Everyone has been focusing on naming their favorite albums of 2007, but I’m more of a visually oriented guy. Each week I browse Amazon and Netflix to find out what rock-related concerts and documentaries are coming down the pike, and I do my best to check out any that seem worthwhile. There were many flicks both good and bad that made their way into either my DVD player or DVR this past year. This week’s B List focuses on the 10 Best Music DVDs of 2007:

10. The Other Side of the Mirror – Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival

Bob Dylan changed folk music forever when he took the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with some bona fide electrified rockers. The Other Side of the Mirror examines not only Dylan’s 1965 performance, but also his more straightforward turns at the ’63 and ’64 festivals. Murray Lerner’s fantastic documentary gives us 20 songs from Dylan’s three appearances, most of which haven’t been released before.

Read on after the jump for the remaining best music DVDs of the year…

We couldn’t have been happier when the New York Times finally took down their Times Select pay wall, allowing free access to nearly all of the illustrious paper’s articles since 1981. While we love reading old reviews, news stories and columns from some of the best music journalists in the history of the game, we don’t like paying $3.99 to read a 500-word article. Mr. Sulzberger, tear down this wall!

We’ve been bookmarking some of our favorite articles from the vast NYT archives, and recently we realized we should probably share the links so people don’t have to enter 100 different search phrases like we did. This week’s B List compiles one great article from each year between 1981-2007:

1981: Tom Petty: Ready to Fight the Good Fight [May 6th, 1981]

”A lot of our fans have been with us for a long time, and I think they trust us,” the 29-year-old singer, songwriter and guitarist said recently. ”MCA has done a great job selling our records, but they couldn’t see the reality of what it’s like on the street – they couldn’t see that raising the album’s price wouldn’t be fair.”

1982: Talking Heads Fans Get a Night to Remember [August 23rd, 1982]

”THIS ain’t no party,” the Talking Heads warned gravely a year ago when they made their most recent concert appearance in the New York area. But the group’s expanded lineup, with a vocalist, guitarist, percussionist, extra bassist, and keyboard player added to the basic Talking Heads foursome, belied those words. Their shows were parties -joyous, celebratory, and loose.

1983: Police perform for 75,000 at Shea [August 20th, 1983]

”We’d like to thank the Beatles for lending us their stadium,” said Sting, the bassist and singer of the Police, near the end of the trio’s concert at Shea Stadium.

1984: Miles Davis Returns With Revamped Band [June 24th, 1984]

This revamped unit provides richly layered, rhythmically emphatic accompaniments for Mr. Davis and for two other absorbing soloists, the saxophonist Bob Berg and the guitarist John Scofield. The earlier group sounded like a collection of competent but uninspired individuals. Now Mr. Davis has a real band , and like all his better bands, it is an instrument that he plays as deftly and dramatically as he plays the trumpet, an extension of his own personal sound.

Read on for many more articles, reviews and columns from the Grey Lady…

We got a well needed chuckle this afternoon at these witty LOL-Cats pictures of Kurt Cobain singing on MTV Unplugged — we always thought there was something hilarious about Cobain’s always-intense gazes. And if you haven’t pre-purchased a copy of the new Unplugged DVD, be sure to enter our giveaway, so you can come up with your own funny (and perhaps darker) captions.

• Thom Yorke said no when Paul McCartney asked him to record a duet
• Have you ever seen 250,000 faces melted simultaneously?
• Levon Helm sits in on indie band Ida’s new album
• Speaking of strike-busters Duran Duran moved their concerts from the Ethel Barrymore Theatre to the Roseland in order to avoid striking stagehands
• Gibson unveils pictures of the self-tuning Les Paul
• Van Halen announces more early 2008 tour dates
• R.I.P: 28-year-old Nicholas Phillips on Friday night died of a drug overdose at a usual HT haunt, the Knitting Factory
• Brian Heisler on Umphrey’s McGee’s Night at the Terratorium Halloween concert
• Nutsie provides an official music playlist of all the songs used in Rock Band
• A.V. Club lists 21 good albums that would have made great EPs

Finally, Jesse Jarnow caught our attention last week when he told us about the incredible shot-by-shot re-creation of Raiders of the Lost Ark that recently hit small arthouses across the country. Double J found a torrent of it, and he shares his thoughts (and the torrent file) with us. It also plays in New York tomorrow night.

Fourteen years, two days and one untimely death after Nirvana recorded the salad-days soundtrack of so many lazy college afternoons, the first-ever DVD release of Unplugged in New York will hit online and actual shelves. On November 20th, it’ll be time to break out the flannel.

