Martin
Barre Live In NY
(2019/DVD/CDs Set*)/Bad
Company 40th
Anniversary Documentary
(2014/FilmRise Blu-ray*)/Bluebird
(2019/Cleopatra Blu-ray*)/Holly
Near: Singing For Our Lives
(2019/Film Movement DVD)/Kenny
Rogers: The Gambler's Last Deal
(2019/Weinerworld DVD/CD set*)/Melody
Makers: The Bible Of Rock n' Roll
(2019/Cleopatra DVD*)/Nekromantix:
3 Decades Of Darkle (2019
Blu-ray/DVD/CD set*)/Voice
Of The Eagle: The Enigma Of Robbie Basho
(2015 Blu-ray/DVD set/*all MVD)
Picture:
C+/B/B/C+/C+/C+/B & B-/B & C+ Sound: B-/B-/C+/C+/C+ &
B- (CD)/C+/B & B-/C+ Extras: D/D/C/C/C+/C/C/C+ Main
Programs: C+/B/B-/B-/B-/B/C+/C+
If
you have not been happy with the music you have been hearing lately,
try this wide-ranging set of new video releases, more than a few of
which include CDs for your convenience...
We
start with Martin
Barre Live In NY
(2019) playing 23 songs, many covers, in a show that shows off his
guitar work well, plays to a solid audience and could have been a
better recorded, edited, presented and mastered show, but he is good.
But when you look on the cover, back cover, inside the foldout case
and everywhere else, this set insanely NEVER TELLS YOU ANYTHING about
him. Who is he? Just the guitarist for Jethro Tull! Why skip this?
Who
knows, but it could not have been against the law and frankly makes
this look like a bootleg or amateur case design, though we know it is
from a top rate source. Thus, unless you know his band and then know
he played for them for pretty much their entire several decades of
existence, you'll never know who he is and maybe you can research it
on line or your cell phone, but it should not take that much effort.
For fans only, but not bad.
There
are no extras either.
Jon
Brewer's Bad
Company 40th
Anniversary Documentary
(2014) is very well done and is finally getting a Blu-ray release on
its 45th
anniversary. Running a solid 88 minutes, it spends the first half
hour on how the members of the band eventually formed after being in
two other great bands: Free and Mott The Hoople, then land up on Led
Zeppelin's new vanity label and hit it as big as they ever did.
Loaded
with original music, film clips, video clips, stills, adds,
memorabilia, interviews and other fine bits, I had not seen this one
in its entirety and it is surprising how much of this story is
untold, especially considering the popularity of the people and music
involved, but here it is and it is one of the true must-sees on this
list. Nice!
There
are sadly no extras, not even any updates.
Bluebird
(2019) is about a famous Country Music cafe venue in Nashville where
many a music artist got their start and the names include Garth
Brooks, Taylor Swift and other names familiar with fans of the genre
have been. This 83 minutes documentary has plenty of stills,
stories, big names and history, though a few parts might need some
updating. Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Pam Tillis, Kacey Musgraves, Kathy
Mattea and Trisha Yearwood also show up. For fans only, I wish a few
more questions had been asked, but you'll learn just about everything
you need to know about the place by the time this one wraps.
Image
Slideshow, Additional Interviews and a trailer are the extras.
Holly
Near: Singing For Our Lives
(2019) is the fine documentary of the sometimes actress and singer
who became an important singer and groundbreaker in her time, showing
up on TV shows like The
Partridge Family
and All
In The Family,
then touring with Jane Fonda on her FTA shows and even a part of the
original cast of Hair
in later years. It is an amazing career and I recognized her
immediately, but knew little about her.
The
two things I did not know is that she was a generation ahead of Kevin
Bacon, a fellow family member, in becoming a star or that her music
eventually dealt with lesbianism and was part of a niche of music for
said audience. This too-short 63 minutes should have been longer
(ask more questions people) and goes all the way up to the finish of
this work. Worth your time, it is an amazing untold story of a U.S.
artist still ahead of her time.
30
minutes of additional interviews and two bonus songs (One
Good Song
and Somebody's
Jail)
are the only extras.
Kenny
Rogers: The Gambler's Last Deal
(2019) 'deals' with his stop of this final tour in London, where he
is joined by Linda Davis at one point, though a clip of Dolly Parton
and Alison Krause is inserted unexpectedly. After one of the most
successful solo careers in music history and still selling out many a
venue, Rogers (who has been solo since the early 1970s!!!) decided to
retire for good. Fans will remember he took breaks before, but this
is it.
