With its proceeds split between Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam America, next week's release of Waxploitation Records' Darfur benefit CD is worth searching for. Causes 1 is the first of a proposed series of CDs, available on iTunes for 90 days and available as a limited-edition physical CD directly from the label's site.
Why the three-month rush to wrap up the sales? As label founder Jeff Antebi explains, "These non-profits need help there now." Fourteen tracks were contributed to the effort from a topnotch list of participants, including Thievery Corporation, Bloc Party, and Travis - turning in a cover of John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth." Other exclusive live versions and sessions come from The Black Keys, David Sylvian, Bright Eyes, The Cure, Animal Collective, and Death Cab For Cutie - covering Julian Cope's "World Shut Your Mouth."
Long awaited in the DVD format, Nirvana's 1993 MTV Unplugged performance hits store shelves this week. Like the 1994 CD release, the DVD will feature 22 minutes not originally broadcast by MTV, as well as bonus sound checks and backstage antics.
Taking the DVD medium to a new level in interactive choices and high-end quality is AIX Records and its "collectors' edition" series. Carving out a niche as a creator of high-definition-video/5.1-channel-audio DVDs, the label's John Gorka: The Gypsy Life offers two discs in a gorgeous slipcase design. Featuring interviews, confessions, rehearsals, and live footage from the McCabe's Guitar Shop stage (with fretless bassist wizard Michael Manring), the double-sided discs offer four different audio/video choices to enjoy the set.
Neil Young is the subject of a new "independent critical analysis" documentary, Under Review 1976-2006, from the UK's Sexy Intellectual imprint. The producers of the film may not have had Young's blessing, but the result holds a lot of love and respect for the man. Album by album, and era by era, some of the biggest names in rock criticism offer their insights backed by rare live footage and photographs, from the Village Voice's Robert Christgua and BAM magazine's Dave Zimmer to biography authors Johnny Rogan and John Einarson. One bonus feature rates your knowledge, calling itself "the hardest Neil Young interactive quiz in the world."
One of the most fascinating artist profiles of another creative icon has just been released in an expanded reissue. Told through the anecdotes and memories of peers, managers, girlfriends, and the band members themselves, The Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story includes a bonus disc in the new edition, featuring the full, unedited interviews from the original film, and extremely up-close sessions with fans Graham Coxon of Blur performing Barrett's "Love You," and psychedelic son Robyn Hitchcock covering "Dominoes" and "It Is Obvious."
Back in 1981, Queen were one of the first bands to capture an evening's entire performance on 35-millimeter film, the results of which now make up Queen Rock Montreal, using the best of today's technology to wring every note and emotion from the master tapes. Scheduled for a Blu-Ray release this month, and also available in a two-DVD set with bonus Live Aid footage from 1985, the concert features a new commentary track by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor.
This week Brink Video offers up a DVD tribute to that particular guitar tonality in Fuzz: The Sound That Changed the World. Guitar players from Billy Gibbons and J. Mascis to Jon Spencer and Wolfmother's Chris Ross show their love for the little distortion box that makes it all happen, alongside studio recording secrets and a look at the pedal's new life in the former Soviet Union.
If funk's more your flavor, check out Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth, a new DVD from MVD Visual that documents the talented keyboardist who joined the Washington Symphony Orchestra at age 10 and later became the backbone for a variety of associates including Parliament Funkadelic and the Talking Heads. Highlighted guests on the disc include guitarist Warren Haynes on "Killer Mosquito" and guests Will Calhoun of Living Coulour and Regina Spektor bassist Brett Bass.
Television Alert:
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno hosts Nelly Furtado on Thursday and Barry Manilow on Friday; The Late Show with David Letterman presents John Mayer on Thursday and Yellowcard on Friday; Late Night with Conan O'Brien boasts Rouge Wave on Thursday and Ben Harper on Friday overnight; The Ellen DeGeneres Show gets chummy with Alicia Keys on Friday; and Larry King Live matches wits with Gene Simmons of Kiss this weekend.
New Releases Coming Tuesday, November 27:
All Angels - Into Paradise (Universal) import-only, featuring the quartet's classical-meets-pop cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U"
Blue Scholars - Bayani (Rawkus/Massline) old-school hip-hop from MC Geologic and DJ Sabzi, featuring a bonus instrumental CD in the first pressing
Carbonas - Carbonas (Goner) hyper-kinetic pub punk by these Atlanta sons in the possessed old-school electricity of 999, The Undertones, Eater, and GBH
Common - Thisisme Then: The Best of (Relativity/Legacy) featuring four bonus videos
Sheryl Crow - Hits & Rarities (Universal) import-only, two-CD set with covers of Guns 'N Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Eric Carman's "All by Myself"
Genesis - Live Over Europe (Virgin) two-CD set recorded earlier this year during the group's Turn It On Again Tour
PJ Harvey - "The Piano" (Island/Universal) import-only seven-inch and CD single, featuring a rare B side from 1988
Mudvayne - By the People ... For the People (Epic) rarities-and-demos collection crafted by fans who voted for the song list, boasting a new cover of The Police hit "King of Pain" and two new tracks
Polkadot Cadaver - Purgatory Dance Party (Rotten Records) all new from three former members of Dog Fashion Disco, crafting a schizophrenic mental musical that alternating between bright acoustic pop, headbanging riffs, and itchy EBN-OZN-meets-Mr. Bungle wiggles
Robert Pollard - "Count Us in" (Happy Jack Rock Records) the sixth in the limited-edition series of seven-inch singles, backed by the John Shough version of "Sixland"
The Rumble Strips - "Alarm Clock" (Kanine) knockout new CD EP from the pump-up-the-brass Brit quartet that would have made fantastic tour mates with The Clash and The Pogues back in '84, featuring a must-hear, "funky matador" cover of Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town"
The Successful Failures - Ripe for the Burning (FDR Label) catchy, rambunctiously coy power pop from New Jersey with a country-rock backbeat
Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds: Deluxe Edition (Jive) expanded reissue featuring a new recording of "Until the End of Time" with Beyoncé
T.H. White - The Private Spotlight (Sky Council Records)
various artists - Conquer the World: The Lost Soul of Philadelphia (Philadelphia International/Legacy) rare '70s soul with The Soul Devaliants, Ruth McFadden, Bunny Sigler, and Pat & the Blenders
