By Sean Nelson
Special to MSN Music

Although you've probably heard the CD is on its last legs, you needn't worry about the DVD. While their shiny, music-only cousins languish in the throes of digital obsolescence, the DVD is on its way to transforming not just the movie business but also the music business. Music DVDs -- concert films, documentaries, video compilations, etc. -- are flying off store shelves faster than they can be restocked, and more and more titles are coming out to meet consumer demand. Why the craze? Could be that it's just a better format for appreciating music now that traditional outlets such as MTV and VH1 are too busy with reality shows to actually show music videos. Could be that bands and labels are getting smarter about offering more to their fans than just a collection of songs they can download for free if they're shrewd (and don't mind breaking a few laws). Or maybe it's just that it never stops being fun to watch Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Who. Whatever the case, the holidays are upon us, and there is no better gift for a passionate music fan than music-related DVDs. Here is our list of a dozen recommended stocking stuffers and what makes them rock.

Bob Dylan: "Dont Look Back '65 Tour Edition"
The "Citizen Kane" of rock documentaries has had a long and prosperous life on video and DVD, but this deluxe 40th-anniversary reissue is an unprecedented extravaganza. Filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker followed Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, during which Dylan began his transformation from folk singer to pop star. Along the way, he performs several of his greatest songs, including "The Times They Are a-Changin'," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "Gates of Eden," "Mr. Tambourine Man" and others, while rubbing elbows (and cold shoulders) with the likes of Joan Baez, Donovan, Alan Price from the Animals, Marianne Faithfull and a retinue of mid-'60s notables. What's more important than the musical performances, though, is seeing the larger performance that is Bob Dylan -- the Dylan we now know as iconic '60s freethinker, poet laureate of rock gaze. The real gift of this edition is the bonus disc, which includes more than an hour of never-before-seen backstage and onstage footage, all of which contributes a very different picture of Dylan than the one "Dont Look Back" has handed down to history. No Dylan fan can -- or should -- live without this DVD.
 
"Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who"
The rise of the DVD has allowed nearly every band -- from indies to superstars -- to tell their story in a documentary with live footage interspersed. However familiar this format has become, certain groups have stories so exhilarating, so historic, so endlessly compelling that you just lean back and bask. For nearly 45 years, the Who has been riding the blinding edge of the drama inherent to rock 'n' roll. Their explosive music, implosive interpersonal dynamics, endless reunions in the face of middle age, band-member deaths and audience bemusement make the collective of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Keith Moon one of the four or five most important bands in the history of rock.

This film is an attempt by the band, notably Daltrey, to reclaim its own mythology in the hagio-autobiographical model of "The Beatles Anthology." And because the format is almost foolproof, the results are thrilling -- far more so than the 1981 mostly live doc "The Kids Are Alright." Though the "Anthology" nods are often intrusive, the stories, players and most especially stone-classic tunes such as "Can't Explain," "I Can See for Miles" and much of the "Tommy" album are enough to make even a jaded music fan jump up and dance. "Amazing Journey" may be predictable, but as either a primer for the uninitiated (and they're out there) or a reminder for the old guard, it's staggeringly effective.

"The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at Newport"
It's been a rich couple of years for Bob Dylan fans in search of rare video and audio, and though this archival footage from the historic Newport Folk Festival may look a little familiar by now, this humble single DVD is nonetheless the only place you can see the complete performances -- and the artistic/personal transformations they reveal. The footage is crude, black and white, and static but feels all the more historic for it, making the disc a must for completists and a curio for the curious. Between 1963 and 1965, Dylan changed so much -- and in so many ways -- that there's an entire industry devoted to chronicling, analyzing and arguing about it; the sets on this disc offer a fantastic time-lapse picture. 1963: Dylan, the young, scrub-haired folk disciple, eager to make an impression on a scene he reveres, earnestly belts out songs both topical ("Who Killed Davey Moore," "Only a Pawn in their Game" "Blowin' in the Wind") and historical ("North Country Blues"). 1964: A more established presence in the folk music world, he experiments with the personal ("It Ain't Me Babe") and the surreal ("Mr. Tambourine Man," "Chimes of Freedom"), to brilliant effect. 1965: With the No. 1 record in America and a bright future ahead, he dares to challenge the complacent folk festival audience, "going electric" for two songs ("Maggie's Farm," "Like a Rolling Stone"), which created an uproar that people are still debating 42 years later. That's what I call a protest song.

