MUSIC.

DVDs

DOCUMENTARY: ``Dee Dee Ramone - Hey Is Dee Dee Home'' (Music Video Distributors; $19.95)

New York underground filmmaker Lech Kowalski fashions an unsettling portrait of Ramones bassist Dee Dee in a long, stark interview shot 10 years before the musician's Hollywood Hills drug death in '02. Ramone, who claimed he was dope-free at the time Kowalski came calling, is candid about the shadow heroin cast on the New York punk scene of the '70s, and the New York Dolls and late Heartbreakers guitarist-singer Johnny Thunders play a predictably big part in the story.

Ramone's weirdly fascinating tales of the daily absurdity of copping and kicking include nearly every Lower East Side punk star of the era - and in that sense ``Hey Is Dee Dee Home'' acts as an ideal footnote to the definitive '97 tome, ``Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk,'' by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.

- Fred Shuster

JONI MITCHELL: ``A Life Story: Woman of Heart and Mind'' (Eagle Rock; $24.98)

Joni fans will love this double-disc set, although a documentary component sheds only a sliver of new light on the painterly singer-songwriter. Told through a mix of music, photos and interviews with Mitchell and pals David Crosby, James Taylor and Herbie Hancock, to name three, disc one has Mitchell praised to the heavens. More revealing are the recollections of ex-boy toy Graham Nash, who recalls walking in on Mitchell while she was in the throes of composing, a process he describes as channeling.

The second disc is a concert taped before an intimate audience on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. With her paintings also on stage, Mitchell performs songs including ``Woodstock'' and ``Raised on Robbery'' from her long career.

- Sandra Barrera

DOCUMENTARY: ``Jandek on Corwood'' (Unicorn Stencil; $19.95)

We first heard of the enigma known as Jandek almost 20 years ago at the Ojai home of a now-defunct 'zine that specialized in music with absolutely no commercial potential. The editor was big on Jandek, an atonal acoustic singer-songwriter from Houston who few have heard and fewer have seen. It's the sound, as someone puts it in the intriguing ``Jandek on Corwood,'' of either a man singing to the wall in a vacant rooming house or a 10-year-old who's never sung or played guitar before.

This doc is a series of interviews with critics familiar with Jandek's 38 albums issued since '78, each with a blurry photo of household objects or some bland landscape on the cover. None have had personal contact with the ghostly artist because Jandek has only done one interview (by phone in 1985) and appeared in public exactly once - last October at an indie music festival in Glasgow. Your average American consumer probably wouldn't consider Jandek music, but the concept makes for a great documentary.

- F.S.

CDs

LINTON KWESI JOHNSON: ``Linton Kwesi Johnson Live in Paris'' (Wrasse Records) - Four stars

Celebrated reggae poet, university professor and journalist Johnson surfaced in 1978 with his debut disc, ``Dread Beat An Blood.'' Now 27 years on, he was just voted No. 22 in a poll of the top 100 black Britons of all time.

Known as LKJ to his fans, Johnson has never wavered, delivering militant poetry over the tough, sophisticated reggae of U.K. bassist-producer Dennis Bovell and his superb band. Like the ensemble's previous efforts, ``Live in Paris'' (available on both CD and DVD) places in sharp relief the feeble currents of today's reggae (and rap) scene. Material here includes LKJ classics like the touching ``Sonny's Lettah,'' ``Fite Dem Back'' and ``Mekkin Histri'' - spelled phonetically in Jamaican patois - and more recent numbers ``More Time,'' which calls for a shorter work week. Yeh, mon!

- F.S.

MICHAEL BUBLE: ``It's Time'' (143 Records/Reprise) - Two stars

The obviously talented Buble is a voice in search of a voice. The latest collection from the 20-something Canadian singer does more to pen him in than free his vocal abilities. It starts promising enough with a bump-and-grind version of ``Feeling Good,'' but soon the overproduction by David Foster (Celine Dion, Josh Groban) and Humberto Gatica comes into play. The arrangements are by the number with horns blaring, strings rising or dramatic pauses occurring in all the expected places.

The song selection is just as miscalculated, with too many pale versions of great songs - ``You Don't Know Me,'' ``Try a Little Tenderness.'' ``I Got You Under My Skin'' - seemingly aimed solely at making a Sinatra reference. Warmed-over Sinatra may generate sales but does little for Buble as an artist. (Listen to Diana Krall's version to hear how the song can be made fresh.)

But just when you've given up, Buble ends with a restrained take on Stevie Wonder's ``You and I,'' which shows his promise.

- Rob Lowman

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

(1) no caption (Dee Dee Ramone)

(2 -- 4) no caption (DVD covers)

(5 -- 6) no caption (CD covers