January 9, 2008

YouTube can be great for finding any old music video you can think of, but does anyone really enjoy watching pixelated videos on a small computer screen? Watching high-quality DVDs on the big screen provides a much more entertaining and enlightening experience, and thanks to numerous torrent sites you can choose from hundreds of old concerts to download.

We’re always here to help differentiate the gems from the garbage. Once again it’s time for another DVD edition of Grousing The Aisles featuring quality videos from the Talking Heads, Radiohead, the Jerry Garcia Band and plenty of others.

Talking Heads 12/??/1975:

Did you know pro-shot video of the Talking Heads opening for Television at CBGB in 1975 existed? I sure as hell didn’t until stumbling upon this amazing DVD torrent over at thetradersden. Check out this video for a rare look at the early trio lineup of the band that featured just Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and David Byrne. The Heads deliver a 33-minute set that gives us a peak into the revolutionary force they would soon become.

While the quality on this black-and-white video isn’t the best in the world, this DVD still fits into the Must Download Immediately category. We particularly love the rough version of Psycho Killer that can also be seen here on YouTube. You can sense the tension between the band even at this early stage. Now if only the director didn’t cut between shots every 10 seconds we’d really be in business.

Read on to download a high-quality version of Radiohead’s Scotch Mist and six other DVDs you just gotta have…

Resident Curmudgeon Chuck Myers is back, and he’s returned with a special message for one of the brightest jewels in the Queen’s sac…

Happy birthday, Jimmy Page. I mean that sincerely, because you’re one of the greatest guitar players to ever bless the world of rock music. Sure, back when I was 19 and living in L.A. and striving to be in one of those bands like CoxxRokkitt or Pussykatt Sleaze or Stüpïdfüxx, I lost sight of your brilliance due to a myopic obsession with douchebags named Yngwie or Joe. But I found my way back. I am your prodigal son, Jimmy, and your sloppy-ass fretwork showed me the way home.

The problem is, I learned a lot when I was out wandering through the dark world of bad metal. For instance, I learned that the best players in the world can speak volumes through just a couple of notes, but the guys who sound like a coked-out bumblebee usually contribute nothing to a song. I learned that you don’t need leather trousers or big hair to be larger than life. I learned that all the posturing and props and pointy guitars can’t mask the arrhythmic heartbeat of a soulless band.

And I learned that guitar solos are evil.

Now, let’s be clear about something. I’m not talking about a short break in the middle of a song. Those are generally stupid and pointless, but they’re rarely evil. I’m talking about the 15- or 20-minute interlude, where everyone in the band walks backstage and has a smoke or eats a Tofurkey sandwich. Everyone, that is, except for the guitarist, who stands beneath a single blue spotlight and wows the audience with his technical proficiency and his (cough) soulful chops. Read on…

Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell is the rare professional conservationist who spends years of his life traveling on gas-guzzling planes. Leavell, who is best known to us for his monumental