AC/DC: "Plug Me In"
If there's one thing any living human can say about the Australian hard-rock juggernaut known lo these 30 years as AC/DC, it's that the band is consistent. There are no "departures," no "evolutions," no "difficult periods" -- no, with AC/DC, you get dirty deeds, done dirt cheap all night long. And, as this exhaustive, expansive double DVD collecting more than five hours of both iterations of the band (deceased original lead singer Bon Scott and his nearly identical replacement Brian Johnson get a disc each; I actually think Johnson's set is the strongest, if only for the wealth of material, including "You Shook Me All Night Long," "For Those About to Rock," and the band's true masterpiece, "Back in Black") at its sweaty live best, respect is due. The songs -- I almost want to say "song," given the way every number kind of rolls into every other one -- have a power that verges on primal; simply, this is how true rock music (as opposed to rock 'n' roll, for which you should consult the Stones, who appear on the bonus features of Disc 2, playing B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" with AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young live in Germany 2003) must sound. Sexual (though maybe not sexy, given the retrograde treatment of women in the lyrics), muscular, loud, fast and dirty. And no matter how much the band ages as the two discs' worth of film, video, rock shows and interviews unspool, their commitment to unadulterated (emphasis on "adult") AC/DC-ness becomes almost overwhelming. To those who watch the whole thing, we salute you.

The Beatles: "Help!"
The fact that the Beatles' second feature film has never gotten a fair shake from critics or fans has a lot to do with the fact that the Beatles' first feature film, "A Hard Day's Night" is pretty much perfect. And "Help!" is a big departure from "Night" in just about every important way: It's a genre picture with a convoluted plot (as opposed to a pseudo-documentary romp), it has many non-Beatle supporting actors (as opposed to a gaggle of day players helping move things along) and it's in vibrant color (as opposed to black and white). But if the world wasn't quite ready for "Help!" in 1965, here's hoping this beautiful DVD reissue (the picture transfer alone is astonishing) will cure the skeptics 42 years later. Directed -- like "Night" -- by the visionary Richard Lester, the film is an expansion and explosion of the Beatles phenomenon, featuring charming performances from three of the four heroes (Paul tries a bit too hard, sad to say) and a host of mod British character actors. The real star, however, is the music, which captures the band at the exact moment that Lennon/McCartney began to push the boundaries of their songwriting; Lester matches that ambition with a sweeping camera, exotic locales and a sharp self-awareness that predates the cynical age of MTV by four decades. Sure it's long -- the bonus features are even longer -- but if you love the Beatles, and I feel fairly certain that you do, it's time to see this film as it was meant to be seen.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: "Live at Monterey"
Nearly all the definitive moments of the golden age of rock-'n'-roll music were live performances -- Elvis Presley and the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show," Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival and this one, which trumps them all: Jimi Hendrix sets fire not just to his guitar but to the entire universe at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. What you forget going into this concert film, directed by the great D.A. Pennebaker ("Dont Look Back"), is that Hendrix was still largely unknown in his home country at the time this show took place; he had something to prove, and it shows from the moment he launches into "Killing Floor" to open the show. Everything about his stage presence -- guitar playing, guitar shenanigans, singing, strutting -- screams mastery. And in front of the assembled royalty of pop music circa-Summer of Love (Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones introduced him, the Who played right before him, the Grateful Dead and the Mamas and the Papas followed), Hendrix and his amazing Experience redefined everything, forever.

This film, which you've probably seen before, is a fine chronicle of this epoch-defining event -- as good as straight-up concert films get. The DVD ups the ante with multiple angles from the six-camera shoot (a little tricky to figure out unless you're familiar with the technology, but worth a few minutes for the novelty), interviews, a photo gallery, and coolest (though lowest quality) of all, some blurry footage of Hendrix and Co. playing in a tiny nightclub in Chelmsford, England, from February 1967. Essential.

"The McCartney Years"
To many, "the McCartney years" is simply another way of saying "the long, slow decline that followed the dissolution of the Beatles." But to put it in perspective: The Beatles as we know them lasted seven years. McCartney's solo career spans 37, and a host of hit singles, videos and record-breaking live appearances are chronicled on this sweeping three-disc collection. Solo Paul fan though I am, I won't pretend it's all genius -- I dare anyone about to go reaching for the schmaltz of "Ebony and Ivory" with anything more than an ironic curiosity -- but as the hits and history unfold, it becomes clear that McCartney (with and without Wings, his unfortunately named '70s band with late wife Linda) is a musician of surpassing artistry, whose classic songs are staples of the last three decades of rock 'n' roll. And if the live disc is for die-hards only, the videos represent a fascinating progression of the history of the medium, from crude pre-MTV '70s promo clips to slick '80s excesses to more artful '90s experimentalism. Throughout, the once and future cute Beatle remains at the center of the frame, carrying on in the aftermath of the greatest band of all time. I wonder whether anyone else could have done better.

