Neil Young

The Last Waltz

Twenty-five years ago on Thanksgiving Day 1976 five thousand cheering fans gathered for the historic farewell concert of "The Band". In Martin Scorsese's "brilliant" (Newsweek) film superstars Eric Clapton Joni Mitchell Neil Young and Van Morrison join the musicians on-stage along with one-time collaborator Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr in an unforgettable finale.System Requirements:Running Time: 117 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2002 MGM Studios. Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS Rating: PG UPC: 027616875754 Manufacturer No: 1003426

Martin Scorsese's 1978 capsule history of the Band is mixed with footage of the group's allegedly last performance (certainly their last performance as a quintet) in this particularly stylish concert film. Scorsese shoots the players and their sundry guests with the same flair and enthusiasm one can see in the later The Color of Money or Goodfellas. He also proves a good interviewer with Band members, particularly Robbie Robertson, whose sleepy-sexy good looks make a star-caliber impression in close-up. But the film's real hook is the stage show, which features a rotation of rock legends (Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Paul Butterfield, Bob Dylan, and so on) playing with the Band before a wildly appreciative audience. --Tom Keogh

The Johnny Cash Show: The Best of Johnny Cash 1969-1971

From the summer of 1969 to the final show in March of 1971 (58 episodes in all) The Johnny Cash TV Show not only exposed an American audience to an eclectic array of musical talent but also helped establish Johnny Cash as a true artist humanitarian and a larger-than-life legend. The 66 performances contained on this new Best-Of DVD showcase the spectrum of incredible performers that Johnny hand-picked to be on his show many for their first network appearance. So "come along and ride this train" - the train that Cash envisioned for us all - every week on The Johnny Cash TV Show and now for generations to come.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS UPC: 886970402699

Country and rock 'n' roll legend Johnny Cash hosted his own variety television series from the summer of 1969 to spring 1971, and by all accounts the weekly program was destination TV. The Johnny Cash Show: The Best of Johnny Cash 1969-1971 is an 83-minute summary of everything Cash tried to do in his hourlong format, from presenting an eclectic and even-handed overview of popular music to promoting a humanitarian perspective on issues that mattered most to him: drug use, poverty, reliance on faith, compassion for criminals.

This DVD documentary is largely comprised of musical performances by Cash and some of the many guests who appeared on his show. But there are also snippets of interviews with behind-the-camera talent involved with the program as well as such old friends as Kris Kristofferson and Hank Williams Jr. Everyone speaks highly of Cash's warm, on-camera persona, and selected footage proves them right: Cash is ever the gentleman with an expansive spirit and down-to-earth grit. Musical highlights include Cash's own "I Walk the Line" and "Man In Black," Bob Dylan's straightforward "I Threw It All Away," Loretta Lynn's "I Know How," and a delightful George Jones medley. Ray Charles takes a bluesy spin on "Ring of Fire," Cash's fellow Sun Records artists Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison take turns in the spotlight, Neil Young brings the crowd to its feet with an amazing "The Needle and the Damage Done," and Eric Clapton (fronting Derek and the Dominos) turns in a passionate "It's Too Late." --Tom Keogh

Neil Young - Heart of Gold

"I just want to play well, share the stage with my friends, give the best I can," says Neil Young before the concert that is the centerpiece of Heart of Gold. No problem, dude. Working with filmmaker Jonathan Demme, Young has come up with a gem--not all flash and bling-bling, but as understated as a single pearl, musically restrained yet emotionally open. Of course, neither Demme (an Oscar winner for The Silence of the Lambs; he also helmed Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense) nor Young would call it "a concert film"; the director describes it as "a dream concert, something that's literally being dreamt by Neil," while the singer-songwriter himself calls it "a multi-level story." Whatever, the project came together in 2005, as Young was finishing his Prairie Wind album (the latest in a string of lovely, country-flavored acoustic recordings dating back to 1972's Harvest) and preparing to debut the music at Nashville's fabled Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Ole Opry. The fact that Young had also recently experienced a brain aneurysm might or might not have influenced his decision to film the show, but it certainly seems to have had an effect on the music. He and his band (which, with the addition of horns, strings, and backup singers, including Emmylou Harris, occasionally numbers forty or more musicians) perform Prairie Wind in its entirety, and there is some deeply moving, highly personal material here; in addition to the gospel-tinged "When God Made Me" and the dirge-like "No Wonder," Young sings about his recently-deceased father (the title song), his newly adult daughter ("Here for You"), the guitar he plays that once belonged to Hank Williams ("This Old Guitar"), and even his dog ("He Was the King"). Demme's direction is ideal for conveying the music's restrained acoustic textures, rich backing vocals, and simple, elegant melodies. Shots are held much longer than is usual in such films, and while there are lots of close-ups, there are no gimmicks. This superb DVD package is filled out by a second disc of bonus features, including a variety of featurettes and a solo performance of "The Needle and the Damage Done" from The Johnny Cash Show in 1971. --Sam Graham

