In 1977, when Lynyrd Skynyrd were at the peak of their careers, they faced a tragedy. On October 20, their plane crashed, killing the band’s founder and lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines (Steve's sister) and assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, in addition to the two pilots of the aircraft. This documentary basically recounts the last 72 hours before the crash and the aftermath by three survivors: security guard and Van Zant’s friend Gene Odom, lead backup singer Leslie Hawkins and guitar technician Craig Reed. The documentary is based on the novel by Gene Odom, I’ll Never Forget You. We can see different archive footage of the events preceding the crash, a simulation of the crash itself based on the expert report, as well as rare interviews with first responders filmed at the crash site in Gillsburg, Mississippi. It’s a documentary that only very briefly covers the band’s career, and music is totally absent. The film therefore focuses on the links between the survivors and the band, as well as on the events surrounding the crash of October 20, 1977. Interesting, but incomplete to really learn about Lynyrd Skynyrd. (January 2020)

Grant Hart was initially known as co-leader of alternative band Hüsker Dü in which he acted as a songwriter, drummer and singer until their split in December 1987. Thereafter, he mostly worked in solo in addition to forming the band Nova Mob the time of two albums. In this documentary about his career, it's basically Hart himself who tells his story, his career. One can also find footage from live performances by Hüsker Dü, Nova Mob and Hart in solo. Unfortunately, the 90-minute documentary has some less interesting details. It is still a document that will appreciate the most fervent fans of Hüsker Dü. (October 2014)

In this 75-minute documentary, we discover the creative process behind the last three albums of Green Day. We see the musicians questioning about what they will do with so many songs. Then we see them in the studio working on all these songs. You can even see concerts in bars to showcase their new songs to their fans while they were awaiting endlessly their hits, which never came. An interesting feature of the DVD is that after seeing them work on a song in the studio, you can often hear the final version, or at least an excerpt from the final version. Unfortunately, everything appears somewhat disjointed and you need to have a good knowledge of the three albums to know the songs, because they never write you what song it is and from which album it is. This is a documentary that is intended solely for the biggest fans of the group, especially those who know by heart the Uno! Dos! Tré! trilogy. (December 2013)

In May 2011, Bob Dylan turned 70. For the occasion, what more natural than to look back over his 50-year career! That's what this 112-minute documentary attempts to do in returning to some important passages of his career, especially on stage. They go quickly over his humble debut at Columbia Records before making a flight over the details of his electric world tour of 1966, completely misunderstood at the time. The images of that tour are narrated by drummer Mickey Jones. It briefly mentions his alleged motorcycle accident that was probably hiding his entry into detoxification for drug abuse, then it jumps to his comeback on stage by 1974. His tour of 1975, when he was surrounded by folk troubadours, is amply explained by Ramblin 'Jack Elliott, violinist Scarlet Rivera, bassist Rob Stoner and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It mentions his comeback as "The Entertainer" in 1978 and his passage to the religion which have resulted in three albums of gospel and much criticism. Finally, drummer Winston Watson recounts the early days of the never ending tour in 1992, a tour that continues to this day. The main problem with this documentary is that it ignores the main Dylan albums during his career. The movie focuses instead on the milestone dates that have changed the course of his career, without really going deep into his music. Revealed is still a good documentary to get a general picture of the career of this living legend of folk. (June 2011)

Vinnie Vincent was a member of KISS for a short period in the early 1980s, following the departure of Ace Frehley. This DVD features rare interviews with the "Egyptian God". We can first see an interview with KISS on the Nightflight TV show, while the band was on tour following the release of the Creatures of the Night album (1982). We can see the interview as presented at the time (10 minutes), but also the full unedited version of 55 minutes in which we can hear everything that could be said between takes. The DVD also has a Vincent convention captured in the 1990s, following the release of a solo album that is completely gone unnoticed. Despite expectations that we can have about this DVD of rare material from Vinnie Vincent, the limited content on it quickly disappoints. For the biggest fans of KISS and Vinnie Vincent only. (September 2011)

This DVD presents 47 minutes of rare interviews and unseen footage of the extravagant New York band KISS. Among others, we can see raw footage of almost 15 minutes of the ceremony where they received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We can also see raw footage of close to 15 minutes of a tribute ​​to Peter Criss. This is complemented by a few short interviews with the band and with Gene Simmons doing various promotions. These rare images of the band may be interesting for their biggest fans. But, the fact there is no music by the band is making the DVD rather uninteresting for hardcore music lovers...

