The Movie:

I was never a huge fan of Dave Matthews...sure I enjoyed his music, but I was never one of his "following." After watching Live at Radio City, I was absolutely blown away! It was such a refreshing and unique sound that I couldn't get enough of.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds go way back. A younger Matthews was a fan of Reynolds as he performed in a local bar. Matthews ended up becoming a bartender there and they started a very unique friendship as they got to know each other better. From hours of jam sessions to band performances, they both had one heck of a career ahead of them.

Live at Radio City is one of the most impressive live discs I have ever seen. Matthews and Reynolds are 100% in sync with each other and create an absolutely perfect performance. Going away from the "traditional" band feel, Matthews and Reynolds just sit down and jam together,...Read the entire review

The movie

Dido has become one of my favoritesingers on the strength of her two albums, No Angel and Lifefor Rent, which showcase her beautiful, distinctive voice alongwith her talent for writing interesting and compelling songs. Dido'slive performance at the Brixton Academy gives us a generous samplingof songs from both albums.

Dido Live has a verydistinctive sound: these are not just the same songs as you've heardon the CD. It seems to me that Dido takes the opportunity to revisitthe songs and take them in a new direction, sometimes one that givesa quite different feel to the song overall. She's assertive with thevocals, often giving more emphasis to the vocals or playing with theintonation in songs that, in the studio version, had a fairly smoothand even feel. I found these live versions to be in many ...Read the entire review

The Film:
One of the best live concerts I ever saw – and I've see a lot of 'em – was Meat Loaf back in 1989 at the old Ritz in New York City. This was back before Bat Out of Hell II came out, when he was still languishing in the Where-Are-They-Now nether regions of rock obscurity. I saw two different shows on that tour, and the crowds were made up of die-hard fans who had not forgotten or given up on Meat Loaf, despite the fact he hadn't had a hit album in over a decade.

Then, in the early 1990s, Meat Loaf released Bat Out of Hell II, the follow up to his seminal 1977 album Bat Out of Hell, and suddenly he was back on the charts with a phenomenal comeback, and he was no longer playing in smaller rock clubs, but huge arenas. All of which culminated in the 2003-04 concert tour, which included a special two-night performance in Melbourne, Australia, featuring the Melb...Read the entire review

The Movie:

While they never hit big in the way Metallica or Megadeth did back in the late eighties, Anthrax put out a seriously good string of albums while in their prime and continue to make some pretty solid music to this day, even if I haven't enjoyed their material as much since they parted ways with former frontman Joey Belladonna.

Even if their albums haven't hit me as hard as they used to, this new concert DVD, Music Of Mass Destruction proves that the band can still put on one hell of a good live show as it captures them playing in front of an enthusiastic Chicago crowd in December of 2003. While current frontman John Bush gives the audience his all, the rest of the band works just as hard and the group turn in a terrific performance from start to finish.

While looking at the track listing below, long time fans may notice a few of their olde...Read the entire review

There is perhaps no better indicator of a television show's massive cross-cultural appeal than when a member of the cast begins a recording career. Used to be that any series that had any impact on the lucrative youth demographic thrust one of their more "idol"-istic actors in front of a microphone and required that he or she sing. Didn't matter if the music was a nutty novelty or a cracked cover of a classic; all that was important was that a 45 was in the stores in time for sweeps. This explains the strange circumstances of Paul Peterson of The Donna Reed Show crooning a saccharine song about his dad or Johnny Crawford's tone-deaf treats – songs so shabby that The Rifleman would be want to turn the title weapon on himself. A more recent example of monstrosity would be a tie, between the Tubbs and Crockett crap of all the Miami Vice machines musical nightmares and "Bruno", Bruce...Read the entire review

THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
The shock of some legendary blues singers is just how different their lives are from the mythical legends that surround the music. So while Robert Johnson may have sold his soul to the devil and then died on his knees, barking like a dog, Howlin' Wolf, on the other hand, lived a surprisingly normal life. Sure, he started out as dirt poor as any bluesman, but by all accounts presented in The Howlin' Wolf Story he became a loving father and husband as well as a hard worker. That, coupled with his square head and thick-framed glasses, means he hardly had the image of a wild-man.

