DAVID GRISMAN & ANDY STATMAN - NEW SHABBOS WALTZ (Acoustic Disc)
New Shabbos Waltz turns out to be a lot like what you might expect: It’s some darn fine Jewish music. David Grisman and Andy Statman unite once again, in a follow-up to The Celebrated Songs of Our Fathers (1995). The music showcased here is a collection of traditional Jewish melodies, all acoustic, and all full of emotion.
EMBEDDED ’45: SHOOTING WAR IN GERMANY (Koch Vision)
As American troops pushed through Germany in 1945, they brought with them cameramen who documented the action. This documentary presents footage that has, until now, been unseen by the public. The images are intense and often difficult to watch as viewers are presented with frame after frame of battle, dead and injured soldiers, concentration camps, decimated towns and their equally devastated citizens. This documentary differs from most in that it is 100% archival film footage supported by minimal narration-- no cuts into modern historians speaking about the incidents, no still photos, and no illustrative drawings.
MICHAEL ZAPRUDER\'S RAIN OF FROGS - NEW WAYS OF LETTING GO (Howells Transmitter)
Yeah, I like this. It\'s so nice to hear an album that feels like a complete piece of work. The music is unassuming and very easy to sit back and listen to-- it\'s almost a strange but harmonious mix of Beatles material (heavy on the George Harrison) and just a touch of Andrew Bird.
SECRETS OF THE KORAN (The History Channel)
Boy do I love The History Channel. It\'s like they looked at my school transcripts and purposefully made programs about all of the things I didn\'t learn about. Secrets of the Koran is no exception. It\'s a wonderfully in-depth DVD explaining the origin of the Koran and how it shaped Muslim life. In a time where we hear so much about different religions\' actions, it\'s very nice to learn something about their motives. These would be 91 minutes well spent toward understanding something a lot of people probably don\'t.
THE BFG (A&E)
Man, I wasn\'t much of a reader when I was little, but I was able to get through Roald Dahl\'s The BFG, and I loved it. This animated version (done by Cosgrove Hall Studio, makers of DangerMouse and The Wind in the Willows), however, doesn\'t do it for me at all. I know it\'s almost unfair to compare a film to its book predecessor, but I have to: Dahl was a master of creating fanciful, comprehensive worlds for his readers to manifest in their own minds. Having someone (in this case, the animation studio) interpret the characters, sounds, places, etc. for you completely takes the magic out of the whole story. Not only did the character not appear on screen as I had imagined them, they actually annoyed me. The bottom line, I wouldn\'t take the time to experience this story unless it is through reading.
THE HISTORY CHANNEL PRESENTS: WASHINGTON THE WARRIOR (History Channel)
Do you know anything about George Washington that doesn’t have to do with cherry trees, the Delaware river, or wooden teeth? I didn’t before watching this DVD. It covers everything from Washington’s ancestry, to his early (and somewhat disastrous) military career, to his family, and to his part in shaping the American Revolution. Washington the Warrior is a 92-minute lesson that will teach you more than anything you learned in high school American History.
THE ROSEWOOD THIEVES - FROM THE DECKER HOUSE (V2 Ada)
Did someone say \"The Beatles\" again? It seems like every cd I listen to has been influenced by them-- it\'s like they serve as some sort of mentor in the music world! Well, From the Decker House sounds like the result of a romantic evening between John Lennon and Aimee Mann. That description should say it all for you-- this CD is worth listening to.
THE STRANGE - THE STRANGE
There are only seven songs on The Strange but they’re satisfying as an entire album. The music is laid-back and unassuming. The vocals (and the voice) aren’t terribly elaborate but are calming and almost reminiscent of Thom Yorke. I don’t have to make any sort of effort to enjoy this disc, I can just sit back and let the songs slip pleasantly into my head.
THOMAS DYBDAHL - ONE DAY YOU\'LL DANCE FOR ME, NEW YORK CITY (Recall)
I don\'t know what I was expecting from this disc. The back reads \"written, put to tape and produced by myself, with a lot of help from my friends! recorded everywhere & nowhere, sometime between the previous record and this.\" That statement seemed a little \"wheee-ooooo\" to me, and I was leery that the music might be a little too soft and gooey for me. But I was pleasantly surprised. Dybdahl has a lovely, soothing voice-- not the over-polished run-of-the-mill one we\'re usually offered. The songs themselves fit the same description and come together as a delightfully engaging whole.