Owls Head — U2: From the Sky Down (Interscope/Universal, Blu-ray or standard DVD, 86 min.). This is a fascinating, intimate portrait of the four-man band from Dublin, Ireland that has gone on to world-wide success. The intimacy factor is helped by the fact that director Davis Guggenheim previously worked with guitarist The Edge in his “It Might Get Loud” documentary.

Much was filmed during the 360 Tour and during spring 2011 rehearsals for the band’s first performance at Glastonbury. The band also is followed during a return to the Hansa Studios in Berlin, where “Achtung Baby,” a watershed album in their career, was recorded 20 years ago (amazing how time flies, and who knew, when I saw the band open for Barooga Bandit in Boston in their second U.S. gig, that the band would ever get this huge … soaring melodies indeed). For the first 20 minutes or so, all the band member comments are voice-overs, so you may not be sure who actually is speaking, but it is their longtime producer Brian Eno who refers to the band as a clan. One major thing we learn is how the band nearly disintegrated into four separate pieces during the early, difficult days in Berlin. As Bono, the lead singer, puts it, he thought the band would break up “over artistic differences, the classic cliché.” However, the band’s studio “magic” returned in Berlin finally, and part of that is captured on film as we see and hear the genesis of “One” in Hansa Studios. It is an extraordinary moment to witness.

This is not a traditional, history-of-the-band documentary, although there are some fun pictures from the band’s very early days, and Bono says he used to have melodies in his head at age 8 that he somehow wanted to get out via piano. This is one of several spots in the film that Guggenheim uses animation. We also see how the band stumbled in the public eye with its earlier film, “Rattle and Hum.” Throughout the film, the four band members -- the other two are drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton -- are very self-critical. There is a wonderful version of “The Real Thing” that closes the film. DVD bonuses include three solo guitar and voice performances: Bon on “So Cruel” and “The Fly,” and The Edge on “Love Is Blindness”; a two-minute photo gallery; and a very revealing and candid 45-minute on-stage interview with Guggenheim, Bono and The Edge in Toronto, the day after the film opened the Toronto International Film Festival. Grade: A

Queen: Days of Our Lives (Eagle Vision, Blu-ray or standard DVD, 221 min.). This more traditional documentary follows Queen from when they were just four college students in previous bands (or none), who finally get together in 1971 and go on to record 26 albums and sell more than 300 million albums. (By the way, Amazon recently reissued 15 of the Capitol era albums in three box sets of five double-CDs each, the second disc in each case holding five or six bonus tracks.) This is a two-part documentary produced by long-time Queen collaborators  Rhys Thomas and Simon Lupton, and directed by Matt Casey. The unique part here is that guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor tell their own story in brand new interviews, and footage includes Queen’s first ever TV performance, recently unearthed. Bassist John Deacon is featured in vintage interviews. Their tale is told with wit, painful honesty and the sadness that was the death of singer Freddie Mercury at 45. The documentary was aired on back-to-back nights last May on BBC 2 in the United Kingdom.

We first meet May as he is revisited some of his early haunts, including Imperial College, where he studied physics and did a doctorate in astronomy. Taylor answered May’s bulletin board notice that a drummer was needed for his band Smile. Mercury was born in Zanzibar and educated in India. There is early footage here of him singing “Big Spender” from the musical “Sweet Charity.” Then follows a timeline, touching on each album and the breakthroughs, which included “Killer Queen” (basically melody was added to the mix and it became a hit); the unlikely hit “Bohemian Rhapsody,” recorded in six different studios at the same time; “Somebody to Love,” for which Mercury’s inspiration was Aretha Franklin; “Another One Bites the Dust,” which became a huge hit due to its appeal to black audiences; “Under Pressure,” recorded with David Bowie; and “We Are the Champions.” The first part covers 1970 through 1980; part two covers the rest, including a pioneering trip to Brazil, their appearance in South Africa that generated controversy and, essentially, stealing “Live AID with a terrific performance. We also see how the band devolved into arguments during the making of the “Hot Space” album, as a rather new friend of Mercury’s was pushing him toward a very gay club sound. Of course, the ending, with Mercury pushing on to record every lyric he could, even while dying, is sad.

