Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 19th, 2011
More often than not, I don’t listen to too many female musicians. Most of them fall into the hard rock (Lita Ford, Donnas) or 80’s/90’s pop dance (Taylor Dayne, Sheena Easton). Occasionally, I will be wowed by good looks and a magical voice. I am a man after all. But when I received Sheryl Crow: Miles from Memphis – Live at the Pantages Theatre, on Blu-Ray, I was not sure what to think. Sure, she had looks but Crow’s music is ever-changing. However, I am certainly willing to give it a listen.
Most people know Sheryl Crow from her multi platinum albums, and selling well over fifteen million records domestically and probably a good thirty five million records worldwide. However, her start was kinda ominous. When she left college, she was teaching music to elementary school kids in Fenton, Missouri. Then came a couple of McDonald’s and Toyota commercial jingles. Before she knew it, she was a backup vocalist for Michael Jackson during his Bad tour.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 12th, 2011
As one could probably guess from my tender age of thirty five years, I listen to lots of 80's music. Not only did I grow up in it, the music was energetic and often thoughtful (without being too depressing). But the thing I remember most about the music on a whole is the brilliant videos behind them. David Byrne of Talking Heads was the head (literally) of one of my favorites, Burning Down the House. A great musician and pop legend, David Byrne is back to entertain us in Ride, Rise, Roar.
David Byrne was born in Scotland in the spring of 1952. He knew how to play the guitar, accordion, as well as the violin before he even entered high school. David went through a couple of minor bands before landing his first major gig with the Talking Heads in 1975. The band went on to do great things and several of their albums went gold with sales well over 500,000 copies. Unfortunately, the group broke up in 1991 after creative differences and David Byrne went on to a solo career.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 31st, 2011
There is a place in London of the United Kingdom that is down in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea that used to be the first Church of Christ. However, throughout the years the populace decreased that flowed into the church and it became a shell of its former self. Still a goregous location, in 2001 it became home to the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. That building is called Cadogan Hall. Fast forward to 2009, a band called Marillion decided to play there which led to this 2011 release.
Marillion is classified as neo-progressive rock music. If you are not in the know, you might ask yourself, what the heck is neo-progressive rock music? Well according to what I could find, it is deeply emotional music with dramatic lyrics and an almost theater like quality on stage. One really won't see guitar and drum solos on the spur of a moment. They will be carefully staged with help from other instruments such as keyboards and percussion. If you are thinking of influences such as Genesis or Yes, you would be in the right area.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 22nd, 2011
I have a penchant lately for reviewing stand up comedians. This is mostly a good thing. After all, stand up specials aren't usually that long, have few extras and will hopefully provoke a laugh from yours truly. But lately, it seems that the comedians I get to review aren't really that funny. Hopefully that trend changes with Daniel Tosh, star of the tv show Tosh.O. Heck, I wasn't even aware he did stand-up. Well, here goes nothing.
We open to stand up comedian Daniel Tosh who receives a smattering of applause. His line to open the show is “Thank you for clapping what my parents are ashamed of”. Indeed. We can’t exactly boo what we haven’t even heard yet. Such actions are reserved for prop comics and mimes. As many comics do, he admits he sucks live which shows some social anxiety on his part.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 9th, 2011
One of the most underappreciated films in my opinion in the last ten years is Undercover Brother. Stop looking at me strangely! Seriously, it was a very funny movie. It was because of one man and I don’t mean Neil Patrick Harris (though he was hilarious). That man would be Eddie Griffin. Eddie Griffin has starred in almost fifty different films but he also makes a respectable living doing stand up comedy. One such concert is new to dvd and we get the chance to talk about it my brother.
Live from Oakland, California, we have the star of Malcolm & Eddie, Deuce Bigelow, and Meteor Man (okay, some more than others), the one, the only Eddie Griffin. *waits for crowd applause*. Let’s find out what he has to talk about, shall we? The first thing out of Eddie Griffin’s mouth? Well, it would appear he wants to have his way with Michelle Obama, the president’s first lady.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 25th, 2011
Not quite a concert film, not quite a drama. This film follows a young man named Bruno, who sleeps with his life long crush, the night before she moves from Toronto to Paris. On this final night, Broken Social Scene are playing a free show and Bruno uses a connection to get backstage passes as a last ditch effort to win over his crush. All the while, we are treated to a multi camera view of that very same concert, running the duration of the entire film.
