Rock Doc, We Are X Arrives on DVD/BD

On Tuesday, April 25, WE ARE X, the transcendent and captivating rock ‘n’ roll documentary about one of the most successful bands in history, X JAPAN, arrives on Blu-Ray and DVD from Magnolia Home Entertainment under the Magnet Label. From director and acclaimed documentarian Stephen Kijak (Stones in Exile, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man), and produced by the Oscar-winning production team  behind  Searching for Sugar Man, WE ARE X profiles the blockbuster Japanese rock band X JAPAN and its enigmatic frontman YOSHIKI–composer, classically trained pianist, drummer and the creative force behind the band’s wild success.

 

Featuring interviews with Gene Simmons, Marilyn Manson, Stan Lee and more, WE ARE X dives into YOSHIKI’s life and X JAPAN‘s attempt to break into the American music industry. Supported by concert footage, band interviews and fan photos, the compelling film takes a look at X JAPAN‘s hardships and conflicts including suicide and cultism. Also spotlighting the band’s triumphs, WE ARE X explores the group’s phenomenal success, boasting more than 30 million albums and singles sold, countless sold-out concerts around the world, and fans in North America, Europe, Latin America and South East Asia.

PBS Releases American Epic on June 13

From executive producers T Bone Burnett, Robert Redford and Jack White, go inside one of the greatest-ever untold stories: how the ordinary people of America were given the opportunity to make records for the first time. Contains four episodes: The Big Bang; Blood & Soil; Out of the Many, The One; The American Epic Sessions.  Blu-ray and DVD on June 13

Outlaw: Celebrating The Music Of Waylon Jennings Releases in April

 Blackbird Presents, CMT, and Sony Legacy have announced the audio/video release of Outlaw: Celebrating The Music Of Waylon Jennings. A collection of music's legendary Outlaws and rising  superstars came together for a once-in-a-lifetime concert event taping in Austin, Texas at ACL Live at The Moody Theater to celebrate the songs of music legend Waylon Jennings. On Friday, April 7, 2017, Sony Legacy will release the concert film as a CD/DVD combo which is available for immediate preorder at baker-taylor.com

Outlaw: Celebrating The Music Of Waylon Jennings features captivating performances, in-depth interviews, and compelling behind-the-scenes footage with Willie Nelson, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Kris Kristofferson, Toby Keith, Alison Krauss, Kacey Musgraves, Ryan Bingham, Jamey Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, Shooter Jennings, Buddy Miller, Jessi Colter, Robert Earl Keen, and Bobby Bare.

The project was created by Keith Wortman and Mark Rothbaum, along with legendary Outlaws and musicians Jessi Colter and Shooter Jennings. Colter and Jennings also delivered their own heart-melting performances that evening in honor of Waylon's music.  

Arcade Fire Readies "The Reflektor Tapes" DVD/BD Release

Eagle Rock Entertainment leads off 2017 with the release of Arcade Fire’s The Reflektor Tapes on 2 disc DVD and 2 disc Blu-ray on January 27 [MSRP $29.98 2Blu-ray, $24.98 2DVD].

The Reflektor Tapes is a visually stunning and hypnotic documentary about the making of Arcade Fire’s hugely successful 2013 studio album Reflektor by director Kahlil Joseph (who also directed Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” film). The Reflektor album debuted at the No.1 position in the Billboard Top 200 and established itself as a global hit. As well as the film, this release also includes the stunning full live show which includes: “Reflektor”, “No Cars Go”, “Rebellion (Lies)”, “Neighborhood # 3 (Power Out)”, “The Suburbs”, “Wake Up”, “Afterlife”, “Ready To Start”, and many more, offering over four hours of entertainment overall.

The Reflektor Tapes received its premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. This compelling and illuminating documentary captures recording sessions, live performances and the band’s time in Haiti, a country with which they have a long-standing relationship. The second disc in the set features Arcade Fire’s full-length live concert from Earl’s Court in London on June 6th, 2014, filmed during the Reflektor tour, which perfectly complements the documentary.

Capturing not only the creative process that lay behind this hugely important and compelling album, but also the magic on stage as the band perform it live, The Reflektor Tapes is a consummate Arcade Fire experience.

"Miss Sharon Jones! " Doc about Soul Singer Sharon Jones to Get July Theatrical, and 2016 Home Vid Release

 Rolling Stone reports a documentary film  about soul singer Sharon Jones' life, career and ongoing cancer battle is heading to movie theaters. The Barbara Kopple-directed Miss Sharon Jones!, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and screened at SXSW Film last year, will open a theatrical run July 29th following by a home video release in the fall.

