Godsmack: Awake 25th Anniversary Edition (Republic/UMe CD, 45:29 + 5 bonus tracks). This was the Massachusetts Nu Metal band’s third studio album, released on Oct. 31, 2000. It is a more powerful and raw album than their first two. It also was the last album recorded with drummer Tommy Stewart, who was replaced by former drummer Shannon Larkin afterwards.

The limited-edition CD features a cool holographic lithograph and 5 bonus tracks. The original album yielded the hits "Bad Magick," "Awake" and "Greed." It debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 256,000 copies in its first week. The album went on to sell at least 2 million copies in the United States.

It features the song "Goin' Down," which first appeared on the band's initial studio recording, “All Wound Up,” which was an independent release on their own label, E. K. Records Company.

The album's title track dominated rock radio and broke chart records throughout 2000 and 2001. The spoken-word track “Vampires,” which contains dialogue from the television show “Mysterious Forces Beyond,” earned the band its first Grammy nomination. In 2001, “Awake” won the Boston Music Award for Album of the Year, while “Greed” had Boston Music Awards nominations for single and video of the year.

Somewhat bizarrely, during the 2000s, the songs “Sick of Life” and “Awake” were used for the U.S. Navy’s "Accelerate Your Life" recruiting advertisements.

The album opens with “Sick of Life,” but quickly takes an opposite viewpoint on the following “Awake,” with its line, “I’m alive because of you.” “Awake” and the following “Greed” are highlights, as is “Black Magick,” although the later returns to a death theme with the line, “get so high you want to die.” “Black Magick” does have a catchy chorus.

There is some spoken dialogue on “Mistakes,” before the pounding “Forgive Me,” another strong number. The mostly instrumental “Vampires” and the brief (50 secs.) instrumental “The Journey” follow, before the original album closes on a high note with the softer “Spiral.”

"Goin' Down" was a track from the original “Godsmack” album (1998) that was dropped in favor of “Whatever” for their major-label release. “Bad Magick” and “Vampires” also dated back to the same period.

The five bonus tracks include the Band’s “Why” and a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf” (it opens with coughing, probably appropriate as it is an ode to cannabis), both of which appeared as bonus tracks on the initial Japanese release of “Awake.” Next is a clean mix of “Trippin’,” followed by acapella versions of “Awake” and “Bad Magick” that appear to be just the vocal tracks from the original releases, rather than special recordings. Grade: B

Bee Gees: You Should Be Dancing (UMe, 4 vinyl LPs). This is a special limited-edition, four-disc collectors’ item of the highly sought-after original 12-inch versions of some of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb’s most iconic dancefloor-fillers, plus previously-unreleased extended versions of five more Gibb brothers’ classics. Additionally, the set includes the previously hidden 1990s U.K. club hit, “Decadance,” as well the long-awaited physical debut of SG Lewis’ viral 2021 Paradise remix of “More Than a Woman,” which originally appeared on Tik Tok. There are 14 tracks in all, including previously-unreleased extended versions of “Jive Talkin’,” “Nights on Broadway,” “Tragedy” and “Love You Inside Out.”

The Bee Gees were formed in 1958 by the three Gibb brothers. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and then became prominent in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group was noted for its three-part tight harmonies. Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B-tinged falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The turning point came when they contributed to the “Saturday Night Fever” motion picture. The group wrote all its own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists.

Their contributions to “Saturday Night Fever” were “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love,” “Night Fever,” “More Than a Woman,” “Jive Talkin’” and “You Should Be Dancing.” Five of the six are included here, the exception being the ballad “How Deep Is Your Love.” The special disco versions are of “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever” and “More Than a Woman.” The rest are extended versions, except for the group’s ultra-rare update of their own “You Should Be Dancing,” reimagined as the bonus track “Decadance” for the brothers’ 1993 album “Size Isn’t Everything.” Previously only available outside of the U.S., “Decadance” is featured in both its original incarnation as well as the Ben Liebrand Vocal Mix version of “Decadance.”

The “Decadance” album mix is a darker version of “You Should Be Dancin’,” with lots of guitar. The longer (5:44) version of “Decadance” is the Ben Liebrand Vocal Mix.

In each instance, the song extensions are not that radical, with only “Stayin’ Alive” clocking in a more than 6 minutes. It lasts 6:53.

The collection is full of classics, including all five songs from “Saturday Night Fever” and “If I Can’t Have You,” “Nights on Broadway” and “Tragedy.” I should confess here that I am a longtime Bee Gees fan, going back to 1967 and their “Bee Gees 1st” album, with “Holiday,” “New York Mining Disaster 1941,” “Cucunber Castle” and “To Love Somebody.”

