Iggy Pop - Lust for Life

This film is relatively short at forty-one minutes but it makes up for the brevity with very interesting content. The footage was shot for Dutch television in 1986 and includes performances of "Lust for Life," "TV Eye," "China Girl" and "Real Wild Child." Iggy is in a good mood and animated as he explains how noise from his father's electric razor and a giant metal press inspired his early music and what he learned much later from being on David Bowie's tour to support Station to Station. Pop also talks about the Prime Movers and the Iguanas, groups he was in before the formation of the Stooges. Also included is some vintage footage of the singer speaking not quite coherently on a now long-defunct TV talk show. Late Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton is also featured prominently in the interview footage and he leads the camera to the house in Michigan where the Stooges once lived and notoriously took copious amounts of LSD.

Iron Butterfly - Concert and Documentary Europe 1997

Most people know Iron Butterfly only by their one hit---the lengthy and cryptic psychedelic bombast of "In A Gadda Da Vida." Even back in the group's heyday in the late '60s people primarily went to see Iron Butterfly concerts to hear that one song and consequently it was always performed at the end of the set. The same is true for this 1997 show where the crowd has to sit through snoozers like "Silent Screaming" and "Flowers and Beads" before getting to the seventeen-minute take on "In A Gadda Da Vida" complete with the extended drum solo. The group generally doesn't have a lot of stage presence so much of this film compensates with an overlay of psychedelic effects.

Jon Anderson - Tour of the Universe

This film is a bit unusual in that the concert that it documents was actually performed for satellite radio. It is also a one-man show, just Anderson and his guitars (and occasionally piano) so there is not a lot of action or play to the cameras. To make up for that the footage of each song is embellished in some way; with animation, stop-action photography, psychedelic effects and quirky overlays. Some of the visuals are very stimulating while others are nothing spectacular; Anderson's voice lilting out of the Surround Sound on the other hand will be satisfying to Yes fans as he performs chestnuts like "Your Move," "Yours Is No Disgrace," "Long Distance Runaround" and songs from his body of work with Vangelis. Interview segments feature Anderson talking about his spiritual beliefs and something called The Golden Mean.

Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention - In The 1960s

This is not a performance film but rather a documentary of the group's early years. There are lots of snippets of vintage footage but no commentary from the late guitarist and composer. Several surviving Mothers do comment though including Art Tripp, Bunk Gardner and Don Preston. The most interesting commentary comes from former Mothers drummer Jimmy Carl Black, his hang-dog looks and earthy manner of speaking adding to his often funny reminiscences. This one is for hard-core students of Zappa and rock historians only.

Kate Bush - Hounds of Love-A Classic Album Under Review