The documentary itself is 119 minutes. Bonuses include seven new, complete music videos (24:38, including “We Are the Champions” in the studio, live “Under Pressure” with Bowie and “Radio Gag,” showing it actually being made); 13 additional scenes (59:08, including more of the early interviews); and 11 bonus interviews (19:11, including May talking about the injustice of the 50-50 royalty split on singled that gave the B-side writer, in effect, a free pass). Due to terrific sound, Blu-ray is the way to go on this one. The standard DVD has only 21 minutes of the additional scenes. Grade: A

The Doors: Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman (Eagle Vision, Blu-ray or standard DVD, 103 min.). Here is another documentary about an innovative, ground-breaking band that lost its lead singer to death -- even earlier as Jim Morrison was 28 when he died in Paris, only months after leaving the band. The surviving members contribute new interviews, with especially keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger shedding much light on the band’s creative process. Drummer John Densmore, who calls the album “simple and bluesy” completed the lineup.

There is a chronological history that shows billboards of the time that advertised the various albums and then each song on “L.A. Woman.” Earlier the band added horns and strings as Densmore and Manzarek loved jazz, but this final album was recorded more “at home” than in a studio. Morrison’s lyrics for “The Changeling” mirrored both the time and his upcoming departure from the band. “Been Done So Long” reflected the chaos of Morrison’s indecency arrest in Miami, which led to the cancellation of the remaining 19 shows in the 20-city tour. John Lee Hooker’s “Crawling King Snake” was something the band always played, while “L.A. Woman” is a probably the best song to ever capture the spirit of a city. Krieger plays and sings the opening of “Love Her Madly” by himself, and we are shown how the old cowboy song “Ghost Rider in the Sky” morphed into “Riders of the Storm.”

The documentary is 59:22 in length. Bonus material include Densmore on “L.A. Woman,” Manzarek on “Riders of the Storm,” The Doors’ guide to Los Angeles and the band’s thoughts on performing live. Grade: A-

Styx: The Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight Live (Eagle Vision, Blu-ray or standard DVD, 131 min.). In this 2010 Memphis concert, Styx performed both their 1977 album “The Grand Illusion” and their 1978 album “Pieces of Eight” in their entirety for the first time. That meant three numbers were performed live for the first time, including “Superstars.” Leading the band are original members James “J.Y.” Young on vocals, guitars and keyboards and guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw, plus Canadian singer/keyboardist  Lawrence Gowan, who took over the showman role vacated by songwriter/singer/keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, who left the band for good in 1999. (Shaw actually left first in 1984, but came back in 1989.) The drummer is Todd Sucherman (John Panozzo was the original drummer) and the bassist is Ricky Phillips. However, original bassist Chuck Panozzo joins the group for most of “The Grand Illusion” songs, starting with “Fooling Yourself” ( hear a bit of Emerson, Lake & Palmer in the keyboards).

To make the long 101-minute concert short, the band sounds great (particularly on Blu-ray). Highlights are many, but include “The Grand Illusion,” the first album’s hit “Come Sail Away,” Young’s rocking “Miss America,” “Castle Walls” and “The Grand Finale.” After a short break, “Pieces of Eight” is presented, including the rocker “Great White Hope,” the pop song “I’m Okay” (which recalls Genesis for me, with the backing video and all), Shaw’s rocking “Blue Collar” and the hit “Renegade.” The bonus feature on putting on the show is a different, as it highlights and includes interviews with production crew members. Grade: A-

And now the regular look at some recent soundtrack albums:

