Wednesday, February 13 2013
‘Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead & Ticket To New Year’s’: Exciting Live, Yet Lousy Showmen
Divorced from the energy of the room, the careening tidal wave of dancing heads surrounding you while the band plunged into another extended jam, the visual experience of the band onstage is remarkably flat.
Tuesday, January 1 2013
‘Yardbirds: Making Tracks’ Will, Indeed, Have You Making Tracks
What happens when a legendary band reheats itself for a 20-year cycle of touring with new members who aren't gritty enough to get the grit? No, I ask you.
Wednesday, December 26 2012
A Mad Assemblage of Robotic Instruments: ‘Pat Metheny: The Orchestrion Project’
The jazz guitarist, filmed performing with his peculiar and wondrous "Orchestrion", a kind of player piano orchestra of bottles and guitar-bots, and marimbas and more. Shimmering.
Thursday, December 13 2012
‘The Who Live In Texas ‘75’: ‘Nough Said
By the time they got to Texas, in 1975, The Who had nothing to prove except the undeniable impact they could still make, any place, any time.
Wednesday, December 12 2012
Did Queen Take Themselves Seriously? ‘Queen: Greatest Video Hits’
Queen was never a shy band. This makes them a perfect candidate for this double DVD package of music videos.
Tuesday, November 27 2012
Imagine This Power Duo Together Again: ‘Ike & Tina: On the Road: 1971-72’
Gruen and Beck's film functions as a revisionist look at this legendary duo's stormy relationship.
‘Mudhoney: Live in Berlin 1988’ Is a Powerful, Snotty Show
Here was a sound that was far removed from anything remotely popular. Yet the still new Mudhoney got an all-expenses-paid trip to Berlin, to represent Sub Pop records at the Independence Days '88 showcase. And someone thought to film it.
Monday, November 26 2012
The Album as Construction Site: Peter Gabriel’s ‘Classic Albums: So’
Peter Gabriel's commercial breakthrough gets the Classic Albums treatment, to excellent effect.
Friday, November 16 2012
The Rolling Stones Under Review: 1975-1983: The Ronnie Wood Years Pt.1
For Stones obsessives, this series yields few surprises but plenty of intelligent discourse on this beloved band.
Tuesday, November 13 2012
A Memorable Staging of a Sondheim Musical: ‘Stephen Sondheim’s Company’
Nothing says "New York" quite like Stephen Sondheim's Company, and the 2011 concert performance captures all that is best about the show.
Wednesday, November 7 2012
‘Magical Mystery Tour’ Is Not as Bad as Everyone Says
Magical Mystery Tour is an occasionally awesome mess full of odds and sods and in some regards an appropriate artistic hangover from the Summer of Love.
Wednesday, October 24 2012
‘Gary Moore: Blues for Jimi’ Gives us Blues for Gary
Gary Moore was a singular talent who pays tribute to another: Jimi Hendrix on a new, posthumously released audio/visual package.
Thursday, October 4 2012
‘Bob Dylan and The Band: Down in the Flood’: Oh, What a Time We All Had
“Suddenly it seemed like there were no more folk musicians.”
Thursday, September 20 2012
‘The English Beat Live at The US Festival’
Tellingly, the Beat's debut US Festival appearance occurred on the cusp of the New British Invasion.
Monday, September 17 2012
‘Jimi Plays Berkeley’ Gives Us Jimi Hendrix at His Most Confident
Jimi Plays Berkeley is yet another opportunity to hear and see our guitar savior.
Thursday, September 13 2012
The Dead in All Their Glory: ‘Grateful Dead: The Closing of Winterland’
Ringing out 1978 with the Grateful Dead in a brokedown palace, 'The Closing of Winterland' is a fun reminder of the Dead's shabby appeal.
Thursday, August 16 2012
‘Los Lobos: Kiko Live’ Captures the Closest Los Lobos Ever Came to Magical Realism
Kiko is at once a typical Los Lobos album -- full of hard-luck tales and hopes for a better future -- but it's also the only Los Lobos album that might be a little "touched" (as some of our grandmothers might have put it).
Wednesday, August 1 2012
Not So Showy Show Offs: ‘Ozzy Osbourne: Speak of the Devil’
Ozzy's vocals vocals sound suspiciously as though they were recorded in a studio and stuck into the mix.
Tuesday, July 31 2012
Audiovisual Art vs. the Travel Show: ‘This World Is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope’
A voyage to India doubles as a Sublime Frequencies CD. It just happens to come in a different format.
Monday, July 30 2012
Music & Dirty Little Secrets: ‘Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones Live at the Checkerboard Lounge’
Circulating in bootleg for decades, this digital restoration is a must buy for rock and blue fans, as well as anyone in need of a surfeit of cool.