It's weird that somehow these things would be so shocking, but Howlin' Wolf sits in the pantheon of true blues greats, one of only a handful recognizable to even those with little interest in the music. This documentary suffers from some of the same problems as Read the entire review

THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
Bob Marley is revered beyond just about every modern musician save perhaps John Lennon. His influence on artists that have come after him is nearly limitless.

Bob Marley: The Legend Live is, according to the press materials, the last complete recording of one of Marley's legendary concerts before his death in 1981 from cancer. Running a meaty twenty songs (seven more than the original VHS release) the concert is powerful and moving.

Marley's performance is emotional and dramatic. His hold over the audience is clear, even during the early parts of the show when the sun is still shining, lending the concert a sort of state-fair feel. The sun sets around the band's tremendous version of "Exodus" and the tone just becomes perfect. Marley's music has an easy groove that manages to sound relaxed while still building tension. The band repeats its simple melodies...Read the entire review

The movie

Near the end of their "X"tour, the Australian band INXS had what was arguably the performance at thepeak of their career: performing live at Wembley Stadium in London on July 13,1991. It was a sold-out show, with 72,000 fans packed in, and it was atop-notch show as well, with INXS in fine form and excited to be there. Noexpense was spared in filming the concert, with multiple cameras, high-qualityaudio equipment, and even a helicopter for aerial shots; in fact, it cost somuch to film the show that the INXS band members actually earned almost nothingthat day. In retrospect, though, that expense was more than justified, as itlets viewers have a front-row seat to a great concert, years later.

Actually, it's a lot betterthan a front-row seat: the camera work is very well done, conv...Read the entire review

The Program

I have to give Kiss credit: they've turned what could have been (and to some accounts, always has been) a novelty act into a thirty-year career that has turned a 70s glam/rock band into a multimedia, multimillion dollar phenomenon.

That's not to say the band doesn't have their share of memorable songs. Like 'em or not, almost everybody has heard or knows the words to "Rock and Roll All Nite", "Beth", "Detroit Rock City", and possibly even a song or two from the abominable Vinnie Vincent Era. Me, I've been a fan since I was seven. To a little kid of the 70s, Kiss were like the ultimate rock and roll superheroes. Scaring the crap out of God-fearing parents everywhere were four bigger than life legends, each one assuming a stage persona: Gene Simmons was the D...Read the entire review

the Film:

My knowledge of traditional bluegrass music is something short of wide ranging, but my knowledge of traditional Celtic music isn't, so it was with great anticipation that I viewed The Chieftains / Down the Old Plank Road: the Nashville Sessions in Concert. Recorded at the historic Ryman Auditorium in September of 2002, Down the Old Plank Road unites the Chieftains with a who's who of current bluegrass, country, and folk music in a celebration of the complimentary genres. Since the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack proved such a surprise hit - and helped traditional country, folk, and bluegrass cross traditional listening lines in the United States and elsewhere - Down the Old Plank Road further helps the cause, as it were, for both bluegrass proper and traditional Celtic music. And with the Chieftains and company acting as ambassadors, it's n...Read the entire review

Bad Company was formed by former Free lead singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke in England in 1973 when they joined Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and Boz Burrell, the bassist from King Crimson. They found instant success when they release their first album that included the single Can't Get Enough. Like most rock bands, the line-ups changed and records were recorded and released. Responsible for many of the staple rock songs on your classic radio station, watching this DVD is a concert full of moments when you realize how many popular songs the group had.

The concert on this DVD features the current line-up of Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke, Dave Colwell and Jaz Lochrie. It was recorded in Denver at the Paramount Theatre and in Anaheim at The Grove in January 2002. Attempting to tour and maintain the same amount of energy 20 years later takes a lot of strength and stamina and Bad Co...Read the entire review

The Movie:

Note: This is a re-release of the original DVD that adds some new features and also corrects the faults of the prior release. Elements of the review for the earlier release have been used again here, accompanied by additional writing in regards to the new features and alterations.

