Tuesday, February 8 2011
Monday, January 24 2011
‘INXS: Mystify’: A Last Gasp of the ‘80s Oz Invasion
INXS' sound has always straddled a line between grungy arena bombastic Eurotrash disco slinkiness.
Monday, January 10 2011
‘Michael Jackson’s Vision’ Into the Future
The Moonwalker's short films are brought together here in a single collection. Are you still down with Michael? Are you down? Are you bad?!
Thursday, December 16 2010
‘Michael Nyman: Composer in Progress and Michael Nyman in Concert’ Might Make You Po-go
Interviews with Michael Nyman and his band members reflect a passion for constantly pushing the limits of composition and performance.
Monday, December 6 2010
‘R.E.M.: Live from Austin, TX’ May Not Be History in the Making, but It’s Certainly Entertaining
R.E.M. made their Austin City Limits debut less than a month before the release of Accelerate. It's clear that they were excited about the album.
Tuesday, November 30 2010
‘Ladies and Gentlemen… The Rolling Stones’: If I Had Panties, I’d Toss Them at the TV
In 1972 the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world released the greatest rock 'n' roll record the world has ever known and then went on tour to prove it. Some of the results are here.
Friday, November 19 2010
‘Frank Sinatra: Concert Collection’ The Master at Work, Captured Here
These live performances demonstrate Frank Sinatra's constant transformation; from the Jersey wiseguy monologues to singing that lays bare his soul, as though he’s shining a spotlight down a well.
‘The Pixies: Acoustic & Electric Live’: Having the Time of Their Lives
Starting in the mid-’80s, the Pixies laid the foundation for indie/alternative/Britpop/grunge music for decades to come. See two incredible live performances on one Blu-ray with this set.
Friday, November 12 2010
Laugh While You Weep with ‘Bill Hicks: The Essential Collection’
If Hicks succeeded at anything, his special gift was in delineating the prurience —and profit-seeking— that has always hidden in plain view beneath the puritanical façade our politicians, priests and TV producers obligingly maintain.
Friday, November 5 2010
The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts
The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts documents two nights of star-studded shows at Madison Square Garden celebrated the silver anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a three-disc DVD set.
Thursday, November 4 2010
‘Until the Light Takes Us’ is Grim and Frostbitten
As much as the filmmakers should be credited for accessing the most relevant players and revealing their impulses, the approach to storytelling is out of balance and prone to tangents of association and rationalization.
Monday, October 25 2010
‘Rush: 2112 & Moving Pictures Classic Albums’: The Album Rush was Meant to Make (Both of Them)
Rush finally found their sound on 2112 at the same time disco, punk and new wave were ascendant; to the band's considerable credit, they were not only aware of these new developments, but eager to incorporate them into their ever-evolving repertoire.
Tuesday, October 19 2010
‘Electric Light Orchestra Live: The Early Years’ My Dad Was There, and I’m Jealous
Despite their early successes, it would be a few years before the band was a true pop juggernaut, touring the globe in a spaceship.
Wednesday, October 13 2010
In ‘Jane’s Addiction: Live Voodoo’, the Air Is Charged with an Electricity that’s Felt Even on DVD
On Halloween, 2009, a reunited Jane’s Addiction cast a spell over the crowd at the Voodoo Experience music and arts festival in New Orleans, a ritual exquisitely documented on Jane's Addiction: Live Voodoo.
Wednesday, September 29 2010
‘Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire’ Is Presented With a Naked, Visual Immediacy
Gorgeous cinematography, resonant audio quality and reverent intimacy combine with stunning live concert performances and candid off-stage sequences to show Cohen at the peak of his popularity and the top of his game.
Tuesday, September 28 2010
Seems Some Detours Were Taken In ‘Jackson Browne: Going Home’
Like so many artists who came into their own in the '70s (Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young), Browne couldn’t figure out the post-new wave Reagan years.
Monday, September 13 2010
‘The 4 Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring the Beatles’: A Generational Divide
More than 'just' the Beatles, it’s worth sitting through every second of every show to pretend you were there when it really happened, to see what entertainment and advertising were like in a bygone era and why a band singing about holding hands hit the country like an A-bomb.
Wednesday, July 14 2010
Black Sabbath: Classic Albums: Paranoid
Black Sabbath's classic second album is given a throrough dissection on one of the best releases in the Classic Albums series.
Thursday, June 17 2010
‘You Really Got Me’ Really, Really Got to Me
This utterly abominable hatchet job makes an unforgivable hash of one of the great bands of the British Invasion.
Thursday, June 3 2010
Clutch: Live at the 9:30—You Won’t Hear a More ‘Fluid’ Live Show Than This
Featuring a performance of their first album, Clutch's latest live DVD is a guaranteed fan pleaser.
