The Allman Brothers Band ~ Live At Great Woods (DVD review) ... Gregg Allman's guitar is my spirit animal!

Style: classic rock, blues-rock
Label: Epic
Year: 1992
Home: Georgia

Concert location: Great Woods, Boston, Massachusetts
Year Recorded: 1991
Length: 90 minutes
Bonus Features: none

Members: Gregg Allman ~ keyboards/acoustic guitar/lead vocals
Dickey Betts ~ guitar/b. vocals
Butch Trucks, Jaimoe ~ drums/percussion
Marc Quiñones – drums/percussion/b. vocals
Warren Haynes ~ guitar/lead vocals
Allen Woody ~ bass/b. vocals

Guests: Robbie Robertson ~ host

When we talk about the white boy blues & blues-rock bands of the past that brought the blues to the mainstream, some have stuck more to the blues & others have blurred the lines between what it means to play the blues, while others have just gone rockin' without looking back. Eric Clapton has played the hardcore drooling blues more often than not, or at least it feels that way even when he's at his most Kenny G, the Rolling Stones have forgotten the blues though at one point that's all they did, while Jimmy Page took the blues firmly by the rock horns or gave it rock horns yet without losing sight of where he came from. The ABB might be a leader in the category of blurring the line the between blues-rock without going in either direction as far as Page or Clapton, but yet not totally at home with blues purists & certainly you won't find them in the blues section of the music store ... if you can even find a music store to verify this. If there's a white boy blues band out there that's continuously had success without too much musical variance & continuously shown why they're leaders in their field, even with regular membership changes, it's the ABB. Let alone, they're both a great band & the home to some great individuals, particularly the late slide king Duane Allman but more recently two thirds of third generation blues rockers Gov't Mule. But, we shouldn't pinpoint the individuals to the detriment of the whole. The duel drumming Grateful Dead feel is as necessary to the musical landscape as any of Dickey Betts solos ... & anyone who said that someone over 30 can't rock need only watch Betts soar in another land with more gusto than guys half his age, including bandmate Warren Haynes. This hour long concert was part of the ABB's tour for their second comeback album Shades Of Two Worlds & originally was filmed so a couple songs could get on Japanese television. The band decided to release the entire filmed concert. The late Duane Allman might be the eternal face of the band for many, but as I've previously written in this blog, don't give up on the ABB because he's gone. He was not the only thing about the ABB to pay attention to & I often get tired of the fact that it often seems that way to the detriment of a lot of other great players, including his own brother who still plus away behind the often uncool organ. This is about as blues as blues-rock can get without going into the deep end ... actually, it does go into the deep end as the band let their solos carry them away. But, while blues solos often soar leaving the band behind or become show-off-ish, there's none of that pretentiousness here as this is firmly a band moment & not a soloist's gig. Never once does one tire of a solo that's gone on too long or showed off too much. There's also a decent mix of classic standard blues (for example, "Hoochie Coochie Man"), classic ABB songs (for example, "Statesboro Blues") & two contemporary songs that fit perfectly into the mix ("End Of The Line" & "Get On With Your Life"). For those thinking the ABB is nothing without Duane or not a valid entity beyond the nostalgia circuit this video, though it might not be the definite choice for some fans due to its lack of liner notes, the music fully speaks for itself about how great these guys continue to be. The band turns in a blistering set with top-notch performances that any band would have a hard time beating. Of course, today, every blues-rock band sounds like the ABB ... or maybe they now sound like every blues-rock band ... but once-upon a time they were 'the' blues-rock band & considering only three of the faces onstage are not original members one will see what being 'the' blues-band means after only a song or two. The rest of the show is just constant verification. They're as gritty & inventive as ever & even feature full-on acoustic renditions, even with Gregg Allman is on guitar, of "Blue Sky" & "Going Down The Road". The band has gone through a plethora of membership changes, but this post-reunion line-up is a particularly vibrant movement in their long life making this video stand out from the crowd in some ways. No bonus features except for the option of having the lyrics appear, which few will probably require. Included periodically throughout the show is interviews with Betts, Allman & Haynes discussing the writing of some of the songs & their influences. The only problem is the interviews come during solos in the songs.

60's Pop Rock Reunion Live! (comp) (DVD review) ... Not the reunion you were expecting!

Style: classic rock, pop rock
Label: Time Life/Eagle Vision
Year: 2004
Home: n/a

Concert location: Cleveland, Ohio
Year Recorded: 2003
Length: 82 minutes
Bonus Features: "Upstage With The Artists" interviews with Mark Lindsay, Gary Lewis, Chad & Jeremy, Rob Grill, Tommy James & Carl Ciammarese of the Buckinghams

Bands include Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone

Tommy James & The Shondells

Mark Lindsay

The Buckinghams

Gary Lewis & The Playboys

Chad & Jeremy

The Grass Roots

Additional: Norm N. Nite ~ MC

Originally broadcast on PBS, this live concert shares the music of back when three chord songs rocked & didn't mean punk or hard rock or heavy metal. Some of these performers have been performing steady since their name faded from the Billboard, while others retired to come back for the popular reunion circuit. One would like to say its obviously which have grown old gracefully & which should retire again, but that would be splitting hairs & even being mean. Yes, there's a nostalgia vibe ... as the Buckinghams say "Our most recent hit record, it was 1968" ... yes almost everyone is trying to look updated with leather pants, yes its a mix of session musicians & only a few members of the original bands such as the Shondells & Playboys, yes some voices are older & not so strong, yes in the modern age of performance just standing on stage seems strange & unenthused ... but there's a reason these folks are gathered to perform together & its because of the songs. The songs are classic & classic for a reason & hold up to the test of time without issue & nobody is going to perform them like originally, so this is the next best thing. The visuals might be nostalgic but the music is as great as ever & that's what this is all about. The weak moments are more than made up for. You'll be digging around on wikipedia to find out where all these folks have been over the decades, for sure, let alone pulling out your old albums. This concert isn't about trying to recreate the past or introduce new music by old bands or old music to new fans, but just enjoy the great old songs. Tommy James puts in the guitar rock moment & its obvious he's been on the circuit non-stop as "Draggin The Line" & "Crystal Blue Persuasion" have modern arrangement with distorted electric guitar solos. He also might be the most relaxed of anyone, as there's no sense of comeback reunion in his manner but just doing what he always did, so what's the big deal about? He also comes across as the rocker in a midst of singers. Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & The Raiders, might not be remembered outside the band he helped form, though he had many solo albums under his own name. Retired & now back to performing he puts in a fun couple songs with the classic hits moniker landing at home with "Kicks" & "Indian Reservation". With a tall lanky frame, dark hair & even a costume change he might have the best stage look. Ironically, "Indian Reservation" was recorded for his solo album & then released as Paul Revere & The Raiders ... so really you do know his solo career. The Buckinghams, looking very Donny Osmond in business suits which is not much farther from their original look, are the most pop & slick putting in a relaxing moment. The Buckinghams was the first Chicago band to feature horns, with their producer going on to produce the band Chicago Transit Authority. Gary Lewis & The Playboys, here a session backing band, puts in the roughest performance partially looking odd in all leather & with a shot voice. While his choice of "Green Grass" may not be the strongest song to compliment "This Diamond Ring", or anyways, I know some other songs more than that one. No, he doesn't look like his dad anymore. Of interest, he retired from performing & became a drum teacher. Chad & Jeremy was a band I couldn't remember until I heard them, here performing for the first time in over twenty years on just acoustic piano & nylon string guitar. Unglamorous in jeans & looking almost out of place, they put in the most intimate performance of the night. "A Summer Song" will nearly have you in tears. There's a reason they get a standing ovation. The Grass Roots, a band I've always liked, is an interesting group as its a collection of rotating musicians primarily doing the catalog of two songwriters who wrote for many other folks. Here its original bassist/songwriter Rob Grill, an excellent bassist by the way who died in 2011, joined by one of the many line-ups ... Grill is the only one who gets a literal spotlight. It's like Tommy James in the fact that you can tell the group never split up & you can tell. But, the songs are so good I was back checking out their old catalog. Of interest a brief Grill solo tour saw him opening for Fleetwood Mac on their Tusk tour. We all know the catchy memorable songs of Herman's Hermits with Peter Noone, now in leather pants but still looking young, but I found him the most disappointing. Perhaps the its the geeky look & funny faces. But, he's got the best line: "When the person singing on your right isn't singing, hit them ... let's get in the newspaper." Though, this is one of two Hermits. All the members of the original left leaving drummer Barry Whitwam keeping the band going as the sole original member. Noone would return to performing with his own Hermits, which this is, with all new faces. For the trivia buff, their "Something Good" was co-written by Carole King. Closes with Tommy James leading a a group take on "Mony Mony", like every group take its about the visuals. Many of these bands have performed together on the nostalgia circuit already, so bringing them all together both isn't so much of a startling fresh idea, but already being done. It just took someone to record it all. If you like the music it's well worth picking up. Bonus feature includes on stage interviers that are very off-the-cuff & full of fascinating history. When Mark Lindsay is asked what he regrets - not seeing the Beatles or Stones or anyone live, as he was either on the road or recording all the time. Gary Lewis belays the fact that Leon Russell was his arranger & co-producer, let alone the inside scoop of timing hit records around Beatles hit records. The conversation, as expected, eventually turns to Gary's dad, Jerry. While Rob Grill of the Grass Roots is given a surprise visit from Peter Noone during his talk. While Chad says he wanted to do it one last time, though because of this special concert they would be far from doing something one last time but would continue to tour & record.