I've always been a slight fan of the Cranberries, enjoying their more up-tempo songs such as "Salvation". I don't own any of their albums, but I'll always stop to listen to them if they come on the radio.

"Beneath The Skin" though, is another instance of a band that I don't otherwise know much about stunning me with an energetic concert performance. Lead singer Dolores O'Riordan may be small in size, but she offers a remarkable amount of energy, whether it be belting out one of the songs, or extending her microphone into the audience to capture them singing along with equal intensity.Read the entire review

The Movie:

I certainly won't go into another discussion of the problems that the recording industry is currently suffering from again in this review. Simply stated, many say that they continue to download tracks from various sources on the internet and buy the CDs that they enjoy - however, many also complain of the outrageous prices that most stores still offer: while Best Buy and other chains frequently price as low as $9.99, the CDs themselves still list for $13.99, $14.99 or frequently, even higher.

Although prices have yet to come down considerably, studios have realized that additional supplements can be included on a DVD packaged with the CD release. This happened with a recent Eminem release and again with the new Dave Matthews Band album. Although I haven't seen the Eminem DVD, the Dave Matthews Band release - titled "Some Other Stuff" and included with their "Busted Stuff...Read the entire review

The Movie:

I don't own a single Britney Spears album and I've never seen her in concert, yet, I've reviewed all 5 of her DVDs for this website, all of which have been met with considerable interest from readers. While I've thought the teen pop craze has questionable staying power, I've begun to admire some of its stars who have realized this and either tried other things (acting, in the case of Mandy Moore and Spears, whose "Crossroads" opens the Friday after this DVD is release) or at least tried to change their tune and add actual instrumentals (see Moore's latest album, which actually is quite good at times).

From what I've seen, a Spears concert is not only simply singing, but a theatrical production of sorts. Props, sets, the occasional special effects and background videos, not to mention Spears trying on a new costume with nearly every song. With her HBO broadcast from Las V...Read the entire review

The Movie:
I've done this before on reviews for DVDs of Britney Spears and I'll quickly go through my little history once again. In December of a few years ago, my review of Spears' "Time Out With Britney Spears" DVD was posted and, to my suprise, the review was the most-often read review on the site for two months. Several other reviews of Spears titles followed afterwards and the results were generally the same. I've even reviewed the unofficial and unauthorized Spears biography DVD, "Star Baby Scrapbook", which was so awful that it often became unintentionally hilarious.

Although I used to not be a fan of the singer's music, with this much exposure to her efforts, I've actually started to enjoy some of the uptempo tracks across the albums. I still dislike some of Spears' sappier ballads, but her music g...Read the entire review

The Movie:

A concert presentation originally recorded in the UK in 1993, BMG presents Deep Purple on DVD in Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Songs include: Highway Star, Woman from Tokyo, Smoke on the Water, Twist in the Tale, Perfect Stranger, Beethoven (plus keyboard solo), Knockin' at Your Back Door, Anyone's Daughter, Child in Time, Anya, Battle Rages On, Lazy (plus drum solo), Space Truckin', Black Night, Talk About Love.

Although the concert itself is a lively, entertaining effort (although I'm not exactly a terribly huge fan of this kind of metal rock, they at least seem to be talented musicians and some of the jams do rock.), what I found somewhat more interesting was the interviews that were presented in-between songs. During these clips, the band individually discusses in very frank and honest terms what they thought about performing and working with one another, as well as their...Read the entire review

THE STRAIGHT DOPE:
Reviewing music is a strange situation. Music can be well executed and loved by millions, but if it doesn't touch the reviewer it can cause a quandary. I happen to find Meat Loaf insufferably boring and disingenuous, but his bombastic epics are so popular that I know I'm in the minority (It reminds me of a Denis Leary joke where he asks various members of the audience if they've bought the new Madonna album and, when they all inevitably say "no" he responds "Well, someone's buying the fucking thing!")

Regardless of my own personal preferences, Meat Loaf: VH1 Storytellers is a very well executed DVD. Storytellers provides the artist with a small audience, an intimate setting, and an opportunity to answer questions and tell stories in a way that can never be done at a real concert. In that respect Meat Loaf rises to the challenge, joking around and givi...Read the entire review