Posts by Doug Collette

Heading toward the twentieth anniversary of Jerry Garcia’s death and the ostensible passing of the Grateful Dead, the band’s legacy has never loomed larger in the history of contemporary rock and roll. The remaining members’ arrangement with Rhino Records gave birth to a brand-new archive series called Road Trips, which has already come and gone […]

With “I Was There When…,” veteran music journalist Doug Collette reflects on his experiences in the glory days of live rock music. With each column, he takes us back to a specific concert he attended way back when, spotlighting bands like The Who, Pink Floyd, and The Allman Brothers Band, among many others. Whether you […]

Pat Metheny/Tap (Nonesuch): On his selections from John Zorn’s Book of Angels, Pat Metheny oscillates wildly from the near silence of carefully picked acoustic instruments to the cacophony of electric ones whose impact is only heightened through the muscular percussion of Antonio Sanchez. Sounding at once like everything and nothing you’d expect from a Pat […]

David Bowling’s Eric Clapton FAQ is written like a trip through that part of the authors music collection devoted to the archetypal guitar hero. As such it is comprehensive to a point, covering in no small detail Slowhand’s earliest work, including his stints in The Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, then through his solo career […]

[rating=8.00] Setlists may not tell the whole story of a performance (by a long shot), especially when it comes to an improvisational band like the Grateful Dead. Yet the absolutely galvanizing performance contained on the two cd’s of Dick’s Picks #22 reaffirm impression given by the song titles listed. This release, part of the Real […]

Doug Collette reflects on The Who’s 1970 show in Lenox, Massachusetts.

[rating=9.00] Sunshine Daydream is an instance of magnificent serendipity. Originally conceived as a benefit concert that would fill a space in the Grateful Dead’s summer 1972 tour schedule, the endeavor blossomed into a film project that, some four decades after it happened, has come to fruition as yet another splendid archive project from this iconic […]

[rating=10.00] In lieu of the more lavish five disc collection within a hard-bound book with additional photographic and written content, the two CD edition of The Band Live At The Academy of Music 1971 may suffice, especially as it is not what it appears on the surface: merely a reissue of the expanded version of […]

[rating=8.00] Virtually an EP based on a running time of just over thirty minutes, recorded, like many of his albums, largely by himself with help on drums and occasional other instruments, Tommy Keene’s Excitement at Your Feet is an exercise in contemporary musicology, permeated with passion, by an artist with his own estimable pedigree. A […]

[rating=7.00] In addition to the diversity of solo projects he’s enacted over the years, Phish’s Trey Anastasio can now to add to his resume composer and producer of an Original Broadway Cast Recording. His devotees as well as musiclovers curious about the man’s versatility may find Hands On A Hardbody more or less an essential […]