Whitesnake ~ Live: In the Still of the Night (DVD review) ... Making love in the still of the night!

Style: hard rock, blues-rock
Label: Hip-O
Year: 2006
Home: n/a

Concert location: Hammersmith Apollo, London, England
Year Recorded: 2004
Length: under 2 hours
Bonus Features: behind the scenes documentary; photo gallery

Members: David Coverdale ~ vocals
Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach ~ guitars/b. vocals
Timothy Drury ~ keyboards
Marco Mendoza ~ bass
Tommy Aldridge ~ drums

I've loved David Coverdale ever since I can remember, or at least since my earliest MTV watching days. His voice always stood out for me from so many other bands. I even picked up his late career solo album & I think Coverdale/Page might be one of the best both of those guys have done. I've even gone back to his Deep Purple days, though I'm a Blackmore fan so that's a given. Yet, there's still some albums I haven't heard & the early bluesy post-Deep Purple Whitesnake isn't my cup of tea, but where the music lacks I always enjoy his voice. Whitesnake has gone through numerous line-ups over the years, even at one point including Steve Vai, with the current line-up continuing to hold the torch high. Two of the members have been around since 1989, but the rest are all new boys. Though, boys is the wrong word. Unlike Alice Cooper whose filled his band with extremely young bucks & now gals, Coverdale brings in some well-trained old hats whose combined resume includes Pat Travers, Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads, Thin Lizzy, the Michael Schenker Group, John Sykes, Winger, Alice Cooper & even Don Henley, amongst countless others. There's a bonus to not having a too young back-up group as it takes the focus away from the fact that the frontman has gotten old. This new band has also managed to put their stamp on the old classics, here including Deep Purple's "Burn" & a refrain from "Stormbringer", let alone reaching back to the bluesy roots of the band. It's interesting to note how many of Coverdale's hair metal peers have found a new footing doing basic blues-rock. Coverdale has gone from a big-hair girls-on-cars MTV sex idol to a British elder gentleman of rock, still sexy even if looking a bit wrinkled from the California sun ... & there's more than an occasional or accidental groin shot in the video to show he's not given up on that image of himself, let alone overly excessive microphone stand stroking. He also puts as much energy has he can into his live show as if he's not going to let his age stand in his way. But, watching him today there's something different. The music is great, he basically sounds good though its obvious his voice has changed, the classic 80's hits are as great as ever & shown their legacy is not unfounded, the current incarnation of Whitesnake Coverdale is not going to let go of soon if he can help it ... but, something is different & its in Coverdale himself that the change is obvious. Watching him do "Is This Love" & then stopping to watch the original video it all becomes obvious what the problem is - this Coverdale is an imposter. That's right. It's not him. It can't be. No ... not really, but the changes abound & its hard to reconcile the elder statesman on this stage with the once MTV icon. He's changed that much. Besides his new look & his aging face, though he's still in great physical condition as he goes around with his shirt open, his voice has changed quite a lot. Coverdale basically has two voices - a screaming Robert Plant-esque falsetto & a deep sexy baritone, here obvious in "Sweet Satisfaction" that demonstrates both with abandon. He used the baritone to absolute finesse with Coverdale/Page & that's the voice I like. That hasn't changed, though I wish he'd use it far more as its stronger & more distinctive. His falsetto has changed. It's shrunk down in its ranged & watching him singing it often feels like he's struggling to sing the notes or trying to sing them with clenched teeth. Its not until watching the old videos that it's obvious he's also singing some of the lower songs in his deep voice much more than they were originally recorded. I hate to say he's lost his voice, but he doesn't have the smoothness he used to have. I actually saw Whitesnake with this line-up in concert a couple years ago promoting their new Forevermore album. I was shocked just how much backing vocals were used, something he's been heavily criticized for, that would often drown out his voice. I hate to say that this, amongst some other things, made for the live experience less than I'd hoped for & I'd say stick to the DVD. As for the band, they again deserve mention ... as they're so good they very well mike pull the attention away from Coverdale. Lead guitarist Doug Aldrich has a fingering technique that should be on everyone's top ten list of best guitarists, let alone studied by every guitarist. His sans band guitar solo will make you sweat after only a minute due to its fury, leading into "Crying In The Rain" that is sadly disrupted by a drum solo ... but at least Coverdale lets everyone in the band have their moment to showoff, even if he has to take one of the hits that everyone knows to do it with. I also have to give kudos to his other guitarist Reb Beach, formerly of Winger, who seems to always get lost in discussions. In this DVD Aldrich takes most of the solos, but in the live show I saw the pair had a very prolonged guitar battle. I actually walked out being far more interested in Beach's interesting melodic choices & its only now that I get to see Aldrich. Also of note, live I was mesmerized by bassist Marco Mendoza. Killer playing. Sadly, Mendoza & drummer Tommy Aldridge have been with Whitesnake the longest, but I neither live nor watching this could I tell you a thing about Aldridge or keyboardist Timothy Drury. It's interesting how your ears catch certain things. I mentioned that my live experience, sans re-discovering Reb Beach, was less than stellar. Most of that has to do with Coverdale's desire to talk & talk & talk in this seemingly put-on cockney accent ... for a guy that's lived in America for half his career ... with a lot of bad jokes & sexual innuendos. The banter is chopped down to the minimal here, or maybe edited out. The audience groaned at my show as he flirted with women in the audience then pointed out his wife in the balcony. It's almost as if he's trying to create a character, while it leaves one wondering what he's really like. One may forget that during the 90's Whitesnake dropped off the charts & for awhile didn't exist & Coverdale struggled, even going back to his natural brown hair & cutting it short for his solo album. Coverdale/Page was a comeback in the full sense of the word, cut prematurely short when the Robert Plant comparisons came to the fore. The fact is that Coverdale doesn't need to be anything. Is is truly a survivor of the music industry. One can't help wonder if Coverdale isn't as confident as he puts it out there. Though, there is one great line between some early songs as he takes some flowers from the audience, from a woman whose obviously been his fan for decades: "More fucking flowers, does that mean I have to have my legs in the air all night? But I don't have a vase do I?" Reading note "'Thank you for your voice & your music.' Thank you very much. Thank you for your tits. Most inspiring I assure you. No, they are, they are." It's interesting to think that once upon a time Coverdale was considered a Robert Plant imitator. There's no comparison anymore. Actually, Whitesnake is doing the music that I expected Plant to do, particularly following his Calling All Nations, not the moody blues & folk that I've lost interest in. There's little that would not make this DVD a recommendation. It's also hard to begrudge the set-list, as its a broad swipe from his full career, not just focusing on the hits. He gives the Brits a touch of a lot, while for Americans we'll get the hits. As for the unfamiliar songs, its such a high octane concert one will never get bored. If there's any problem its with the cinematography. Too much bouncing around, cutting back & forth. It's hard to focus, but that's the way video work goes now. What's worse is that there's also an occasional bounce to a shot in black & white. It's not necessary, let alone distracting. Coverdale might have had gimmicky videos with girls - no girls in the live show interestingly enough - but the songs have withstood the test of time & don't need any gimmick. Coverdale could pull out acoustic renditions with lights on full & band sitting down & I think the show would still be great. Maybe he will someday, everyone else has. So, jumping around with black & white cuts to create a flashy experience is not necessary. Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes documentary & a photo gallery. The DVD was also released in a DVD/CD set, with an abridged concert of only an hour on the CD.