Pink Floyd has produced only three albums since its 1979 classic, The Wall, including one with Roger Waters, The Final Cut in 1983. It’s that Waters taking more and more room in the band, beginning in 1977 for the album Animals, frustration has mounted between the group members, especially between Waters and David Gilmour, the other creative force of the band. Gilmour has been virtually sidelined for Animals and The Wall (even if he offered the beautiful "Comfortably Numb") and The Final Cut was actually rather a Waters album than a Pink Floyd one. Following the official and indefinite departure of Roger Waters to pursue a solo career, Gilmour took over the adventure of Pink Floyd for two albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), in addition of making huge world tours. A meeting of Pink Floyd and Roger Waters has long been desired by fans, but aside from a few appearances together for a special performance or a charity, nothing could give the feeling that peace is back between Gilmour and Waters. It’s this long tumultuous journey going back to 1976-77 which is presented to us in this 83-minute documentary. Specialists analyze each album since then, along with the tensions that took place within the group. More importantly, we can see different excerpts from interviews with each member of the band, allowing us to hear their perceptions of the events seen from the inside. It’s therefore an excellent documentary to learn more about what happened to Pink Floyd over the past 35 years. (August 2011)

After the release of the excellent Nothing Personal album in 2009, the pop punk / emo band All Time Low has experienced great success on tour. The documentary found here presents an overview of this tour, as much on stage as backstage. We can also discover the history of the band, including interviews with their parents. The 76-minute documentary shows also several songs captured in concert in New York City in December 2009. On the other hand, the DVD contains this concert in its entirety, very well shot with an excellent sound performance. Finally, a CD containing the same concert is included. Therefore, it’s a beautiful gift that the group offers to its fans which will be able to learn a little more about their favorite band in addition to discover them in concert. (August 2010)

This 54-minute DVD presents a collection of rare and unseen interviews with David Bowie. He does a long distance interview with Russell Harty which is raising many difficult questions, even embarrassing. Bowie, intoxicated by alcohol, doesn’t know what to say in many occasions and seemed quite frustrated with that interview. Oddly, he finished by saying he loved that interview... The pacing of the DVD is a bit unusual going regularly from an interview from 1976 to another from 1999, with no consistency in the themes. There are a few excerpts, but by an imitator of Bowie, as they had no rights on the original songs. In addition, there are some errors: bad title written when you hear "Changes", interview footage coming back 2 times, and so on. It’s unfortunate that the document has been produced too quickly and is so cheap, because Bowie delivers facts we didn’t hear often from him, like his drug use and the days in Berlin. We can also see footage in rehearsal in the early 1980s. David Bowie fans can explore a little more about their favorite singer. But, Rare and Unseen is a DVD of very poor quality. (May 2011)

The legendary folk singer Leonard Cohen was recognized worldwide for over 40 years. Yet it is not easy to guess his musical influences. Compare him to Bob Dylan is nothing very surprising. But, when we learn that country artists like Hank Williams and Hank Snow were great influences, as well as the soul of Ray Charles, it catches our interest. This is what causes this documentary when they put under the microscope the different influences of Cohen, including poetry, which led him to offer his unique style of folk. We also learn that he was greatly influenced by French music, especially by the Belgian Jacques Brel. The documentary of 110 minutes is really going deep into the various influences of Cohen, so much so that it can seem stretched at times. They present and describe in such details some of his influences that they no longer speak about Cohen for many minutes, which can be necessarily annoying. Anyway, the documentary will offer many elements of interest to fans of Leonard Cohen, who may learn a lot about their favorite artist. (January 2011)

