! Exclaim.ca Reviews - Music DVD

Last Shop Standing - Directed by Graham Jones

editorial@exclaim.ca (Stephen Carlick) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:02:32 -0400

On the surface, record stores are about selling a commodity, but unofficially, they've always been about something far more important: community. Last Shop Standing, a British DVD documentary based on the 2009 book of the same name, is purportedly a look "behind the counter" of independent record stores. However, what it ultimately reveals is that the spread of music, from one fan to another, is a timeless phenomenon that might not be as easily squelched as doomsayers have long predicted. The film, divided into three "acts," begins with "The Rise" of record stores in the '50s: the...Read More

Scissor Sisters: Live in Victoria Park London 2011

editorial@exclaim.ca (Jacob Morgan) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:06:05 -0400

It's difficult to listen to the Scissor Sisters without getting up and dancing. Watching them is even harder. From the moment lead singers Jake Shears and Ana Matronic jog onstage at London's Lovebox Festival clad in colourful latex outfits and ear-to-ear grins, you can tell this is going to be a show filled with positive energy. The first two songs are solid, but by the time the band launch into "Laura," the opening track from their debut album, you'll be bouncing around the living room, even if you're hanging out alone in a pair of basketball shorts and an old sweatshirt. Somehow, this...Read More

Michael Jackson: Moscow Case 1993

editorial@exclaim.ca (Jacob Morgan) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 13:04:54 -0400

My uncle immigrated to Canada from Russia in the late '70s. He's told me stories about Western products like Levi's jeans and Beatles records being sold for exorbitant amounts on the black market while the Communist regime was in power. So imagine what it must have been like when Michael Jackson, the King of Pop and ultimate American commodity, visited Russia in 1993 for a Moscow concert just after the fall of the Iron Curtain. This collision of worlds inspired Jackson to write the song "Stranger in Moscow," and the backdrop has the potential to make a great movie. Unfortunately, Moscow...Read More

Einstürzende Neubauten - Live At Rockpalast 1990

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ralph Elawani) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:05:50 -0500

"Collapsing New Buildings" hardly ever dipped in relevance, regardless of the context they performed in. Whether horrifying U2's picnic audience in Rotterdam or scoring Heiner Müller's play, Die Hamletmaschine, Neubauten always found ways to evolve without embracing the absurdity of the cybergoth, industrial crowd, constantly living up to one motto: "listen with pain." This CD/DVD (which comes with liner notes by Ecki Stieg) captures the band at a pivotal point in their career, almost exactly a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, as the quintet perform a 16-song set of caustic...Read More

The Stranglers - On Stage On Screen

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ralph Elawani) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:52:01 -0500

On Stage on Screen showcases the Stranglers' performance at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on December 2, 2005, as well as an acoustic set and J.J. Burnel's first ever role in a feature film. These three events must have seemed worth capturing in the moment, as the band had recently entered the top 40 for the first time in nearly ten years with the title track of 2004 album Norfolk Coast. The Stranglers predated new wave, starting out in 1974 as a pub rock act with a unique twist and a handful of remarkable singles. They later met with considerable success in the early '80s, with a...Read More

The Damned's Tiki Nightmare: Live Live Live

editorial@exclaim.ca (Kerry Doole) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 08:08:06 -0500

The Damned were at the vanguard of original British punk, up there with the Sex Pistols and the Clash. They were the first of that class of '76 to release an album and the first to tour America. During their first five years, they delivered a healthy number of punk rock classics, and it's no surprise they deliver an entertaining live DVD, taken from a hometown London performance in 2002. This lineup featured original singer Dave Vanian and guitarist Captain Sensible, though sadly not Rat Scabies, one of punk's very best drummers. Goth pinup Patricia Morrison (Sisters of Mercy) is on bass,...Read More

Pato Banton: Live & Seen

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ralph Elawani) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:39:49 -0500

Questionably introduced by Reggae TV's "Mr. Rich," this 177-minute-long DVD is hard to knock because of the seemingly honest effort behind that good excuse for a two-hour walk to the corner store. Packaged as "an awesome DVD featuring a live performance in San Diego, California, as well as an in-depth interview and documentary," Live & Seen lives up to only one of the aforementioned claims: there is indeed a performance in San Diego, CA. For whatever reason, Mr. Rich kicks off the ball by "toasting" in Jamaican patois (remember, Rich looks as Rastafarian as Bob Rae) and subsequently...Read More