The new release will feature the complete, unedited 66-minute concert, and if Ron Popeil were here right now he’d tell you that’s not all: The DVD also includes Something In The Way and Oh Me, two performances not aired during the original 44-minute broadcast. But wait, there’s more…if you act now, they’ll throw in five previously unreleased rehearsal performances and MTV News interviews with the band and audience members. Super.

Now as part of our Everybody Wins When I Plug Something And In Return They Offer Me Free Shit To Give Away contest, we’ll send you a free copy of this DVD if you chime in below and answer this query from Lake of Fire, obviously the best track from the evening: Aside from this so-called lake of fire, where do bad folks go when they die if they don’t go to heaven where the angels fly?

If I could enter, I’d guess they go to a cold, secluded room where they’re tag-teamed by the stand-up comedy stylings of Elayne Boosler and Rita Rudner while highlights of Jm J. Bullock‘s best Hollywood Squares jokes run on an A Clockwork Orange-type projector screen in between sets. But I can’t enter, so go get ‘em. This contest ends on Friday, November 16th, so sound off early and often…

• Full Video Trailer: Nirvana Unplugged in New York
• Sample Videos: All Apologies and About A Girl
• Read on after the jump for more about the upcoming release

Coming up with the perfect title for a new album is something artists have struggled with since Leo da Vinci named his masterpiece “Mona Lisa” instead of the more catchy “Hot Chick I Fucked Last Night.”

Giving an album a good title can make all the difference in the world. Squeeze’s Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti may be a decent record, but I’m not putting anything with that title on my iPod. Meanwhile, Me First and the Gimme Gimme’s Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah probably sold an extra thousand copies due to its awesome title.

Most of the time record companies don’t really care too much what a band names an album, but once in a while they put their proverbial foot down (perhaps their literal feet as well). A few weeks ago we looked at 10 albums released with controversial cover art, so this week we look at eight albums whose titles were rejected either by members of the band or the big bad record company…

1. Grateful Dead — Skullfuck:

The Grateful Dead submitted a live album to Warner Brothers in 1971 with the title Skullfuck. As you can imagine, the record company rejected the title, and instead decided to release the album with no title. Fans call this album Skull and Roses to avoid confusing it with the band’s eponymous debut.

2. XTC — Black Music:

XTC released their debut album, White Music, on Virgin Records in 1978. The band wanted to call the album Black Music but Virgin nixed the idea because they thought the title may suggest a blues or soul album. Racists!

Read on for six more rejected album titles we would liked to have seen…

NPR has completely outdone itself this time: The media folks yesterday launched a new website promoting the best of public radio music. The diverse new site contains free streams and features on a wide variety of artists ranging from classical violin player Joshua Bell to alt-rockers The New Pornographers. But it’s Monitor Mix — a blog written by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein — that wins the award for coolest feature on the new website. Check it.

• The Week Daily addresses the state of the music industry
• Legendary house DJ/producer Kenny Dope remixes Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings’ Keep On Looking
• Now you can finally buy your own Ghostface Killa doll [via tds]
• Done deal: Universal Pictures secured the rights to use Nirvana’s music in a forthcoming biopic about Kurt Cobain
• Prince fansites fight back against the purple one’s litigious ways
• A little exhaustion is good for creativity: The White Stripes used their time off the road to record some new songs and film a video
• Gothamist interviews Pitchfork faves Tokyo Police Club
• Marco Benevento announced a January residency at Sullivan Hall in NYC
• Derek Trucks balances life between families
• HeadCount plans to register 200,000 voters at concerts
• Gogol Bordello brought Gypsy Punk to Terminal 5
• Gene Ween documented the recording of La Cucaracha [via Wilson]

And, finally, try your luck at Rolling Stone’s Almost-Impossible Rock & Roll Quiz to see if you could beat Neeko’s high score of 39…it really is almost impossible.

Good news: One of our favorite musicians is coming out with a new album on October 30th. Levon Helm‘s Dirt Farmer will be the drawling drummer’s first album of new material in more than a decade. Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Amy Helm and George Receli contribute to the album, which was recorded at Helm’s studios in Woodstock. Let’s hope Levon hits the road to support Dirt Farmer, so everyone can see the goods. Now here’s some other shit to digest…

