Recorded in the informal atmosphere of a home studio, Already Free effectively extends the sound of The Derek Trucks Band on stage without a conscious attempt to replicate the live experience. While the album doesn't focus on the instrumental aspect of the group’s music like 2003's Soul Serenade, it never for once ignoresTrucks' exquisite guitar work.
Prog is a genre not particularly known for being understated. Restraint is a quality seldom found among its purveyors. Heavy Water Experiments is not quite a traditional prog band, but clearly wear their prog influences for all to see. However, they manage to do it without the esoteric musical exercises and unabashed bombast that seem to be the norm.
Dan Tyminski’s rise to fame came through years of touring as a vocalist and guitarist for bluegrass megastars, Alison Krauss and The Union Station. Then, a few years back, he became a household name when he was thrust into the spotlight as the vocalist for the hit single, "Man of Constant Sorrow," from the hit movie, O Brother Where Art Thou?. With his second solo release, Wheels, Dan Tyminski creates an ensemble of virtuoso pickers to compliment his strong tenor voice without ever getting in the way of the song.
Because Boulderado: Live at the Fox 2008 comes so closely on the heels of 2007's splendid live document Keep on Marchin', both casual listeners and died-in-the-wool fans may question the validity of another double-CD live set from The North Mississippi Allstars.
New York City’s Pistola thrives in the late 90’s post-hardcore realm, don’t tell them it is almost 2009 and all the kids are using Garage Band as a short cut; they don’t want to hear it. They are content in playing in the same vein as Quicksand, Unsane and Helmet and have consistently done so on their new release The Bleeder.
David Byrne has been known to reinvent himself through various artistic mediums, so it was no surprise that he recently decided to recharge his creative battery by reconvening with Brian Eno. Byrne/Eno of course are renowned for their work on early Talking Heads albums and 1981’s landmark electronica/ambient album – My Life in The Bush of Ghosts.
With original songwriting and an innovative new bluegrass sound, Town Mountain has all the right ingredients to become the newest young bluegrass band sensation.
Alone II isn't the best release Cuomo has ever put out. Nor does it offer the best songs he's ever written. But for someone who has one of the strangest and notoriously guarded history in rock, it's exciting that he has become so open with his past. I only hope that Alone III isn't that far off.
I'll always had a tough time understanding why Cheap Trick was so popular. Sure, "Surrender" is among rock's greatest songs and they had their share of other decent tunes, but why would they stand out like they did? The answer I was told is contained in their live show and this 30th Anniversary Edition of their Budokan set, re-packaging the original At Budokan shows into one DVD and three CDs, is the best thing short of being there.
Approximately a month after returning from the historic adventure to the Great Pyramid (captured on Rocking the Cradle Egypt 1978), the Grateful Dead staged a grand gesture of homecoming in the form of a three-night run at Winterland Arena. Little did they know at the time, these shows would be their last at the venue until they closed it at the end of the year or that these recordings of the October performances, thirty years later, would form the basis for the fourth installment of Road Trips.