Ike & Tina: On the Road 1971-1972

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ralph Elawani) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:37:23 -0500

Ike & Tina Turner's charisma, showmanship and commanding performances resulted from years of canvassing the "Chitlin' Circuit," where it was considered safe for African American entertainers to perform during the age of racial segregation in the States. Filmed with a Sony Portapack camera by the then 26-year-old Bob Gruen, personally hired by Ike Turner (whom he had accidentally met at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1970), On the Road 1971-1972 ties in with Gruen's later work amidst the burgeoning NYC punk scene, where live performances were truly where the rubber met the road. While the...Read More

The Zen of Bennett - Directed by Unjoo Moon

editorial@exclaim.ca (Peter Marrack) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:23:33 -0500

The Zen of Bennett supposes, by way of its fly-on-the-wall cinematography, that every utterance from this 86-year-old should be etched in stone and tiled alongside Hollywood's Walk of Fame — to contrast truth with star power. Some of the beauts are: "It's either good music or it's not; it's not opinion"; "we learn everything from nature, nature is the master"; and "too many chiefs, not enough Indians." The latter describes Bennett's attitude whenever his traveling troupe of sons, daughters and music technicians try and tell him what to do. "I only know how to do two things," says...Read More

Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements - Directed by Gorman Bechard

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:52:09 -0500

How do you profile a band without using any of there music? It's not a new dilemma — plenty of el-cheapo, straight-to-DVD docs have done just that, some with interesting results. But director Gorman Bechard claims he never intended to included tunes from Minneapolis's much loved screw-ups, the Replacements. Unlike other docs, Color Me Obsessed doesn't skirt the rights issues with live versions and archival interviews. In fact, not a single member of the Mats appears in Bechard's film. Instead, he bills his movie as "a potentially true story" and relies on the friends, colleagues...Read More

David Bowie: the Calm Before the Storm: Under Review 1969 to 1971

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:49:07 -0500

David Bowie's the type of artist whose career has been examined and dissected ever since the chameleon-like star first set his platform boots upon the stage. So, a documentary purporting to explore his "early" years has its work cut out if the filmmakers hope to break new ground. Unfortunately, this unauthorized DVD does little beyond glossing over what we already know. David Bowie was an aspiring folkie in '60s London, essentially doing anything to make it big, when he stumbled into a prescient hit with "Space Oddity" shortly after Neil Armstrong's moon landing. The doc does a decent enough...Read More

Peter Gabriel: Secret World Live

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:46:14 -0500

When you look at lists of the best, most influential and popular music videos of all time, sticking out amongst clips by legends like Madonna and Michael Jackson is Peter Gabrielle's "Sledgehammer." By the time Peter Gabriel embarked upon his ambitious Secret World tour in 1993, the English singer was already in the third stage of his career. Having started out as the art-minded lead singer in Genesis's most prog incarnation, Gabriel bailed in 1975 and embarked upon a solo career, releasing a quartet of self-titled albums, each with increasing pop concessions. By the early '90s, he was...Read More

The Rolling Stones: Charlie Is My Darling - Directed by Peter Whitehead

editorial@exclaim.ca (Jason Schneider) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:10:14 -0500

The expansive release of this rarely seen documentary of the Stones at the height of their initial fame is appropriately timed to coincide with the hoopla surrounding the band's 50th anniversary celebrations. And what a difference 50 years certainly makes. Shot mainly as cinéma vérité during a whirlwind two-day trip to Ireland in September 1965, the 60-minute black-&-white film is an intimate portrait of the Stones on the cusp of hitting their stride. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was the hit of the summer and concerts were becoming increasingly chaotic. What's most refreshing from today's...Read More

Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender - Directed by Rhys Thomas

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:09:26 -0500

With the Frankenstein corpse of Queen marching across the globe, in both their Broadway musical and truncated band reunion versions, the time seems ripe to take a closer look at the British quartet's legendary singer: Freddie Mercury. This latest instalment in Eagle Vision's cheap but fun run of archival docs focuses on Mercury's work outside the group, particularly his two solo albums from the '80s. Mercury had a very un-rock'n'roll upbringing, being born to Parsi parents in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania), something he downplayed throughout most of his career. The film jumps around in time,...Read More

