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Steve Hillage
Germany 77
(Voiceprint)

Recently featured in these very pages (more) Steve Hillage has overseen a pretty extensive reissue campaign of his solo work and this impressive live performance recorded for Germany’s Rockpalast TV show in 1977 is the latest offering. If truth be told Hillage was never the greatest of singers (sounding not unlike a reedy Syd Barrett) and not the most natural of front-men either, he was however a fine, hugely underrated, guitarist who used the instrument in an entirely different way to most of his peers, creating trance like raga’s alongside his trademark hypnotic glissandos (something he uses to spectacular effect nowadays in System 7 with his partner Miquette Giraudy, featured here on vocals and keyboards). Featuring a gnats chuff tight outfit put together by Hillage to play tracks from the Fish Rising, L and Motivation Radio albums, the virtuosity on show never tips over into the sort of improvised indulgence the more experimental bands of this era were all too prone to getting mired down in and exhibits flashes of sinewy funk altogether absent from most prog. The DVD also features three unseen performances and a recently recorded interview with Hillage and Giraudy.

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The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Live At Monterey: The Definitive Edition (Universal)

In the hallowed list of ‘legendary’ concerts – funny how the amount of people who insist they were there always far outstrips the actual crowd capacity for the show – this must easily qualify as one of the top ten shows any self respecting music fan would nick Marty McFly’s DeLorean to go back in time and catch, featuring performances by soon to be departed giants like Otis Reading, Janis Joplin and of course Jimi Hendrix, playing his first major US show after taking the UK by storm. Held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in California, this huge festival was planned by producer Lou Adler, John Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas, Beatles' publicist Derek Taylor and the festival board included members of The Beatles and The Beach Boys - Hendrix was in fact booked on the insistence of board member Paul McCartney. Featuring all of the existing film footage from this incendiary (in more ways than one) performance the footage has now been polished up and re-edited back to the original performance sequence with seriously buffed up sound and comes packaged with extras like multi camera angles, documentaries and very early footage (1967) of Hendrix playing in Chelmsford. In short a classic.

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Sammy & The Wabos
Livin' It Up! In St. Louis
(Sony/BMG)

Sammy Hagar has never really captured the imagination of audiences here in the UK known, if at all, for his stint as part of the, generally less well regarded, Van Halen MK II - with whom he parted company acrimoniously in 1996. Ask the vast majority of US rock fans about Hagar however and you will almost certainly get a full blown history of the ‘Red Rocker’ from his days in Montrose right on through his solo years and, given the career spanning set-list on offer during this 2006 St Louise concert, this will certainly appeal to those long term fans. It should be noted here that if you’re not a big fan of sexist, booze obsessed party animal rock shows then you’re not going to warm to Hagar, especially those of you who would find the prospect of a 60 year old lusting after bikini clad nubiles a bit crass, but in his defence if Jagger can do it why not Hagar, who was an unapologetic ‘rich rock star’ even before he had any money. Van Halen’s Michael Anthony joins his old mucker mid way through proceedings and there are also bonus video’s and an interview with the old rogue on offer.

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Hayseed Dixie
No Sleep ‘Til Liverpool
(Cooking Vinyl)

It’s not a new concept, lest we forget Dread Zeppelin or indeed the bloody Wurzels but what moves this beyond the grin-inducing idea of playing heavy metal classics in high speed bluegrass style (or as Barley Scotch, Reverend Don Wayne Reno and Co. would have it, rockgrass), is the fact Hayseed Dixie are a fearsome live prospect and wonderful cabaret for a drunken night out, although not for the easily offended – front man Scotch indulges in plenty of salacious mid song sex, drugs, rock and roll anecdotage. Indeed if proof were needed that Hayseed Dixie actually play like, erm, rattlesnakes all liquored up on corn moonshine (or something) head straight for ‘Banjo Signal’, Blind Beggar Breakdown’ or ‘Duelling Banjos’ fast and furious bluegrass clatter one and all, which entertain the crowd equally as much as the jaunty versions of Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ Motorhead’s ‘Ace Of Spades’ or AC/DC’s ‘Highway To Hell’. Whether they ultimately just become a Tennessee version of the HeeBeeGeeBees or can morph into something with a touch more longevity remains to be seen, but for the present this is as good a document of a cracking night out as you are likely to find.