Hugo (Howe CD, 67:42). Howard Shore’s romantic score for the Martin Scorsese film about a young boy who lives in a Paris train station. Shore, whose early career was closely aligned with director David Cronenberg (he scored all but one Cronenberg film through 2000; his first non-Cronenberg score was for Scorsese’s “After Hours”), received his fourth Academy Award nomination for this score. His other three nominations -- two for scores and one for song, all associated with “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy -- each won the Oscar. “Hugo” is the fifth film Shore has scored for Scorsese. Again, it is a romantic score with a French flair, as in “The Clocks.” “Bookstore” is almost classical in sound, while “The Magician” is dramatic. Zaz sings in French on “Coeur Volant.” “Hugo” was nominated for 11 Oscars.  Grade: B+

War Horse (Sony Classical CD, 65:33). This is another solid score by John Williams for the Steven Spielberg period film about a beloved horse used as part of the World War I effort. The score earned Williams his 42nd Oscar nomination, putting him only one behind all-time leader Alfred Newman. Newman won nine score Oscars, while Williams has won five, the second highest number. Including nominations for songs, Williams has a total of 47 nominations, placing behind only Walt Disney’s 59 for most nominations ever in all categories.) Williams has scored all but two of Spielberg’s major motion pictures. His scoring Oscars were for “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Schindler’s List.” Interestingly, 10 times Williams has been nominated against himself with two scores in the running for the Oscar, including this year with “War Horse” and “The Adventures of Tintin.” “War Horse” was nominated for six Oscars. As usual, Williams goes for immediate melodic warmth in “Dartmoor, 1912.” There is playfulness to the music in “Bringing Joey Home, and Bonding.” Williams paints such strong musical images that you can just imagine the horse training sequence without having seen the film. “Plowing” is a bit sweeping at times and soars at the end. “No Man’s Land” is a track that reflects the war action; it is bright and percussive. The emotional closing, “The Homecoming,” is the longest track at eight minutes. Grade: A-

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception original video game soundtrack (La-La Land, 2 CDs, 2:00:29). I love adventure music such as this and the Arabian flavors are delectable, both instrumental and female vocalizing. Azam Ali contributes vocals and Arabic pieces. Only 3,000 copies are being released on this two-disc set, featuring original music by Greg Edmonson (he also did “Firefly”). Edmonson used ethnic instruments, including the Duduk, Ney, Darabuka, Duhulla, Oud and Saz with the orchestral score. This third edition of the game centers on fortune hunter Nick Drake’s search for the fabled “Atlantis of the Sands” in the heart of the Arabian Desert. The set, which comes with a handsome 20-page booklet, is available from www.lalalandrecords.com Grade: A

The Darkest Hour (Lakeshore CD, 50:16). How not to start off a soundtrack, or any album for the matter, is illustrated here with the song  “I Like That,” which opens at the wrong speed and turns out to be really obnoxious overall. Blame Richard Vission and Static Revenger featuring Luciana for the sonic mess. There is more foreign hip hop with “Mockba” by Marselle. The alien invasion film begins in Moscow. The rest of the score is dark, edgy and electronic, composed by Tyler Bates, but even his “Northern Lights” got on my nerves in a bad way. Grade: C

Pariah (Lakeshore CD, 42:22). Well, actually it turns out there is a worse way to open a soundtrack album. Here, it is a piece of filth called :My Neck, My Back” by Khia. This soundtrack is a collection of 11 songs that range from awful (“Shut Up” by emoniFela) to unsubstantial with n melody (“Doin’ My Thing” by Spartha Swa) to bland rocker (“Pearl” by Tamar-kali). The only passable number is the female hip-hop of “Do You” by Kandi Cole. Grade: D

Answers To Nothing (Lakeshore CD, 65:16). Eighteen of the 27 tracks here are by Craig Richey. The score is rather ordinary, but there are a handful of good songs, including the bouncy “2.0” by Jump Jump Dance Dance; the soft synth-based “Fade” by Imagine Dragons, who also give us the pop rock of “Hear Me,” the other standout track with “2.0”; the downbeat killer-on-the-loose song “I Went With the Road” by Brian Vander Ark; and the two live songs, of four total, by Nico Vega, namely “Wooden Dolls” and “Iron Man.” Vega tends to screech on “Rabbit in the Bag.” Grade: B-