Rough Cut & Ready Dubbed (1982)

Genres - Music  |   Sub-Genres - Music History  |   Run Time - 56 min.  |   Countries - United Kingdom  |   MPAA Rating - NR
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Review by Richie Unterberger

As befits a Super-8 documentary on the early British punk scene by actual teenagers, Rough Cut & Ready Dubbed is a fairly raw production that doesn't so much intend to tell a story as it does simply record images of a movement. (It wasn't that underground, however, since it got completed with assistance from the British Film Institute.) Its most valuable portions, perhaps, are those with footage of actual punk fans, who often exude an edgy street-toughness and alienation, whether they're mods, skinheads, or more straight-ahead punkers. Containing interviews and performance footage with bands like Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69, Purple Hearts, the Selecter, and A Certain Ratio, it also has some musical archival value as well, even if it tends to be of some of the genre's more secondary acts. Be cautioned that, in line with much (and perhaps most) early live punk footage, the quality of the image and especially the sound isn't so hot; you'll get more out of the energy of the performers and the crowd than the often indistinct, blurry music. It's one indication, perhaps, of the difficulty in recording this stuff live that the relatively (in this company, anyway) straightforward rock of mod revivalists Purple Hearts comes off better in these live clips than does the music in the scenes with more critically respected bands like Stiff Little Fingers. Also of historical interest are the interviews with important media figures like journalists Charles Shaar Murray and Gary Bushell, Factory Records mogul Tony Wilson, and beloved British radio DJ John Peel. It's one of the more seldom-screened early punk films, and not one of the ones which should be seen first, but will interest fans with a deep interest in the genre.