Between Dublin on March 18, 1972 and Jerusalem on April 21, Montreal’s poet Leonard Cohen presented a 20-city European tour. He was then at the top of his career after having released the classic albums Songs of Leonard Cohen (1968), Songs From a Room (1969) and Songs of Love and Hate (1971). This film by British director Tony Palmer is an impression of what happened during that tour, which also included among others the cities of London, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin and Tel Aviv. Whereas it was thought that it had been lost for a long time, the film was discovered in 2009 and was restored by Palmer so that it can be offered on DVD. The quality of sound and image is excellent considering when it was captured. We can hear 17 performances on stage, 4 poems and tour footage. Bird on a Wire gives a very good outline of that tour and the feelings of Cohen at the time. His fans will be quite simply pleased, and for the younger people who know him a little less, it will be an excellent starting point to discover this exceptional folk songwriter and performer. (October 2010)

Janis Joplin was quickly recognized as an exceptional singer. Regarded as the bad girl of blues, her moments of sadness and loneliness involved her towards dependence with alcohol and hard drugs. In April 1970, she decides to take her life in hand and she succeeds in giving up heroin. On the other hand, 6 months later, she will fall in it again which will cost her life. She gets from her drug dealer pure heroin at nearly 50% and she will die hardly an hour after having injected it, at 1:30 a.m. in the night of October 4, 1970. Final 24 is a series produced in Canada and diffused on television in 2007. This documentary of 48 minutes presents a dramatization of the last 24 hours in the life of Janis Joplin. In the first half, the many flashbacks presenting her life and her career make us wonder about the relevance of the topic of the documentary about the last hours of her life. But, we realize quickly that it’s important to have a good portrait of what occurred before to explain the last 24 hours. Well produced, the documentary presents in a beautiful way the life of Janis Joplin and the circumstances around her tragic death. (July 2010)

Even if they were always in the shade of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who, The Kinks were undoubtedly among the most influential bands of the modern era. They influenced as much britpop and new wave than punk rock and even metal. This 88-minute documentary presents a complete portrait of the English group through footage in concert, on TV or in videos. This footage offers sometimes the full song, even if in some occasions we can find narration covering it partly. Production is indeed one of the weak points of this DVD whereas we can hear only the beginning of a piece or that the narration reflects more or less what we hear in the back. On the other hand, in spite of these details sometimes disappointing, the documentary succeeds in well depicting the career of The Kinks which we can divide into 4 waves, until their stopped in 1996, even if the band never officially dissolved. (September 2010)

John Lennon was certainly one of the most significant celebrities of the 1960s (within The Beatles) and of the 1970s, until its assassination in 1980. This documentary presents rare interviews and other appearances on television. Most of them were only seen once or were never presented again since the early 1970s. One can also hear opinions of Phil Collins, Len Goodman and Tony Barrow. Among the most interesting elements, we can find the entire saga around John’s declaration about the fact that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus. We can see footage of the reactions that this declaration could cause in the population, particularly in the very religious south of the United States (the “Bible Belt”). They also talk a lot about his crusade for peace, as well as The Beatles’ split-up. Unfortunately, we cannot hear any music of John or The Beatles. It’s thus about a documentary which is exclusively for the biggest fans who will want to go a little deeper in the legend that John Lennon represents. (October 2010)

In the Final 24 series, which is doing a dramatization presenting the last hours of a celebrity, one can discover the last moments in the life of Keith Moon, drummer for the legendary British group The Who. A real party animal, Moon wasn’t missing any occasion to go out and have fun, alcohol being always a part of these delirious moments. Until this night of September 1978 when he was never again going to awake, following an evening of drinking way too much. Once again, the documentary, integrating a dramatization of the events, is very well produced. It succeeds in making us go in a beautiful way in the universe surrounding the character, and to even make us realize how important he was as a drummer in the history of music, having revolutionized the way of playing. (August 2010)

Here is the best documentary about the career of Muse to date. It presents in details their debut as teenagers in their hometown of Teignmouth, England, their influences combining classical music and metal. Thereafter, they go in every detail about their evolution on each one of their albums, whereas the trio succeeded in creating one of the largest scale sounds among the British bands of the latest years. The DVD includes rare performances and footage of interviews with the band. We can also find exclusive interviews, including one with their former manager, Safta Jaffrey. On the other hand, with 1 hour and 46 minutes, the main film will seem to be somewhat stretched for certain people less impassioned about Muse. It’s anyway an excellent way of discovering them. (May 2010)

