The Radiators EARTH VS. RADIATORS: THE FIRST 25 (Image Entertainment)

Recorded over an anniversary weekend at Tipitina’s last winter — and sporting a good five hours of music between them — this separately released DVD and double CD make a case for New Orleans’s Radiators as one of the great lost American bands. Their only problem is that, like fellow cult heroes NRBQ, they may have too many tricks up their sleeve. They can be a jam band, a groove band, or a straight-ahead songwriting band, with keyboardist Ed Volker’s material putting every shade of Americana through his skewed perspective. Volker’s distinctly Crescent City keyboarding also anchors both Dave Malone’s soulful singing and the band’s Allman-esque two-guitar workouts.

Although they’re capable of playing a full night of five-minute songs, these 25th-anniversary shows found the Radiators jamming into the stratosphere, augmenting their quintet line-up with horns, percussion, and, on two songs, Gregg Allman. As a result, the live CD features fuller production and arrangements than many of their studio albums. And it finds a home for a few standouts that have been in their live sets for years, like the tropically lustful "Make Fire" and the funky nonsensical "Danang." But go to the DVD if you want a full dose of New Orleans ambiance: its set opens with their Meters-homage instrumental "Monkey Meet," winds through an epic-length "Confidential," and peaks with a joyful "I Like It like That," with Meters bassist George Porter sitting in. It’s typical of the Radiators not to bother summarizing their history on a 25th-anniversary set; they just catch one occasion where the magic hit.

(The Radiators play this Wednesday and Thursday, November 10 and 11, at Brother Jimmy’s, 96 Winthrop Street in Harvard Square; call 617-547-7427.)