60 Years Later: The Beatles Rescript Rock Rule Book On Cohesive ‘Rubber Soul’
In the 60 years since its release, the Beatles’ Rubber Soul (12/3/65) has come to be regarded as one of the pinnacles of the Liverpudlians’ discography. But, sacrilegious as it may sound, innovative instrumentation and production barely offset the erratic quality of the original material. Composed to meet the contractual obligation of another full-length long player just […]
Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Vol. 56: Rainbow Theatre, London England (3/20/81 & 3/21/81) (ALBUM REVIEW)
The legacy of Brent Mydland continues to grow with this latest edition of the ongoing Grateful Dead archive series. The departure of Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux in 1979 opened up an opportunity for the iconic band to reconfigure its chemistry dramatically and, as evidenced by the two nearly-complete shows comprising Rainbow Theatre, London, England […]
Warren Zevon’s Final Live Show Captured On ‘Epilogue: Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival’ (ALBUM REVIEW)
Available on vinyl, digital and compact disc formats for successive late 2025 Record Store Days, Warren Zevon’s final live performance, recorded Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival, joins 1980’s Stand In The Fire (issued in expanded form twice) and 1993’s Learning To Flinch, as sterling examples of how the late singer/songwriter so artfully transposed […]
50 Years Later- The Band Hit The West Coast For Relaxed ‘Northern Lights – Southern Cross’
Looking back half a century, it only makes sense that The Band’s Northern Lights – Southern Cross compares so favorably with the iconic group’s stellar first two albums. The ‘clubhouse atmosphere’ generated in the California studio edifice they dubbed ‘Shangri-la’ was a tangible recreation of that inspiring intimacy in the ‘Big Pink’ house back in […]
30 Years Later: The Rolling Stones Tear Away The Bombast With ‘Stripped’
With three decades’ worth of hindsight, The Rolling Stones’ Stripped (released 11/13/95) is proof positive that, as often as the iconic band has simply gone through the motions, it has endeavored to do just the opposite. And the subsequent DVD/CD package, released just over a decade later as Totally Stripped, cements that impression. After an ever-so-brief intro that […]
50 Years Later: Neil Young and Crazy Horse Regroup With Looseness & Vitality On ‘Zuma’
With five decades of hindsight, Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Zuma (released 11/10/75) boasts the most cogent, linear logic of any album in the former Buffalo Springfielder’s discography. With an ideal balance of tightly-structured tracks, extended improvisational interludes, and two essentially acoustic, harmony pieces, it readily qualifies as a perfect LP (alongside Little Feat’s Dixie […]
50 Years Later: Tommy Bolin Replaces Ritchie Blackmore On Divisively Received ‘Come Taste The Band’
A half-century perspective confirms how momentous 1975 was for Tommy Bolin. The late guitarist/songwriter completed and released his splendid first solo album, Teaser, and, around the same time, was recruited into the ranks of seminal hard rockers Deep Purple, taking the place of Ritchie Blackmore. Yet whereas Bolin had never released a record under his own name […]
On ‘Seventy,’ Paul Kelly Delivers More Thought Provoking Vintage Flavored Folk
As much a result of his own prolific nature as the moving effect of reaching the milestone referenced in the album title, Paul Kelly’s Seventy arrives hot on the heels of Fever Longing Still, his studio album of just last year. Shorn of the horns and strings of the latter, however, the Australian’s twenty-eighth studio […]
Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 (ALBUM REVIEW)
Because Bob Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 covers much the same ground as the 2025 biopic A Complete Unknown, it is the ideal collection to release in the wake of that film. As has been the case with previous editions of this archival enterprise, the curators, headed by co-producers […]
50 Years Later: Rory Gallagher Doubles Down On Blistering Blues & Hard-Edged Rock With ‘Against The Grain’
The cover photos on reissues of Rory Gallagher’s Against The Grain (released 10/31/75) are much preferable to the original graphic design’s contrivance. The close-up of the late Irishman’s Fender Stratocaster shows the guitar’s well-worn finish, an apt depiction not only of Gallagher’s rough-hewn blues-rock but also of the man’s stubbornly forthright aversion to commercializing his […]