Erik Norlander ~ The Galactic Collective: Live In Gettysburg (DVD review) ... Let the battle begin!

Style: instrumental, prog-rock, hard rock
Label: Think Tank Media
Year: 2012
Home: California

Concert location: Rites Of Spring Festival, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Year Recorded: 2011
Length: 2 hours
Bonus Features: two CDs of the concert, bonus track from 2010 concert

Members: Erik Norlander ~ keyboards/narration
Mark Matthews ~ bass
Nick LePar ~ drums
Freddy DeMarco ~ guitar
Lana Lane, Debriss McKinney ~ vocals

Guest: Michelle Moog-Koussa ~ introduction

I've reviewed keyboardist-composer-pianist EN's vocalist wife Lana Lane, I've reviewed his band Asia Featuring John Payne, I've dropped his name as a favorite litmus test for contemporary prog-rock keyboardists & composers, let alone regularly encouraged the discovery of his growing catalog ... so, it's about time I finally reviewed his own work. The fact that he has two new simultaneously released DVDs, both including two CDs & detailed packaging, not just works for my schedule but is also very exciting. They're based on his earlier CD The Galactic Collective that featured reworked versions of favorite songs from his career. But, now, we get to discover the project a new way via videos of the original studio sessions, extensive interviews, alternative audio versions & a second DVD of the album & a bit more on stage. It's a grand concept of doing everything sans turning the album into a picture book or redoing it with other musicians in a self-tribute format or rearranging it for a Romanian gypsy band! Though, if EN wants to pursue any of the above ... The problem is, both as a fan & a reviewer, I don't know what to say in response either to the project as a whole, or this particular live DVD The Galactic Collective: Live At Gettysburg. What more can be said about EN that hasn't already been said by reviewers? "Keith Emerson was so impressed with EN's Threshold, that he wrote the liner notes" ... let alone handed off his keyboard tech ... "evocative synthesizer technique is reminiscent of the legendary Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson & Jon Lord, while still very unique & forward-moving in its own right" ... "all his recordings are recommended" ... "well thought out & packaged with the fan in mind" ... "EN's star is certainly in the ascendant at the moment" ... "In these days where mediocrity is celebrated & true ability often ignored it is wonderful to see a musical craftsman of EN's stature receiving praise for his many talents." I recently posted in my other blog a brief interview with Erik about the releases, where he discussed their background & his current activities, so I don't wish to repeat that here, but instead let you investigate his own words. So, I'm left with only some general off-the-cuff responses to watching him & his troupe, including wife Lane, in concert during 2011's Rites Of Spring Festival, indeed at the looming battleground. First, though I enjoy his playing I'm not obsessively familiar with it. I don't know what song reinterpreted here appeared on what album or when, nor even how it originally sounds, nor who performed it previously. I have a handful of his albums, some I've listened to & some I haven't found time for yet. For some bands who reinterpret their own catalog, knowledge of the past is part of the experience. You need the comparison to fully comprehend the new creative process & outcome. I'm reminded of the final INXS album where they brought in guests to sing all their old hits, that were reworked in every way but the familiar. Or, for example, it helps knowing Metallica before you can really enjoy Van Canto. To enjoy or not enjoy these new album you really needed to know the roots. While, for an example closer to home, John Payne of Asia re-recording older Asia songs, before his time in the band, might be decried by some long term fans but the jump isn't so big where you really don't need one to appreciate the other. So, on some level for EN's new work I might be missing out, but I don't feel the loss is that big & I don't think anyone should worry coming to the project. EN has not recrafted the songs to reflect changing bandmates, as The Galactic Collective is a new band assembled for this project with their future unknown, nor to mark a career moment or revival, nor to discover a new style of music. EN is not making a leap from prog pianist to gypsy prog king & needing to demonstrate how the old songs hold in up a new folk context. He's recrafted the songs for his own enjoyment - the end. Though, if you know of a gypsty band he might be interested ... The Galactic Collective also focuses on the instrumentals, which have sometimes gotten lost in between his vocal output. With this new band, based on his narration in the concert as he introduces each song with a little background giving the whole show an intimate feeling, he's given his works a more edgy rock feel than may have been delved into before. Certainly, the show stomps forward & is the more rock end of prog then hypnotic trance-like or drug-like, depending on the decade. It might even stomp a bit too much as, having not heard the original release or seen the companion DVD yet, I was expecting a roller-coaster of emotional contexts. Songs full of soft moments next to cacophonic prog. Extreme variation that was more akin to a greatest hits ride. There's no solo piano moments here, no Wakeman-esque flourished showcase with a spotlight only on EN, & everything is kept within a rock mood creating a sense of cohesiveness & flow. The songs meander like traditional prog, but they also stay linked into a groove that keeps things focused, courtesy of a masterful powerhouse finger aching bassist & a laidback 60's drummer who never seems to break a breath. Focus & groove is something not often distinguished in the prog vocabulary & show's the modern feel of EN's music. EN rotates his solos with guitar solos keeping things squarely in the format of rhythm section with lead melody lines versus an intertwined rock symphony. He has but two keyboards & a Moog, connected to what he calls a the Wall Of Doom a 6 console control system looming behind him, so there's not even a Rick Emerson look at me moment ... who once had 28 keyboards on stage earning him a Guinness World Record. It's rather modest. While the prog side of me was expecting a bit more variation, at the same time keeping things largely within the same mood means this will be equally enjoyed by the non-prog enthusiast who doesn't want the instrumental spirals & cacophony that the genre is gluttonously famous for. This is not a show that's going to get maudlin. Uplifting is the key word. Vibrant alongside it. Thus, unintentionally, the subtle nature of EN's playing, though still prominent with his trademark heavy use of vibrato, tends to be more a bridge between big moments than a focus. Since most of the songs are instrumentals the focus is undoubtedly on EN who plugs out the melody line. EN fans tend to be divided over if they prefer better his instrumental or vocal works. This is certainly his show, even if some of the songs were written with others in mind. Certainly, with a vocalist he's forced to step back more often than not, while the instrumentals force a lead instrument to come forward. There's a few vocals here with Lana Lane taking the center spotlight & a backing vocalist who often sings sounds over words, something that has a great effect. In the end, its nice seeing both aspects of EN's music in the live venue. As it is, most of us aren't used to a solely instrumental show. As for guitarist Freddy DeMarco, he doesn't overplay, though he does turn in a lot of semi-shredder solos that feel a bit more showy than the music might really need. It would be interesting hearing EN expand his band a bit to including an additional non-rock guitarist, such as a flamenco or classical player, allowing both the rock & non-rock style to sit side by side. Though, for DeMarco's credit he does show a lot of courage by playing the guitar with a violin bow, as made famous by Jimmy Page & barely repeated since, & doesn't show-off or so much solo but actually uses it as a strange new sound. For those wondering, no, this does not sound like Rocket Scientists or Asia Featuring John Payne or a Lana Lane concert. EN's troupe has its own particular feeling. Perhaps, a bit more rock than EN's other efforts. Also to be noted, Michelle Moog-Koussa, the daughter of of the famed inventor introduces the show ... with a bit of an academic style versus lets get rocked. It keeps sets a tone immediately of an intimate show, which really this feels. The only bonus tracks on this DVD is a clip of Lana Lane's "Garden Of The Moon" live in Cleveland, 2010, though sans Lane. A great little song but some odd camera views, going from static balcony to oddly angled onstage shots & a wobbly back of the audience shot that ties to show the full experience of the theater but fails. It's obviously something that wasn't intended as anything but a rough record of the experience, probably never meant for public consumption. It merits inclusion as its the stage debut of this line-up. The real bonus is in the linear notes which includes lots of photos, an extensive essay of the equipment by his keyboard tech who previously worked for Emerson, lyrics to the few non-instrumentals - though there's a bit too much reliance on rhyming Jon Anderson-esque cosmic sounding lyrics that luckily sound far less cliched when Lane sings them - & an essay on the background of the project by EN himself. The two bonus CDs reproduce the entire concert sans the introductions, making it feel like a slightly different experience. Some live concerts require the visual, while others just aren't that interesting visually. Being stuck immobile behind a keyboard may not be the most exciting thing, but watching EN casually work his magic in front of his Wall Of Doom has its treats ... while listening to it with only one's thoughts has its own set of treats.

Bruce Springsteen ~ VH1 Storytellers (DVD review) ... The boss explains the devil & dust!

