New Nirvana DVD

OK, newish. A new DVD, Life Takes No Prisoners, of Nirvana's famed 1992 Reading Festival performance has just been released. So if you've ever wanted to hear Nirvana cover Boston's "More than a Feeling," this is your chance.

Better than Ezra's big comeback

As I write this (Thursday morning), Better than Ezra's Paper Empire is the #7 album on the iTunes charts. Yesterday, it was #3 (this from a band whose five previous albums peaked at #35, #64, #129, #110, and #84 on the Billboard charts). The album got a featured review at allmusic. Entertainment Weekly is streaming one of the tracks, "Just One Day" (listen here). Bands like the Fray name-check them as an influence, and Kevin Griffin wrote a song with American Idol winner David Cook.

Does the great '90s retro revival start here? While you ponder that, check out BTE's new video, "Absolutely Still":

No more Oasis until 2014?

As a former diehard Oasis fan (posters in my college dorm room and everything), I'm embarrassed to admit that I a) didn't get their most recent album Dig Out Your Soul when it came out, instead waiting for Christmas, and b) still haven't listened to it. But it appears I've got ample time to get acquainted with it, because Noel Gallagher tells Q Magazine that the band probably won't record another one for five years. In the meantime, the band will wrap up its touring with European dates this summer, and then Noel plans to do a solo album.

This certainly doesn't make me as sad as if the announcement had been made in 1997; I'm one of the few people who enjoyed Heathen Chemistry and parts of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, but the parts I've heard of the new album were awfully same-y, and I've skipped chances to see them on tour twice in the last five years. Are you going to miss Oasis?

Return of the Rentals (again)

Was Matt Sharp the key to Weezer? Most fans feel the Blue album and Pinkerton outshine the four post-Sharp albums. Sharp quit Weezer during the long post-Pinkerton hiatus to concentrate on his side project, the Rentals, who were then riding high off of "Friends of P". Then he broke up the Rentals after a poor-selling follow-up, did some solo work on tiny indie labels, sued Weezer for songwriting royalties, and now... the Rentals are back.


That's "Song of Remembering," off their odd new project Songs About Time, which will consist of some digital mini-albums, some short films, and some photographs. Get more info (and a four-song player of the first EP) here.

Weezer, meanwhile, are headlining the KROQ Weenie Roast in LA May 16, and are still supposedly touring with Blink-182 this summer, though as of yet no dates have been announced.

This week in reunions... The Wallflowers

* With Jakob Dylan back in the fold, the Wallflowers are touring in June and July. No new album as of yet, though be honest: do you know anyone who's bought one of their albums since 1998? I didn't think so.

* Taking a page from the Everclear playbook, Evan Dando is releasing an all-covers album with the Lemonheads, and going on tour in June. This isn't really a reunion, because only Dando remains from the band's '90s heyday.

* The Limp Bizkit reunion tour starts... in eastern Europe. The band will be playing arenas and festivals in Latvia, Ukraine, Slovakia, and Bulgaria, among other places, this summer. No word on a new album or a US tour.

* The Alice in Chains reunion album, which we first heard about in February 2008, is now supposedly coming out in September. For real.

* Oh, and Creed is getting back together. But I don't really want to talk about that.

Corgan and Chamberlain on Cobain and Courtney

Want to watch one of the last Smashing Pumpkins performances with Jimmy Chamberlain? Here you go.

What's that? You'd prefer to watch Billy Corgan turn "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" into a weird spoken-word intro for a minor-league wrestling circuit? Well, it's your lucky day:

This week in reunions... Jesus Lizard

* The Jesus Lizard are back, and playing the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer. If you're like me, and only vaguely remember the band, get a primer (and a couple of YouTube videos) here.

* Jason Newsted rejoined Metallica for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction a few weeks ago.

* Jane's Addiction have recorded two new tracks which were originally demoed in 1987, with Trent Reznor producing. They're on a new box set.

*The three guys in Soundgarden who aren't Chris Cornell got up on stage with the dude from Tad (remember Tad?), and played a couple of songs in Seattle last month. Since it's 2009, you can of course find grainy YouTube videos of the performance here.