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Welcome to How to Spend $20, BOP’s look at the latest Blu-ray discs and DVDs to hit stores nationwide. This week: Carole King and James Taylor play together, Daniel Day-Lewis smokes some serious cigarettes and Amy Adams turns the tables on marriage proposals.

For people who dig good music: Carole King & James Taylor: Live at the Troubadour

In 1970, Carole King and James Taylor performed together at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. At the time, Taylor had just released his debut album, and King was getting her feet wet as a solo performer after writing a number of hit songs for other artists. The pair reunited at the Troubadour for a two-week run a year later, and then again for six shows in 2007 for the club’s 50th anniversary. A two-disc CD/DVD combo out today documents the anniversary shows, featuring 15 songs and 75 minutes of music.

I had the pleasure of going to see a show at the Troubadour late last year when a friend and I booked tickets for Blind Pilot, a band with a sound not unlike James Taylor himself. The concert is easily one of the best I’ve been to, because of the artist I went to see and the venue I saw them in. The troubadour is standing room only, yet small enough that you feel close enough to the stage no matter where you stand. Carole King and James Taylor performing at a site like the Troubadour must have been simply transcendent.

Disc includes: N/A

For people who didn’t know Judi Dench has got some pipes: Nine

I don’t get around to seeing too many movie musicals, but Nine struck my fancy a few weeks before its release as a movie with a lot of promise. Its trailer was high energy and its lead cast – Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson and Nicole Kidman – couldn’t have been any more A-list if it tried. The result, however, was a bit disappointing, as movie musicals tend to be. I speak more on the plot, which lacked necessary substance. It also didn’t make much sense, as Guido Contini’s (Day-Lewis) cast rehearsed music and his crew constructed sets and designed costumes literally without a script to work off of.

Yet Nine’s music and dance numbers were remarkably great. Favorites of mine include Kate Hudson’s “Cinema Italiano” and Fergie’s beachy “Be Italian.” Those performances, along with Penelope Cruz’s “A Call from the Vatican,” were the movie’s saving graces.

Disc includes: Audio commentary, eight featurettes, three music videos, Sophia Loren Remembers Cinecitta Studios featurette, Screen Actors Guide Q&A Session with the Cast featurette

For people who like to drink their weight in Sunny D: Juno / Thank You For Smoking / Waitress (Set)

I generally don’t cover double and triple feature DVD packs on How to Spend $20, but a new three-movie set was a bit difficult to pass up. (It’s also, well, a regrettably slow week for new DVD/Blu-ray content). Today, 20th Century Fox releases Juno, Thank You for Smoking and Waitress in a three-pack bundle.

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