Posts by Doug Collette

On his most recent albums, Rodney Crowell brandishes his keen intellect as much as a defense mechanism as a means of skewering sacred cows. But allowing Joe Henry, a songwriter of no means skills himself, to produce Sex and Gasoline, Crowell more readily opens up his heart, as if he already doesn’t exactly wear it on his sleeve.

Join the Band is shrewd in its aim toward Little Feat’s core demographic, new fan and old. Essentially it’s the same one courted by executive producer Jimmy Buffett, who sing, appropriately enough, on a reggae/calypso arrangement of "Time Loves A Hero.” Yet fans of Brooks and Dunn will be as curious to hear their heroes on "Willin'" as Black Crowes fans will be to hear Chris Robinson croon "Oh Atlanta;" the latter is a slice of vintage Feats funk in which the singer puts his distinctly Southern voice to most effective use.

This is the debut of new regular column at Glide devoted to reissues, remasters and expanded editions of archival recordings. It is designed to serve as a reminder all good music is timeless, no matter when it was originally recorded or when it’s being (re-) introduced to new musiclovers. This edition focuses on THE REPLACEMENTS

It still moves all right. There were no video projections of My Morning Jacket’s performance at Boston’s Bank of America Pavilion, but that’s understandable. The camera operators would’ve been driven crazy trying to keep up with the irrepressible Jim James as he careened around the stage.

One of rock’s greatest improvisational bands, Little Feat regrouped in the eighties after disbanding for a short interval in the wake of the death of founder and titular leader Lowell George. Little Feat’s Richie Hayward took a few moments to discuss Join The Band as well as other activities with which he fills his time personally and professionally. It was a conversation as good natured and unhurried as the music of the group for which he is drummer and founding member.

Long before any mention was made of Hot Tuna’s first (live) album, the atmosphere at Higher Ground September 2nd was very reminiscent of that eponymous work released in 1970. Quiet but focused musicianship among three empathetic highly skilled instrumentalists generated an intimate mood the likes of which is rare at any venue.

How startling it is to watch and listen to The Felice Brothers? Imagine if you will five characters that seem to have walked straight out of tunes from Bob Dylan and The Band’s Basement Tapes. Their connection with the rustic mythos suggests they heard that music as infants or perhaps even Music From Big Pink, from within the womb?

Stone of Sisyphus is the great-lost Chicago album, at least till now with its release via Rhino. Recorded in 1993 in the wake of a series of middle-of –the road commercial successes, and originally intended as Chicago XXII, the album was conceived by the band and its producer Peter Wolf (once a Zappa sideman) as a return to the early approach the band utilized in creating original material arranged with room for improvisation.

The concept and title of this two CD anthology simultaneously sugarcoats and dilutes Carlos Santana’s circuitous career path. Designed and aimed at listeners who (re) discovered the man with his mainstream resurgence in 1999, it will fill that void and still leave those consumers ignorant of why he deserved a chance at commercial redemption.

Released under the aegis of The Concord Music Group, this ongoing series of titles depicts Keepnews, to this day a man of discerning ear and literate mind, in the roles of fan, label founder and record producer.  As a visionary strategist and one of the staunchest supporters this music has ever known, he, like the best of these CDs  reflects the vigor and imagination of the art itself.

Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Dimeola and Lenny White could do no wrong for the near capacity crowd populating The United Palace Theatre August 6th. This may explain why the quartet known as Return to Forever, acknowledged the roar of acclamation from the audience by immediately striding to the front of the stage, as performers usually do at the end of their show.

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.