Magical Mystery Tour [Blu-Ray]

editorial@exclaim.ca (Evan McDowell) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:08:36 -0500

In 1967, Paul McCartney devised the idea for Magical Mystery Tour: a group of British tourists board a bus, drive off into the countryside and experience a series of surreal events. These events include, but are not limited to, Ringo Starr's aunt dreaming of John Lennon shovelling spaghetti onto a table, McCartney as a military general mumbling nonsensical syllables and the entire group as wizards in outer space, directing the tour bus. In the commentary included on this newly restored edition, McCartney remarks that the film was completely unscripted and shot over a two-week span with...Read More

Mudhoney Live: Berlin 1988

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:51:33 -0500

In the liner notes for this recently unearthed grainy concert footage, music scribe Stevie Chick goes to great lengths to emphasize the seismic importance of Mudhoney's all-expenses paid trip to Berlin for an industry showcase in 1988. "There are those nights within the annals of rock," he writes, "that just went ahead and changed everything, and it's a fact that you're holding a document of one such night in your hands." Um, not so much, Stevie. Mudhoney: Live in Berlin 1988 is a pretty cool look at the influential Seattle group playing to a small, relatively unenthused crowd. Filmed...Read More

Queen - Greatest Video Hits

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:26:52 -0500

Few '70s hard rock bands weathered the onslaught of MTV as well as Queen. Of course, this coincided with an increasingly pop-oriented sound that, while turning off hordes of long-running, longhaired fans, certainly produced some memorable singles, even if their albums suffered in comparison. Greatest Video Hits splits Queen's enormous trove of promo clips onto two DVDs. Roughly sequenced by date, the first disc, purists would argue, contains their best songs, while the second, as anyone with two eyes can see, houses the superior videos. That being said, the collection kicks off with...Read More

Produced By George Martin

editorial@exclaim.ca (Allan Tong) — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 14:15:45 -0400

George Martin will forever by known as the man who produced the Beatles, but this DVD succeeds in enlarging Sir George's story, giving a sense of his wider accomplishments. Broadcast last year on the BBC, Produced By George Martin offers a few surprises, starting with Martin's humble Cockney beginnings as the Germans bombed London in WWII. An ambitious lad, Martin affected a posh BBC accent that he's carried throughout his life, just like the slender ties that hang around his neck. Impeccably polite yet professionally precise, Martin studied classical music and landed a job at...Read More

Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here - Directed by John Edginton

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:39:09 -0400

The problem with a documentary like The Story of Wish You Were Here is that the iconic Pink Floyd album's tale is actually quite well known, even amongst casual fans. This latest regurgitation of the English quartet's past follows the Classic Albums format, interlaying interviews with band members and people close to the group with mixing board listening sessions of alternate takes and mixes from what would prove to be the band's most personal recording. Faced with the daunting task of following up Dark Side of the Moon and its subsequent tour, the English quartet found...Read More

Kataklysm - Iron Will: 20 Years Determined

editorial@exclaim.ca (Denise Falzon) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:38:36 -0400

Montreal, QC's Kataklysm have been consistently unleashing their signature "Northern hyperblast" style death metal since their 1991 inception. Now, the band receive a much deserved career retrospective with Iron Will: 20 Years Determined, which is an extensive two-DVD, two-CD collection. For long-time fans, the two-part documentary is the meatiest of the release. The first part features "The Early Years," from 1991 to 2004, while the second captures "The Rebirth," from 2004 to 2011, offering a very in-depth look into the history of Kataklysm's origins ― from their rise in the...Read More

Marley - Directed by Kevin MacDonald

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Pratt) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:44:25 -0400

Bob Marley's ideals flowed from his lyrics, invoking peace, love and harmony. His music has stood the test of time ― T-shirts are still worn by fans and 420 enthusiasts alike, with Marley's face silkscreened among his native Jamaican colours. Yet for all of the fanaticism over the music and messages, very little about Bob Marley, the man, was known. Director Kevin Macdonald's bio-documentary, Marley, attempts to change this by becoming the first film fully sanctioned by the Marley family, providing full access to the singer's archives and stepping up to provide a plethora of...Read More

Big Easy Express [Blu-Ray] - Directed by Emmett Malloy

editorial@exclaim.ca (Cal MacLean) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:43:40 -0400

