Friday, May 18 2012
Echotone: Austin, Texas: The Quiet Fight for a Louder Future
This is a scattershot documentary about live music in Austin, Texas, that features a lot of great material with local musicians, but bails out on its intriguing noise vs. neighbors premise early in the film.
Wednesday, May 9 2012
‘Oscar Peterson’s Easter Suite Jazz’ Is Good, but Redundant
Isca Peterson is as brilliant as ever, but the short length and so-so visual value of this DVD makes one wonder why they didn't just release a live CD, instead.
Wednesday, May 2 2012
‘Strange Fruit: The Beatles’ Apple Records’ Is a Bitter Biteful
Why exactly, this Beatles documentary is named after a song most closely related with Billie Holiday and lynching is a mystery, but the bizarre choice for a title is just the first tip-off that this unauthorized film lacks focus.
Wednesday, March 14 2012
Carlos Santana, Managing His Legacy: ‘Santana: Greatest Hits Live At Montreux 2011’
Carlos Santana: Musical visionary or an A&R department lackey? Both are present, here.
Monday, January 30 2012
‘Queen: Days of Our Lives’ Is the Definitive Queen Documentary—for Now
Loud guitar, astrophysics, little people, S&M clubs, positive thinking, and nude women on bicycles are all part of the Queen saga, darling.
Tuesday, January 24 2012
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson: Live at the US Festival
The US Festival's "Country Day" in June 1983, featured both Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
Monday, January 23 2012
Daft Punk: Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem
The music and the storyline build off of and rely on each other to the point that, after seeing Interstella 5555, you may never be able to disconnect the two again.
Thursday, January 19 2012
The Cosmically-Sized Anti-Star: ‘Kevin Coyne: 1979 Live at WDR-Studio L Cologne’
Championed early on by John Peel, Kevin Coyne became a favorite of artists such as Sting, John Lydon, and later, Will Oldham.
Wednesday, January 18 2012
The Film, ‘Medeski Martin & Wood: Fly in a Bottle’ Mirrors the Band’s Career to a Tee
Just as with their music, a funky and experimental form of free jazz that has led the way for improvisational music since their start in the early '90s, this film moves in and out of traceable and functional steps for its entirety.
Thursday, December 15 2011
The Hollies: Look Through Any Window 1963 – 1975
This is a thorough and thoughtfully presented look at one of pop music's treasures during the most prolific period of the band's career.
Tuesday, December 6 2011
‘Cream: Royal Albert Hall’: It’s as Close to the Actual Concert as You Can Get
Cream reunited for a series of shows at the Royal Albert Hall in May of 2005. The stunning performances are now available in high definition on Blu-ray.
Tuesday, November 29 2011
Procol Harum: Live At the Union Chapel
The 2003 performance Procol Harum: Live At the Union Chapel is now out on blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Rock.
Wednesday, November 16 2011
Meet the New Blood, Not the Same as the Old Blood: ‘Peter Gabriel: New Blood: Live In London’
Alas, what sounded pretty good on record doesn't translate all that well onto film.
Tuesday, November 15 2011
‘Rush: Time Machine 2011: Live In Cleveland’ Rush Is Still Thriving After All These Years
All the elements of classic Rush are here: Ace performances, classic songs, and a scarcity of women.
Monday, November 7 2011
‘Pretenders: Loose in L.A.’: Simple and Stark
In songs like ""My City Was Gone" or "Back on the Chain Gang", where we want more passion, we get merely passable.
Wednesday, October 26 2011
That’s All Right, I’ve Still Got My Guitar: ‘Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight
The standouts of this set are the 15-minute rendition of "Machine Gun" and the ten-minute-plus "Red House", both of them swaggering, apocalyptic tunes that push the limits of what is expected in a guitar-based "pop" song.
Friday, October 21 2011
‘Dream Theater: Live At Budokan’: Truly Bang for the Buck
Those who missed out on the album and DVD the first time around will be wise to grab this one––it’s the best of the band’s live lot from an era in which Dream Theater seemed incapable of doing wrong.
‘Robert Plant’s Blue Note’: Chasing a Sound
Robert Plant’s Blue Note posits that it is Plant's search for the emotionally expressive sound, the "blue note", that has led him on every musical journey he has taken over the course of his nearly 50 year career.
Wednesday, October 19 2011
He Performs This Way: ‘Weird Al Yankovic: Live! - The Alpocalypse Tour’
"Weird Al" live is as great a concert spectacle as you will ever see. If for some reason you can't make it, this DVD will do nicely in its place.
Tuesday, October 18 2011
‘Nirvana Live at the Paramount’: Stand Near This Fire
Nirvana were always like some neighborhood kid's angsty little brother: loud, intense, and thoroughly unguarded even as wise-ass irony leaked through the veneer.