In the early 1990s, the grunge sound came to put upside down the music industry thanks mainly to 4 bands from Seattle: Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Pearl Jam. Only one of them remains active today and is regarded as one of the best rock bands of the last 20 years, Pearl Jam. In this documentary of almost 90 minutes, we do a review of the full history of the group, from its genesis until today, while stopping on the most outstanding events of its career. Various interviews with experts, as with members of the band at various times, make it possible to discover their evolution during those years. The documentary is extremely well produced and it allows us to learn still a little more about our favorite band, or to discover it. It’s thus very interesting for the fans of Pearl Jam, as well as for the Seattle grunge fans. (December 2010)

Since its debut in the early 1990s, Rage Against The Machine is known like one of the most important protest bands of its generation. It’s what this documentary put in front while presenting before everything else the protest side of the group, sometimes eclipsing its music. They even go back in time until the first protest movements in the United States, the most important protest artists in history, and so on. During the first 30 minutes of the 106-minute documentary, we thus find ourselves to rather look at a documentary about protest artists than speaking about the band whose name is however on the cover of the DVD. This way of extending in length can be aggravating and is likely to annoy the fans of the group who won’t be patient while waiting to hear about their favorite band. On another side, the many details concerning the protest artists locate RATM in time and offer a very full portrait of this movement. The history of the band is also well covered with several music extracts. The documentary thus achieves perfectly its goal to present in details Rage Against The Machine, even if it could have been largely tightened. (March 2010)

Several fans of the Rolling Stones consider that the band reached the top of its career after 1969, that is to say after the arrival of Mick Taylor on guitar. It should be said that employment was filled until there by the band founder, Brian Jones, which constituted its first influence, but which was fired in June 1969 because of his personal problems. This one was going to be found dead a few weeks later in his swimming pool, opening the way to the newcomer among the Stones. The blues influences of Mick Taylor, who belonged to the Bluesbreakers of John Mayall, added a new dynamics to the group, in addition to making it grow on stage. The albums Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. constitute undoubtedly the best ones of the band’s career and Taylor will leave after It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll in December 1974. They are these 6 years of the Rolling Stones which we analyze in-depth in this documentary of 99 minutes. One can hear the comments of many experts, in addition to those of John Mayall and Mick Taylor himself. It’s quite interesting to discover these excellent years of the band which make the bridge between the 1960s and the 1970s. In bonus, John Mayall and the historian Alan Clayson tell us the story of Mick Taylor before his arrival inside the Rolling Stones. (December 2010)

The Rare and Unseen collection finds footage that was lost for years. In this case, we can discover interviews granted by the members of the Rolling Stones during their long career, as well as different images shot when they were traveling. Without really learning us something new, the 65-minute documentary presents some interesting elements showing us how the guys have evolved during all those years. The documentary can be an excellent complement to any collector of the Stones, but as there is no music by the band, music lovers will remain somewhat on their appetite. (August 2010)

Here is a box set including 2 DVDs presenting 2 documentaries previously issued about U2: Achtung Baby: A Classic Album Under Review (2007) and The Rebirth of Cool: U2 in the Third Millennium (2008). Both present how U2 was able to make an important turn into each decade, 1990 with the first and 2000 with the second. You can already read our review about Rebirth of Cool written in June 2009. For Achtung Baby, you will to discover an in-depth analysis of the album, track by track. Thanks to the comments of many experts, one can discover several new aspects about the album we didn’t think about until now. These 2 combined DVDs make it possible to realize how U2 point was skilful to do a sound reorientation at the beginning of the last decades. It thus remains to them to do the same in the 2010 decade. (October 2010)