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High Tech Soul
The Creation Of Techno Music
(Plexi Film)

Tracing the genres roots from the urban areas of Detroit – the name comes from the techno rebels in Alvin Toflers Futureshock by the way – the story of techno IS the story of Detroit, created by the holy trinity of four to the floor beats Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson (who themselves sourced their material from Kraftwerk, Gorgio Moroder Depeche Mode and the house scene in Chicago). What makes the story of techno of particular interest to us in Europe is the fact that it may have been born in Detroit but it certainly didn’t take off in America, as the abiding scenes in the UK, Germany and Italy continue to pay testament. As is often the case in history there is always someone who feels the story was written without their permission and in this case it’s Eddie Fowlkes who is obviously still mightily pissed off at being left out but to the directors credit he is given plenty of room here to speak his piece alongside all three originators and many that followed including Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin, Jeff Mills, Kenny Larkin, Underground Resistance a positive who' who of techno in fact, right up to present day clatter-some bods like Matthew Dear.

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PJ Harvey
On Tour – Please Leave Quietly
(Island)

Filmed during her Uh Huh Her tour in 2004 from numerous angles (and at numerous shows), disjointedly inter-cut with, troublesome soundchecks, road footage and shakily recorded soundbites – Polly at one point admits to hating live DVD’s and wanting this to be a patchwork quilt of what life on the road is actually like – the first PJ Harvey DVD is as quirky, awkward and wilful as the artist herself. That said, and inasmuch as it’s possible to really convey just what it’s like touring for weeks on end in an hour or so Please Leave Quietly actually does a pretty good job, even more importantly it also captures a little of the live Peej magic, aided no end by spellbinding guitarist Josh Klinghoffer who careers around the stage dementedly, stumbling blindly into gear, other band members and, more often than not, the floor. Harvey has never allowed herself to be packaged, styled or shaped in any way, the skinny knock-need angular waif-like Minnie Mouse in garish stilettos look modelled here entirely her own creation, her singular approach touched on in a revealing and equally disjointed interview. Ungainly, contrary and perverse this is nonetheless a worthy addition to a singular performers fine body of work.

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Bill Hicks
Sane Man
(Rykodisc)

The first filmed document of a complete Bill Hicks performance Sane Man was shot in 1989 – well before he recorded his first comedy album – the newly alcohol free Hicks is in fine fettle, pacing the stage rattling off scattershot barbs, gleefully delving into drugs, pornography, politics, Elvis and hypocrisy in general. Originally released with dismal sound and vision – and a laugh track, god help us – director Kevin Booth, having finally cobbled together a decent studio in his home, revisited the material to work on a ‘cleaned up’ version (that’s cleaned up sound and vision, not language in case you’re worried), and what a massive improvement it is, one can only assume the previous effort was edited on an old malfunctioning VHS recorder because the difference is enormous. In addition this version of Sane Man includes plenty of extras and half-hour of footage that was edited out of the original release, footage that really should never have been removed. If you already own Relentless (1992) and Revelations (1994) then you will definitely want to complete the set, but if you are a Hicks newbie then this is by far the best place to begin, just don’t expect an easy ride, Hicks didn’t do easy.

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Jimi Hendrix
A Film About Jimi Hendrix
(Warner Home Video)

There are those at TotalMusic-Online Towers who, when not being overly defensive about bald patches and beer guts, will cheerfully admit to having seen this at the local Odeon when it was first released almost thirty five years ago. Of course any film made so soon after the mans untimely demise was unlikely to be anything other than a wild celebration (if you’re looking for the darker side of the Hendrix story you won’t find it here), but the intervening years have done little to dull the sheen of this musical genius. His was a seismic shift in the art of guitar playing, an entirely new, visceral, sexy, barely contained noise unlike anything heard before and, reassuringly enough, still incredibly difficult to fathom today. Extras (almost 1 ½ hours of ‘em spread over disc two) come in the form of another documentary entitled ‘From The Ukulele To The Strat’ which, whilst it seems to have been pretty much compiled he original movie, is nonetheless also well worth a squizz, and two great extra live recordings, 'Machine Gun' with the Band Of Gypsies (’69) and a newly unearthed clatter through 'Stone Free' at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1970.

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Billie Holiday
The Ultimate Collection
(Universal)

It’s not that often you find rare radio performances (five in all) included as part of a DVD release, but when the artist in question's film and television performances are as rare as Dodo soup then any new material is very welcome and the lack of visual accompaniment, save song-writing credits, can be forgiven. The visual performances themselves, all eight of them, are fascinating performances (if a bit grainy in both the sound and vision Dept.) - and also include a couple of great clips of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith. The whole package is then rounded off with a series of extras including a fascinating timeline, some rarely seen photos, two audio interview segments, one with Holiday and one a series of illuminating chats with her producer, friends and band-mates. There is also an audio rehearsal of Jeepers Creepers with Jimmy Rowles in 1955 and Holidays full recording history, making this not just one for the fans but also an excellent starting point for those keen to investigate this talented, but tragically doomed, human being.