Some concert films separate the songs with behind the scenes moments of the band leading up to that same show, but here we are separated from all that with the fictional romance plot. As things progresses, the music does what a soundtrack is supposed to do, and highlights the emotions of the scenes it accompanies, but since we are privy to the live performance of that same soundtrack, the passion of the musicians playing syncs up with whatever the actors are doing or feeling. There is a symbioses between the concert and the drama, making each better than they ever would have been simply on their own.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 11th, 2011
Musically, I've been told before that I'm not that broad. I primarily like my hard rock and it doesn’t matter whether it is a flashy piece from the 80's or a grungy alternative piece from the 90's. But there is something that a lot of the music I listen to has in common with each other. A great guitar track. From the brilliance of an Andy Timmons to the soothing energetic sound of a Tom Cochrane. It is only fitting that a blu-ray capturing the guitar god simply known as Jeff Beck graces my door step. Furthermore, he is having a party honoring the late Les Paul. This ought to be a treat.
There is a concert inside the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City tonight. Let’s see who is playing. Well, there is Darrel Higham on guitar and vocals. He’s been a lead guitar with rockabilly bands since the late 80’s. Then there is Darrel’s wife: Imelda May, a fairly established Irish singer who has sang with many greats and loved the world over. Then there is Al Gare on bass who has often played with the husband and wife combination.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 23rd, 2010
Michael McDonald has been around for a very long time. In fact, with his white hair and beard McDonald makes a perfect little musical Santa. The man began his career as a backup singer for Steely Dan but made his real fame when he became part of The Doobie Brothers in the 1970's. But by 1982 it was already all over for the super-group. After about 5 years of wall-to-wall hits the group disbanded, and McDonald went out on his own. His first solo album was an almost instant hit. Unfortunately for McDonald and his many fans, he wasn't the most prolific artist and took 9 years to follow up that album. By then times had changed, and he never has quite captured the fame that started with The Doobie Brothers and continued through his early solo career.
While McDonald's solo career hasn't exactly been soaring in the last 20 years, he has found ways to stay in touch with the loyal fan base. Christmas has been kind to the rocker. He has released a couple of Christmas albums with some level of success. He also continues to do Christmas concerts, a tradition that began in his Doobie Brothers days.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 6th, 2010
Supergroups generally don’t last very long. In one album and out the next, it is usually a case of too many egos trying to co-exist. A favorite band of mine can certainly be described as a supergroup: Velvet Revolver. The lineup is made up of powerhouses from such great bands as Guns n Roses and Stone Temple Pilots. It is grandiose power rock and a whole lot of awesomeness.
It is the year 2005, Velvet Revolver has just released the album Contraband in the year prior. The album would eventually sell over 2 million copies and even won a Grammy for their efforts. As a result of their success, a tour was pretty much automatic. So, it was little surprise that the tour ended up in Houston, Tx for a show at the Verizon Wireless Theater. The band put on a great show and the crowd was enthusiastic in return.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 1st, 2010
Most of the huge names of Broadway are gone. Certainly there are young talents that have created some memorable shows. Perhaps one day they will build up the mountain of classics that we received from the likes of Rodgers, Hammerstein, Bernstein, and others. There are even a couple of writers out there that have amassed that kind of a career. Andrew Lloyd Weber absolutely comes to mind as a fine example. But Stephen Sondheim is the last of a dying breed. It's been quite a while since he's created anything new, but his shows live on in revivals and film versions where they will likely continue for decades to come.
In March the writer/composer celebrated his 80th birthday in style. The bash was held at the celebrated Lincoln Center in New York. The performers included a who's who of Broadway for the last 40 years. The music was provided by the world renowned New York Philharmonic, conducted by long-time Sondheim conductor Paul Gemignani. The event was hosted by David Hyde Pierce. The concert lasts about two hours but you'll find time flies by as the show demonstrates the incredible variety of Sondheim's work. Pieces from all of his milestone shows are on display. Often the performers who originally gave voice to these pieces are on hand to deliver this tribute performance. Many of these performers hadn't seen each other in decades. They likely haven't performed these particular pieces in a long time. But not a single performance was less than magical. An absolute treat for any fan, to be sure. Sondheim also wrote a small number of scores so the show is not quite all song. There's a dance routine attached to a sample of music from the Reds score.
![Sheryl Crow: Miles from Memphis Live at the Pantages Theatre [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/sheryl-crow-miles-from-memphis-liv-large.jpg)
![David Byrne: Ride Rise Roar [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/david-byrne-ride-rise-roar-blu-ra-large.jpg)
![Jeff Beck Rock'n'Roll Party: Honoring Les Paul [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/jeff-beck-rocknroll-party-honori-large.jpg)
![Michael McDonald- This Christmas Live In Chicago [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/michael-mcdonald-this-christmas-li-large.jpg)
![Sondheim! The Birthday Concert [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/sondheim-the-birthday-concert-blu-large.jpg)
