Television & Film

As if The Jam’s fiercely independent, willfully defiant sense of integrity needed any affirmation in these days of songs by the Clash on TV commercials, About the Young Idea ultimately stands as a clear delineation of their will to succeed on their own terms. Unafraid to be themselves now as in the late Seventies, when […]

It’s always been solely about the music. That is the most poignant statement that comes through the recent documentary, The Ritchie Blackmore Story. Through intimate interview clips with Blackmore and some of his guitar brothers-in-arms, personal photographs and video footage from Deep Purple, Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night concerts, it’s always about the music. Blackmore may […]

What a difference a span of time can have on something. Last year, a DVD of The Who’s 1982 Shea Stadium concerts was released, revealing a bit of the frayed edges that a supposed farewell tour can have on a band that had been together since 1964. Townshend seemed bored at times and fairly new […]

Frank Zappa was a genius. No one will dispute that whether you can grasp his music or not. The man was years ahead of anyone else when it came to cerebral experimentation on a musical instrument. How his brain functioned must have been a cross between a carnival ride, a circus act and Mozart. His […]

Queen was a band that was initially, and perhaps unintentionally, underrated. To some, they were a garish glam band, to others, heavy metal wannabes. Indeed, their sound and style were far more extravagant than most, a hard rock outfit with a keen sense of art and excess. Hit albums and chart topping singles aside, they […]

“Playing it seemed an impossible task,” Eric Clapton wrote in his 2007 autobiography about learning to play the guitar. One of the greatest players in the history of rock & roll started out like any other kid picking up a guitar for the first time. It was “almost the same size as I was” and […]

Lenny Kravitz was born into a celebrity family. His mother was actress Roxie Roker and his father Sy, an NBC News producer. He transformed into Romeo Blue, married an actress, spawned a daughter, became “Lenny Kravitz” again, released a zen-excitable album, became a rock star, an actor, a sexy man on the cover of Vanity […]

[rating=9.00] By the time the July 5th Fare Thee Well show at Chicago’s Soldier Field rolled around, the so- called core four of the Grateful Dead—Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart—plus Trey Anastasio, Bruce Hornsby and Jeff Chimenti really had nothing to prove. From somewhat wobbly beginnings at the hometown shows in […]

The inclusion of elements from various phases of Pat Metheny’s career gives deeper meaning to the title of this DVD. The Missouri-born guitarist/composer has made himself an icon of contemporary jazz by effectively playing off the Grammy-award winning accessibility of ‘The Pat Metheny Group’ with more challenging projects such as recordings and tours with various trios, […]

If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to become one with the music, all you have to do is watch the transformation that happens on the face of guitar player Rory Gallagher as he leans his head back and soars on the notes while playing a set at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival […]

There is a moment during the excellent bonus documentary, Mr Blue Sky, that comes with the new DVD, Jeff Lynne’s ELO: Live In Hyde Park, where Lynne talks about the glory days of pop music. Back then, before it was given the cooler, tougher-sounding moniker of rock & roll, pop music was The Beatles, it […]

“Do not attempt to adjust the illusion.” And so it begins. Following a few backstage snippets, the bad boys of Boston take to the huge stage at Donington Park in England and start getting our rocks off with “Train Kept A Rollin.” Through twenty songs, Aerosmith takes us on a glorious voyage of what a […]

It was 1969. Early July, to be exact. A warm day with scattered white clouds moving across the sky as an array of mostly young bohemians made their way into London’s Hyde Park for a free concert headlined by the Rolling Stones. Slits guitarist Viv Albertine, barefoot and wearing a diaphanous lace dress, was one […]

“This captures a unique bonfire in the eternal blaze of The Who,” former Melody Maker journalist Chris Roberts writes in the booklet accompanying the new DVD, The Who: Live At Shea Stadium 1982. A definite must-have for Who fans, it contains the full concert the band performed on the second night of shows at Shea […]

The Rolling Stones needed to get out of England – the quicker the better, before the new tax season started. They had gone on a short nine city “Farewell Tour” of the UK, a month ahead of the release of their Sticky Fingers album, before they found refuge in France to record what would become […]

As we inch closer to the biennial Wilco-hosted Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts on the grounds of Mass MoCA, it’s crucial to remember the profound impact it has had on this quiet little slice of the Berkshires. And only a little ways into this year’s documentary about the festival titled Every Other Summer, it […]

If you’ve ever seen Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators live, then you know exactly what you’re going to get on the new DVD, Live At The Roxy 9.25.14. If you’ve ever seen Slash with Kennedy and this incarnation of his band live, then that’s exactly why you will want to add this to […]

1979 was such a great year for music, as bands were bursting out with landmark albums to end one decade and welcome a new one. AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Tom Petty, The Clash, Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, and even Michael Jackson, were burning up the charts with recordings that would eventually be considered classics. On […]

There is a moment in the recently released DVD, Jeff Beck: Live In Tokyo, when it really hits home that Beck is indeed a genius. It’s not when he’s driving through a rocker like “Big Block” or rockabilly jazzing in “Rollin’ & Tumblin’” or even when he’s giving homage to John Lennon on “A Day […]

1952, Queens, New York. Young Johnny Genzale is born and raised by his mother and older sister after his father decided to keep on with his wanton ways. Johnny is a cool kid, playing baseball, hanging out with friends. And then he discovers rock & roll and his new aura starts to sprout up like […]