Cool Spins

Every week, the editors of Mix review new CD and DVD releases from a "sound" perspective. Scroll down for more of this week's reviews, or to search the archives of "Cool Spins" from our Website or from the pages of our print edition.

FEATURED COOL SPINS

'The Bridge School Benefit Concerts—25th-Anniversary Edition' (Reprise Records)

If you’ve never experienced the Bridge School Concert in Northern California, stop reading this and run out to your local music store and buy this 3-DVD/2-CD package. No, really, go now. ...

Review: Miranda Lambert 'Four the Record' (Sony Music)

Gotta admit, I like Miranda Lambert’s side project, the Pistol Annies—the old-school, bad-girl country trio she put together with Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley—a little better than this record, but only a little. ...

Review: Etta James 'Heart & Soul: A Retrospective' (Universal)

When this four-disc box came out, just before the holidays, Etta James was still with us. Now the feeling you get listening to these truly spectacular vocal performances is a bit bittersweet, but it’s still one of the most delicious musical experiences known to man. Heart and Soul follows James’ career chronologically from her early blues sides to her peak soul performances on songs like “At Last,” and “Trust in Me” through more recent blues/funk songs and a few previously unreleased rarities....

BLAIR'S DVD WATCH: A Potpourri of Music DVDs

DVD Reviews: A Potpourri of Music DVDs

Culled from two performances at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in late October 1964, the legendary TAMI (Teenage Music Awards International) Show film—which was released theatrically in December ’64, been excerpted often through the years for various videos about pop music, but never released in its entirety until now—is a fascinating glimpse of the teen music scene at a pivotal moment. It features representatives from the still-new British Invasion (Rolling Stones, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas), Motown (The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles), the SoCal surf movement (Jan & Dean, The Beach Boys), a rock ’n’ roll pioneer (Chuck Berry), a top pop singer of the day (Lesley Gore), and the (still young) King of Soul (James Brown)....



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