From the Studio:

In 1959, Berry Gordy gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on "My Girl," "Bernadette," I Was Made to Love Her," and every other hit from Motown's Detroit era.

By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined -- which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers.

Forty-one years after they played their first note an a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story in STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN.

Fourteen years in the making, this film is based upon a book of the same title that won the 1989 Rolling Stone / BMl "Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award", STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN was shot entirely in film, on location in Detroit throughout December of 2000 and January of 2001. This one hour and fifty-six minute documentary tells the Funk Brothers' saga through archival footage and still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Funk Brothers backing up Chaka Kahn, Ben Harper, Bootsy Collins, Montel Jordan, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joan Osborne, and Gerald Levert.

With the tumultuous sixties as a backdrop, Motown's unsung heroes take the viewer on a compelling journey in time as they trace the evolution of "The Motown Sound" from its origins in Detroit to its demise in Los Angeles during the seventies. Through the eyes of the riveting characters who ruled Hitsville's studio by day and the club scene of Detroit by night, we enter a world of unparalleled soul and emotion as the Funk Brothers revisit the sites of their musical roots, triumphs, and eventual heartbreak.

For more than four decades, from the dance floors of the world, to the Detroit riots of 1967, to the war in Vietnam, the music the Funk Brothers created has played a major role in the cultural fabric of all of our lives. STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN finally puts some faces on that music and introduces these heroic musical figures to the world.

Certifiable, the title of the 2008 DVD set by the Police (available upon release exclusively through the Best Buy chain of electronics stores), echoes the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over, another reunion concert sold in video and audio formats. Just as the Eagles' Don Henley once said his band would not re-form "until Hell freezes over," the Police's Sting is quoted at the outset of the video as saying that he would have to be certified insane to join a Police reunion. Yet he did, for reasons never quite spelled out. (In the 51-minute tour documentary "Better Than Therapy" included as the second DVD in the package, he says he likes to be unpredictable, after bandmate Stewart Copeland has said the reunion was a "no-brainer" for him but wondered himself why Sting was interested.) The result was a world tour, and the December 1 & 2, 2007, dates at a giant stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, provide the footage for the 19-song, 109-minute show that takes up the first of DVD here. (The concert is repeated on two CDs -- or three LPs with a one-time digital download -- also included, such that the set, initially retailing for about $20, contains more than four and a half hours of audio and video content.) That show finds the three members of the Police, after 23 years apart (not counting a couple of one-off special appearances), looking not too much the worse for wear and doing pretty much exactly what they were doing when they broke up at their popular peak in 1984. The set list consists entirely of old Police favorites, rendered in the familiar arrangements, with only a few moments of improvisation here and there. Despite the awesome setting before a gigantic crowd, with gigantic video screens behind them, the Police remain just those three men, holding the stage largely through their music. Sting appears not to change bass guitars for the entire show, sticking with a worn-looking instrument; Andy Summers doesn't seem to use more than a couple of guitars, also looking much-used; and Copeland, although he takes a couple of trips up into a percussion setup, mostly stays on his drum chair turning out the music's propulsive rhythms. This is a no-nonsense account of the musical highlights of the Police's career, and even though the scale is enormous, the show is a surprisingly no-frills affair, and all the better for that. ~ William Ruhlmann

Out of 1970s England rose a clamour of anger and anarchy. A group of downtrodden lads - John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Sid Vicious - raged against the establishment and became the frontrunners of a new form of musical expression: Punk Rock. A reaction to self-indulgent, overproduced, early '70s progressive, or "Art" Rock (Rotten was known for wearing an "I Hate Pink Floyd" t-shirt), Punk became the first musical form since the '60s to shake up the system. Filmmaker Julien Temple covered the band in their hey-day, creating the unforgettable Sex Pistols: The Great Rock and Roll Swindle. The Filth and the Fury, a nostalgic look at the pioneers of the  safety-pin-in-the-cheek set, is an insightful and revealing biography that explores the Pistols early days, their meteoric rise to fame and their all-too swift drug-fuelled demise. With archival footage, never-before-seen performances, rehearsals, recording sessions and interviews with band survivors, this is the definitive Pistols DVD that fans - and old Punks - will cherish.

 

DVD Features: Region 1 Keep Case Full Frame - 1.33

In a spectacular homecoming, world-famous tenor Andrea Bocelli returns to the rural area of Tuscany where he grew up to pay homage to his roots. Joined by a star-studded cast, including vocalists Sarah Brightman and Heather Headley, saxophonist Kenny G, pianist Lang Lang, trumpeter Chris Botti, and songwriter/musician David Foster, among others, Bocelli sings with a passion that exceeds even his usual highly charged performances. The program includes a number of duets, a medley from his album AMORE, and his signature tune "Il Mare Calmo Della Sera."
DVD Features:
DVD Includes:
1. Melodramma
2. Romanza
3. A Te (feat. Kenny G. On Saxophone)
4. Vivo Per Lei (Duet With Heather Headley)
5. Io Ci Saro' (feat. Lang Lang On Piano)
6. Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 In C Sharp (performed by Lang Lang)
7. La Voce Del Silenzio (Duet With Elisa)
8. Dancing (Performed By Elisa)
9. Canto Della Terra (Duet With Sarah Brightman)
10. Bellissime Stelle
11. Medley (Besame Mucho/Somos Novios (It's Impossible)/Can't Help Falling In Love)
12. Because We Believe
13. The Prayer (Duet With Heather Headley)
14. Italia (feat. Chris Botti)
15. Dare To Live (Vivere) (Duet With Laura Pausini)
16. Sogno
17. Il Mare Calmo Della Sera
18. Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro'). (Duet With Sarah Brightman)
DVD Bonus Features:
Live In Tuscany/Backstage Footage -Tuscany. A Land Of Magic

The film that Spin calls, "as worthy of a place in the rock-doc pantheon as Don’t Look Back and Gimme Shelter", is an intensely intimate look at one of the biggest hard rock bands of all time. Some Kind of Monster takes you inside the studio and into the psyches of Metallica, as they record their Grammy-winning album St. Anger while battling their way through addiction, fatherhood, backlash from fans, and near-total disintegration, during the most turbulent period of their twenty-year history. Jam-packed with bonus features, this rock ‘n’ roll psychodrama is unlike anything you’ve ever seen!

DVD Features: Region 1 Jewel Case Anamorphic Widescreen Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Surround - English DTS Surround 5.1 - English PCM Stereo - English Additional Release Material: Documentary - 1. THE UNFORGETTABLE FIRE Interactive Features: Multiple Angles - 1. "Spincam" - A 360 Degree View of the Concert DVD-ROM: Web Links Screen Saver U2 Calendar Tracks: 1. "Elevation" 2. "Beautiful Day" 3. "Until the End of the World" 4. "New Year's Day" 5. "Out of Control" 6. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" 7. "Wake Up Dead Man" 8. "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out of" 9. "Kite" 10. "Angel of Harlem" 11. "Desire" 12. "Staring at the Sun" 13. "All I Want is You" 14. "Where the Streets Have No Name" 15. "Pride (In the Name of Love)" 16. "Bullet the Blue Sky" 17. "With or Without You" 18. "One" 19. "Walk On"