Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: You can always count on Depeche Mode to do things differently. Never content to play it safe despite their position as a global superstars, as the 80s turned into the 90s they collaborated with celebrated filmmaker Anton Corbijn on the music videos from their albums Music For The Masses and Violator. The first set were gathered together at Strange in 1988, with the follow-up released as Strange Too in 1990. In between the music videos for megahits like ‘Personal Jesus’ and ‘Enjoy The Silence’ were additional vignettes and incidentals, all filmed by Corbijn on his trusty Super 8, and the end results have become synonymous with the Mode’s visual aesthetic. Now both films have been gathered together in one handy Blu Ray package, digitally remastered without losing that all-important grainy finish.

Review: When Depeche Mode teamed up with Anton Corbijn to make some music videos, few could have predicted the end results. If you ever thought there’s an artful consistency to the Mode’s music videos from the late 80s and early 90s, it’s because Corbijn filmed them all on a shoestring budget on his trusty Super 8 camera. The resulting pieces were strung together as vignettes forming a larger cinematic experience which was released in two instalments - Strange and Strange Too. Originally released on VHS and Laserdisc, the films have finally been bundled together, digitally restored and presented in this DVD box set with bonus material.

Notes: The most experimental and progressive group to emerge from the British New Romantic era, Depeche Mode has enjoyed a quite astonishing career while creating some of the most remarkable music of the past 40+ years. And this is why Depeche can still fill an 80,000-capacity stadium while their so many of their early contemporaries can barely fill a nightclub at an 80's revival night. This DVD documentary celebrates the astonishing achievements of this unique band, and features a stunning collection of interviews with all the band members past and present, plus with those who have known them best, rare group footage, seldom seen photographs, news reports, location shoots and a host of other features. 'Extras' include Interactive Depeche Mode Challenge, Digital Discography and Beyond DVD section.

Notes: Dio: Dreamers Never Die delves deep into the singer's incredible rise from '50s crooner to his early rock days in Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow to replacing Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath - and finally cementing his rock star status with DIO. Includes 20 minutes of bonus interviews. This limited Deluxe Edition DVD & Blu-ray set is packaged in a lift-off box and includes DIO-branded trading cards, guitar picks, label pin, coasters and a fold-out poster from the film. [Deluxe Edition DVD/Blu-ray]

DVD (NTSC, no regional coding)

Notes: In the early '90s, aspiring filmmaker (and General Hospital co-star) Ryan Sexton lugged a giant camcorder into some of the seediest clubs and the filthiest apartments in Hollywood. There he filmed hour upon hour of VHS footage of the jaw-droppingly offensive Shock Rock band The Mentors, focusing on their infamous lead singer, 'El Duce.' 30 years later, the team behind The Nightmare and Room 237 and the editor of Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist uncover this dusty stockpile of long forgotten - and unseen - footage. They begin to piece together a picture of the man under the black executioner's hood and what his willfully offensive act and controversial views might tell us about 21st century America. An Incendiary, tragicomic documentary (midway between The Decline of Western Civilization and Crumb) which has been hailed as 'Essential Viewing' by CineVue and called 'Dark and Irresistible"' by director John Carpenter, The El Duce Tapes will chew you up, spit you out, and leave you floored.