• MTV is teaming up with RealNetworks and Verizon to take on iTunes
• Bernie Worrell is releasing a new album that features guest spots by Mike Gordon (the “G” is soft) and Warren Haynes
• Van Halen adds some tour dates to the list they originally announced
• Gathering of the Vibes attendees donated more than 3,300 pounds of nonperishable food to the Bridgeport Veteran’s Affairs Food Bank
• R.E.M. will release their first live (cleverly titled) album on 10/16
• Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams II will also drop on October 16th, at which time Neil will kick off a six-week tour
• The Daily Swarm has the trailer for the Kurt Cobain movie About A Son
• You didn’t really think Amy Winehouse was gonna tour, did you?
• No Doubt has reunited (and it feels so good)
• The members of Boston put aside their angst to celebrate Brad Delp
• Boing Boing lists some of their favorite music videos from the ’60s
• Sheryl Crow, Avril Lavigne and Fiona Apple have been tabbed to headline the Lilith Fair II Girlfrenzy Fest on October 21st in Irvine, California
• Jefitoblog presents the Idiot’s Guide to Sam Phillips
• Last.FM will soon publish a “hype list”
• Crowded House has started selling official recordings of their shows
• Shoutmouth lists 25 Bands That Should Reunite
• Pitchfork is already running the “Band of Horses spawned from jambands” joke into the ground

If we missed anything…it probably wasn’t important. But seriously, folks, leave us a comment below with some news we didn’t list.

We’ve got a bunch of links for you today, so let’s just jump right in to the mess…

• Kings of Leon are playing a free show on Friday at the SoHo Apple Store and they’ve booked a run of epic venues in September
• Guess you can: Pete Townshend explains I Can’t Explain
• Shine A Light, Martin Scorsese’s film about the Rolling Stones, will debut on September 21st
• Mountain Jam Blog is featuring Dino Perrucci’s stellar photos
• Kurt Cobain – About A Son has a soundtrack featuring songs from David Bowie, R.E.M., and many other artists
• North Mississippi Allstars present their second annual Hill Country Picnic
• Check out this stellar Ozzy/Randy Rhodes bootleg from 1981
• MoBoogie is featuring an interview with Girl Talk
• Recapping Bright Eyes run at Town Hall
• Running Away is the first single from The Polyphonic Spree’s new album
• There are still five days left on Neddy’s shows of the week
• Jim DeRogatis on posthumous releases
• Everyday Companion starts Year Two of killer Widespread Panic podcasts
• What are the albums that changed your life?

A new free service from Silicon Valley upstart Lala may revolutionize the music industry. Lala has just introduced a new service that allows you to stream songs from Warner Music Group and many indie labels…and get this, for free. The labels hope Lala users will listen to a particular track and then decide to buy an album directly through the Rhapsody/Napster competitor.

Lala users can upload tracks to their iPod without using iTunes, something that gives many record label execs hard-ons. The other cool feature at Lala is the ability to mirror your music collection so that you can access your music from anywhere. The quality of the tracks is extremely crappy, but we are getting closer to the day that you will be able to stream all your music at high quality via your cellphone.

Dare we say, craisins!

I got my golden ticket yesterday, a seat at Fenway Park to see The Police. I highly recommend going in with a few friends on a fan club membership: Tickets were available for over an hour, and it is worth the $25 to not have to battle with the rest of the world during the general on-sale period.

Luckily I am off from my day job today, but that doesn’t mean I can’t share some links with my peoples:

• Los Lobos: Still kicking ass after 35 years as a band
• KSCA is a great radio station from California that has a series of live performances called Live From the Music Hall — Jefitoblog has compiled the best of those performances
• VH-1 Classic, my favorite television station, will remain on the air despite MTV firing most of the staff. Also in the post is news that the station will cover next month’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony live and in its entirety
• Jon Pareles spoke with The Police about its reunion tour for the New York Times Magazine
• A promotional video for Page McConnell’s new album
• Double J Jesse Jarnow gives us the 13th episode of his Frow Show podcast series
• Video of the Fab Faux performing I Am The Walrus on Letterman
• The Langerado schedule is out
• You can stream Arcade Fire’s Saturday night show on NPR (via Largehearted Boy)
• Kurt Cobain would have been 40 this week
• A great photo gallery from The Disco Biscuits “Wheel” show at Starland Ballroom
• Neddy previews the week of shows in NYC

Please share any news, mp3, or video links in the comments below….

