Franz Ferdinand has only released two full-length albums, and yet the Scottish band was able pack two DVDs for its Franz Ferdinand Live set. That means plenty of repetition: "The Dark Of The Matinee" and "Take Me Out" are each represented live four times, in addition to the funny karaoke versions. Yes, it's Franz Ferdinand overkill, even for diehards, but the discs are worth watching once for "Tour De Franz," a 30-minute documentary that reveals its subjects to be funny and humble…
Live, Michael Franti & Spearhead resemble any other smoothed-out good-time jam band mixing up R&B, hip-hop, and reggae, but listen close to Franti's fluid rhymes on the DVD Live In Sydney (MVD), and it's clear that he has more on his mind than uplift. Franti's politically charged, bomb-the-system lyrics are a cry of rage and a call to unity, which Franti registers as the same primal shout…
Those who only know Andrew W.K.'s trashy, thrashy pop-metal from his studio albums don't have a full sense of what he's about. The DVD Who Knows? Live In Concert: 2000-2004 (MVD) opens with W.K. reciting his biography (starting with his father's birth prior to World War II), then proceeds through a barrage of live footage from different venues, all showcasing W.K. in his spastic, head-whipping, arm-thrusting, air-kicking splendor. He looks like a cheerleader with palsy, an image sound alone can't convey…
The latest entries in New West's Live From Austin Tx DVD series includes classic Austin City Limits performances by John Hiatt (from 1993, highlighted by an impassioned run through "Your Dad Did"), Eric Johnson (from 1988, highlighted by the eruptive fusion instrumental "Righteous"), Texas Tornados (from 1990, highlighted by set-closing Tex-Mex versions of "She's About A Mover" and "96 Tears") and Dwight Yoakam (from 1988, highlighted by a stirring duet with Buck Owens on "Streets Of Bakersfield"). The real previously buried treasure in this wave is Johnny Cash's 1987 Austin City Limits show, which has Cash performing some of his biggest hits with the kind of mellow professionalism that distinguished his career between the young firebrand years and the wise elder statesman years. When he sings Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," he delivers every hangover-evoking line with a veteran understanding…
Shout! Factory continues to dig through the vaults of The Dick Cavett Show for rarely seen performances by legendary musicians, placed in their original context. The Dick Cavett Show: Ray Charles Collection collects three full shows, one of which had Charles as the sole guest, and the other two featuring Charles performing between Cavett's conversations with the likes of Tony Randall and New York Mayor John Lindsay. (They also feature Cavett's jokes about Nixon, and his playing around with a then-new "slow-motion instant-replay" machine.) Charles is in fine form behind the piano, but he's even better on the couch with Cavett, talking seriously about his fascination with sound. Equally valuable are the three full episodes on The Dick Cavett Show: John & Yoko Collection, which are almost wholly devoted to conversation with Lennon and Ono, with only a couple of songs, and some additional discourse with Stan Freberg and Shirley MacLaine. Cavett disarms rock's premier power couple by asking heavy questions in a light way, then letting them talk it out together. But he's also loose enough to greet his superstar guest, "So, you're Jack Lemmon"…
Ned's Atomic Dustbin broke up a decade ago, but the group re-formed (minus two original members) a couple of years back to play the occasional gig. One of those is captured on Shoot The Neds! (MVD), on which the band plays 20 songs, from favorites ("Happy," "Grey Cell Green") to lesser-known ("Trust," "Scrawl"). There's also a band interview, biography, and, most riveting of all, sound-check footage. The songs still sound good, though…
Most music DVDs are aimed at diehards, and none more so than Bauhaus' Shadow Of Light/Archive (Beggar's Banquet), which merges a pair of ancient video releases onto a handy disc. The VHS tapes have been eBay fodder for years, so most fans will probably be looking for an upgrade rather than a new experience; since there's no bonus material, that's all they'll get. Still, what's here is a captivating proto-goth snapshot full of surprisingly catchy songs: "Spirit," both the music and its accompanying video, seem almost MTV-ready, even 20 years later. Archive is a live concert filmed not long before the band broke up (and found success as Peter Murphy, Love And Rockets, and more) framed by silly footage of a Victorian guy sitting in a room, but it takes little away from an exciting, at least semi-scary performance.