The famous bass player of the British punk rock band Sex Pistols died in the controversy of a heroin overdose, a few hours only after being released from prison on bond. He had indeed been accused of the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. The heroin abuse he did that day, whereas his body was completely cleaned of it for a certain time, will have caused his loss. They are these last 24 hours which are analyzed here in the least details, with a dramatization of the events. On the other hand, where this DVD becomes interesting, it’s that it brings a new element which had not been revealed about that famous evening of February 1979. This element makes the light over the 2 last hours of his life that were not clear before that. Well documented and supported by testimonies of his friends that were present at the time of that last evening, this 52-minute film brings a lot of interesting information about the character and the thoughts which animated him throughout his last hours. This DVD is necessary for any fan of punk rock and the Sex Pistols. (September 2010)

Frank Zappa was one of the most important composers of the last 50 years. Influenced as much by classical, jazz and R&B, he was able to create a unique avant-garde rock sound, even if it was very difficult to access. Inside the cover of his first album with The Mothers of Invention in 1966, Freak Out!, he had announced his influences and never changed his opinion throughout his career. The main characteristic of that list was first that it included more obscure artists than known artists, then that he introduced artists of completely different genres, generally not fitting well together. This documentary of one hour and a half makes it possible to make an overview of the main influences of Frank Zappa and to understand how he could integrate all these various influences into his creative music. The documentary is particularly interesting when we consider that we are these years in a time which requires more than ever to mix the genres together to create completely original music. Zappa did it already 40 years ago, whereas the history of rock was however still quite young. Here is a documentary that is essential for any Zappa fan, but also for any music lover. The explanations can often seem very technical, but the film remains very interesting anyway. (June 2010)

During the last decade, more than 3.000 independent record stores had to close in the United States. The attitude of the major record labels and the supermarkets is the main cause of it. The appearance of the MP3 and the more important place of the Internet also make that the rising generation is unaware of this kind of specialized shop where we could find real jewels. The documentary of 77 minutes presents an excellent portrait of this declining industry, victim of new technologies and new ways of consuming music. We can hear interviews with huge fans of this type of shops: Ian Mackaye (Dischord Records, Fugazi, Minor Threat), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Lenny Kaye (The Patti Smith Group), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club), Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Pat Carney (The Black Keys), and several others. Everything makes us believe that perhaps the new life of vinyl records we could note in the last years will make it possible for the independent shops to survive and to even see the appearance of new ones. On the other hand, nothing is less sure, but the documentary is very interesting to present an important aspect of the last 40 years in the music industry. (July 2010)

Here is a DVD primarily for the real hardcore fans of The Beatles. You will find previously never seen footage (we have to say there is no sound over this footage), accompanied by comments made by different people who have met the band at the time. The interviewees include Phil Collins, Steve Harley, Norman "Hurricane" Smith, Colin Hanton (their first drummer), Ken Dodd, Tony Booth, Gerry Marsden, Sylvie Vartan, and others. Footage found from the past includes their 1st filmed presence on stage in Liverpool in 1962, the shooting of Help! in the Bahamas in 1965, the shooting of Magical Mystery Tour in 1967, footage from a performance at the Paris Olympia in 1964, as well as highlights of an interview by John Lennon for French television in 1975 (the only document including also audio). Interviewee’s comments can give us a different view about what is known of the band. On the other hand, the rare footage doesn’t provide much more. This documentary of about 1 hour is therefore definitely not for a large audience. (October 2009)

Here is a documentary about the Californian band Dengue Fever whose female singer, Chhom Nimol, is of Cambodian origin. The Khmer alternative rock group visits the country of origin of its singer giving the opportunity to the people that were persecuted for a long time to rediscover the music which made them vibrate in the 60s. As the musicians say themselves, the most impressive part in this voyage was to see the glances of pride and admiration in the eyes of those people in front of these foreigners who play the music of their youth. We can see some performances of the band on stage in TV shows and more. The DVD is accompanied by a CD containing the soundtrack for the documentary. This CD constitutes some kind of a compilation of what the group produced to date, in addition to a pair of rarities and some alternate and live versions. We find nothing less than 17 tracks of which several of great quality (“Seeing Hands”, “Today I Learnt To Drink”, and so on). The CD/DVD set of Sleepwalking Through the Mekong is an excellent way of discovering this unique band. (May 2009)

