Here's my review, as published in the current edition of DJ magazine (www.djmag.com)... Lots of banter about it on the 808 msg board (discussion.808state.com/disc7_toc.htm) too... New 808 State DVD - 'Opti Buk' We first mentioned this DVD last April, when 808 State were asking fans on their website what they'd like to see if they were to produce a DVD archive. The people at GlobalState, as their fan site is known, put their heads together and you can still see the outcome of the debate on their message board (at www.808state.com/news/ztt808dvd.htm). The finished result is finally released this month and is a feast for both fans of the band and anyone who's ever asked themselves, "is the UK capable of producing it's own Kraftwerk?" 'Opti Buk' is divided into four main sections - promo videos (all 17 ever), a documentary about their groundbreaking Manchester G-Mex gig in 1991, home movies and a discography. The home movies are an especially cool inclusion. Handheld camera antics of the band in the studio show how some of their tracks are built up - and the silliness they get up to in the process. The promo's videos include classics like 'Plan 9', 'Pacific 707' and 'Tunes Splits The Atom' and rave cheese-fests like '10x10' and 'Lift'. But it's disappointing to watch videos for 'Time Bomb' and 'Ancodia' only to find the visuals are montages of clips from the others. Why watch someone else's 10-year-old video re-edits when DVD is the platform to let you do it yourself? It's not a case of getting pro software either, as the VJing games at websites like Shockwave and Smirnoff Ice (yes, Smirnoff Ice) prove. Also included is a bonus CD of new music - which should be a lesson to all other bands putting out DVDs! The last time I saw 808 live was in Bristol in 1999 and they ripped the place apart - so the inclusion of some tracks from then on what they call 'State to State Volume 2' is a welcome addition. But given the fact that these are only unreleased demos and that it's now almost six years since the last proper 808 album, I can only say, boys, get your fingers out! As with any archive project, trainspotters will have a field day. There are at least 20 mistakes in the discography for a start. But properly unsettling to trainspotters and normal people alike is the complete omission of one of the band's videos ('Primary Rhyming', a collab with MC Tunes). Its inclusion would have made a fitting tribute to the track's vocalist, Noel Cockshutt, who was murdered in his home in Wolverhampton last May. -- Ian Peel http://www.ianpeel.com