Excellent live version of one of my favorite R.E.M. songs.

Of all the reunions pianist Chick Corea has participated in over the past few years, last year’s resurrection of the classic Return to Forever lineup – Corea, guitarist Al DiMeola, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White – turned out to be the most musically rewarding. The guys play as if it were still 1976, and Corea even took a vintage Rhodes to the stage to keep it authentic. If anything, the group is even better now with age and wisdom – DiMeola’s guitar runs sparkle with soul, Clarke’s and White’s rhythms are even earthier now, and in spite of these musicians having so distinctly honed their identities over time, Chick is still the masterful glue that keeps it all together. Though known mostly for their electric work, RTF’s acoustic side is on display for almost half of Live at Montreux, with Chick’s solo improvisation before “The Romantic Warrior” (with Clarke and White as a straight-ahead trio) proving that RTF, for all their fusion tendencies, were always, deep down, a jazz band. (Eagle Rock Entertainment 2009)

Return to Forever MySpace page

If you’re a fan of Fleetwood Mac, then you no doubt got more than a little bit giddy at the tail end of 2008 when the band - still holding strong with the fab foursome of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie - announced that they’d be touring in 2009. Word on the street is that things have been going swimmingly thus far, and the tour will continue to roll on into June; you can check out the current dates rather easily, as they’re right on the homepage of FleetwoodMac.com.

In the meantime, however, if you’re on the fence about whether to go see them or not, take a gander at this clip of Lindsey Buckingham - recorded during a solo performance at Bass Performance Hall, which is available as a CD/DVD combo - as he takes “Big Love” and either makes you wish you could play guitar or makes you never want to pick one up again because you’ll never, ever be able to play it as well as he can.

They’ve never had a hit or sold a ton of records, but the Blind Boys of Alabama have been making beautiful music for 70 years and running, so in lieu of the sold-out week at Madison Square Garden they deserve, this DVD – filmed during an appearance at the legendary New Orleans institution Tipitina’s last spring – serves as a suitable tip of the hat to one of modern music’s most distinguished careers. Fittingly, the Blind Boys were on the road promoting a CD, Down in New Orleans, that paid tribute to the city, and the show’s location also enabled them to enlist a passel of the Crescent City’s musical finest, including Susan Tedeschi, Dr. John, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. The production values aren’t the best you’ve ever seen, the sound mix occasionally wavers into muddy territory – and if you’ve ever been to Tipitina’s, you know that fitting all those performers on the club’s tiny stage requires some delicate balancing – but what Live in New Orleans lacks in polish, it more than makes up for with the performers’ obvious, bone-deep commitment to the music. There’s little showmanship here, just the performers’ decades of experience, but that’s more than enough for a damn fine show. Live showcases the Blind Boys doing what they do best, and functions as a nicely priced introduction for new converts, who will also enjoy the brief BET-branded documentary bonus feature. (Saguaro Road 2009)

Blind Boys of Alabama MySpace page

If you’ve already purchased the Paul Simon “Live at the Tower Theatre” DVD that was released in 2003, then there’s no need to bother with “Live from Philadelphia,” because it’s exactly the same concert, transferred from grainy video footage to present the same truncated 10/7/80 show – something Eagle really should have done a better job of making clear on this “new” title’s packaging. If, however, you don’t own “Tower Theatre,” and don’t mind suffering through the vagaries of the poorly aged footage, then “Live from Philadelphia” isn’t a bad way to spend $10. For one thing, Simon was touring with a terrific band: Steve Gadd on drums, Tony Levin on bass, Richard Tee on keyboards, and Eric Gale on guitar, offering the same New York-spun mellow urban vibe that typified Simon’s recordings of the era. For another thing, Simon – usually not the most scintillating live performer – was in high spirits during this show, stopping to interact with the audience a time or two (at one point, he even tells someone whose view he suspects may be obstructed to just come down and stand in front of the stage, joking that he isn’t sure whether it’s against the rules, but “it’s okay with me”). The set list might dwell a little too heavily on One Trick Pony for some, and it certainly doesn’t include any must-hear versions of the 11 songs presented here, but it does provide a glimpse of Simon during a time when he was beginning what was to become a decades-long struggle to redefine himself, the performances are uniformly tight, and the price is right. Just make sure you don’t already own it.