Style: rock, Americana
Label: Columbia
Year: 2005
Home: New Jersey

Concert location: Two River Theater, NJ, VH1 Storytellers
Year Recorded: April 2005
Length: 115 minutes

Bonus Features: 15 minute audience Q&A

Members: Bruce Springsteen ~ guitar/vocals/piano

Guest: Patti Scialfa ~ b. vocals

This is the complete concert, including an unaired question & answer session, filmed for VH1's Storytellers tv series where artists explain the songs during the performance. BS takes the approach of doing a stripped down unplugged performance with just his voice, his acoustic guitar, a piano for one track & his wife slipping in for backing vocals on "Nebraska". Considering the show follows the release of BS's third folk release Devils & Dust, it's no surprise that he's chosen an acoustic format, while at the same time looking back to where he came from & the music he's honed it's also a no risk moment, as it might be for other musicians. His songs work well stripped down to their absolute basics & BS's voice is as good as ever. It's a very comfortable set-up that doesn't feel gimmicky or odd, let alone it brings the inherent intimacy of the show & in turn the lyrics right up front. It also helps that BS stays away from some of his bigger hits, that are dependent on an electric guitar thump, for more storytelling songs. He also deliberately choses songs that show different lyrical approaches over the years. The result is anything but a disappointment. For those that know the "Born In The U.S.A." bar band BS this concert will show the side of BS that has kept so many fans coming back even when he wasn't topping the charts. It shows the BS so many of don't remember because of the bigger pop songs on MTV. Actually, he often feels a little bit like Tom Waits without the oddness, particularly when he sits at the piano for "Jesus Was An Only Son" & "Thunder Road". It's a guy who writes songs because it seems like the easiest thing on earth to do. Besides the fact that he might be one of the best aging rock stars, he still performs with the same swagger he had when he was just starting his career. As for the behind the lyrics part of the show he goes line by line through each song. As he says of "Devils & Dust", after performing the song fully: "What's working against the lyrics? The music, that's the sound of resistance. It's the unspoken subtext that the lyrics rest on." BS takes the concept of the show to heart. But, then, he confesses: "How much of this was I thinking about when I wrote the song? None of it. I wrote all of that yesterday afternoon on my kitchen table." Thus, he says more about the show than anyone could, moving right on to "Blinded By The Light", made famous by Manfred Mann, which was a deliberate ploy for a pop hit for producer Clive Davis "with a rhyming dictionary in one hand & a notebook in the other." The rest of the descriptions include lots of humor & float between spontaneous stories & pre-conceived lyrical notes in a notebook that stays by his side. At one point he even sings one of the songs imitating Smokey Robinson. It's a must see moment. Even with notepad in hand & the self-confession of having done some homework, never once does BS feel anything but honest. He's certainly not arrogant or claiming to be anything but a humble songwriter. & he certainly is never less than entertaining. Any fan who hasn't seen this is missing the elder statesman at his best. Any fan that only knows the "Born In The USA" BS doesn't know BS. The fascinating thing about VH1 Storytellers, particularly with BS's chosen stripped down & line by line approach, is the pacing is different. There's no flash or polish. The most low-key performance possible. It meanders & he fumbles. He forgets his harmonica a couple times. You hang on every moment. It might be one of the best VH1 Storytellers made, even though its a long way into the series as episode 62. The fact that he did some prep work might make it less spontaneous to some, but it also makes the show everything it can be. Welcome to my studio ... welcome to my pen & paper. Welcome to the end of the Jersey pier on a late night with a bottle of beer. It's also all about the lyrics. Welcome to English 101. It might only be eight songs but few will probably complain. The bonus feature is a fifteen minute Q&A with the audience that opens with an audience member saying he feels like he knows BS, does he? The response: "No. It's part of the job, that whole feeling like I know you." It might be part of the job but the rest of the talk is unpretentious, un-showy & what is VH1 Storytellers is all about, the person under the persona.

Savatage ~ Live Japan '94 (aka Live In Japan) (DVD review) ... The rising sun of Savatage!

Style: prog-rock, heavy metal
Label: SPV
Year: 1994
Home: Florida/New York

Concert location: Club Citta Kawasaki, Tokyo, Japan
Year Recorded: November 1994
Length: 95 minutes
Bonus Features: none

Members: Jon Oliva ~ lead vocals/piano/rhythm guitar
Zak Stevens ~ lead vocals
Alex Skolnick ~ guitar
Johnny Lee Middleton ~ bass
Jeff Plate ~ drums

Kicking off with the fierce "Taunting Cobras" followed by "Edge Of Thorns", from the albums Handful Of Rain & Edge Of Thorns respectively ... with those two songs one should not anymore wonder why Savatage is my favorite band. These two songs pretty much set out everything that is great about Savatage at this point in their career: non-typical lyrics that you can sing-along with, neo-classical prog-metal arrangements with not a whiff of hairspray pretentiousness, great guitar playing & strong singing that isn't the usual 80's screaming & an array of studio albums churning out cult hit after cult hit. At this point in their career Savatage had tragically lost their founding guitarist Criss Oliva in a car accident, his heart-broken brother Jon had handed over the reigns of the band to producer Paul O'Neil who turned it into a progressive rock opera beast, while all other original members had moved on to be replaced with very different rockers including a singer with the voice of Thor & a famed thrash guitarist. This concert finds the band on the last night of touring Handful Of Rain that features Savatage in their second or third era depending on how one wants to count transitions. Fronting the ensemble is still rookie singer Zak Stevens, who'd later form Circle II Circle. He sings with amazing vocal chops that are deep & powerful, yet nuanced, without following into any of the rock clichés of growls or screams. Original drummer Steve Wacholz was on the album but replaced before the tour by Jeff Plate. The rhythm section is rounded out by second bassist Johnny Lee Middleton. Both of these guys would follow Savatage's morph into the less venomous but more profitable Trans-Siberian Orchestra ... the metal band for grandparents & kids alike. On the album Oliva only contributes some keyboards & is the omni-present co-songwriter, having left in a alcoholic stupor & working on his Romanov opera & Doctor Butcher with former Savatage rhythm guitarist Chris Caffery. Oliva is not even given a photo in the linear notes & with him gone its hard to call this Savatage anymore as there's few obvious similiarities with the group that turned out the proto-black metal treasures Sirens & The Dungeons Are Calling. Though, really, what the band became, as can be seen on this tour in some of the classically-tinged piano interludes, with Paul O'Neill writing & producing is the vision Oliva had in the beginning but was unable to reach on his own ... it's just a shame that it had to happen through tragedy. Oliva returned for this tour, even singing lead vocals with Stevens after a 2 years absence from the role. Replacing the late Criss Oliva for the album & tour was top-notch thrash guitarist Alex Skolnick who'd recently left Testament. After this tour he'd move on, replaced by Al Pitrelli, though would return for Trans-Siberian Orchestra where his second hat as a jazz guitarist had a better fit. Here Skolnick is playing both his creations & those of Criss Oliva, but gives all of them his own touch. Criss was very much in the mold of Randy Rhoads with a bit too much energy, while Skolnick is more of a prog-metal guy & the distinction is obvious. But, Skolnick is nothing but a worthy successor & there is no disappointment. Because his time with Savatage was so brief Handful Of Rain sometimes gets lost in the shuffle between the multi-year terms of Oliva & Pitrelli. But, this might be their last in your face album & certainly their most progressive before going full on classical & commercial with the follow-up Dead Winter Dead. All but three songs from the album (i.e. "Visions", "Symmetry" & "Alone You Breathe") appear on this concert making this a great introduction to the brief Skolnick days that should be anything but the footnote it has become. One can only wonder what would have happened if he'd stayed & been given the chance to create an album with a more active Oliva plus Chris Caffery on rhythm. This video is the first official video release by Savatage ... it would also prove to be their only video release, ironically featuring a band that was essentially in line-up flux, & it is by the grace of bootleggers that the rest of Savatage's days have been preserved. It's a shame that this is their only official video as it's an outstanding performance. Though, honestly, this is not the most visually exciting band preferring the stand & sing approach over the go crazy & scream tactic. But, then, it's no different than Megadeth, Metallica or any thrash band, all who Savatage had opened for many times. L.A. hair metal gave standing still a bad name. But, one doesn't need physical distractions as the music is heavy, the band tight & the arrangements sounding amazing transferred to the stage, which isn't always the case. The only bad part is that Oliva, grown quite heavy, wanders the edge of the stage playing piano with but bad fingering & playing rhythm guitar on an upside down right handed guitar. He's a shadow of the man that was given the name the Mountain King & once strutted the stage like Meat Loaf meets Ozzy. But, Oliva only returned because Atlantic Records wouldn't support his new project Doctor Butcher & Savatage at the same time. As he's said repeatedly, with the death of his brother came the death of Savatage in anything but name only so there is a sense that he is a sideman in his own band. But, he gets a moment to shine with "Gutter Ballet" now turned into a duet, which would remain that way for ensuing tours featuring Damond Jinya taking over the lead role. The new arrangement far exceeds Oliva's sole vocals on the original & makes one wonder what if it had been like if more duets had been proposed. It's surprising that the band has never seen the magic in this set-up even through Trans-Siberian Orchestra where the array of great, if not as distinctive as Oliva, vocalists make this even more potentially powerful. No bonus features as it this released only on VHS, with the label sold before a re-released on DVD could happen. It would take a decade to be available on DVD & then as a bonus disc on the greatest hits compilation Still The Orchestra Plays: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 

Mortiis ~ Soul In A Hole (DVD review) ... Music in a hole!

