Latest releases reviewed

Thin Lizzy Live and Dangerous Universal ***

Considered one of the best live albums in the rock canon, Live and Dangerous (1978) captured a band at the top of their game. Although they were out and about in the year that punk went mainstream, Lizzy were not treated as a dinosaur rock act, primarily due to the songs, which were punchy, tight and - the guitar-solo heavy Still in Love with You notwithstanding - short.

Now making its debut on DVD, with full digital restoration and a 5.1 surround-sound mix, this is the kind of old-school rock gig that plasma-screen TVs were made for. The band performance is superlative, the songs crunchy, and Phil Lynott's frontman shtick the epitome of professional entertainment ("Any girls out with a bit of Irish in them?", indeed!). Extras of two hours-plus duration are bountiful if patchy: a range of interviews, previously unreleased live recordings and television performances. Tony Clayton-Lea

The Beatles Help Apple ***

After the success of their debut movie, A Hard Day's Night, and with Beatlemania at its height, the Fab Four reconvened with director Richard Lester to shoot a second knockabout movie that would showcase the band's new songs.

They didn't want to make another mockumentary, so a plot was concocted: instead of being pursued by screaming fans, this time the lads would be chased by a crazed Indian religious cult and a pair of mad scientists, on a quest to nab Ringo's ring of power.

It is a very silly film, with inadvertent racist overtones, but John, Paul, George and Ringo are themselves throughout, looking impossibly cool and dead- panning drolly at every attempt on their lives. The songs are great, too; seven of their finest, including Ticket to Ride, You're Gonna Lose That Girl and The Night Before. www.beatles.com   Kevin Courtney