Along
with concert documentaries, there’s a burgeoning sub-genre of musical
biographies making their way to DVD, and while these often serve
chiefly as sermons for a converted choir, they’re also handy primers
for abiding music fans who perhaps want to fill in a few gaps in their
own musical history. Cases in point: Under Review: Kate Bush and Under Review: The Velvet Underground, two superlative looks at influential acts.

Kate
Bush, one of Great Britain’s most enduring solo acts of the past two
decades, is always a singer for whom I’ll hold a special place, as the
favorite literate chanteuse of an old college flame, who first
introduced me to her. Similarly, mixing interviews, rare performance
footage and commentary and contextualization from peers and critics,
this finely culled Under Review title (a branding to which
Captain Beefheart and Small Faces have also submitted, with a disc on
The Smiths due later in June) is the perfect introduction for those who
have perhaps heard of Bush’s music but never given her a spin. From her
striking debut, The Kick Inside, to latter-era work like 1993’s stirring The Red Shoes and last year’s double disc Aerial,
a comprehensive chronological overview is given. Deejay Paul
Gambaccini, producer Morris Pert, music journalists Lucy O’Brien and
Phil Sutcliffe and many others lend their insight into Bush’s lilting
melodies, and live and studio recordings include such numbers as
“Wuthering Heights,” “Army Dreamers,” “Running Up That Hill,” “This
Woman’s Work,” “Wow” and “Cloudbusting.” Also featured on this
90-minute doc — which lacks only a firmer imprint of Bush’s own
personality — are an interactive quiz, complete discography and
extended classic television interviews.

Clocking in at a lean 80-some minutes, Under Review: The Velvet Underground
tackles the music and career of a band which esteemed rock ’n’ roll
journalist Lester Bangs — portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the
movie Almost Famous — claims kick-started “modern music.” Village Voice
music editor Robert Christgau and author Clinton Heylin provide some
clear-eyed analysis, but some of the other talking heads here grate and
waste time more than anything else. That said, there’s a heady mix of
rare performance footage (“Pale Blue Eyes,” “All Tomorrow’s Parties,”
“Heroin,” “Venus in Furs,” “Sweet Jane,” “White Light/White Heat” and
“Sunday Morning”) and new interview material exclusive to this release.
The best probably comes courtesy of drummer Moe Tucker. Even without
any words from Lou Reed himself, Under Review: The Velvet Underground
illuminates the uncommon and extraordinary blend of gritty social
realism and sexual kink that made the band’s music so intoxicatingly
original.

Each Under Review title comes in a regular Amray case that is
in turn housed in an extremely thin cardboard slipcase. Supplemental
extras are a bit dashed off, limited to the aforementioned interactive
quizzes (nice evaporations of time for hardcore fans, but ill-suited
for neophytes or casual viewers), discographies and amorphous extended
footage. That said, Under Review: Kate Bush and Under Review: The Velvet Underground are both appealing introductory-level documents of two legendary musical acts. B- (Movies) C (Discs)