Academy-award winning director Jonathan Demme beautifully captures Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legend, Neil Young as he prepares and presents the performance of a lifetime with the help of his wife Peggi and friends country star Emmylou Harris, steel guitarist Ben Keith and more at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.

The Last Waltz [Blu-ray]

Martin Scorsese's 1978 capsule history of the Band is mixed with footage of the group's allegedly last performance (certainly their last performance as a quintet) in this particularly stylish concert film. Scorsese shoots the players and their sundry guests with the same flair and enthusiasm one can see in the later The Color of Money or Goodfellas. He also proves a good interviewer with Band members, particularly Robbie Robertson, whose sleepy-sexy good looks make a star-caliber impression in close-up. But the film's real hook is the stage show, which features a rotation of rock legends (Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Paul Butterfield, Bob Dylan, and so on) playing with the Band before a wildly appreciative audience. --Tom Keogh

It started as a concert. It became a celebration. Join an unparalleled lineup of rock superstars asthey celebrate The Band's historic 1976 farewell performance. Directed by Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, Goodfellas), The Last Waltz is not only "the most beautiful rock film evermade" (New York Times) it's "one of the most important cultural events of the last two decades" (Rolling Stone)!

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps - The Concert Film

Neil Young's 1978 concert tour, documented in this acclaimed two-hour film that was directed by Young himself (using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey), is a treat for the singer-songwriter's fans. The concept of the show is high (for Young, anyway), if rather odd: roadies (here called "Road Eyes") decked out like the Tusken Raiders from Star Wars, stage announcements from the original Woodstock during set changes, and giant amps, microphones, and so on for an "Incredible Shrinking Man" effect. Of course, it's the music that counts, and there's plenty of that, what with nearly 20 songs (including two versions of "Hey Hey, My My," his nod to the punk movement), acoustic and electric (with longtime companions Crazy Horse), dating back to his Buffalo Springfield days ("I Am a Child") and continuing through popular solo numbers like "Cinnamon Girl" and the extended "Like a Hurricane." DVD bonus material includes photos and song lyrics. --Sam Graham

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Long Time Comin'

Long Time Comin' is the never-before-released DVD documentary of CSN's unforgettable 30-plus years together with a nostalgic musical and visual retrospective. Features include rare TV appearances, recording sessions, revealing interviews and exciting concert footage that span their entire career.

Track Listing:
Long Time Gone
Marrakesh Express
Woodstock
4+20
Mr. Tambourine Man
Carrie Anne
For What It's Worth
Helplessly Hoping
Teach Your Children
You Don't Have To Cry
Down By The River
Wooden Ships
Black Queen
Find the Cost of Freedom
To the Last Whale...
Just A Song Before I Go
Dark Star
Wasted on the Way
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Carry On

Neil Young - Red Rocks Live / Friends + Relatives (DVD)

Recorded live at Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Morrison, Colorodo on September 19-20, 2000. Songs include: Motorcycle Mama, Powderfinger, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, I Believe In You, Unknown Legend, Fool For Your Love, Buffalo Springfield Again, Razor Love, Daddy Went Walkin', Peace Of Mind, Walk On, Winterlong, Bad Fog of Loneliness, Words, Harvest Moon, World On A String, Tonight's The Night, Cowgirl In The Sand, Mellow My Mind.

