Doug Collette

Warren Zevon: Preludes/Stand in the Fire

Warren Zevon invaded the mainstream only briefly during his career but in so doing forged a memorable persona with the public. Preludes, a double disc package of unreleased demo recordings combined with an interview on cd, illustrates how much more there is to the man than the combination of comic absurdity and latent violence in songs such as “Excitable Boy” and “Werewolves of London.”

Read More

Levon Helm: Dirt Farmer

Dirt Farmer is Levon Helm’s first solo studio recording in a quarter of a century and the debut album on his own label. . An outgrowth of informal sessions in his Woodstock barn studio, its music flows with all the ease and grace with which Levon sings. Meanwhile, musicians including multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and Helm’s daughter Amy (co-producers of the project) imbue the music with warmth and an inviting informality.

Read More

Bob Dylan: The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965

Considering how much has been written, spoken and contemplated about Bob Dylan’s appearances at the Newport Folk Festival, especially his (literally and figuratively) electric set in 1965, it boggles the mind it’s taken forty years for the film of those shows to find broad circulation. But the wait to see Murray Lerner’s The Other Side of the Mirror is worth it, because the director lets the performances speak for themselves, and they constitute a profound statement indeed.

Read More

John Fogerty: Revival

On John Fogerty’s new album Revival the ex-leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival acknowledges the brilliance of his past work rather than deny it. But the wry likes of “Creedence Song” notwithstanding, an air of self-consciousness pervades the album, which begs the question of whether Fogerty’s embrace of his past now overcompensates for that period he boycotted it over twenty-years ago?

Read More

Grateful Dead: One From the Vault & Two From the Vault

The reissue of the Grateful Dead’s very first two archive titles, simultaneous with the release of Three From the Vault, reaffirms how endlessly fascinating it is to follow this band. And it’s not just the music, but also the way the group meshed aesthetic and business activities.

Read More

Rose Hill Drive: Higher Ground, South Burlington, VT – 11/08/07

Rose Hill Drive’s performance set reached a frenzied conclusion, before a dwindling crowd. The threesome enganged in more free-form improvisation than their previous visit to this same venue back in May of this year: recall the instrumental conflagrations of Cream in their heyday, if you would, and relish the self-renewing aspect of great rock and roll.

Read More

View posts by year