This vinyl collection also includes extended versions of the funky “Boogie Child,” the romantic falsetto-filled “You Stepped into My Life” and “If I Can’t Have You.”

No less than 21 different Gibb-written songs have topped either the U.S. or the U.K. charts going back to the 1960s. Their global record sales are approaching a quarter-of-a-billion. They have collected nine Grammy Awards and more than a dozen Ivor Novello awards, while being the only songwriters to place five songs simultaneously in the U.S. Billboard Top 10. Additionally, they have received Kennedy Center honors, a knighthood for Barry Gibb, Brit and American Music Awards lifetime achievements and secured spots in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

The Bee Gees have 26 million monthly listeners on Spotify, as well as nearly two billion total streams for “Stayin’ Alive.” Most recently, Lewis’ Paradise Edit of “More Than a Woman” reached more than 115 million Spotify streams, boosting the original’s popularity to where it is also closing in on a billion streams. Grade A

Elvis ’56 (1987, Lightyear, Blu-ray, NR, 58 min.). This is a remastered version of the documentary, narrated by The Band’s Levon Helm, that centers on the year in Elvis Presley’s career when he became a household name due to at times-controversial television appearances – too much hip shaking for some, including host Ed Sullivan, and too raucous music for others – and the start of his film career, with “Love Me Tender.”

This Blu-ray debut includes at least portions of 20 songs, including complete performances from his TV appearances on “The Dorsey Brothers Show,” “The Milton Berle Show,” “The Steve Allen Show” – where he was made to dress in a tuxedo and sing “Hound Dog” to a dog wearing a top hat – and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” (“The Ed Sullivan Show” was a Sunday night staple in our house while I was growing up.)

Elvis first appeared several times on “The Dorsey Brothers Show,” and clips show him performing “Shake Rattle and Roll,” “Baby Let’s Play House,” Little Richard’s “Tutti Fruiti” and “Heartbreak Hotel.” The latter has all his leg movements.

A nice thing about the documentary is all the photos it contains, including an early Elvis visit to New York City, recording sessions while audio interview bits are played and stills of a home visit to visit his mother, including several home swimming pool shots. Grade: A+

Cinderella in Concert (2005, Deadline/Cleopatra, Blu-ray, NR, 82 min.). Cinderella rocks the hits "Night Songs," "Nobody's Fool" and "Don't Know What You've Got (Til It’s Gone)" in this 17-song, digitally-remastered concert film, recorded in Detroit during the band’s legendary Heartbreak Station Tour of 1991, when the quartet was at the height of its powers. The audio has been formatted in both 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo and there is an exclusive photo slide show (3:53) as a bonus.

The band formed in the Philadelphia suburbs in 1983. It emerged in the mid-1980s with a series of multi-platinum studio albums and hit singles whose music videos received heavy MTV rotation and popularity. Cinderella initially had a glam metal sound throughout the late 1980s, before shifting into a more blues-based sound during the early to mid 1990s. They remained active until 2014.

The lineup here includes lead singer/guitarist Tom Keifer (also wrote all the songs but one), bassist Eric Brittingham, guitarist Jeff LaBar and drummer Fred Coury. They are supported by keyboardist Gary Corbett, backing vocalists Roberta Freeman and Diane Jones, and saxophonist Jay Davidson. LaBar died in 2021.

The show opens with the first six songs done as pairs, with the first couple being “The More Things Change” and “Push Push,” with Keifer strapping on a guitar midway through the latter. Coury really pounds the drums. “Sick for the Cure” has some nice slide guitar by Keifer.

Storm sounds and light effects open “Night Songs,” which also features a bell being struck. Here, Keifer plays a dual neck 12-string and six-string guitar.

The band moves into a quieter acoustic section with “Heartbreak Station” and “Coming Home.” Dual guitar solos open “Falling Apart at the Seams,” which sounds a bit like AC/DC. Also like AC/DC, vocalist Keifer wanders through the crowd during “Gypsy Road” and the beginning of “Shake Me,” nearing the concert’s end. Overall, Keifer is a shouter of a singer.

Coury’s solo drumming opens “Love Gone Bad,” which features Davidson’s sax, as does the encore of “Shelter Me.” Vocalist Keifer opens “Don’t Know What You Got (Til It’s Gone)” on piano, and the song leads into “Nobody’s Fool.” Grade: B+