Style: industrial, heavy metal, live
Label: Earache
Year: 2005
Home: Norway

Concert location: The Ocean, London
Year Recorded: 2004
Length: 120 minutes
Bonus Features: tv commercial, electronic press kit, band interviews, photo gallery, music videos of "Parasite Girl", "Mental Maestrom (Implode)", "The Grudge", "Decadent & Desperate (Absentia)"

Members: Mortiis ~ vocals
Levi Gawron, Asmund Sveinunggard ~ guitars
Leo Troy ~ drums
n/a ~ backing vocalist/keyboards

This live concert catches Norwegian industrial band touring their release The Grudge during what they call Era 3 of the band ... most bands have eras charting out the changes in their music but Mortiis actually makes a point of including it as a part of the promotional materials as, according to the bonus interview with the frontman also named Mortiis, each era brings different types of fans. The band is famed for their frontman & only constant member, though some might say Mortiis refers to him & not a band, who always wears a goblin mask/make-up the band has gone. But, this is not the typical shock rock one has come to except from similarly heavy make-up'd bands such as Kiss, Cradle Of Filth, Slipknot, Gwar or Marilyn Manson & except for the make-up there is little musically to tie Mortiis to these groups. This is angry like Slipknot but not theatrical like the un-angry Kiss or comedic like Gwar or even shocking like Manson. Further, as the concert shows, the make-up doesn't land as the foundation of a stage set such as Alice Cooper might do. Actually, musically this point in Mortiis's musical timeline might be acquainted to some of Nine Inch Nails. Frontman Mortiis has created for The Grudge thrashy guitar based industrial, sans solos or pyrotechnics, where most of the melody is on the shoulder of the keyboards & vocals but in turn giving the songs a bit of a sober melancholy nature, at least on this recording, than what one might expect. It doesn't feel as hard as one might expect. It paints them into a unique niche in the shock rock field. In some way, it's more akin to watching the slow industrial of Gary Numan that's more hypnotic than just wild head-banging. Sadly, the compositions might be better relayed at the hands of a better singer as its just average singing going from screaming to quasi-talking & whispering while the guitars churn out nearly identical riffs that without the keyboard would have little to differentiate them. Mortiis's decrying of guitar pyrotechnics is a limiting factor that brings on additional comparisons to Cradle Of Filth that also sounds like the same song repeated over & over to unfamiliar ears. While his performance is just jumping around on stage slamming around, versus the theatrics of normal shock rock. But, as Mortiis says in the bonus interview the mask is just a habit & thus shouldn't be how one perceives the music, except people will. But, in their defense, to get the full range of musical diversity one should look at the full career of Mortiis. While this may not be the most interesting live band, with bad sound quality not helping, there is a bit of a desire to investigate them in a studio setting for comparison & to see them in a controlled musical environment where more of the nuances can be felt. Thus, at least it succeeds on some level to do something. Behind the scenes clowning around footage from the band is cut briefly in between the songs for little effect & of little necessity other then to break up the momentum of the show. For those unfamiliar with the band Mortiis started out as a bassist for black metallers Emperor & was influential in the early Viking Metal scene that brought together slashing metal guitars with synthesizer melodies based on Norwegian folksongs. At 18 years old he left Mortiis to go solo with his self-titled group debuting with an album of electronic instruments hinting more at goth than anything. While Soul In A Hole is marked as Era 3 in hindsight it became the start of Era 4 as it would show an expansion into more of a band than a solo project & would be a culmination of thundering black metal & electronic influences. Bonus footage includes uninteresting professional promo material & two interviews with frontman Mortiis that includes one that's soundbites in costume & another extensive interview that's honest, deep, less flashy & out of make-up & worth watching if you're a fan of the band. Those who find the concert uninteresting should watch the interview to get a new perspective of this angry young man. Includes music videos of four songs though they all fall into the Nine Inch Nails mode focusing on the frontman & aren't particularly flashy though "Mental Maestrom (Implode)" features an interesting Phantom of the Opera-esque juxtaposition of characters if an under-developed narrative while "Decadent & Desperate (Absentia)" features Mortiis arguing with himself in & out of make-up, which probably has never been done by a costumed shock rocker. The videos & interview give me pause to give the band better kudos than the concert.

Soft Cell ~ Live In Milan (DVD review) ... Tainted live!

Style: pop rock, electronica, live
Label: Eagle Vision
Year: 2001
Home: England

Concert location: Milan, Italy
Year Recorded: 2001
Length: 105 minutes
Bonus Features: 20 minute interview with band

Members: Mark Almond ~ vocals/percussion/rhythm guitar/theremin
Dave Ball ~ synthesizer

Everybody knows the 80's synth-pop gay/straight duo SC due to their sex-charged chart topper "Tainted Love". The fame of that song would bring their career to a close after only three albums, while peers Erasure & the Pet Shop Boys kept going, only for the duo to reunite for a new album & tour in 2001. This DVD catches them in absolute top form on that tour in looks, sound & a new set of songs that fit snuggly with the old ones. Some might decry the fact that it's not the early days but these guys are far better performers today while the modern light show, think Gary Numan, is perfect for them. Leather jacketed vocalist & de facto frontman Mark Almond comes on hitting a synth drum hesitantly almost like he's a little kid on stage for the first time, with a big grin & short blond hair that knocks the years off the 44 year old face, before pounding out a steady beat against Dave Bell's keyboard workings leading into the hit "Memorabilia", before abandoning the drums for the microphone. The grin never fades & he really looks like he's 18 years old, tattooed arms & all, as the camera flashes the heavily middle aged male audience singing the lyrics like they're also 18 again. It's an intimate performance drawing from the influence of raves where the energy is super high as if its one body not a band & an audience. Almond dances around on the stage like he's in his living room dancing out mini-stories, just here intricately choreographed (i.e. "Heat", "Monoculture", "Baby Doll", "Martin") while the older looking, though actually younger, but certainly more serious looking Bell is in the shadows pumping out multitudes of electronic layers & only noticeably smiling when Almond plays the Theremin during "The Art Of Falling Apart". The venue is small & intimate & packed to the gills & one can imagine the early days of SC back in a small gay club with the same energy & excitement. It's those small gay clubs where Madonna got her inspiration, as "Vogue" comes right from those clubs, & one can see why. The music is fun, the beat steady & hidden under Almond's grin is some very personal lyrics of anxiety & frustration that are far more revealing that "Tainted Love" would ever let on would come from SC (for example, "Monoculture", "Divided Soul", "Youth", "Best Way To Kill", "The Art Of Falling Apart" "Baby Doll"). Almond may not have the strongest voice but his young looks & almost common sounding voice is part of his appeal. It's easy to see yourself on that stage having as much fun as him ... or if you're gay to see yourself with him on that stage, as the audience calls out as he pulls his t-shirt out to show his skinny abs. Further, the dancing & mannerisms, though a bit reminiscent of Mick Jagger today, is no different than what one might find at a packed gay bar on a Saturday night ... basically, SC is one of us ... that's the secret of SC. While the songs have far more depth than most of what's on the radio. If you only know the few hits of SC or the early 80's visuals or interested in rave culture, this video cannot be missed. A cute scene comes where roses are bounced up to the stage & Almond cuts his finger on a thorn & though makes a Christ joke ends up licking it as the song starts. Nothing like pain for one's work. Bonus footage includes an interview with both Ball & Almond where they discuss the origins of SC & the early days, the music that influenced them & what they wanted to do with their original music & what did happen right to the present. A really insightful & jovial narrative that's also very honest & objective. Fascinating hearing them call SC as Northern Soul meets Kraftwerk with a bit of Dusty Springfield, seeing Almond's face tweaks at the word bootleg & Almond embarrassingly revealing being inspired, in every way, by the S&M scene. 