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Hootie & The Blowfish
Summer Camp With Trucks
(Warner Music Vision)

It’s hard to fathom just why Hootie & The Blowfish have failed to really ignite in the UK (leaving aside for the moment the utterly ludicrous name they chose to lumber themselves with), The Finn Brothers are held in high esteem by the grown up music press without any noticeably superior song-writing skills, and certainly there’s nothing to distinguish the last REM album from Musical Chairs (in fact Stipe and Co’s effort was probably the inferior of the two). It seems H&TB are now adrift in that strange, permanently uncool, dead sea populated by hugely popular but critically derided bands like the Saw Doctors, The Levellers and Matchbox 20, a position which certainly bears no relation to the music they make, which on the whole is expertly crafted grown up rock – and, in Darius Rucker, they are blessed with a vocalist possessed of an exceedingly fine set of tonsils. Perhaps it’s the ‘nice guy’ image (something our Ed can attest to having apparently ‘spent a very pleasant evening with them trawling around Beatles haunts in Liverpool several years ago’), whatever the reasons why not ignore the anti-hype and check out this live show, collection of videos and documentary and make up your own mind

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The Jeff Healey Band
Live At Montreux
(Eagle Vision)

Lord knows most of us of a certain age, at one time or another, has spent the night enduring a bog standard blues outfit plodding through the standards with all the aplomb and flare of a wardrobe falling down a hill, ending the evening swearing that the blues is dead and offering to do harm to the next bugger that threatenes to play Hoochie Coochie Man. Then you watch Jeff Healey, blind since the age of one, owner of a vocal wail way too bluesy for a white boy and purveyor of the most cack handed lap playing blues style you are ever likely to see and (of course) realise that the blues is only as mundane as the people that play it. Healey is a total blast, funny, enthusiastic, inspirational, occasionally prone to dancing like a loon – with seemingly no fear of crashing into something, or someone – and possibly the finest young blues player since the sad demise of Stevie Ray Vaughan. If Eric Clapton was half as good as Jeff Healey he might be able to do the blues he loves so much some justice. Sadly he ain’t. Happily Jeff Healey is.

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Steve Hackett
Once Above A Time
(Eagle Vision)

Of all the Genesis old boys Steve Hackett has found the most difficulty in securing a new audience, with neither the artistic flair or Gabriel, the pop suss of Collins or the middle of the road charm of Mike & The Mechanics, he has struggled to step beyond those old Genesis hardliners who felt the band ‘went a bit crap’ after Phil Collins took the reins. And judging by this live set recorded in Budapest that is a crying shame because despite Hackett and Co.’s more or less static stage schtick the music is astonishingly accomplished and, perhaps unsurprisingly, not unlike a jazzier version of early Genesis. OK things do noodle on occasion and Hackett’s voice can best be described as bland but his guitar playing is hugely accomplished and the ‘none-more-prog’ arrangements consistently leave you wrong footed as they veer off down yet another unseen path lobbing convoluted time changes into the path of unsuspecting listeners and generally doing their best to unseat the unwary passenger. In these says of bands like the Mars Volta making ‘prog’ less of a dirty word and outfits like Tool name-checking the aforementioned King Crimson perhaps Hackett is also now due a reappraisal.

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Ian Hunter
Strings Attached
(Universal)

Recorded live in Oslo early in January 2002 Tracie Hunters old man (see this months magazine for more on the divine Ms H), takes to the stage with one of the best bands he’s had in a very long time and then ices the cake by adding the Trondheimsolistene strings. Now it’s probably only fair we nail our colours to the mast here but we are particularly fond of the irascible Mr Hunter hereabouts, and whilst you may be of the belief that he has done little since ‘Roll Away The Stone’ Once Bitten Twice Shy’ and ‘Saturday Gigs’ (all here), you would be dead wrong, and whilst it’s true to say his output has been much lower key (i.e. it hasn’t sold as much) but it has been no less impressive, better in some cases – for evidence of this just listen to later works like ‘23A Swan Hill’ and ‘Michael Picasso’. Things don’t always gel – ‘All The Way From Memphis’ needs strings like a snail needs rollerblades – but overall this is a great performance and the string laden version of ‘All The Young Dudes’ is real goosebump territory. Go on, find out how good Ian Hunter still is, you won’t be disappointed.

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