There's a romantic idea of what a life on the road means, especially the one lived by musicians. Something about the rock star life of appearing then disappearing, city to city, fleetingly connecting with strangers is timeless. Several cinematic attempts have been made to portray that mix of fame and anonymity: Cameron Crowe's fictionalized Almost Famous captured the melancholy, while the documentary Festival Express went for the legend. Following in the tradition of those previous releases, whether consciously or not, new documentary Big Easy Express splits the...Read More

Stone Temple Pilots - Alive in the Windy City

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:34:35 -0400

During their mid-'90s heyday, few would have compared L.A. alt-rockers Stone Temple Pilots to classic-rock radio legends Aerosmith. But watching the perpetually reuniting band's new live DVD, Alive in the Windy City, the comparison seems apt: fairly derivative group pen a series of pretty awesome radio singles before their preening lead singer descends into drug-fuelled oblivion, only to pull himself out and reform the act as a shadow of their former selves. It's no secret that after peaking with their third album, Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop, Stone Temple...Read More

Yellow Submarine - Directed by George Dunning

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:43:35 -0400

Often the forgotten Beatles film (likely because of the lack of direct involvement from the Fab Four and the fact that its named after one of the group's silliest tracks), Yellow Submarine is easily the most distinctive and downright strange of their cinematic experiments. Originally released in 1968, and directed by Canadian animator George Dunning, this hand-animated tale chronicles a community called Pepperland that comes under attack by the music-hating Blue Meanies. The Beatles are dragged into the conflict when a sailor named Fred fetches them from Liverpool in a yellow submarine...Read More

No Room For Rockstars - Directed by Parris Patton

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 11:43:02 -0400

If you're reading this, chances are you've spent at least one blazing-hot summer day at the Vans Warped Tour. The annual punk/ska/swing/metalcore/whatever's-popular-at-Hot-Topic tour has become so ingrained in our music culture that it's hard to remember a summer without it, even if your feelings towards it are utter disgust at its crass commercialization of a once vibrant underground force. No Room for Rockstars, a new documentary about the touring behemoth, will do little to alleviate feelings that "Warped Tour was better in year X," instead focusing on the fest's modern incarnation,...Read More

Fuck You: Fucking Noise In China Now - Directed by Guy-Marc Hinant and Dominique Lohle

editorial@exclaim.ca (Michael Edwards) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:06:44 -0400

Discovering the personal motivations for a musician to make the music they do is a mainstay of interviews. It is, however, a little more unusual for an interviewer to try and tell the musician what their motivation is and trying to force the issue when they disagree. But that's exactly what Guy-Marc Hinant attempts during Fuck You: Fucking Noise In China Now. He and Dominique Lohle head over to China to talk to members of the noise music scene, with the idea that it exists as a result of the suffocating political environment. They are met with disagreement and a great deal of apathy...Read More

Dinosaur Jr Live at 9:30 Club: In the Hands of the Fans - Directed by Dave Markey

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:59:22 -0400

Dinosaur Jr. are one of the least gimmicky bands around, so the idea that this gig at Washington, DC's 9:30 Club was shot by six fans watching from the audience is a little out of synch, not to mention a bit of a rip-off of the Beastie Boys' Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That. But with Dave Markey (the man behind legendary tour doc 1991: The Year Punk Broke) running the show, In the Hands of the Fans comes across as a pretty terrific document of Dinosaur's past, as seen through the eyes of their surprisingly fruitful reunion. The impetus behind all this of, course, was a 2011...Read More

Public Image Ltd. Live at Rockpalast 1983 - Directed by Christian Wagner

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:58:29 -0400

Recorded between 1981's The Flowers of Romance and 1984's This is What You Want… This What You Get (on the same tour that yielded 1983's Live in Tokyo), Live at Rockpalast could be the greatest summation of Public Image Ltd.'s early years, featuring tracks from their first three ground-breaking post-punk classics, as well as their at the time yet-to-be-released dance-pop diversion. But the film – a performance from German television program Rockpalast – captures the group on the wrong side of this transition. By the time of the tour, both...Read More