The
24-song show (two did not fit on the CD) also offers Dottie West and
is not bad, but I did not like the way it was edited and sometimes
not happy with the way it was shot. Rogers, et al, deserve better
presentation and preservation. Ruby,
Lucille, Through The Years, You Decorated My Life, Coward Of The
County, We've Got Tonight, The Gambler, Lady
and a solo Islands
In The Stream
(though Dolly did join him to sing it on this tour at some point) are
among his hits, though I thought we might get a few more of his
underrated hits at RCA from the 1980s (Buried
Treasure, This Woman, Morning Desire)
but that was not to be. For fans only, he still knows how to give a
show and tells some great stories, but I expected more.
The
foldout features brief liner notes and an illustrated booklet, while
the discs add additional interviews and music rehearsals are the
extras.
Leslie
Ann Coles' Melody
Makers: The Bible Of Rock n' Roll
(2019) tells the remarkable story of one of the greatest music
publications of all time, established in the early 20th
Century and blooming into a priceless publication for music of the
1960s and 1970s, until those running it in the mid-1970s decided to
dumb it down (trying to turn it into some kind of teen magazine?),
causing a flight of all the talent that made it great and put it on
the map.
Almost
all the major talents that made it great get interviewed, we see
hundreds of clips of the publication, thousands of photos (many of
which were never published before) and much more in the way of
classic stories and priceless history that was so good, I could not
stop watching. If you like Motown, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles,
Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen, Elton John, The Animals,
Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Ray Davies & The Kinks, Patti Smith,
Yes or artists that are fine but lesser know, you'll love this one.
Anyone serious interested will want to go way out of the way for it.
An
image slideshow and more interviews are the only extras.
A
fusing of heavy metal and horror, the Danish - American Psychobilly
band Nerkromantix releases this new three disc collector's set
on Blu-ray/DVD/CD set of a live performance culminating in three
decades of their music entitled Three Decades of Darkle
(2019).
Tracks
include:
''Struck
by a Wrecking Ball''
''Nightnurse''
''Alice
in Psycholand''
''Brain
Error''
''Demons
Are a Girl's Best Friend''
''Driller
Killer''
''Nekrotastic
Extacy''
''See
the Devil Smile''
''Nekrofelia''
''Gargoyles
Over Copenhagen''
''Subcultural
Girl''
''Sea
of Red''
''Glow
in the Dark''
''Brought
Back to Life''
''Horny
in a Hearse''
''Alive''
''Nice
Day for a Resurrection''
''Haunted
Cathouse''
and
''Who Killed the Cheerleader''
The
full running time of the concert is on around 80 minutes in all
formats and is about what you might expect with titles like we get
per each song. This is a fond way for fans to remember this
groundbreaking reunion show and to experience it from home. This is
reportedly the first time they have released a live show on disc.
Special
Features:
Interview
with the band
Trailer
Trailers
for other musical titles from Cleopatra Entertainment
Nekromantix
is an interesting band that certainly has a gothic style in addition
to being crazy Psychobilly.
Finally
we have Liam Barker's Voice
Of The Eagle: The Enigma Of Robbie Basho
(2015) about the counterculture guitarist who was very influential to
those who heard him, was always trying to get into music that was of
other cultures and even religions and is hardly known today except by
those who knew him personally and some other musicians (Pete
Townshend included) discuss his history and the amazing albums he
made. None were hits, but are very sought after.
I
found it loaded with curios, though none of the music particularly
stuck with me, but I can see and hear how he was going into areas and
musical ground hardly anyone else at the time in his time was, so
this is a good document of what he achieved and was worth a look.
Serious music persons might want to go out of their way for it.
Extras
include an illustrated booklet with some notes, while the discs add a
bunch of extra interview clips (extended and deleted at 410
minutes!!!) and a trailer.
All
the Blu-rays here are presented in a 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High
Definition image and all DVDs in an anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image as well. All five Blu-rays here look equally
good, even when you consider any archival footage that includes some
good film clips and analog videotape, though we still get a few flaws
including video noise, video banding, telecine flicker, tape
scratching, cross color, faded color and tape damage.. The
Nekromatix
live concert also has an English Dolby Digital 2.0 (48kHz) Stereo
mix. The same show presented is included in standard definition on
DVD as well with similar but compressed spec.
The
other five DVDs are just a little weaker and softer, but are passable
image-wise, usually offering lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, yet too
many of the Blu-rays also offer the same lossy mix, which is bad.
Bad
Company
bucks this trend with DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless
sound on its release.
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James
Lockhart (Nekromantix)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