The British band Depeche Mode is undoubtedly the greatest electronic act in history, having begun 30 years ago, a few years only after the debut of this new music genre. This unauthorized documentary of 97 minutes presents in details the evolution of their career, from the happy beginnings musically to explorations a little darker, while passing by their industrial experiments. It also presents the beginnings of electronic music before the arrival of Depeche Mode, question of explaining the origins of the band. We can hear various musical extracts of the group, as of other artists who influenced them. So, here is a particularly interesting documentary to discover Depeche Mode or simply to learn a little more about their evolution. (July 2009)

Winston Watson was a drummer for Bob Dylan from 1992 to 1997 for approximately 400 concerts almost everywhere around the world. Throughout this tour, he took many notes and it’s what he presents us today in this documentary of 100 minutes. He tells us how he was hired initially and got on stage for the first time in a festival in Kansas City in front of 80,000 people without knowing what he would have to play. Then, it seems that this lack of communication was constantly a part of the entourage of Dylan throughout the following years. All that Watson had to do was to be there to play the evening of the show. In the beginning of the documentary, we are interested by what he has to tell us, but after a moment, this almost uninterrupted interview becomes rather wearying. It’s only cut by short animations on the DVD and some footage of Dylan in concert, without the sound. The only music heard on this is that of Highway 61 Revisited, about which they make a large place. The documentary enables us to discover another point of view of the character constituting Bob Dylan. On the other hand, only the biggest fans will be able to watch it until the end. (August 2009)

This pseudo-documentary, which wants to be the perfect companion to This Is It, presents unfortunately huge defaults. Firstly, the film assembles primarily a bunch of exclusive footage from the last days of the life of Michael Jackson, without really documenting anything. The excerpts of the best moments of the memorial paying respect to him are touching and illustrate well the impact that he had during his career. On the other hand, they are surrounded by unspecified comments from fans, without much interest. Most of the footage offered is not accompanied by narration and thus it doesn’t tell anything captivating. The most informative portions of the movie are excerpts from Entertainment Tonight. Jackson’s music is absolutely not heard and it never tells anything about his career and his life. So here is a document which seems very opportunistic, just to benefit from the interest around the death of the king of pop. (February 2010)

After the death of the King of pop on June 25, all has been said about him. His album sales have reached new heights and any available material about him finds a buyer. This behind-the-scenes documentary chronicles the criminal trial that had to face the singer in 2007 for sexual abuse and for which he later was acquitted of all charges. The 76-minute documentary presents essentially the undying support of fans swarming the courthouse during the trial to protest their hero’s innocence, as well as words of encouragement from various stars including Kanye West, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), Jon Voight, Ashford & Simpson, Jermaine Jackson, and so on. It attempts to discredit all the charges against him and clarify the more controversial sides of his personality. It also attempts after the trial to restore his reputation. Unfortunately, the documentary directed by Pearl Jr doesn’t tell much more about the trial or about Michael himself, everything having already been repeated dozens, or even hundreds of times in the media. One of the most touching moments of the documentary is probably the press conference where Michael announced his farewell tour in London, a series of concerts he would never make... This documentary containing no music of the King of pop, is exclusively for his most loyal fans which are always thirsty to know a little more about their idol. (September 2009)

Here's a 136-minute documentary presenting more than the career of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. Indeed, beginning with at least 30 minutes of presentation of the genre mixing punk rock and electronica, the DVD offers a complete history of industrial music, starting with Throbbing Gristle who probably invented the movement in the 1970s, to Ministry and Skinny Puppy on the metal side through electronic music by Depeche Mode on the pop side. Nine Inch Nails is somewhere between metal and pop with aggressive guitars and catchy melodies. This accessibility, which differentiates them from the founders of the genre, helped them to bring industrial music to another level in the 1990s, offering a sound for a wider audience. Through interviews with different specialists and some musicians, it’s the history of this group they detail here, showing us the importance that Nine Inch Nails could have had on the artists that followed. So here's a very good documentary to elaborate a little more on industrial music and learn more about Nine Inch Nails. (August 2009)