Echotone - Directed by Nathan Christ

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:57:44 -0400

There's a moment in Nathan Christs' new documentary of the Austin, TX music scene, Echotone, where A/V Club city editor Sean O'Neal throws up his hands in exasperation as scene stalwart/champion/label head Daniel Perlaky tries in vain to convince O'Neal that local band the White White Lights (who are signed to Perlaky's label) are in fact "the future of music." His reaction so perfectly captures the feeling of watching Christ's film, which is filled with blind boosterism for the scene. If the doc is to be believed, the only difference between this Southern bastion of liberalism and...Read More

Upside Down - Directed by Danny O'Connor

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:56:43 -0400

It's fitting that Alan McGee and Bobby Gillespie first bonded at a Thin Lizzy concert; despite its cache as one of the UK's most respected and successful indie labels, Creation Records' acts often comported themselves as rock stars, even when public interest dictated otherwise. Upside Down chronicles Creation's rise and inevitable fall. It's a familiar tale for anyone with a passing interest in rock's business end, but few labels can boast a roster as era-defining as Creation. Members of the Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine...Read More

Volbeat - Live From Beyond Hell/Above Heaven

editorial@exclaim.ca (Denise Falzon) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:24:20 -0500

Denmark's heavy metal/rockabilly rollers Volbeat are simply one of those bands that captivate with their live performance, regardless of whether or not you know the material. It's fitting, then, that they've released a new live concert DVD, Live From Beyond Hell/Above Heaven. The DVD features concert footage from a sold-out hometown show in Copenhagen, as well as from a show at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA and from their set at Rock Am Ring in Germany. Frontman Michael Poulsen breathes blues-inspired soul into the band, while maintaining a distinct James Hetfield-style live...Read More

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne - Directed by Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli

editorial@exclaim.ca (Greg Pratt) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:02:28 -0500

This feature-length documentary came to be because Jack Osbourne, son of legendary metal crooner Ozzy Osbourne, wanted the world to see his dad for what he really is. Not the wild young drunk of the '80s or the mumbling old drunk of the '00s, but the man behind the persona, the man stuck somewhere in between. Through excellent archival footage dating back to Ozzy's tenure in Black Sabbath, the story is told of an Ozzy riddled with insecurities and a father who, despite fame and fortune, was never there for his kids when they were younger. But it's an inspirational tale, as Ozzy is now sober...Read More

Talking Heads - Chronology

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:25:35 -0500

It's worth noting that Talking Heads are the band behind Stop Making Sense, generally considered to be the greatest concert film of all time. So any collection of live performances from the band is going to have an incredibly steep hill to climb. Perhaps then it's better to view this hodgepodge of performances as a prequel to that famed film, chronologically charting the quartet's evolution from wiry art-school punks to funky global rock stars before retiring from the road all together. The stiff CBGB performance from 1975 barely hints at the live force they would become, but helps to...Read More

Placebo - We Come In Pieces [Blu-Ray]

editorial@exclaim.ca (Michael Edwards) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:30:56 -0500

While Placebo might have disappeared off the musical map for many, they still have a solid enough fan base that they've reached their sixth studio album (2009's Battle for the Sun) and apparently played to more than two-and-a-half million fans during their last world tour. Obviously some people still love them and that's very clear on their second live DVD, We Come In Pieces. Filmed in London at the Brixton Academy, this is Placebo in front of a crowd that would be happy no matter what they did. As a concert DVD, it's pretty solid, although the frenetic cuts and edits get a...Read More

New York Dolls - Lookin' Fine on Television

editorial@exclaim.ca (Tyler Munro) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:52:17 -0500

Lookin' Fine on Television opens with a disparity and contrast kept up for much of its 70 minutes. Part documentary, part concert DVD, this black & white collection of clips rockets between quickly cut and chopped live performances and sometimes informative, but chronologically unclear, interview footage. It's the looks behind the performances that make the DVD special, but since each performance is actually chopped and skewed from multiple gigs and put to a single audio track, there's a lack of context that makes sitting through the disc's shoddy production values a bit of a chore....Read More

An Island - Directed by Vincent Moon

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:44:23 -0500

Vincent Moon built his name off his unique take on filming bands for French site La Blogotheque. Capturing them stripped down, in unusual locations, the director was able to cut through much of the artifice usually associated with filming live music. The number of imitators that sprang up as a result of his Take Away Shows only cemented his reputation. This makes An Island, a 45-minute doc following Danish group Efterklang, a rare case where the director is far better known than the band. In August of 2010, the group and film crew decamped to an island off the Danish mainland, where...Read More

Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem [Blu-Ray]

editorial@exclaim.ca (Brock Thiessen) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:00:24 -0500

It's no secret Daft Punk have a thing for film. From classic music videos like the Spike Jonze-directed "Da Funk" and Michel Gondry's "Around the World" to the group's 2007 feature-length robot tragedy, Electroma, and Tron: Legacy to the production company run by Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter, the helmeted duo have been involved in nearly as many film projects as actual albums. But it was the 2003 release of Interstella 5555 that found the pair first fully stretching their cinematic wings. Essentially a visual realization of Daft Punk's 2001 house masterpiece,...Read More

Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon - Directed by Stephen C. Mitchell

editorial@exclaim.ca (Ian Gormely) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:29:02 -0500

For long-time fans of Kings of Leon, Talihina Sky does what their fifth album, last year's Come Around Sundown, failed to: bring the Oklahoma quartet back to their Southern U.S. roots. The film follows the Followills (brothers Jared, Caleb and Nathan, and cousin Matthew) back to Talihina, Oklahoma for a family reunion. Introducing their extended family, including grandpa Leon (from whom they took their name), the film builds a pretty vivid picture of their rigid and insular Pentecostal upbringing. Their rise to fame is told via interviews with band and family members (the lines...Read More

We're the Weakerthans We're from Winnipeg - Directed by Caelum Vatnsdal

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vish Khanna) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:27:37 -0400

Caelum Vatnsdal's rockumentary about the Weakerthans' extensive cross-Canada tour in the spring of 2009 is most notable for how completely unpretentiously the horror film aficionado captures the band and their exhaustive trek. We're the Weakerthans We're from Winnipeg is a rather modest-looking document that's well shot from multiple angles and edited effectively without employing any stylistic pizzazz. There's also painstaking craftsmanship in highlighting this country's landscape – from the rustic charm of western Canada's quaint little big cities to the forests, lakes and...Read More

The Jesus Lizard - Club

editorial@exclaim.ca (Vish Khanna) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:25:45 -0400

Though it's impossible to properly convey just how ferocious a live band the Jesus Lizard are, particularly in smaller confines, Club does an admirable job capturing the quartet's first stateside show in more than ten years, in July 2009. "What's the difference between Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson," singer David Yow asks those assembled at Exit/In in Nashville, TN. "About five hours." And so the mayhem begins on a bad joke and a frenetic "Puss," with Yow almost instantly lost to the cameras, surfing his way into the abyss of the crowd. Save for anti-climatic final album...Read More

Malevolent Creation - Death From Downunder

editorial@exclaim.ca (Denise Falzon) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:51:33 -0400

Less than a year after Florida-based extreme metal veterans Malevolent Creation released their powerful 11th studio album, Invidious Dominion, the death metal masters are back with their first ever professionally shot DVD. Aptly titled Death From Downunder, the release was filmed in Sidney, Australia and features an hour's worth of live, gut-wrenching footage. The band's 16-song set goes off without a hitch, as they perform a wide range of tracks from their catalogue, filling their set with their earlier '90s material. Malevolent Creation's signature old school brutality is...Read More

Miles Davis - Live At Montreux, Highlights 1973-1991

editorial@exclaim.ca (Matt Bauer) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:50:18 -0400

Miles Davis performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival an astounding eight times, seven of which occurred during the last eight years of his life. Live At Montreux illustrates why the festival's founder broke his rule and allowed the now mythical Davis to play the festival two years in a row. The highlight is the 27-minute "Ife," from 1973, which marks the debut of any video footage from Davis's criminally maligned Big Fun/On The Corner period and it's a monster. Michael Henderson lays down an entrancing four-note bass riff that develops into a sea of funky, improvisatory...Read More

David Byrne - Ride, Rise, Roar

editorial@exclaim.ca (Michael Edwards) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:53:45 -0400

Considering that Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense is regarded as one of the finest concert movies ever made, any other live concert David Byrne is involved with is going to be compared to it. And that means Ride, Rise, Roar has to be something pretty special to live up to that standard. Ride, Rise, Roar was filmed during the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno tour back in 2008/'09, and focuses on the show from creation to execution. Director Hillman Curtis punctuates the onstage performances with behind-the-scenes vignettes that illustrate how Byrne put together the...Read More

Elvis Costello - Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... – Season Two

editorial@exclaim.ca (Michael Edwards) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:52:57 -0400

