My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade was a rich concept album full ofcomplicated arrangements and string-section accents — material that doesn't translate easily on the band's new live set. Recorded last year during tourstops in Mexico City and New Jersey, The Black Parade is Dead! finds MyChemical Romance stripping their emo epic down to its basic elements, whichrobs the music of some depth. Frontman Gerard Way's voice sounds a littlefatigued, and many of the songs are undone by the vanilla mix, especially on"Welcome To the Black Parade," where Way comes off as way too shouty. Theaccompanying DVD shows off the band's sharp visual style and Way's manicstage presence, highlighted by his goth-Jagger strut. But for all of thetheatrical flourishes, the songs remain slightly lost in translation, asthough the band isn't yet comfortable with its recent material ­ during hisperformance of "Cancer," Way almost sounds apologetic. The band'shard-hitting rendition of 'Dead!' complete with a jagged Van Halen-esqueguitar solo and some stadium-sized "Na na na"'s, makes for a thrillinghighlight, but the album's most invigorating sounds are still the screams ofelation from the die-hard crowd.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."