Click to buy “Paul Simon: Live from Philadelphia”

Is it just us, or is Talk Talk one of the most underrated bands of all time? Seriously, is there another band on the planet that had the growth trajectory over its first five albums that Talk Talk exhibited? (Your results may vary over the course of Talk Talk’s last two albums, but you cannot deny that they refused to do the same thing twice, come hell or high water.) This video catches the band both at their commercial peak (their third album, 1986’s The Colour of Spring) and on their last tour, playing Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival and bringing a small but packed house to its knees. Singer Mark Hollis was not one for small talk with the audience, or even doing much more than walking between the mic and the drum riser (or taking off his sunglasses, indoors), but when he starts singing, he shakes like a man possessed by the Holy Ghost, and with perfect pitch to boot. Even the band’s earlier, more synthesized fare is fleshed out by the eight-piece band, giving some unlikely songs a little welcome breathing room (“Call in the Night Boy” in particular). The set list is near-bulletproof – all the big hits, from “Talk Talk” to “Living in Another World” and “Life’s What You Make It” are here, along with their It’s My Life album in its entirety, save one song – though we wished that they had made room for “Happiness Is Easy” in the 14-song set. Then again, the band did what every great band does: they left us wanting more. This is a must-have for any fan of a criminally unappreciated band. (Eagle Vision)

Click to buy Talk Talk: Live at Montreux 1986

While we’re more than happy to see the resurrection of PBS’ Soundstage series, their DVD department could use a swift kick in the keister. America’s performance for Soundstage originally aired in August 2005, and the band’s most recent release, the dandy, Adam Schlesinger-assisted Here and Now, is now a year and a half old, meaning that this DVD missed its ideal release window by roughly 17 months. Tardy release date aside, this is one splendid show, recorded in Hi-Def and given the 5.1 Surround Sound treatment. The band that Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell assembled is air-tight, and they contribute spotless vocals to create those trademark America multi-layered harmonies. The set list includes all of their Top 40 singles (except “Today’s the Day”), along with performances of “California Dreamin’” and the Jimmy Webb song “The Last Unicorn.” To raise the Mellow Gold quotient even higher, Christopher Cross appears on “Lonely People.” The set list is nearly identical to the bonus live disc that came with Here and Now, and while that set was good, this set is longer (“You Can Do Magic,” woo hoo!), and much, much better. Dig in.

Click to buy America: Live in Chicago

…but only via subscription.

According to TVShowsOnDVD.com, Guthy-Renker - the fine folks who brought you all the infomercials for their Dean Martin releases, will be putting out several volumes of the ’70s and early ’80s music TV show, “The Midnight Special,” on DVD in a few months.

If you want to check out an episode guide to see who appeared on the show over the years, there’s one here, but there’s no official word on how they’re going to be issuing these shows, i.e. whether it’ll be in best-of sets or as whole episodes. You’d like to think it’d be the latter, since, just as an example, in 1975, there was an episode featuring performances by both Barry Manilow AND Kiss…or an episode in ‘79 which featured Blondie, Robert Fripp from King Crimson, Robert Palmer, Bram freakin’ Tchaikovsky, and Rick James.

But, then again, there was an episode hosted by Seals and Crofts, too:

The Hives took a circuitous route to fame, recording a couple albums and EPs in the 1990s and getting the greatest hits packaged all together in one magic hit CD, Your New Favourite Band, a couple years ago. Last year the Swedish punks came back with the all-new Tyrannosaurus Hives, a clean, punchy set that clears the sinuses of music fans who’ve just about had it up to here with wussy stuff from the likes of Dave Matthews and Sheryl Crow. The band’s new concert DVD “Tussles in Brussels,” released in time for the Christmas shopping season, gets the Hives phenomenon down for the record: The hard licks, the black-and-white outfits the band wears, and of course, the singular sound of lead vocalist Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, with whom we sat down for the following chat:

Bullz-Eye: Describe a Hives concert for those in our reading audience who haven’t been.

