CD — Johnny Cash: Personal File: This fascinating two-disc set includes 49 never-released songs recorded in the ’70s and ’80s by the country legend. The era wasn’t exactly Cash’s most triumphant period; in fact, many of his albums from this time were uninspired and maudlin. But this collection (taken from hours of spare, intimate home recordings that Cash left behind) of folk songs, standards, and originals sounds like a precursor to the career-resuscitating American Recordings.
DVD — Acquired Taste: Sub Pop likes to think of itself as the most indie of indie labels, but that hasn’t stopped it from employing one of the industry’s most corporate marketing tools: the music video. This 25-track DVD includes low-budget (but enjoyable, in a hey-let’s-make-a-video kinda way) clips by the Shins, Mudhoney, and Sleater-Kinney. Not that you’ve seen any of them on MTV or anything.
BOOK — Desperate Networks: Bill Carter, who skewered Letterman and Leno in The Late Shift, goes prime time in his latest read, a look at TV in the 21st century. Desperate Networks provides a behind-the-scenes peek at narrow-minded and clueless execs, and helps explain why a groundbreaking show like Arrested Development was canceled, while According to Jim thrives in its fifth season.
DVD — Velvet Underground — Under Review: This DVD isn’t so much a documentary as it is an attic-cleaning, featuring loads of rare material: probing new Q&As with band members (although prickly frontman Lou Reed is conspicuous by his absence), critical perspective from peers and fans, and previously unseen photos from the archives. We’d lick boots of shiny, shiny leather to view these never-before-seen live performances, vintage TV and promo clips, and films straight outta mentor Andy Warhol’s personal collection.
TV — VH1 Rock Honors: Godsmack, Foo Fighters, and the All-American Rejects are among the bands paying tribute (at 9 p.m. Wednesday) to honorees Kiss, Queen, Def Leppard, and Judas Priest. My Name Is Earl‘s Jaime Pressly hosts the two-hour event. It’s sorta like the annual Rock Hall induction ceremonies, but with more tattoos and less Paul Shaffer.
CD — We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions: Bruce Springsteen’s latest folk CD is livelier than Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad. Maybe it’s because he left the songwriting to others (folk legend Pete Seeger arranged and covered these traditional tunes back in the day). The Seeger Sessions sounds like an old-fashioned hootenanny, with the Boss and pals whooping it up over songs that would come off as moldy and clumsy if anybody else attempted them. Except for “Froggie Went A-Courtin'” — that one still sucks.
COURTESY FLUSH, PLEASE — No One Here Gets Out Alive: Jerry Hopkins and Danny Sugerman’s grave-pillaging Jim Morrison bio is back in print, just in time for the 35th anniversary of the Lizard King’s death. The book — which ignited a Doors renaissance when it was first released in 1980 — remains a fawning, paranoid, and opportunistic look at Morrison’s controversy-packed life and death. It also goes a long way toward confirming that the Doors’ frontman was indeed a bloated, pretentious dick.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2006.