The People's History Of Less Than Jake
As one of the longest surviving pop punk bands of recent times, Less Than Jake have created their own legacy over the past 16 years. They have released 8 full length studio albums and numerous other releases. Less Than Jake decided recently that it was time to get back to their roots and opted out of their contract with Warner bros. Being able to take control of every part of their career, without the pressures of a major label may see Less Than Jakes ninth studio album become a classic like many of their past releases.
To mark the start of this era and their new label Less Than Jake are re-releasing three past albums plus 1 DVD. Many fans of Less Than Jake may be getting a little bored of these re-hashes of old material, but is this batch a sign of good things to come.
I received “The People’s History of Less Than Jake” with high hopes because as a fan of the band I always like to hear and see something good from the band. I was however disappointed to find that this re-release was simply that. The only thing that is different about this DVD to the original is the florescent artwork which accompanies it. This means simply that anybody who buys this DVD has either not seen the old DVD or wants to buy this re-release as well, merely because it features new artwork.
If you haven’t got the old version then I do recommend this DVD. It has an astonishing amount of material on it which spans over two and a half hours and is a great insight into the history and life of the band. It contains a lot of live material from various gigs and various perspectives. The DVD is called “The People’s History Of Less Than Jake” due to the fact that a lot of the material was recorded by fans of the band from their perspective. The DVD also contains a lot of other material which is enjoyable to watch.
Although this is a great DVD it still doesn’t remedy the fact that it is essentially exactly the same as the old version. Surely the band could have thought of a way of making this appealing to new and old fans, other than changing the colour of the cover.
If you are a fan of Less Than Jake and would like to support the band and say you have a new colourful copy of the same old DVD then I would say go for it. If you are a new fan of Less Than Jake or haven’t got the original release I recommend you buy this DVD and enjoy it. It is thoroughly enjoyable and shows you a lot of what Less Than Jake are all about.