You can find some crazy videos when spelunking the depths of YouTube. This week’s edition of The B List presents 12 great clips from the backstage area at concerts. Some are funny, and others are just damn cool to see:

Read on below for a full list of 12 unbelievable backstage videos that span all genres, fantastic clips that include Van Halen, Jimi, DMX and Jay-Z, Leo Kottke, Nirvana, Dylan with Lou Reed and BB King, and Motley Crue’s meat fetish…

Now that December is moving along quickly, it’s time to look back at some of the best releases of the year. This week I’ll tackle DVDs, and this year there were plenty to choose from (with the exception of Okonokos and Heart of Gold, all of these DVDs are archival releases). And for the sake of full disclosure, I have yet to see Jeff Tweedy’s Sunken Treasure DVD and Tea Leaf Green’s Rock ’N’ Roll Band. Without further interruption here is this week’s edition of The B List:

1. My Morning Jacket: Okonokos — I thought the songs from MMJ’s Z album were amazing in the studio, but they open them up even further in concert. This recent release was taped during two shows in San Francisco and features 40 songs from every stage of the band’s career.

2. Kiss: Kissology Volume 1 – I’m not a huge Kiss fan, but that doesn’t prevent me from being extremely impressed at how the band released exactly what any fan of a band would want — Kissology is three DVDs jammed packed with amazing clips from the band’s first three years. This collection has it all, from documentaries to TV appearances to four full concerts. Hopefully other bands will follow Kiss’ lead and open their vaults to this unprecedented level.

3. The Police: Everyone Stares – From 1976 - 1984 drummer Stuart Copeland chronicled the rise to glory of The Police. More than two decades later, Copeland has taken advantage of advances in technology that have allowed him to edit his footage into a cohesive, entertaining documentary. The DVD also offers 45 minutes of terrific bonus footage.

4. Pink Floyd: Pulse – Ten years after its release on VHS, Pulse was finally given the digital treatment. Pulse features a full show from Pink Floyd’s 1994 Division Bell tour, and the film captures the music and visuals perfectly. Now if they only included an extra battery so that my Pulse CD can start blinking again.

5. R.E.M.: When The Light Is Mine – Before the days of Stand and Losing My Religion, R.E.M. wrote some of the more groundbreaking songs that helped define the “alternative” genre. After six releases of material from the Warner Brothers period, the band has finally released a compilation of videos and live shows from the early years. While it would be great to see more concert footage, the acoustic performances and early videos provide an interesting look at a band on the rise.

6. The Cars: Unlocked – This disc is a well put together look at every stage of The Cars career, from 1977 through 1987. No music videos here, just kickass live footage.

7. Neil Young: Heart of Gold – Acclaimed director Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense) directs this simple yet incredibly effective Neil Young concert film. Recorded at Nashville’s beautiful Ryman Theater shortly after Young suffered a brain aneurysm, Heart of Gold features an emotional Young performing all of the songs on Prairie Wind before tackling some of his older material.

8. …

We’d like to thank you all for entering the Johnny Cash: At San Quentin contest, and we really wish to give you all free DVDs. But we can’t, and now that we think about it we probably wouldn’t, because you’re all are bastard people.

If you’re wondering, King of Rock won the three-disc set with his well-reasoned argument that Loverboy would be the worst act to see as a prison inmate.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to invite you into the deep end of the comments section of this Nirvana Resurrected on DVD post to win a free copy of the newly released Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! The grill is hot, the pool is luke, and truthfully, the guy winning right now says that The Three Stooges constitute the greatest musical trio of all-time, so the free prize is yours for the taking.

Was Nirvana really one of the most influential bands in rock history, or was it the most influential bullet in Kurt Cobain’s skull that posthumously bumped his trio to permanent legend status with no possiblity of a legacy downgrade?

I mean, Nirvana hit it and quit it well before the ascension of the Internets. If Kurt and Dave Grohl and That Other Guy Whose Name Escapes You existed during the irrational exuberance of the late 1990s, you just know that any album produced after 1997 would have drawn out all the cheeky, smartass sassmouths to absolutely thrash and pwn the album and the band, some constructing epic posts on PollyOnLithium.net like “If he thinks his mediocre playing’s worth a shit on this disc, he should just shoot himself in the head right now.”

A strong argument for the greatness of Nirvana hit store shelves this past Tuesday, a digitally remastered DVD release of 1994′s Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! And thanks to the good folks that make possible our Everybody Wins When I Plug Something And In Return They Offer Me Free Shit To Give Away contests, we’re giving away a free copy of this re-issue to one lucky, flannel-wearing fan.

This one’s pretty easy: Nirvana is probably right at the top of many “My Favorite Trio” lists, whether truly deserved or not. So I’d like to know which band you consider to be your favorite musical trio, be it dead or still playing, fictional or real, from bands like Nirvana to jingle specialists like Snap, Crackle & Pop.

All you gots-ta do is tell us which trio you love most and briefly explain why they’re the best ever at what they do or did. The wittier, the better. The contest ends this Sunday night, November 19th, so make yourself heard some time before then, and read on for the movie trailer and list of songs featured on this fantastic DVD…