The Grateful Dead Road Trips series of archive recordings is turning out to be as confounding –and satisfying—in its own way as the bands’ own live performances. For instance, the first release works best if you begin in the middle with the second disc, while its successor flourishes in the most consistent manner only on its bonus CD.
Midnight Oil never made rock and roll more anthemic than that contained on Diesel and Dust and the exaltation permeates the DVD as well as the CD included in this double-disc reissue.
Fate gives the lie to the notion Dr Dog are too eccentric for their own good. Five albums on at this point, it’s clear the band is working in a most purposeful, albeit unorthodox manner.
On the Fleet Foxes full-length debut cd, a back-porch purity coexists with an ethereal quality in almost equal proportions.
Seth Yacovone hasn't been idle in the interim since he disbanded his group four years ago. In fact, he spent the better part of the most recent winter on his recently released double CD Land of Split Decision, where he enacts a logical progression from his previous blues-based efforts.
Over the last couple years, Mofro have morphed from a quirky neo-blues band into a bonafide soul review. With the horns and churchy organ, it would be easy to predict Grey and company would get a hearty response from an audience anxious for a good time on a Friday night. But without the bandleader’s commitment to the music and the fervor contained in songs like "Lochloosa," it'd all be for naught.
Bob Belden’s extensive liner notes for Return to Forever’s The Anthology depict the chronology of the band in such a way that the evolution of the group in its various incarnations becomes very distinct. In the same way, the music on the two-disc collection delineates how the four-man group distinguished itself from its peers during the halcyon days of jazz-rock fusion.
22 Timeless Tracks comprises McGuinn’s favorite selections from over a hundred tunes and clearly illustrates why he is that rarity among rock and roll stars: a musician with a legitimate set of roots he explores with as much passion as authenticity.
There is nothing like a Phil Lesh and Friends concert on the night of the summer solstice in the balmy air on the water in Boston. Little wonder, after the conclusion of his two hour second set June 21st, the bassist of the Grateful Dead pronounced Beantown one his three favorite places to play.
The new Rose Hill Drive album, Moon Is The New Earth, exhibits as much style and finesse as the same trio that composed, played and produced it.