The film follows Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings during a tumultuous year as the singer, on the verge of releasing a new album and embarking on a tour, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Miss Sharon Jones! captures Jones' cancer battle and, ultimately, her return to the stage. The documentary also shows how the Dap-Kings were nearly torn apart during that tumultuous period.

In addition to two-time Oscar winner Kopple's landmark 1976 documentary Harlan County, USA, the filmmaker has also crafted music-related films like Wild Man Blues, about Woody Allen's love of music, My Generation about the Woodstock festivals and the Dixie Chicks' Shut Up & Sing. 

Back in September 2015, Jones revealed that her cancer had returned, but the singer and her backing band continued to tour steadily even as she underwent chemotherapy. "I'm going to do what I have to do. I'm going to sing," the singer said at the premiere of Miss Sharon Jones! at TIFF, promising that her diagnosis won't prevent her from "giving the people what they want."

Janis : Little Girl Blue OST to Get March CD Release

Columbia/Legacy Recordings is releasing Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture

Soundtrack), the official album companion to the highly acclaimed documentary written, directed and coproduced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Amy J. Berg ("Deliver Us From Evil," "West of Memphis"). Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is being released on CD beginning Friday, March 4

A remarkable career-spanning anthology, Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), brings together 17 essential Janis Joplin live and studio performances, including classic solo and Big Brother & the Holding Company tracks. The album debuts a previously unreleased version of "Piece of My Heart" (featured in the documentary and recorded live at the Generation Club in New York City in April 1968 during the Wake for Martin Luther King concert, this performance was included in the 1991 D.A. Pennebaker/Chris Hagedus short film, "Comin' Home," and has been never been available on a commercial audio release).

Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) includes an early recording of Janis Joplin singing Lead Belly's "Careless Love"; live performances with Big Brother & The Holding Company (from San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom, the Monterey Pop Festival, the Generation Club in New York City and Detroit's mythic Grande Ballroom); the Kozmic Blues Band (Frankfurt, West Germany, April 12, 1969); Janis live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair (August 17, 1969) and the legendary Festival Express Tour (July 4, 1970). Rounding out Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) are definitive studio performances from the classic four original albums--Big Brother & The Holding Company, Cheap Thrills, I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama! and Pearl--recorded during Joplin's lifetime. All of the recordings on the Janis: Little Girl Blue (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) can be heard in the film.

"The Life of Riley" , Documentary on Blues Legend BB King to Air on PBS on 2/12

"The Life of Riley" will be airing nationally on PBS on February 12, 2016. This is the only documentary ever made on the last of the Blues legends, BB King.

Narrated by Morgan Freeman and directed by Jon Brewer, this visually stunning picture has an astounding list of contributors (aside from King himself), including Bono, Eric Clapton, Bruce Willis, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman, as well as appearances by Mick Jagger and President Obama.

This is a no holds barred, powerful feature that explores how a black cotton picker from Mississippi turned his life around and battled against all the odds and unrelenting racism to overcome even the toughest critics. Filmed on location all over America as well as in the United Kingdom, this picture brings to life the heat and gin-soaked plantations where it all began. With the full cooperation of the B.B. King Museum, owners of vaults and archives so precious and immense, that several trips had to be made to America to revisit the collection and partake of its many gems. Prejudice and segregation has stained the lives of countless African Americans, and B.B. "Riley" King made sure that through his music, he never allowed it to mar his spirit. This is the essence of the story that makes an astoundingly beautiful film.

Mr Dynamite : The Rise of James Brown Arrives Nov 6

Directed by Oscar and Emmy winner Alex Gibney and co-produced by Mick Jagger, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise Of James Brown digs into the career of one of music and culture's towering figures. On November 6, 2015, the Peabody Award-winning documentary film will be released worldwide by UMe on DVD and Blu-ray with exclusive bonus features, including feature-length roundtable commentary, extended interviews with original James Brown Revue members and others, the acclaimed music video for "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," and two classic James Brown Soul Train television performances, one of which is an unrehearsed blues romp with Brown's idols B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland, which has not been seen since its original 1975 airing.

Using fresh interviews with James Brown band members and contemporaries, extraordinary historical interview footage, and rare archival performances of such Brown classics as "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," "Out Of Sight," "Please Please Please," "Soul Power," "Sex Machine," "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," "Cold Sweat," and more, Mr Dynamite, a feature-length documentary was made with the cooperation of the Brown Estate, which opened its archives for the first time. 

Delving into politics, race relations during the explosive civil rights movement and the raw power behind several of his most famous tunes, Mr. Dynamite was honored with a 2014 Peabody Award, for what the Peabody panel called "its admiring but clear-eyed appraisal of a truly revolutionary musical figure and his legacies, his relationship to America and American culture, to funk, to hip hop, to racial politics, to American history and music history… It's a documentary you could almost dance to, so sure and steady is its pulse."