Volume 11 of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series offers a monstrous amount of material in a handsome, boxed-set package. Simply put, Columbia/Legacy’s presentation treats The Basement Tapes as they should be: a culturally and artistically important historical document. After all, the whole concept of the bootleg record started with these recordings. Bob Dylan, staying far out...
Category: Entertainment
Bentley’s Bandstand: December 2014
Time to clear the decks with a year-end round-up of albums and a novel released in 2014 that made it through the deluge. Each and every one of these 40 titles is worthy of interested ears and open eyes. And don’t forget to pay respect to Father Time on December 13 (12/13/14). It’s the last...
Blu-ray Review: The Expendables 3
Arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on November 25 is Sylvester Stallone’s latest all-star action blowout, The Expendables 3. Those who decried the PG-13 rating will eagerly anticipate the Blu-ray’s unrated edition (the theatrical cut is included as well), but don’t expect anything too different. The unrated version only adds five minutes and they don’t add...
Music Review: Paul McCartney Archive Collection – Wings at the Speed of Sound
Boasting possibly the most noticeably improved audio fidelity of Paul McCartney’s Archive Collection reissue series thus far, Wings at the Speed of Sound arrives as a newly remastered double-disc set (available November 4). The deluxe book edition adds a DVD and far more elaborate packaging. Notable for being the most democratic of McCartney’s Wings-billed albums...
Music Review: Paul McCartney – NEW – Collector’s Edition (2 CD/1 DVD)
What a great time to be a Paul McCartney fan. On the eve of the long-awaited next installments in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection (Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound), Concord Music Group issues a collector’s edition of 2013’s NEW. Packaged in a compact hardcover book case, this two-CD, one-DVD edition...
DVD Review: WKRP in Cincinnati – Complete Series
With the holiday season upon us, fans of classic sitcoms will certainly want to consider adding Shout! Factory’s new release of all four seasons of WKRP in Cincinnati to their wish list. Many fans never believed we’d see such a release, and with good reason. Back in 2007, WKRP’s maiden season was issued as a...
New Music for Old People: ZZ Hill, Rev. Gary Davis, Curtis Stigers, Andy Stochansky and More
This column is like the title says — its intention is to fill the gap for those of us who were satiated musically in the ’60s and then searched desperately as we aged for music we could relate to and get the same buzz from nowadaze. iTunes was the answer for me in 2003 and...
Bentley’s Bandstand: October 2014
Pieta Brown, Paradise Outlaw. Is there a way to capture true musical transcendence in words? If so, let it happen for Pieta Brown, one of America’s treasures, someone who is still moving towards finding a fitting audience. Fortunately, Brown’s new album, co-produced by stealth partner Bo Ramsey, is the kind of creation where no explanation...
Album Review: Dave Ray – Legacy
I confess that my first thought upon hearing of this collection was: “A three-CD ‘legacy’ release of ‘rare and unreleased recordings’ from Dave Ray?? I’ve never even heard of the guy.” But it turns out that I was in fact well acquainted with his music, though not with his first name. Instead, I knew him...
A Chat With The Knick Writer-Producer Steven Katz
In today’s world there are numerous medical breakthroughs that have become commonplace and are used in treating patients. One hundred years ago, however, many of these methods either did not exist or were on the cusp of being invented, tested and perfected. Set in 1900 New York City, Cinemax’s period TV medical drama The Knick...