Posts by Doug Collette

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 […]

Vermont’s Seth Yacovone is the epitome of the independent musician. He’s ready to travel virtually anywhere and play with virtually any one as often as he possibly can. Which doesn’t mean he’s not the definition of discriminating: to hear him state his passionate opinions on the vagaries of the music business—as opposed to the art […]

[rating=8.00] Gov’t Mule has never made a record that sounded more like a Warren Haynes solo album than it previous studio work, By A Thread. In contrast, the band’s debut on Blue Note Records, Shout!, is a seamless piece reminiscent of their best work on stage and in the studio. In fact, The Mule almost […]

Like its Northeastern cousin festival, Gov’t Mule’s Mountain Jam, Grace Potter& The Nocturnals Grand Point North has grown by leaps and bounds in each successive year of its three-year existence. Once executed as a combination homecoming and adieu to summertime touring as the Vermont-based band elevated its profile nationwide, the event has approached maturity in […]

[rating=8.00] The North Mississippi Allstars have never strayed too far from the blues of their native South (apart from the mainstream rock of Polaris that is). But not since the raw, gutsy likes of their debut recording have they immersed themselves so fully and unabashedly in their main influences as they do on World Boogie […]

As issued in multiple packages including CD and vinyl, The Allman Brothers Band’s Brothers and Sisters deserves its 40th anniversary recognition. The 1973 album stands as a pivotal point in the iconic Southern group’s evolution in the wake of the eerily similar motorcycle deaths of founder/guitarist Duane Allman and charter member/bassist Berry Oakley (who was […]

[rating=7.00] Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore, MD – 9/17/72 As the first set of this September 1972 show in Baltimore closes, notes peal from Jerry Garcia’s guitar while Bill Kreutzmann kicks the band into a gallop, both actions emblematic of the surety permeating the playing of the Grateful Dead captured on this reissue of the 2001 […]

Keyboardist/composer Robert Walter is nothing if not modest in talking about his playing, composing, performing and recording. On his own with The 20th Congress, as a founding member of contemporary funkmeisters The Greyboy Allstars, as accompanist to the likes of drummer Stanton Moore and guitarist Will Bernard or as a collaborator on music for film, […]

[rating=8.00] Überjam Deux provides proof positive of the chemistry of John Scofield’s Überjam Band. Some ten years since they last worked together–actually under the moniker the John Scofield Band on Up All Night–this new studio set flows as effortlessly as the musicianship at its foundation. The album begins in leisurely enough fashion with “Camelus,” a […]

As The Rolling Stones evolved from blues purists and made a concerted attempt to commercialize themselves for the pop market, their manager Andrew Loog Oldham posited them as bad boy alternatives to the cuddly mop-tops that were The Beatles. It only makes sense then, that instead of the semi-fictionalized presentation of the latter with their […]

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center has long been a favorite venue for Phish to play and never more so than in recent years where the quartet have offered some absolutely scintillating performances. The first two nights of three this year vividly illustrated again how the quartet functions, the group essentially starting up and revving its […]

Given that John Scofield’s distinctive guitar style is a perfect cross between the staccato of vintage electric blues and the fluidity of classic jazz guitar, it’s little wonder he so effortlessly traverses as broad a musical expanse. His eclectic approach compels asking whether there’s a more adventurous contemporary jazz guitarist? Just scan the projects the […]

[rating=6.0] By far the very best track on John Fogerty’s Wrote A Song For Everyone is “Long As I Can See the Light” recorded with My Morning Jacket.  Jim James’ voice turns him into something a younger version of Fogerty when he sings, while the prominent piano and organ echo the arrangement of the Cosmo’s […]