Neil Young - Silver & Gold

If you live long enough with a rock & roll heart, you find that dreams occasionally come true. One of the oldest dreams for many Neil Young fans has been that the prodigious folk-rocker would somehow find his way back--even once--to the youthful, bruised majesty of his epochal 1970 album, After the Gold Rush. Silver & Gold comes very close to evoking the same dreamy suggestiveness as that first solo masterpiece in Young's long career, but, for obvious reasons, from an autumnal perspective.

A video companion to the CD of the same name, Silver & Gold is actually a longer, fuller experience of Young's stirring acoustic concerts than the album represents. The hushed intimacy of Young's playing and singing, sans backup, in such a setting can be unforgettable, and this widescreen presentation captures that delicate beauty.

While the play list has its share of familiar gems, the emphasis is on a group of thematically and musically related songs Young had been arranging just prior to the CSNY reunion. Among them are gentle, double-edged reflections on childhood ("Daddy Went Walkin'"), elemental odes to mature love ("Silver & Gold"), and richly imagistic allusions to loss and rediscovered innocence. These and a number of other new titles are largely of a piece, 30 years later, with After the Gold Rush and its blend of melancholy stateliness, crosscurrents of pure emotion, and touches of the mystical. The difference is in the experience of time: After the Gold Rush confirms the shifting, glorious colors of a sensitive young man's constant immediacy, while the new material on Silver & Gold blurs all boundaries between past and present.

Young doesn't fail to stoke our affection with his absent-minded strolls and sloppy prepping of his instruments, but his emotional concentration on standards such as "City of Brotherly Love," "Harvest Moon," and "Long May You Run" (played on pipe organ and sounding like the church hymn it was meant to be) is something to behold. --Tom Keogh

In Berlin

Neil Young has never been one to eschew change, and this 1983 concert certainly found him in a transitional mode. Recently signed to Geffen Records (who would later sue him for producing work they deemed insufficiently commercial), he had released Trans, an album that, with its computerized tracks and electronically altered vocals, remains one of the oddest (and more underrated) in his entire catalog. He was also touring with a band drawn from virtually all phases of his career, with bassist Bruce Palmer (from the Buffalo Springfield), drummer Ralph Molina (from Crazy Horse), guitarist Nils Lofgren (a longtime Young henchman before he joined Bruce Springsteen's group), steel guitarist/keyboardist Ben Keith (a Young accompanist to this very day), and others.

Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (whose many other credits include the Rolling Stones' Rock and Roll Circus), the concert itself is also an eclectic mix, with classic rockers ("Cinnamon Girl," "Like a Hurricane," a rousing "Hey Hey My My") balanced by three Trans selections and a mostly acoustic interlude featuring "Old Man," "The Needle and the Damage Done," and "After the Goldrush." There's even a brand new (at the time, at least) tune named after the host city. The German audience eats up every second of it, and despite the lack of bonus features, Young fans are likely to enjoy this DVD as well. And with good reason: Neil Young in Berlin is undoubtedly one of the more interesting documents from a fascinating musical life. --Sam Graham

This DVD captures the last show of Young's European tour. The Berlin show features the Trans Band, comprising Ralph Molina, Ben Keith, Joe Lala, Bruce Palmer, and Nils Lofgren, and consists of ten songs, including the classics "Old Man" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." Other songs performed include: Cinnamon Girl * Hey, Hey, My, My * Computer Age * Little Thing Called Love * After the Gold Rush * Transformer Man * Sample and Hold * Hurricane Berlin. ?

George Harrison - Dark Horse Years 1976-1992

Following its exclusive release as part of the George Harrison Dark Horse box set earlier this year, The Dark Horse Years 1979-1992 DVD will be issued as a stand-alone release on November 2. Content is identical to the box set version (details below), but the standalone DVD will be packaged in an amaray case with deluxe 28 page booklet with a new cover shot featuring the black and white picture of George used on the box launch ads. This contains the extensive liner notes by David Fricke, accompanied by a great selection of photographs, illustrations and press cuttings. Olivia Harrison has contributed a short history of Dark Horse records and further notes about the Dark Horse Logo itself.