Three Days Grace ~ Live At The Palace 2008 (DVD review) ... Grace can be over-rated!

Style: alt-metal
Label: Zamba Label Group
Year: 2008
Home: Toronto, Canada

Concert location: Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan
Year Recorded: March 2008
Length: 80 minutes
Bonus Features: behind the scenes footage/interviews with the band

Members: Adam Gontier ~ vocals/rhythm guitar
Neil Sanderson ~ drums/b. vocals
Brad Walst ~ bass/b. vocals
Barry Stock ~ lead guitar

In the 80's every band tended to follow the path of Motley Crue & so many of them are now found in yard sales & music store discount bins forgotten ... or written about in this blog. In the era of disco it was the same with the Bee Gees. Elvis had his share of bland imitators, though due to still being alive many get more recognition then their brief careers really deserve. Surprisingly, there hasn't been an influx of white rappers imitating Eminem ... Today the metal community has its innovators & imitators the same as always. Though, the current metal scene is more than just a revival but has a distinct feel from the past with a new generation of talented music makers. New bands encompass their metal forefathers but at the same time just as much draw from pretty boy bands such as Coldplay, the explorations of Stone Temple Pilots & the jagged rhythms of Green Day & Arctic Monkeys. & you don't have to have long hair & a moody angry look to be a metal rocker. It's hard to fully describe the metal scene now, particularly as it comes in the midst of a changing music industry that's essentially toppling ... though its been going on long enough that's its more than just a brief trend & may not have the mainstream impact of yore but its underground presence isn't going to die anytime soon. 3DG is one of the later day bands who, for the traditional metalhead, probably lack distinctiveness & metal clout. They're an amalgamation of the past & the outcome is metal lite, or metal for those that don't want the real thing or can't away from Nirvana & want everything with a user-friendly alternative tinge. & not a single member has hair below his shoulders! The name 3DG decries more Coldplay than Slayer. Song titles like "Animal I Have Become", "Pain", "Just Like You", "I Hate Everything About You" & "Gone Forever" harken of an abundance of cliched long songs. & the inclusion of the out of place Alice In Chains' "Rooster" does little to please. Maybe on one hand this harsh judgment might be right. & yet, maybe 3DG represents the new metal scene in a bottle. But, before giving up on them there is one way to check out their worth ... a test used for many bands ... the live concert. This is the hit or miss scenario to see what their chops are really like, away from the masking ability of the studio, let alone sense their charisma in the raw. No photoshopping here. Live At The Palace 2008 is the debut DVD from 3DG & gives us a moment to judge this band on their terms. One can often tell a metal lite band but from a metal band with some clout by looking at the audience. An all girl audience, while great for the band's ego, is metal lite. All male, as history shows, means they're hitting a hardcore nerve. 3DG, sadly for their egos & libido, get a mixed audience. They've got some hardcore clout but yet have a user friendly feeling. One of the problems with the distinctiveness of 3DG is the fact that they are categorized as a post-grunge band. This basically means they are influenced by the grunge era ... but what is grunge? Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains & Nirvana are very musically distinct bands with few similarities, but yet all get under the same musical category. Grunge is a location designation more than anything. It would be like saying 3DG are a post-70's band ... so does that mean Foreigner, Black Sabbath & Barry Manilow? An indistinct title for a band falling into indistinct times. Ironically, 3DG was formed as a quartet in the later grunge era of 1992 as Groundswell, breaking up temporarily in 1997 to return as 3DG with a modified line-up. While the timing might be right & as a nearly two decade career should show better, both the location across the border & only three releases have limited their exposure leaving them to build audiences through the touring circuit ... thus making discovering them via DVD versus CD potentially the better option. 3DG have been called one of the more accessible alternative metal bands, not that much better of a designation than post-grunge, with pretty choruses but not so much distinctiveness. Given this criticism 3DG put on a vibrant high energy show & the live energy makes up for their indistinctiveness with a sound filled with guitars charting out rhythms filled more with walls of distortion than complicated melodic lines or even solos, of which one wonders are even possible by the band there is a major absence of guitar solos. It's metal lite definitely, or metal for the suburbia set that still wants lyrics that are about something other than death, accentuated by a heavy ballad approach where the lyrics are upfront & even invite a sing along. The problem is the vocals are about as technically triumphant as the the rest of the band & on some level its obvious why the band hasn't become bigger than they are. In many ways they remind me of later day, post-costume, Stryper where it feels like the message of the music is the most important thing & thus its necessary to have every word clearly heard. Luckily, most of the songs are fairly memorable & it is a bit hard not to want to sing along to this cliched set of really unmemorable rockers ... unmemorable because days late you'll confuse the lyrics with another band. A highlight is "Rooster" by Alice In Chains with sexy frontman Adam Gontier taking both vocals & acoustic guitar & no other accompaniment. It's a nice intermission moment, even if it feels like it should be part of a bigger moment than just one solo song. Bonus footage includes behind the scenes footage & brief soundbites with each member of the band talking about the band, their history & the concert including at soundcheck & meet & greet. Positioned between some songs early in the concert it disrupts the flow of the concert & means that longer interviews that might be more introspective are missing. 

Travers & Appice Featuring T.M. Stevens ~ Live At The House Of Blues (DVD review) ... Do you think they're sexy?

Style: hard rock, blues-rock
Label: Fuel Label
Year: 2010
Home: n/a

Concert location: House of Blues, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Year Recorded: 2010
Length: 60 minutes
Bonus Features: pre-show interview with Pat Travers & Carmine Appice; gallery slide show with T.M. Stevens voiceover

Members: Carmine Appice ~ drums/vocals
Pat Travers ~ guitar/vocals
T.M. Stevens ~ bass/b. vocals

Originally planned to be Derringer/Appice following the Derringer, Bogert, Appice album scheduling problems prevented that union so to fulfill contractual obligations in stepped Canadian blues-rock guitarist Pat Travers who had previously jammed with legendary drummer Carmine Appice at a NAMM music conference show. The partnership proved positive resulting in It Takes A Lot Of Ball that featured a 70's-esque sound of rock drums & thick guitar playing. African-American funkmaster T.M. Stevens contributed bass to a track. Going on tour on the eve of their follow-up the three reunited again. This DVD, also available on a CD/DVD combo under the name Keep On Rocking!, was one of the first gigs. In many ways it might be a good introduction to all three folks individually, in addition to T&A. There's no flashing lights, no special effects, no flash ... its all about the music. Its so modest that one might forget that T.M. Stevens is the new boy in the group of a career that .. only .. goes back to playing in James Brown's band & that the guys behind him include a Canadian legend & the man that created the first drum clinic. This is really very straight ahead 70's feeling rock driven by Traver's blazing guitar going through an array of blues-inspired riffs & singing most of the lead vocals. Travers is a far better rhythm player as his solos, here at least, seem to lack individuality. Appice keeps the beat steady but at the same time somewhat surprisingly reserved for someone of his stature with few solos, while singing a few songs in a surprising high tenor for someone of his physical ruggedness. Stevens, by far the most flashy of any of them in every way, contributes straight ahead basslines that probably does him the least amount of justice of the trio, as those familiar with his work will feels he's under-utilized ... made obvious by a bass/vocal only rendition of his "Turn Me On", co-written by Al Pitrelli of Megadeth/Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Here Stevens shows us what makes him so funky & what he can do & what the Stevens experience is all about by singing his solo like George Winston but throwing in some wah-wah effects on his bass, along with a lot of fascinating finger movements. On some level it feels like the climax of the show as its full of surprises, let alone being one of the most unique bass solos one will hear ... though normal for Stevens. Turn up the volume & check-out Stevens bass in the mix during the concert. He might be limited in chord progressions but he's still doing more than most bassists & filling out the sound a lot. On the whole the biggest problem with the music might not. Then there are the lyrics. Neither Travers nor Appice aren't known wordsmiths nor seemingly have anything interesting to sing about, which means the results tend to distract from the music. Appice co-wrote "Do You Think I'm Sexy" with Rod Stewart which they revamp here. But, be warned that its nothing like the famed disco-tinged version, maybe to its detriment. Other tracks include stuff from the Beck, Bogart & Appice catalog & a couple solo Travers songs. Bonuses include a real highlight in a casual pre-show interview with Travers & Appice talking about how they got together to the music to each other & even Traver's attempt to start a fashion statement with a monocle. Travers dominates the conversation while Appice throws in a sly comment ... it's rough New York Long Island meets Canadian polite & fun to watch. 

