Queen - Days of Our Lives (Blu-ray)

If you're wondering how this amazing documentary does with the story of Queen. Hey, it's a kind of magic.Queen is, and will always be one of the best hard rock bands of all time.  Yeah, they had some off periods, but who hasn't.  They are one of those seminal bands that have shaped the music we listen to today.  As you all know, I'm a huge rock doc guy, and when one comes that blows me away, I will get on my soap box and scream to the heavens as to how awesome it is.  The latest rock doc to catch my eye is the very in depth Queen - Days of Our Lives documentary.  Originally aired on the BBC in a two part series, it is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. 

Days of Our Lives is a very comprehensive look at the band that is Queen.  The DVD takes you from the beginning, when the band formed, all the way through to the Paul Rogers era.  There is tons of great concert and archived footage of the band through their existence, with the late great Freddy Mercury.  There is lot of archived interviews, mixed in with current interviews with Roger Taylor and Brian May.  As many core Queen fans know, original bassist John Deacon, has retired since the death of Freddy Mercury, for the most part, only appearing with band twice since Mercury's passing in 1991.  This is a great DVD which dives deep into the band and gives you the full scoop.  And if that isn't enough there are some great bonus features.  If you love or even like Queen, this is a must.

Bottom Line:  An in depth look at one of the great hard rock bands ever.  A must for any Queen fan.

-Ragman was blown away by this doc.

Podcast #133: Tattoo

The erstwhile Aussies of Strange Karma have been hitting the West Coast hard for a while now, and it's starting to pay off with some buzz.How geeked are you that VH is back? "A lot!" Maybe, but will they be able to keep things going? Join Genghis and Ragman as they talk about Van Halen’s upcoming CD, A Different Kind of Truth, and the subsequent tour. The boys also take you through some of their favorite Van Halen tunes as well as what they think of the first single, Tattoo. Next, the boys go down under for their interview with Strange Karma guitarist, Paul Strange, who discusses the band’s debut CD and the challenges of breaking out of Australia. HORNS UP!

DVD of the Show: Van Halen - Live in Buenos Aries

Beer of the Show: Traditional Blond Ale (Omer.)
	Presentation: 3.0 Alcohol: 3.5 Taste: 3.5 Drinkability: 3.5 Overall: 3.5	"You just gotta love those Belgian style ales, and this one does a nice job of being light, but offering a wealth of complexity. Nice work, Omer."

Featured Tracks: Van Halen - Hear About it Later, House of Pain, Little Guitars, Where Have All the Good Times Gone; AC/DC - Ride On; ZZ Top - Brown Sugar; Van Halen - Poundcake, Outta love again, Best of Both Worlds; White Lion - Wait; Winger - Seventeen; Van Halen - Tattoo, Dirty Movies; Strange Karma - Time, Down and Out, America, Indian Sun, and Harder than a Stone

Classic of the Show: Roxy Blue - Rob the Cradle

Ragman Pick of the Show: Steel Panther - Just Like Tiger Woods

Genghis Pick of the Show: Van Halen - Somebody Get Me a Doctor

- Ragman is biding his time until Tuesday (time will tell if it's worth it)...

Podcast #133: Tattoo

A Serbian Film

After Hostel ushered in the torture porn craze, you'd think we've seen it all by now. Not really.I think I've just seen one of the most disturbing movies of my life.  Seriously, I've seen some heavy duty stuff before, but I don't believe anything tops A Serbian Film.  In the vein (ha!) of "torture porn" films like Hostel, A Serbian Film aims for some dark places and makes you feel like you should shower afterwards.  This film is about a retired porn actor named Millos who is lured back into the industry for a one off film that will supposedly set him up for life.  The director, a very shady character, convinces Millos that this gig is all about art and will become a breakthrough film. Little does he know, he's just been cast for a snuff film. Going in blind, Millos takes the job and (naturally) chaos ensues.  This film is not for the faint of heart because it goes into some totally fucked up dark places.  

The film actually is Serbian with English subtitles.  And it will captivate you from start to finish.  There's not a boring moment in this picture with all of the messed up things going on throughout.  It sort of has a Memento feel to it, because for much of the movie the main character is desperately trying to remember what he has done.  This movie, though deliberately controversial in so many ways, was highly entertaining.  It's schlock chock full of action which will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time and easily one of the better horror films I have seen in a good while.

