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New on DVD

I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the '60s

Shout! Factory
By 1968, James Brown wasn’t merely “Soul Brother No. 1”; he was an African-American icon with the power to stop riots.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | August 04, 2008

Frill rides

Getting an Indy history lesson on DVD
Looking back on a time when action sequences unfolded without the currently fashionable veil of rapid editing and CGI.

By: PETER KEOUGH | May 22, 2008

Robyn Hitchcock

Sex, Food, Death . . . and Insects | A+E
Robyn Hitchcock, in one of many illuminating moments of reflection during this 53-minute documentary, posits that his songs “don’t appeal to meatheads.”

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | May 20, 2008

Three 6 Mafia’s adventures in acting
Memphis rappers Three 6 Mafia were trailblazers in the genre of crunk, a species of hip-hop characterized by big and ugly club beats and chanted semi-sensical choruses.

By: BEN WESTHOFF | February 04, 2008

Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price

Last of the Breed | A+E
With a collective age of 225, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price live up to this concert DVD’s title, which it shares with an equally superb studio album released last year.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | January 28, 2008

Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007

Rhino
Every so often in Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007 you can see the beaming host, Eric Clapton, behind a stack of amps shooting photos of his fellow performers.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | January 22, 2008

Norman Granz Presents Improvisation

Eagle Eye
The 1950 footage is only part of the story: the program is fleshed out with equally dazzling later performances.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | January 14, 2008

Dan Deacon and Jimmy Joe Roche: Ultimate Reality

Carpark
Kind of like one long Rorschach test, Ultimate Reality is a collaboration between experimental music producer Dan Deacon and visual artist Jimmy Joe Roche.

By: BEN WESTHOFF | December 31, 2007

Scene and heard

The year ahead in DVDs
Entertainment companies are pumping out music DVD titles by the hundreds, and 2008 will see a deluge of releases across all genres.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | December 31, 2007

Broadway's Best at Pops

WGBH Boston Video
This DVD represents some of the best of public broadcasting and a bit of the worst.

By: LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 10, 2007

Eminem

Live from New York City | Eagle Vision
There was a time, not so long ago, when rapping about raping your mother and strangling people with candy bars was au courant .

By: BEN WESTHOFF | December 03, 2007

Cinematic blunders

Getting through The Song Remains the Same
Led Zeppelin have rarely missed a promotional opportunity, and the occasion of their current reunion is no exception

By: MATT ASHARE | December 04, 2007

Amy Winehouse

I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London | Republic
Let’s hope it wasn’t Amy Winehouse’s last great show.

By: BEN WESTHOFF | November 27, 2007

In action

The ‘Jazz Icons’ DVDs
In the era of YouTube, we’re apt to forget that not every note of music ever played has been captured on film or video.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | November 26, 2007

Bert Jansch

Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning | MVD
Jimmy Page admitted being “absolutely obsessed” with him.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | November 13, 2007

20 to Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair

MVD
John Sinclair was the poster boy for the radicalization of American youth in the ’60s.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | October 08, 2007

Los Zafiros

Music from the Edge of Time | Shout! Factory
As with anything Cuban, politics is never far away.

By: JEFF TAMARKIN | July 23, 2007

The varied charms of a DVD magazine

Wholphin serves up aces
Wholphin , the DVD magazine from the creators of literary journal McSweeney’s and quarterly culture magazine the Believer , serves to provide the viewer with sights they had no idea they needed to see.

By: JOE BERNARDI | February 08, 2007

Coheed & Cambria

The Last Supper: Live at the Hammerstein Ballroom | Columbia
Fans of Coheed and Cambria’s fantastical hippie metal are given to proclamations like “They made their own style, no other band has ever been like them” and “Their shows are a life-changing experience.”

By: KEN MICALLEF | December 28, 2006

Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint

Hot as a Pistol, Keen as a Blade | Hip-O
When a big band take a big stage, the finer touches can get lost.

By: CLEA SIMON | December 28, 2006

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BLOGS

New In The Phoenix -- What Next For Hillary's Women?
Talking Politics | August 20, 2008 at 4:21 PM

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Tuesday Ticket Alert: Madonna, N.E.R.D., Death Cab, Hold Steady, Kings of Leon
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Here's something anti-climactic
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phlog | August 19, 2008 at 4:10 PM