Megadeth ~ Rust In Peace Live (DVD review) ... Rust in peace in hell!

Style: thrash, heavy metal
Label: Shout Factory!
Year: 2010
Home: Arizona

Concert location: Palladium, Hollywood, California
Year Recorded: 2010
Length: 90 minutes
Bonus Features: pre-show behind the scenes footage, non-album bonus tracks

Members: Dave Mustaine ~ vocals/guitar
Chris Broderick ~ guitar
David Ellefson ~ bass/b. vocals
Shawn Drover ~ drums

There's really no surprise in what type of show Megadeth put on ... only the thrashiest best. Frontman Dave Mustaine opens the show by coming on stage walking slowly, a nice clean cut shirt & looking no different than a kid brother, nothing particularly metal about him, & saying "You all know why we're here right?" The band then appears just as unassumingly as the music rips into the air with heavy abandon & an array of now certifiable classic thrash riffs. Some people say that modern bands feel they need flash & a floor show to get attention. Some bands have made a career out of it. But, unpretentious & unflashy is the name of the game with Megadeth, titans of heavy metal. The flashing lights are minimal & so is the stage theatrics, though there is one of the best stage sets Megadeth has ever had with a giant of Vic Rattlehead the skeleton looming over them. The music speaks for itself & doesn't need any help, pounding fists, leather pants or any of the typical metal clichés, which is almost ironic considering how influential & iconic Megadeth is to the metal community. & it doesn't need to be made commercially palatable as Capital Records once believed. In honor of the 25th anniversary of their classic album Rust In Peace the band, with two members remaining from the release, decided to perform the entire album live. The result is a sold out concert, as might be guessed, with the energy high & the music powerful & as great as when it was created. The follow-up Countdown To Extinction might be the album that brought many new fans to the band & gave them an arsenal of new classics with its stream-lined yet cutting edge sound that would change thrash forever, but is predecessor Rust In Peace got the gears rolling & put everything in place with its rush of technically & rhythmically challenging arrangements that successfully brought together everything that Megadeth had struggled to accomplish before. Countdown To Extinction is almost like the calm after the storm. The music is so powerful that Mustaine is already taking a solo before even singing a line. Who opens a song with a solo? Whose got such trust in what they are performing that you don't even need to warm-up the audience other than with a weak hello? Rust In Peace also served as the debut for guitar virtuoso Marty Friedman & drummer Nick Menza, who along with founding members bassist Dave Ellefson & Mustaine, are considered the classic & largely the best line-up. But, three guitarists later is Friedman's absent noticeable? Mustaine has mellowed & matured a lot since he left in 2000 & the band has gone through many changes. The angry young men that composed the songs are gone. Successors Al Pitrelli, Glen Drover & Chris Broderick don't have the glam rock quirkiness of Friedman & certainly all have different styles, but for the more mature band Broderick might be the best fit at this stage in their career & creativity. He's mature & strong as a musician, let alone physically as a person, providing a nice counterpoint to kid brother Mustaine, plus has a more growling tone versus Mustaine's speedy flights of finger stretching fancy high on the neck. It also helps that he's part of a band with a legacy not a band trying to create one. It's a gig he can have fun with. & so many guitarists have now gone through the ranks that some pressure is off. Megadeth have nothing to prove at this point in time. Only those super critical will pick apart Broderick's choice of notes in the solos or be disappointed by how he isn't Friedman. There's even a chance that new fans might even prefer this line-up of Megadeth over the original, while finding the angry young band of 25 years earlier a strange sight. The other criticism regularly hurled against Megadeth has always been Mustaine's singing, or lack of it. Here he's raw & not so well-oiled as the studio, but his voice is distinctive & with anyone else Megadeth would not be Megadeth. The concert includes some additional tracks outside of Rust In Peace of which no Megadeth concert can ignore. As always the band goes through them with abandon as they've been seen to do on many other videos. Bonus material include pre-show video footage & conversations with fans standing outside waiting in line plus footage of the band inside at the same time. It's the standard array of bonus footage, seen on countless DVDs, & a single viewing situation. Enjoyable parts include a ponytailed Mustaine, looking more his age than the kid brother he is like on stage with his floppy bangs, ordering food & grinning it up during a photo shoot. A classy moment is when he asks for the techies to take a moment so he can meet & thank all of them personally. How many musicians do this? There's also a warm-up by the band in the dressing room with amps blaring showing how tightly they are in sync. 

Marty Balin ~ Live At The Boston Esplanade, June 14, 2008 (DVD review) ... When the airplane lands!

Style: classic rock
Label: MVD Entertainment
Year: 2009
Home: California

Concert location: Boston, Massachusetts
Year Recorded: 2008
Length: n/a
Bonus Features: interviews with Marty Balin, Signe Anderson, Craig Fenton, Jeff Tamarkin; live tracks: "Do It For Love", "Somebody To Love", "Summer Of Love", "Today", "Shaping The Night", "Somehow The Tired Reach Home", "Count On Me", "Later On"

Members: Marty Balin ~ lead vocals/rhythm guitar/percussion
Mark "Slick" Aguilar ~ lead guitar/b. vocals
Didi Stewart ~ vocals
Donnie Baldwin ~ drums
Gordon Gebert ~ keyboards/b. vocals
David Trupia ~ bass

In order to discuss MB's first solo DVD it's necessary to give a little history lesson. In 1965 a San Francisco folksy-hippie band was formed by 23 year old pop singer MB that would be known as Jefferson Airplane. With him was folk musician Paul Kantner & singer Signe Anderson, who would leave after one album to be replaced by Grace Slick. In 1971 MB left the band feeling isolated from their new & changing musical directions & wanting to pursue a non-drug/alcohol laden lifestyle, the opposite of his bandmates, which was beginning to take the lives of his friends such as Janis Joplin. Jefferson Airplane continued until 1972 ... though by then it was a shadow of itself & solo projects abounded including the Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra that debuted a year earlier with Airplane members Kantner, Slick & bassist Jack Casady performing with David Crosby, Graham Nash & members of the Gradeful Dead. In 1973 Kantner & Slick turned the Orchestra into Jefferson Starship with later Airplane members filling out the line-up. MB would join the band during their commercially successful years. Slick would leave only to return in 1981 for their final three albums & help bring the band visibility on MTV even after the commercial hits were few. They have the distinction of being one of the first bands to utilize online technology to gather a large fanbase. Kantner left in 1984, the only remaining founding member of Airplane, suing his ex-bandmates for the name & thus one word Starship was born. They'd churn out the often quoted hit "We Built This City" amongst others. Slick left in 1988 for an Airplane reunion before retiring permanently from music. At this point, with a young & essentially new line-up, Starship came under the control of Slick's Jefferson Starship replacement Mickey Thomas who continues to tour the group as Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas. In 1992 Kantner formed Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation which regularly featured past members, even vocalist Signe Anderson, before removing the second part of the Star Trek inspired name. MB joined them for a decade before going full time into a solo career in 2003. Jefferson Starship continues to tour with Kantner at its helm with some members from earlier line-ups & some new faces. Having delved into all that this MB solo DVD is marketed as the "ultimate fan package". It's definitely for hardcore fans as few others will be interested in suffering through low production values & a small collection of rock classics by a 66 year old MB who is far more enjoyable heard versus seen. But, the question must be asked - fans of who? Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship, Kantner's reunited Jefferson Starship or MB solo? It doesn't help that the set-list is light on MB solo tracks aiming for the more well known catalogs of his past bands. It should be mentioned that drummer Donnie Baldwin was in Jefferson Starship in the 80's rejoining in 2005 alongside guitarist Mark "Slick" Aquilar who joined in the 90's. One would be hard-pressed to possibly consider this a partial Jefferson Starship reunion as MB is given the full spotlight. Its obvious the band is holding back some energy to not offset their charismatic-less frontman who looks ready for retirement & spends too much energy pushing back his not so long gray hair & looking a bit intimidated at the large audience before him but who is, after all, the founding member of Airplane that has given them all jobs. MB was always the short guy in the background who took second billing to the female singers only to step up occasionally with a few self-penned love ballads. Fronting a rock band is not really his forte. It doesn't help that the production is of low quality with sloppy camera movements, including moving from a stable camera to a jerking one, with none in a great location & never giving a full view of the band. The poor recording became quite obvious during the chorus of the lost classic country ballad "Count On Me", one of the best songs for MB's voice, when the band stops but the audience is so far away to be inaudible & the result is a band with no music. Essentially, this is nostalgia through the roof with one of the originators of past music doing what he's always done while the band know exactly that nobody is coming to see them & they are in essence a tribute band. You can see bands like this at every community fair across the country & sadly MB isn't turning in any interesting versions of these songs to stand out nor, while he is in good voice, MB never really soars or gives the songs a personal touch. Though, "If I Had A Rocket Launcher" by Canadian songwriter/guitarist Bruce Cockburn is an interesting encore & doesn't just show that MB still clings to the protest hippie ideology but its also of the best songs of the concert given a very different feeling than Cockburn. It's also a common inclusion in his solo concerts. Other highlights include "Volunteers" even if it doesn't exactly have the same social impact that it once did the audience still enjoys dancing to it. Bonus tracks, generally of even worse camera quality, include MB singing "Somebody To Love" ... the first time on a commercial release he's sang lead to this classic. There's also an interview with Signe Anderson & two historians of the Jefferson Airplane legacy. MB is also interviewed in a hotel room & talks about Satya Sai Baba & California falling into the ocean & is everything but what one might expect to hear or want to hear on a music DVD. It's a rambling dialogue of one who appears a bit friend from drugs. Its far from necessary viewing though in some ways the bonus songs, largely acoustic, are at times more interesting than the main concert. 

