DVD gems for faithful fans

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 17, 2008 at 6 p.m.

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Weird 'Mars' par for Lips' course

The Flaming Lips

Christmas on Mars DVD/CD

Reprise Records

Grade: B+

Members of the Flaming Lips have shown they have creativity to spare, with sprawling, ambitious rock albums, surreal live shows and projects that challenge their fans in unique ways (like 1997's Zaireeka, a four-disc set that has to be played on four boomboxes simultaneously to get the full effect).

Thus Christmas on Mars, front man Wayne Coyne's disjointed science-fiction-fantasy film, is finally here, seven years after the band (along with others, including Steve Burns, the guy from Blue's Clues) began piecing it together. Last year, Coyne said he hoped to finish the film but still wasn't sure it would happen.

"I still think it's going to be one of the weirdest (expletive) things to ever happen when it's done," he said.

It's here, and yes, he hit the weirdness mark. It's a low-budget affair, filmed on the fly over the years, but that's the way the Lips have always done it. I won't try to explain the plot except to say it's weirdly compelling and keeps you watching, with the band's score perfectly fitting the footage.

The mostly instrumental score isn't that compelling on its own, and the movie isn't something you'd watch over and over, but it's another brilliantly weird - there's that word again - foray off the beaten path by the Lips. They might be the best band in America right now.

Mark Brown is a music critic for the Rocky. Reach him at brownm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2674.

'78 show gets 1 more spin

Cheap Trick

Budokan! DVD/CD

Epic/Sony Legacy

Grade: A

What? The classic album Cheap Trick at Budokan has been repackaged so many times even the hardest-core fans have lost count. The original concert, the complete concert, every incarnation possible. Why this box set, and why now?

Because producer Jack Douglas and the band finally got their hands on the long-lost footage of the shows shot for Japanese TV. Suddenly, you're seeing, not just hearing, the complete concert from Friday, April 28, 1978, and that gives it a whole new life. It perfectly captures a classic '70s concert, with its goofy giddiness and simpler times.

The band is at its live peak, with Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander frantically interacting with the adoring Japanese crowd. The deluxe packaging - three remastered CDs in addition to the DVD, a big booklet and a poster - is just a bonus. The DVD is a gem.

Must-have concert

The Who

At Kilburn 1977 DVD

Image Entertainment

Grade: A

It's a well-known tale: This Kilburn concert was filmed for the Who documentary The Kids Are Alright, but some songs were reshot at Shepperton Studios in London. The concert became legendary because it was the last Keith Moon show (except for the studio filming). The band is in full flight, the footage and sound restored with incredibly clarity and presence, including a live version of Who Are You that predates that album's release.

Getting the full concert would be reward enough for the fans, but a second disc contains a complete show from the London Coliseum in 1969, in which the band performs Tommy in its entirety. The Who releases a lot of product, both new concerts and older ones, so fans have gotten a bit blase. This is not one of those sets you want to fall off the radar - it's essential.

Listen in

* To see clips from Cheap Trick's Budokan! and The Flaming Lips' Christmas on Mars (warning: graphic language), go to Rocky MountainNews.com/Extras.

OTHER RELEASES THIS WEEK

* David Cook: David Cook

* Nickelback: Dark Horse

* The Killers: Day and Age

NEXT WEEK

* Guns N' Roses: Chinese Democracy

* David Byrne and Brian Eno: Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

* Trace Adkins: X (Ten)

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