Alabama
& Friends At The Ryman
(2014/Eagle DVD)/The Best
Of The Danny Kaye Show
(1963 - 1966/MVD Visual DVD)/Money
For Nothing: A History Of The Music Video
(2014/Virgil DVD)/The
Story Of Mudhoney: I'm Now
(2012/MVD Visual DVD)/Supermensch:
The Legend Of Shep Gordon
(2013/Radius-TWC/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/C/C/C+/B- Sound: B-/C/C+/C+/B- Extras: C+/D/D/C/C-
Main Programs: B-/B-/B-/B/B
These
latest music titles offer something for almost everyone...
Alabama
& Friends At The Ryman
(2014) is remarkably the first time we have really covered anything
from the immensely successful Country band that remains one of the
last great bands in the genre and one of the biggest bands of its
time. Only Garth Brooks would next see such crossover success and
this recent show brings together the band still in prime form with
the best of the new generation of Country artists like Jason Aldean,
Jamey Johnson, The Eli Young Band, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line
and the great Tricia Yearwood. I have to confess that I did not
remember the songs by title, but as soon as I heard them, I knew
them, then through the 17 solid performances was reminded of just how
huge they were... and still are.
No
Country band has challenged their critical or commercial success,
while any band in any genre would do anything to have half of their
success and longevity. All in all, this is one of the most
interesting music surprises of the year.
Extras
include a nicely illustrated booklet on the show including
informative text, while the DVD adds seven
Behind The Scenes
featurettes including the guest artists talking about the legacy of
Alabama.
The
Best Of The Danny Kaye Show
(1963 - 1966) samples episode of the big comedy movie star's variety
show. Kaye might be remembered for the VistaVision extravaganza
White
Christmas,
but that was only the beginning of his reign as one of the top box
office stars of this time. That includes many musicals, so it is no
surprise that his variety show would be filled with music and comedy.
The six episodes here, with select songs, include:
Jackie
Cooper (9/25/63 w/Consider
Yourself)
Gene
Kelly (10/23/63 w/Michele Lee; Side
By Side,
You'll
Never Get Away)
Art
Carney (1/22/64 w/Do
You Ever Think Of Me)
Harry
Belefonte (9/15/65 w/Who Wil Buy?, Raindrops, Walk On)
Liza
Minnelli (1/5/66 w/Alan Young; Pennies
From Heaven,
Maybe
This Time)
Ella
Fitzgerald (10/5/66 w/It
Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing,
Body &
Soul,
Buddy Green sings the Theme
from Charade
and Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 sing Going
Out Of My Head)
The
first three shows in black and white have the older style of the show
with more laidback, pre-Rock style singing, but the latter three pick
up things in the arrangements and energy department. Not every song
is great or every skit, though he does have Harvey Korman. It is a
solid sample of the range variety shows had, even if everything did
not work, but more does in these shows than not, so they are
definitely worth a look showing how much music changed in the decade.
There
are no extras.
Jamin
Bricker's Money
For Nothing: A History Of The Music Video
(2014) is based on the book is based on the book of nearly the same
name, looking at the forerunners of Music Video, how the British were
ahead of the U.S. labels bringing on a new British Invasion when MTV
debuted, the rise of videos, how the Michael Jackson successes led to
overproduced epic videos that then led to an implosion of the
artform, MTV itself and how Videos have changed and survived since.
Running 78 minutes, it has a generous sampling of clips over the last
60 years (including forerunners before TV even arrived), but misses
some major clips, artists (like Adam Ant), has some erroneous
information and worst of all, had bad slap-dash editing that does not
help it. The other big problem is that it has this bizarre, cynical
take as if all the videomakers were thinking the same things making
their clips as if to be playing some shallow game.
That
is a huge disservice to Videos as an artform, as well as the many
artists (singers, directors, choreographers, etc.) who were trying to
do something fun, smart, memorable and did better work than they are
often being given credit for here. There could have been more
exposition (this looks like it was prefabricated as cable TV filler
when it did not have to) here and a longer program, yet in al this,
it is still worth seeing for what is shown and does work. I just
hope the actual book is better, because a few books on the subject
(rare as they are) have not been so great.
There
are no extras.
Ryan
Short & Adam Pease tell the story of one of the most influential
band of recent years in I'm
Now: The Story Of Mudhoney
(2012), a very interesting 102 minutes about the band that many
consider the first Grunge Rock band and when you hear them, a
definite influence on the likes of Nirvana. Still playing together,
we get the rather untold story of how this band was formed, had some
success, but somehow did not have the commercial and wide-ranging
mass success of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the like despite still being
very popular with very loyal fans throughout.
Like
all the better such documentary looks at major music acts, it also
becomes a look at the industry itself, for better and worse, with
this one showing the last great moment for Rock Bands in what is
still the Rock Era. It is a must-see for anyone serious about music
and who knows, maybe they'll have a new surprise hit yet... if they
even care to.
Extras
include a Video for the title of the film and more concert footage
from Europe, Japan and Brazil.
Actor/comedian
Mike Myers takes on documentary filmmaking for Supermensch:
The Legend Of Shep Gordon
(2013), a really thorough biography about the super-manager best
known for putting Alice Cooper on the map after brief work with Jimi
Hendrix, Janis Joplin and (as he jokes) even Pink Floyd (for 9 days).
Turns out that was only the beginning of his success in and outside
of show business as film clips, video clips, stills and new
interviews with some big names (like Michael Douglas) tell us a
really amazing story of a very accomplished man. We have seen Gordon
talk about his work and his clients in other releases, but it is his
turn and this is very engrossing.
Running
a bit short at 85 minutes, it still packs a ton of information,
humor, facts and great moments in what he did to be innovative,
groundbreaking and personally how he changed lives for the better and
even permanently affected what we see, hear and enjoy to this day.
Even I was surprised by some of what I learned here and strongly
recommend this one.
Trailers
for other Radius releases are the only extra, all before the main
program starts.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on Supermensch
may have its share of old analog video, even in black and white, but
it also has some higher quality film clips, reenactments and new HD
interview footage that ranks as the best performer here despite its
limits. The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Alabama,
Money
and Mudhoney
follow behind, but Mudhoney
purposely degrades its image too often and add the shaky camerawork
and it is the weakest of the three, tying the 1.33 X 1 image on Kaye
(the first disc has black and white episodes, the second in color
that are not always as rich as it ought to be) as the weakest
performer on the list.
The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on
Supermensch
includes many talking heads, but also some good music, yet the
regular DTS 5.1 on Alabama
ties it for best audio performer on this list. A well recorded show,
fans will be happy with it. The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on Money
just spreads the sound around, so don't expect multi-channel music,
while the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on Kaye
is the weakest here. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Mudhoney
is not bad and can more than compete with the 5.1 on Money.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