Led Zeppelin: "The Song Remains the Same"
When it comes to sheer out-of-control rock 'n' roll ridiculousness, it's hard to think of a more unruly band than Led Zeppelin. And because the height of their fame was more or less the height of rock 'n' roll as a cultural force, there was a time when these blues-loving, heavy metal-inventing, long-haired, tight-trousered, booze-swilling drug hoovers were allowed to do whatever they wanted -- and in 1976, what they wanted was to release a film of a bombastic 1973 Madison Square Garden concert. But a concert film wouldn't be enough to make the project all-the-way ludicrous, so Led Zep decided to throw in some intersong fantasy sequences, including a '30s movie gangster shoot-'em-up, some pastoral farming, drag racing and a bit of broadsword wielding by one Robert Plant. And thus was born a rock-'n'-roll classic: absurd if you're not a fan; indelible if you are. This two-disc DVD release captures all the period pomp of the original film, while goosing up the picture and the sound to replace the murky print that has heretofore been the film's home video benchmark. Disc 2 provides additional concert footage and a pile of standard issue extras. Serious fans will have seen it all, but novices will appreciate the thoroughness.

Eric Clapton: "Crossroads Guitar Festival"
There are guitar lovers and there are guitar lovers. If you or someone you love is among the latter group, you can sew up the best Christmas ever with this one simple purchase. Headlined and masterminded by Eric Clapton, a man whose name is synonymous with six-string virtuosity, as a benefit for his addiction treatment facility in Antigua, the Crossroads Guitar Festival is exactly what it sounds like, and this DVD is the ultimate showcase of performances by the likes of Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, B.B. King, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Los Lobos, Robbie Robertson, Steve Winwood and old Slowhand himself. Two discs of blues, R&B, country and rock played by masters -- what more can you possibly need to know?

"The Johnny Cash Show: The Best of Johnny Cash, 1969-1971"
It's hard to imagine now, but in the late '60s, a TV network (CBS to be exact) gave a prime-time program to a country singer and allowed that singer to be in charge of the program's production and talent booking. The result was "The Johnny Cash Show," which remains a true curio of a period typically understood as the most tumultuous in American history. To watch "The Best of Johnny Cash," you'd think America was a melting pot of old and young, black and white, folk and rock, gospel and secular. You'd think Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Louis Armstrong, Ray Price, Waylon Jennings, Neil Young, Pete Seeger and Charley Pride all belonged on the same stage together, singing in harmony with the totemic musician who introduced them to middle America. It's easy to chuckle at the hair and the clothes, and it's also easy to marvel at the vitality of the performances. What's not so easy is to see just how far away a program like this, with genuinely different styles of music, politics and ideology all riding respectfully alongside one another feels from our contemporary landscape. It's one more reason to miss Johnny Cash.

David Gilmour: "Remember That Night --Live from Royal Albert Hall"
It can't be easy to pursue a solo career when your day job is being the singer and guitarist for Pink Floyd. David Gilmour makes a good show of it here, on this two-disc DVD that commemorates his all-star concerts in London in May 2006. Guest stars include David Bowie, David Crosby, Graham Nash and British eccentric (and brilliant singer in his own right) Robert Wyatt. The repertoire consists of a great many Floyd songs, from every phase of the band's career -- "Speak to Me," "Breathe" and "Time" from "Dark Side of the Moon" open the show -- and early single "Arnold Layne" (featuring Bowie) is just as prominent as bigger hits such as "Comfortably Numb" (also featuring Bowie) and "Shine on You Crazy Diamond." Of course, Gilmour's solo work also figures heavily, particularly his 2006 effort "On an Island," which, despite being slightly incongruous among so much more familiar material, ultimately vindicates itself. It helps to be able to see Gilmour -- never the most expressive performer -- as he plays this new material with conviction and ambition. It's clear he wants this stuff to be heard, which makes the two-disc smorgasbord such an appealing treasure chest for Floyd fans. In addition to the concert (and the outtake performances from throughout the three-night stand), there are clips from other live shows, a tour documentary, electronic press kit and even -- shock of shocks -- a goodwill message from ex-Floyd band mate and notorious Gilmour hater Roger Waters. For a true Floyd fanatic, that alone would be worth the price of admission.

The Ramones: "It's Alive 1974 -1996"
It's safe to say that if the Ramones had been a car, they would have had only one gear. But if there's one thing this amazing two-disc, four-hour, every-song-you-could-ask-for compendium of 20 years of live performances, TV appearances and other curios demonstrates, it's that the leather-jacketed New York hoodlums that made up punk's most consistent band were absolutely born to play full-throttle rock shows. Whether scraping it out on the bowery at CBGB or headlining massive outdoor European and South American festivals, the Ramones were a band that reached their full potential on the stage, not in the studio (though the records are pretty good, too). The band is now permanently defunct, but the songs are perennial. For the young initiate and the crusty veteran alike, "It's Alive" may well be the last best way to witness the awesome power of the Ramones legend.

Sean Nelson is a Seattle-based writer and musician. He is the author of "Court and Spark," a book about Joni Mitchell, published by Continuum Books.

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