead. Next Lemmy and the boys are joined on stage by the first all-girl UK metal band, GIRLSCHOOL for Please Don’t Touch. Filthy Phil relinquishes the drum kit to handle background vocals while his female counterpart takes up the skins. Lemmy and the girls perform a duet of sorts and this clip is certainly one of the more interesting performances I’ve seen from the band. For the last song, MOTORHEAD are back to their dead-serious musical ferociousness with a gut-busting performance of their trademark, Ace of Spades. The only problem with this DVD is that its too damn short.

Classic Pictures Entertainment completely re-masters the video quality, removing the scratches, dirt, and snow that tend to plague aging videotape sources of this era. The color is completely re-saturated, highlighting the musical mayhem that is MOTORHEAD. The black levels are similarly tweaked, making for perfect shadow detail to the picture. Basically, the 20 year old performances look brand new with perfect skin tones. The German club where this was filmed is small and intimate; and the high resolution of the DVD format renders the details with much better precision than MTV could ever get. Classic Pictures Entertainment also spent some time and effort to remaster these performances into Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 sound. The original mono sound elements are enhanced to the point that the sound tracks nearly match the current 5.1 audio standards. Both sound tracks are equally clear and concise, with the DTS track getting the edge in ambiance and bass (check out Lemmy’s magnificent bass playing and Filthy Phil’s drumming to verify this). The DTS track also gets thumbs up for clearer and undistorted delivery of guitar legend Fast Eddie Clark’s’s frenzied fretwork. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track sounds a bit more ‘tinny’ than the DTS one.

This disc contains several entertaining extras. From the Special Features menu, you can enable the Popup feature, which allows you to watch the songs with text-based MOTORHEAD facts and trivia information onscreen. The disc also features a section called DVD JukeBox, which showcases a bunch of Classic Pictures Entertainment artists doing their thing on stage. There are several trailers for other Classic Pictures Entertainment DVDs. These two-minute trailers consist of concert footage and music in DTS & DD 5.1 sound:

• ALICE COOPER - Under My Wheels
• THE WHO - Pinball Wizard
• MEATLOAF - Paradise by the Dashboard Light
• JOE COCKER- I Get By
• ROD STEWART - Tonight’s the Night

Classic Pictures Entertainment has done some remarkable work here that is sure to please anyone who appreciates classic rock artists and great performances. This company digs up old footage from the Rock archives and makes it look like new again. The main problem with these budget DVD EPs is that they leave you wanting more. There’s a lot of room on DVD for more clips or music, and Classic Pictures Entertainment should put some more songs on their discs.

 MOTORHEAD: SPECIAL EDITION E.P. is available from DVDEmpire.com