I had a look at the second disc in the Mano Negra 'Out of Time' DVD set this evening, and its not quite as good as the first one.  It has a lot of good stuff but unlike the first disc there is a lot which is not so great.

There are two main features, or films.  The first is a 1989 documentary which I found pointless and annoying.  There is no story to it, no narrative, and no interviews, unless it changes beyond the point where I stopped watching.  It is mostly just clips of concert footage, home videos, promo videos, montages and animation with music playing behind it.  All of this is done with lots of edits so that when you see something interesting it will change before you can appreciate it – but lots of the clips are from footage used better in the other documentary or from promo videas which can be seen in full anyway.

The other documentary is better.  I thought it was a film of a whole concert but actually it is compiled from different shows in the notorious tour of Pigalle.  There are a few interludes and larking about footage, but mainly it sticks to performances and provided two excellent bits of nostalgia for me.  I have a couple of cassette-based EPs of Mano Negra's, including one recorded at la Gigalle.  I never bothered to try converting them to mp3 and they are now in the loft along with the first two Mano Negra albums which I also bought on cassette. (I bought them in France before CDs. It was easier than bringing vinyl home).  One or two of the live performances were so familiar sounding that I am sure they are film of the very performances I used to listen to all the time.

The other wave of nostalgia came from seeing Phillipe the percussionist wearing the exact same t-shirt as I used to have and which is, in my mind, the best t-shirt I have ever owned.  I am thinking about trying to make a new one with artwork from the web and inkjet t-shirt transfers. (I already looked on E-Bay)

The rest of the disc is filled with 10 "clips" (the French term for promo videos) which are all interesting, 17 lost audio tracks and 7 bonus items.  The audio tracks are OK, must mostly very short.  Best of the bunch is a track called Sally (she's got three lovers) which is not only catchy but made me laugh. It was recorded in the 'King of Bongo' sessions but didn't get on the album.

The bonus items are a very mixed bag.  One is footage of a mexican-style wrestling match and another is a very short clip of someone playing pool.  On the plus side there is a clip of Les Casse Pieds on a TV show in 1988.  This was Manu Chao's previous band and about the first time he was on TV.  The other notable item is live footage of Les Hot Pants (another of Manu's old bands) doing Junky Beat in 1986. They are the only two bonus items worth watching in my opinion.

I can't complain though.  The good bits are great and I can always skip the pointless bits.