The first season of Spectacle: Elvis Costello with... clearly demonstrated that if he were to stop making music, he could start a new career on television. Costello is a natural when it comes to hosting; his years of performing on-stage have provided him with the kind of charisma that makes him perfect for this kind of thing. Guests obviously feel relaxed and the conversations are effortless and interesting. He brings with him a wealth of musical knowledge and that makes Spectacle one of the best music shows around. This second and, sadly, final season of Spectacle is...Read More

The Roots Of Rocksteady - Directed by Stascha Bader

editorial@exclaim.ca (David Dacks) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:55:52 -0400

Rocksteady was the brief but vital transition music between ska and reggae in mid-'60s Jamaica. It lasted two, three years tops, but left a lasting legacy. This film does a great service in resurrecting the sounds and feelings of that era. Truth be told, it's not a great documentary, in that it's very episodic in its juxtaposition of the histories of singers and instrumentalists with contemporary in-studio performances and a reunion concert at the Montreal Jazz Festival. The jazz fest concert is presented in its entirety as a bonus feature and that's a major plus to this disc. But the music...Read More

Teddy Pendergrass - Live In '82

editorial@exclaim.ca (David Dacks) — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:27:59 -0400

The Teddy Bear delivers the goods in this rollicking performance in London, UK in 1982. London's soul massive has always been friendly to the reigning stars of American R&B, thus while Pendergrass's crossover era was fading in the U.S. at this point, his British fans remained wildly enthusiastic. After a blistering three-song salvo to open the show, he downshifts into the smoky balladeer persona for which he's best known. Eleven minutes of "Love TKO"? Yes please. Then six minutes of Kenny Rogers' "Lady"? It's utter fabulousness, which presages the most grandiose American Idol takes on...Read More

Cannibal Corpse - Global Evisceration

editorial@exclaim.ca (Denise Falzon) — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:28:27 -0400

Containing one disc that features three hours of material, Global Evisceration, the latest DVD from Cannibal Corpse, showcases a legendary band that, while they may have gotten older, have the intensity and brutality that still resonates amongst their old and new fans. Global Evisceration features the Florida (by way of Buffalo, NY) death metal masters performing two full live shows, one in Englewood, CO and the other in Albuquerque, NM, which took place during their 2010 tour cycle for latest album Evisceration Plague. Filmed in small venues, the footage captures the...Read More

Marillion - Live From Cadogan Hall

editorial@exclaim.ca (Sean Palmerston) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:01:25 -0400

In 2009, veteran UK prog rockers Marillion made a huge left turn, choosing to do an acoustic album and tour. Instead of the typical unplugged thing, they hunkered down in their studio, pulled apart a number of their songs and reassembled them using non-typical instrumentation like hammered dulcimer, metallophone and table harp. Live From Cadogan Hall captures the final show of the tour that followed, filmed live just before Christmas that year at the beautiful, old London, UK venue. Split into two discs, this impeccably shot concert features the band doing the Less is More album...Read More

Depeche Mode - Rewind; 30 Years at the Edge

editorial@exclaim.ca (Daniel Sylvester) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:18:05 -0500

Repackaging exceptional 2009 Depeche Mode unauthorized documentary The Dark Progression along with dreadful 2009 bio The Ministry of Sound (which was a repackage of 2005's Random Access Memory), Rewind; 30 Years at the Edge is dubious even before the cellophane is cracked. Disc one (The Dark Progression) focuses largely on Depeche Mode's four classic LPs ― Black Celebration, Music for the Masses, Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion ― not only offering a dissertation on the band's soaring popularity, but a look...Read More

Jeff Beck: Rock 'N' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul

editorial@exclaim.ca (Keith Carman) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 12:49:09 -0500

Were it not for guitarist and inventor Les Paul, the world of rock'n'roll simply wouldn't exist. Accredited with creating the world's first solid-body guitar, he forever altered the course of popular music. Moreover, his inimitable design, as produced by Gibson guitars, has graced every icon, from Slash to Chet Atkins and Green Day to Ace Frehley. Therefore, it stands to reason that virtuoso six-string samurai Jeff Beck would pay homage to the guru via tribute concert Rock 'N' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul. Recorded at NYC's Iridium Jazz Club (a regular haunt of Paul's) on what would...Read More