Buckethead & Deli Creeps ~ Young Buckethead Volume 1 (DVD review) ... One guitar sandwich with extra ketchup!

Style: hard rock, heavy metal, experimental
Label: Avabella Productions
Year: 2006
Home: San Francisco, California

Concert location: Cactus Club; Basement; family reunion
Year Recorded: 1990; 1991
Length: 13+18+16 minutes
Bonus Features: none

Members: Brian Caroll "Buckethead" ~ guitar/keyboards
Maximum Bob ~ vocals
Pinchface ~ Drums/b. vocals
Tony Black ~ bass

This two volume set of 8 mm archival recordings looks back at the early days of avant-garde/metal guitarist Buckethead when the gimmick of being a non-speaking guitarist wearing a face mask & upside down KFC box was even stranger than it has since become on the national stage. It's the early underground work of Buckethead on his own & with the avant-garde band the Deli Creeps that really built him into an innovator with a reputation as a stellar guitar player long before the almost anti-climactic gig with Guns N' Roses as Slash's successor. & Tame is the keyword when watching this collection ... anything Buckethead has done since will seem tame. Buckethead, aka Brian Carroll, is zany in a niave & youthful way where he can make lots of mistakes in discovering his alter-ego as there's no constant spotlight on him, unlike today where the pressure is on. This first volume opens with a complete concert by the Deli Creeps from 1990 at a small bar creating loud & meandering rock with strange talkative vocals of the Primus sort by a strange freaking out frontman Maximum Bob ... a sight to behold. Buckethead plays a otherworldly robotic creature that comes & goes. It's not the stiltedness of Devo but something out of a fantasy film. The underground music scene has a lot of characters & it's not hard to see how Buckethead pulled out of the mesh, though it's sad that the Deli Creeps didn't last long enough to do so as a group as their Jello Biafra freak out would easily find fans. Buckethead is certainly a good & technically skilled guitarist but a lot of his playing is just noise against an awkward but strangely addicting performance that culls from the Plasmatics art rock & Alice Cooper shock theater school of thought. They disbanded before releasing anything though the audio recordings would have given them little justice & they really must be seen, preserved here but a few months old. Includes a great solo done leaning against the wall while Maximum Bob rambles & belittles everything & the drummer giggles like a fool, later followed by a guitar solo just done by swinging the guitar around the body with the fingers never touching the fingerboard. It's Buckethead at his show off best & the character is mature at an early age. Though, it's hard to say if one will be converted to a fan of Buckethead but seeing his roots will certainly bring a new understanding of his charisma ... along with what has kept him on the outside of the guitar hero club. Also included is the soundcheck of the show. Like most soundchecks its a twelve minutes that wavers between exciting & not depending on what one is watching for. Buckethead, sans mask but face fuzzed out with the cameraman saying he won't film his face, leans against the wall running Yngwie-esque scales & showing off his prowess in a way he doesn't do live. A third clip is a home movie from a year later of Buckethead with facemask only in the basement putting in an improvisational cosmic sounding keyboard performance while a guys talks & screams about getting out of a cage ... a cage that is actually a milk crate over his head. Eventually he takes the crate off & reacts to the music flipping out. Buckethead eventually appears in the background in full robotic moves moves under a transparent facemask, t-shirt & shorts. The character is being developed. The problem is that they are obviously looking in a mirror or something while the direction goes nowhere & the characters do too. But, this is what every kid sets out to do who wants to be a filmmaker. A little barely watchable movie that starts off strong but ends muddy. The last clip is one of the earliest performances of Buckethead as he performs for his family at a 1991 family gathering in the home backyard. He lets out a solo with the family making fun of him as Buckethead at first only to gravitate to cheers. It's a technical fest as he mixes together everything from Joe Satriani to Chet Atkins. Though the flannel shirt & shorts definitely don't work for the image ... guys don't look good in shorts & neither do robots, but the kid has his chops & creativity down & it's obvious from day one. No bonus features on this DVD but the fact that these movies exist & Buckethead has chosen to share them is a bonus in itself. 

Joe Cocker ~ Respect Yourself: Live (DVD review) ... With a little help from Joe's friends!

Style: classic rock, pop rock
Label: Eagle Vision
Year: 2002
Home: Britain

Concert location: Limelight Club, Cologne, Germany
Year Recorded: 2002
Length: 60 minutes
Bonus Features: 20 minute interview with Joe Cocker

Members: Joe Cocker ~ vocals
Gene Black ~ guitar
Nick Milo ~ keyboards
Oneida James ~ bass
Jack Bruno ~ drums
Deric Dyer ~ sax/keyboards
Maxine Green, Amy Keys ~ b. vocals

Promoting his 2002 album Respect Yourself JC released an hour of a show in Germany from the promotional tour. Everyone can probably remember the first time they saw & heard JC with his funny air guitar playing mannerisms while churning out radio friendly ballads such as "Leave Your Hat On", "You Are So Beautiful" & "With A Little Help From My Friends". JC has stuck to the same musical & performing formula for decades, calling himself a soul singer & finding a comfortable soul-tinged rock template that's brought well-deserved accolades. At 56, in 2002, he's not looking to brave new musical territory or even throw out too many surprises. As might be expected JC saunters out to the mic all in black & sings his heart out till his face turns red & his fingers are numb ... & before you know it you'll be singing along with him. JC is the last of an era. His songs draw from a style of R&B inspired music that should be oft imitated but for some reason has slipped through the cracks. It's music for young lovers as much as middle aged soccer moms, hippies or classical fans. Any day now, if it hasn't happened already, a DJ is going to rediscover JC for the next generation. The set features only songs from the new album including "You Can't Have My Heart", co-written by C.J. Vanston who was the real keyboardist for Spinal Tap, INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart" & Randy Newman's "Every Time It Rains", ending with the only non-album track in the obligatory JC theme "Unchain Your Heart". Many of the band have been with him for many years & churn out some great music that defies being tagged as white boys blues, R&B or rock. If you only know JC from his commercially slick love ballads you might be surprised by how funky this band is ... particularly check out "Love Not War". As for the unexpected INXS song ... the band stays pretty close to the original, even with the heavy synthesizer, & I wouldn't be surprised if many people went home from the show saying that JC had a new classic on his hands as it fits perfectly in his repertoire. If there's any problem with the concert its that one wants a longer show & more classic familiar songs ... which you know were probably performed. As for bonus features there is only a 20 minute interview with JC discussing his Mad Dog Cafe in Colorado, fans, his band, touring & his 2000 release No Ordinary Life though none of the tracks from that album are featured in the concert. What's great about JC is he should be a singer who inspires hoards because his voice is more normal than unique. More men than not sing with a similar rasp, think Rod Stewart or Tom Waits or Springsteen, but JC turns it into something than just a rasp but something quite sexy & hip. & his gig is seemingly ageless.