Bottom Line: Hostel meets Memento.  Fans of those two films will likely find this a must watch.  A film that will leave you feeling a bit unsettled - there are some huge lines that were crossed with this one - but it still made for a solid watch.

- Ragman is more than a little disturbed after seeing this one...

Issa - The Storm

While the singer isn't without talent, you'd swear she hitched a ride on a DeLorean to 2011.I don't know a lot about mononymous Norwegian singer Issa, but if you told me this CD was found in the glove compartment of an abandoned 1985 Mustang somewhere, I'd believe you.  Don't get me wrong, it's not that this album is bad in terms of production or songwriting provided you take it as a product of the classic 80s melodic rock its clearly modeled after. I'm telling you, had this album come out as is in 1985, you'd be seeing Issa's blonde tresses all over an episode of I Love The 80s. On a side note, even her videos have an 80s flavor [I don't think she planned].

As it is, however, it comes across as derivative ("retro", at best) in an era of 21st century rock music that's seen countless bands come and go that were built on this formula.  And while the guitar work fits nicely over the same old keyboard patches and echoey drum kit, it's hard to ignore the "been there, done that" feeling you get listening to an admittedly competent group of musicians.

The Bottom Line: One the one hand, it's the same old melodic rock sound from nearly 30 years ago, but on the other, it's catchy grooves and choruses that are just as listenable as they were so long ago.  So what's the harm?

- Genghis is remembering how hot he thought Jan Kuehnemund was back in the day...

Beyond The Bridge - The Old Man And The Spirit

If you like the idea of Dream Theater with the additional flavor of a female vocalist, you should check out Germany's Beyond The Bridge - like now.Like it or not, I'm most likely to compare any progressive metal band to Dream Theater the gold standard which you may judge as fair, lazy, short-sighted, or whatever.  The thing is, I often run across bands billed as such that sound certainly progressive, but have none of the crunchy guitar that goes with it.  But let that go.

German progmetal kids Beyond The Bridge tell a familiar tale of like-minded musicians meeting in school and reuniting again years after going their separate ways in pursuit of families and careers.  While their latest release, The Old Man And The Spirit, borrows heavily from the Dream Theater formula, they bring to the party a more complex vocal arrangement with the addition of a female vocalist in Dilenya Mar. Interestingly, however, it's this addition that confounds me. I'm so used to progmetal being a masculine sound, for lack of a better phrase, and the sound of a woman's voice (even one as mature and impressive as Dilenya's) causes my brain to say "Oh, this is a symphonic metal band, like Within Temptation". But to worry about that is to miss what the band is trying to achieve.

The Old Man And The Spirit is your basic concept album with all of the ambition such an artistic endeavor entails, with Ms. Mar providing the voice of The Spirit, while Herbie Langhans sings for The Old Man. Together, with the rest of BTB, they weave a tale of the "polarity of human sensuousness and awareness". I love this kind of stuff when it's done well, and that's exactly how Beyond The Bridge does it on their debut release. I can't vouch for the production, as the vocals and the instruments get obscured here and there in favor of one or another, but this is a solid first effort. Guitarist Peter Degenfeld is quite talented, displaying a very tasteful Petruccian phrasing while still having his own identifiable sound. I look forward to hearing it develop over the band's career.  One other nitpick is the sound of Christopher Tarnow: This is a man who's obviously classically trained on the piano, but he seems to have been shopping at the dollar store for his patches. I say we take up a collection so he can get the next Jordan Rudess Primo Pack at the Korg store.

The Bottom Line: Classic progmetal stylings with all the trimmings - I mean, a concept album for a debut, no less - with about the level of production you'd expect from a young band's first studio effort. Very Dream Theater-y, but the addition of a female vocalist adds a certain je nais cest qoi that makes their next effort quite ripe with possibilities.

Outstanding Tracks: The Apparition, Where The Earth And Sky Meet, The Struggle (some great Savatagesque vocal interchanges)

- Genghis was really cranking this stuff up at one point...