Lust for Life (not to confuse with his album of the same title issued in 1977) is a documentary about Iggy Pop produced in 1986. With a 41-minute duration, the short film explores in-depth the era of Iggy with The Stooges and we can even find a very interesting interview with Ron Asheton, guitarist and founder of The Stooges who died last January. We can hear various live extracts of Iggy Pop at different moments of his career, but the core of the documentary is an interview with Iggy in which he speaks about his influences, his motivations, and more. This is an interesting film, but which will only bring very few new elements to the fans of the first hour. (July 2009)

Here is a documentary about the greatest American band of the Sixties, The Beach Boys, the only group which could compete with the British Invasion leaded by The Beatles. We discover in details their rise to success, thanks mainly to the genius of Brian Wilson, whom we can hear besides in interview. We can also hear Don Was, Kenneth Anger, Greg Shaw and Kim Fowley. Where the documentary is different, it’s that it presents a dark side of The Beach Boys whereas the band was associated to Charles Manson. Dennis Wilson indeed became implied in a sect of Manson called The Family. The main problem of the documentary is that we lose the real main idea behind it after a certain time. The impressive rise of the group takes the advantage on the dark side which they seemed to want to put at the front, which is carrying somewhat to confusion. The other negative point of the DVD is that the documentary was produced for German television and we find considerable subtitles in that language. The documentary was released for the first time in 1997, but here is a new edition for those which would have missed it at the time. (April 2009)

The Beatles had their most creative period between 1966 and their split-up in 1970. During those years, the two main songwriters of the band, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, defied themselves constantly to write the best songs it was possible to create, at that time where the influences were more and more varied thanks to psychedelic and experimental music. Their close cooperation of the debut became only writing in parallel making it possible to easily differentiate the compositions from Paul of those of John, even if their two names were still appearing side by side as songwriters. It’s this creative force which they talk about with many details in this 112-minute documentary. Experts and friends come to give their point of view on the writing of these two geniuses through the albums of the group between Rubber Soul (1965) and Abbey Road (1969). We discover how much the Beatles became little by little Paul’s band because John brought less and less ideas and had other interests. Here is thus a very interesting DVD allowing us to know a little more about the real story behind the greatest band in pop music history. (June 2009)

In 1957, Paul McCartney met John Lennon and joined him within The Quarrymen. This collaboration was going to evolve to become the creative force behind The Beatles in 1962. After having most of all interpreted songs composed by others, the duet started to write, in team, some of the best songs of the British pop catalogue. On the other hand, starting in 1964 on the original soundtrack of A Hard Day’s Night, the 2 composers began to write by themselves before making the final arrangements together for the band. At that point in time, competition quickly settled between McCartney and Lennon which benefited from the occasion to challenge each other. Their different personalities and influences then created a duality in the music of The Beatles, which was going to increase in the second half of their career. This documentary goes with details through the first years of the career of The Beatles, the rather merry years, as much in the songs than within the group. These years reached the top with the Rubber Soul album, a record which makes perfectly the link between the first half of their career and their more intense and experimental period of the second half. The documentary presents comments and opinions of various specialists of The Beatles, journalists and friends, who allow us to go deeper in the first half of creation of the greatest band in history. The 80-minute DVD is really interesting and should please as well the many fans of the band and a younger generation which would like to know a little more about The Beatles. (September 2009)

The LOVE show by Cirque du Soleil, based on the music of The Beatles, is at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas since the summer of 2006. This mega-production consisted in reworking the musical tracks of the famous quartet and to make of it a circus extravaganza. Its success is huge, even if at first some purists were scandalized by the sacrilege that would be done in attacking the music of the greatest band in history. But where the problem is since the original idea came from George Harrison and that the project received the approval of the 2 remaining members, Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the widows Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono Lennon. Moreover, it’s the 5^th Beatle, Sir George Martin, and his son Giles who dealt with the musical reconstruction of the band’s work. This documentary presents the process of creation of this imposing show in company of director Dominic Champagne, founder of Cirque du Soleil Guy Laliberté, and all the team at Cirque. We can follow the various stages of the rehearsals with the occasional presence of The Beatles to give their approval and/or their comments. We can also see them at the premiere on June 30, 2006 whereas they seem completely pleased with the final result. The 84-minute documentary is supplemented by 3 other short documentaries in bonus. Quite as interesting, those present with more details the process of transformation of the music, the surround sound integration in the theatre built specifically for the show, as well as all that is surrounding the show (costumes, accessories, lightings, audio recordings, and more). In end of line, All Together Now presents sufficient extracts of the show and music of the band so that it’s entertaining and not only a bunch of interviews. It will be interesting as much for those who saw the show as for those who would like to go to Vegas to discover this unique production. (December 2008)

