My, my - what would Jello Biafra think? The past decade has seen a wave of middle class complaint rockers gaining much attention under the banner of punk – seemingly yet another musical definition to have been diluted markedly in the name of easy pigeonholing. While definitely having some pleasingly non-mainstream attitude, hard rockers – or neo-punkers perhaps – Unwritten Law haven’t attained the commercial success of some of their cohorts - the Blink 182s, Offsprings and Green Days of the world - however they do have an incredibly dedicated following, members of whom will possibly be baying for blood after this intro…

None shall pass...

Yet another in a seemingly endless stream of Music in High Places releases, a series created by America’s MTV which generally takes artists out of their musical comfort zones and into a wilds-of-the-world travelogue situation, this Southern Californian quintet discover the wonders of Yellowstone National Park and its surrounds, and pop out the odd tune in a format they’re not generally known for – acoustically. Renowned and lesser known locations are visited, seeing the band plying their wares in front of world-famous geyser Old Faithful, at rodeos, in forests even Smokey the Bear couldn’t save from the ravages of fire and the odd bar or two.

Unwritten Law’s usually heavily amplified wares actually lend themselves remarkably well to this stripped back format, and the seven songs presented here should be fascinating listening for fans. Unfortunately as is the wont of this show a good third is taken up with behind the scenes stuff featuring little band involvement, which is rather self-aggrandising and smacks of an attempt to pad things out.

Track listing…

This is yet another visually impressive release in the series, with nothing at all worth whining about within the 1.78:1, anamorphically enhanced presentation. Colour is superb, unlike some earlier entries in the series there’s almost nothing in the way of aliasing, and detail is at a premium at all times.

We’re quite spoiled for choice in the sonic department, as with DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DD stereo there’s a mix for everybody. These all bring the rare acoustic outings from the Law across flawlessly in their own ways, although the DTS mix does just edge out its 5.1 competition with its slightly warmer sound.

There’s not a huge amount of bonus stuff on offer here. There are two featurettes, which are simply two assemblages of extra footage, one concentrating mostly on a swarm of MTV interns doing silly things, the other showing the band drumming up a storm with some of the locals. At less than 20 minutes all up and with not a lot of the band featured, this is hardly vital stuff. Otherwise, there’s simply Just the Music, a way to cut the filler and just get the tunes - complete with bonus track Rescue Me - and a ludicrously illegible load of record company hyperbole presented in a microscopic font masquerading as a biography.

Anyway, if you’re into the whole Southern Californian “punk� sound, you’re likely to find this release an insightful diversion – or even a tad amusing considering Scott spends much of his time tromping around in a Sportsgirl t-shirt. Hey, at least he’s obviously comfy in his manliness…