Pelle Almqvist: If you’ve been to a rock concert–I’ll assume that much–if you take what you’ve seen there and multiply it by ten, that’s pretty much it. It’s like a rock concert except there’s more of everything else. Except color, because we’re dressed in black and white. It’s a bid louder, more intense, a bit more energetic. The only thing it isn’t a bit more of is…calmer.

BE: I’m sure you’ve been asked this about 5,000 times, but here’s 5,001: why do you dress that way, anyway?

PA: It looks good, but also, we’re convinced it makes us sound better. Like some hippie bands had some statues on their amps and stuff because it made them sound better? This makes us sound better. The treble’s a bit clearer.

BE: I’ve been listening to your stuff for a couple years now….but describe your music for those who haven’t heard it.

PA: Well, it’s rock music, that’s what it is, I’ll tell you that much. Very very very energetic rock music. If you like the classic values of rock – first it has to be entertaining and exciting, and after that you can do different things with it – it’s fast and loud and fun.

BE: Does the DVD cover one show or a series of shows?

PA: We just recorded one show and we had to just trust that we’d be good enough to put it out, otherwise we’d have to record another show. It’s one show straight through, not edited. It turned out really well. We spent a lot of time cutting between cameras and making sure the sound was as good as it could be.

BE: What do you remember about the gig?

PA: I was going into the crowd and this guy was pulling on my leg and I fell and did a jump and I landed with my shins on the barrier. I think you can maybe see where it happens. My leg was bleeding and swelling up halfway through the show, and I keep getting stiffer and stiffer. But the good thing is that I was wearing black pants, so you can’t see the blood.

To read the read of the interview, click here.

The bad boys from Boston are back in vintage fashion with a new concert CD and DVD (on the Sony dual disc format) called Rockin’ the Joint: Live at the Hard Rock Hotel. Performed in 2002, this show finds Aerosmith returning to their sweaty roots by blowing the dust off several old relics and laying them down in a small club setting like it was 1972 again. Breaking from their rehearsal schedule as the road vets prepare for a year-long world tour, original bass player Tom Hamilton afforded Bullz-Eye’s Red Rocker a few minutes recently to tout the strengths of Rockin’ the Joint, share his take on illegal downloads, and explain why his son might already be a better musician than he is.
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“Bullz-Eye: A record like this (Rockin’ the Joint) comes out and it just makes me want to go home and dig out Get Your Wings and Toys in the Attic. I had a cassette copy of Live Bootleg back in, what, ’78, ’79 when that thing came out…?

Tom Hamilton: (chuckling)

BE: I flat wore that thing out! So are you allowed to have a favorite Aerosmith album?

TH: Yeah, sure. Picking one is really hard. But I’ll say Rocks. Toys or Rocks, it’s pretty hard to nail down which was a favorite.

BE: I saw a quote from your website recently. It was Little Richard saying, “I looooove Aerosmith! They’re one of my favorite rock and roll bands. They’re full of filth and full of soul.” Why are you guys so strong and so vital 35 years later?

TH: I just think we were so drastically imprinted during the ‘60s. You know, when you’re a kid and you go see a really powerful rock band, it goes deep. At least for me it did. So the next thing is, “Man, I’d really like to do that. I wanna be on stage!” And you just always keep that point of view. We’ve managed to keep that point of view, wanting to spit out the kind of stuff that really inspired us when we were just learning how to play, and do it in a way that we really love.

BE: Looks like you guys are going to be touring now through the end of the year. What’s next for you guys? What does 2006 and 2007 hold for Aerosmith?

TH: Well, the rest of this year and next year we’re gonna be touring pretty much straight through, but we’re gonna try and get an album out.

BE: Of new material?

TH: Yeah.”

Read the rest of Red’s interview with Tom Hamilton here.