Here is a documentary presenting the memories of various witnesses of the shooting of the Magical Mystery Tour movie by The Beatles in 1967. We can hear anecdotes of people who were close to The Beatles at that time, including among others Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney, which contributed to the film. The narrator of the documentary is Victor Spinetti who played in the movie. This DVD makes it possible to discover many secrets behind the shooting of that film which was made to substitute a real tour, whereas The Beatles had decided to concentrate on their studio work. The 54-minute documentary is passably well done, even if we can unfortunately hear no music by The Beatles themselves, as well as extracts from the film. On the other hand, rare or never seen video footage and photographs can be discovered here, which can be particularly interesting for a hardcore fan of The Beatles. This is also an essential document for any collector, but a larger audience is likely to be rather indifferent to such documentary presenting a very precise time of the career of The Beatles. Extras adding up 20 minutes present other details of the interviews not retained for the documentary, but they are rather useless. Magical Mystery Tour Memories can be regarded as an interesting documentary, but non essential… (January 2009)

Here is a documentary of more than 2 hours treating of the most controversial era of Bob Dylan’s career. In 1978, religion became the center of his life and a trilogy of albums resulted from it, albums on which he literally preached the benefits to believe in God, separating definitively the saved from the damned. At that time, he certainly lost more fans than he gained some. In the Eighties, he was as lost as other musicians at that time, but nevertheless, he succeeded in offering a few interesting moments, with the culminating point being the album Oh Mercy. This documentary presents a great number of specialists or friends who were close to Dylan and which give us their point of view about this part of his career, tracing a final line with what he had made since his early years. We can hear some music extracts, but in fact, interviews primarily dominate this documentary. It will appear quite long to you whereas they review in details, often a little too much, each album during that period and Dylan’s state of mind. Moreover, we can hear in bonus interviews with Bob Dylan during his most fervent phase of Christianity. His fans (who remained faithful to him in spite of that very particular phase) will be very interested by what they will learn about that period while going very in-depth. The others will probably find the documentary too long and inaccessible and they will have problems to keep attention until the end. (August 2008)

In the mid-Seventies, nobody knew that there was an old wave of British heavy metal, until a new wave appeared. In parallel with the beginnings of the punk rock movement, new rock acts with heavy sounds, influenced by blues, rock n' roll or progressive rock made their appearance anywhere in England. This documentary presents in a particularly detailed way that important period in music history, whose sound is still reflected today through the music of a great number of rock and metal bands. The DVD insists especially on Iron Maiden, the group which dominated that new wave of British heavy metal during many years and which was the most successful throughout the world. But, the 2 hours and 25 minutes of the documentary go well beyond introducing Saxon, Samson (Bruce Dickinson’s first band, before becoming the most important Iron Maiden singer), Praying Mantis, Diamond Head and Tygers Of Pan Tang. They also talk about Judas Priest and Motörhead, as well as presenting how Def Leppard went from being an important band of that new wave to a powerful commercial hard rock act in America. The documentary concludes by showing how the new wave of British heavy metal was able to influence a whole generation of metal musicians in America, most of all Metallica. The documentary makes it possible to study in details that era of the history of music thanks to the comments of journalists and specialists, but also of several musicians of the time: Paul Di'Anno and Dennis Stratton (original members of Iron Maiden), Brian Tatler (Diamond Head), Rob Weir (Tygers Of Pan Tang), legendary drummer Thundersticks (Samson), Tino and Chris Troy (Praying Mantis), as well as the members of Girlschool. This very interesting documentary contains in bonus other extracts of interviews which come to add to a DVD that is already quite exhaustive. (December 2008)