More than just rock'n'roll

By GRAHAM REID

It was a long time ago and the song wasn't much cop, but the memorable chorus went: "Rock'n'roll I gave you all the best years of my life."

You might feel like that listening to two box-sets out now: The 10 Hour Time/Life History of Rock'n'Roll, and the similar marathon which is the Live Aid concert (and then some) from 1985.

You'd be forgiven for bailing early on the rock'n'roll collection. It begins with soundbites from the likes of Alice Cooper and Jon Bon Jovi, banging on about the fury of rock, then cuts to Michael Jackson poncing it up on Billy Jean.

But stick with it, because that's just throat-clearing before a fascinating history lesson, which comes with superb live footage. The interviews - with everyone from the odd Rolling Stone to Springsteen and some late Ramones - are pointed and tight, and the series lets the music tell the story.

Inevitably there are omissions, but it's a rare documentary that includes in its section on the "Beatles-led British Invasion" the Spencer Davis Group, Peter and Gordon, and Herman (of the Hermits fame). In "How America Fought Back" you see important but marginalised bands like the Young Rascals and the Lovin' Spoonful.

There's an hour on soul (Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett getting their dues alongside James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Luther Vandross), and the episode "Plugging In" has footage of a young Bob Dylan, live on stage and being interviewed.

"Guitar Heroes" offers plenty of Hendrix, but is also a tribute to guys like Les Paul and the instrument itself. "Punk" offers the Pistols, Velvet Underground and the Clash, before leading into Nirvana. Elvis Costello, John Lydon, Malcolm McLaren and Iggy Pop offer their perspectives.

The final episode is "Up from the Underground", looking at Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, the Chili Peppers, Green Day and many more.

It is a remarkable journey peppered with memorable quotes, like this from the Who's Pete Townshend on Kurt Cobain: Rock'n'roll "is like a fire, it burns and burns. And that sounds like a romantic idea, until you realise what's keeping the fire going is bodies."

Or this, now poignant: "Rock'n'roll exists to deliver this truth: it reminds us that it is fun to be alive. It's a helluva lot better than being dead." That from the late Joe Strummer.

If the five-disc History of Rock'n'Roll ($89.95) is a long scenic trip, the four-disc Live Aid ($69.95) is a time-capsule of unusual hairstyles and forgotten people.

But it is also a reminder of how rock music can move people, as politicians abdicated their social responsibilities in the face of the Ethiopian famine. The rebel music seen in this DVD is acting as a mainstream social conscience.

It opens with the BBC report which galvanised Bob Geldof and includes clips of Do They Know It's Christmas? and We Are the World, before footage from Wembley and Philadelphia.

It makes for moving viewing, especially the final doco about the distribution of food and medicine to those in desperate need.

Geldof said Live Aid should not be recorded or shown again, for legal reasons and to avoid detracting from the occasion. But most of it was, and this footage - released now because of bootlegging - has come from many sources.

Some, like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, have not allowed inclusion of themselves because they felt their performance was substandard. Clearly Bob Dylan, Keith Richards and Ron Wood, whose ropey set closed the Philly show before the finale, had no such reservations.

This is nostalgia - Adam Ant, Ultravox, Hall and Oates, Thompson Twins - and a chance to see some of today's stars when they had hair (the Edge), or just a really bad stylist.

But mostly it is about the galvanising power of rock'n'roll. How the devil's music can move people for the highest of motives, as good people act in harmony.

Money from it goes to all the right causes, so don't borrow and burn this one.