Album Reviews

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on The Tree of Forgiveness, the long-awaited new album from legendary singer-songwriter John Prine, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

[rating=8.00] Cary Brothers is not a sibling ensemble. In fact, as an individual, Brothers may be the most accomplished artist making music these days while still remaining all but unknown to the vast numbers of the listening public. His contribution to the Garden State soundtrack and abundant contributions to film and television scores have earned […]

[rating=7.00] As you listen to New England-based singer-songwriter Hayley Sabella’s second full-length album, Forgive the Birds, quiet passages transform to the sounds of wind, rain, or even ocean waves. Her sound slithers between ethereal folk music to Americana, often depending on her accompaniment. It’s rather easy to hear how she wrote these ten tunes alone on her vintage hollow body Gibson but the songs have clever […]

[rating=7.00] Over the past decade and a half, Philadelphia-based Dr. Dog have been busy releasing albums every year or two, and touring incessantly. 2016 saw both the release of The Psychedelic Swamp early in the year as well as a surprise online release of the mellow Abandoned Mansion. The former was a reimagining of the […]

[rating=8.00] There’s that old adage, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to,” and then there’s Joshua Hedley. The buzz country singer’s major label debut Mr. Jukebox (on Jack White’s Third Man Records, no less) feels like stepping back in time to an era of rhinestone suits and waltzes, but without all the dust. Hedley’s […]

[rating=8.00] “The Seeker,” an exalting version of which appears on the second CD in this 45th anniversary edition of Pete Townshend’s Who Came First, is not one of his most stellar compositions, but the name of that song might well be the subtitle of this package (and, were it not so melodramatic, would’ve served as […]

[rating=8.00] The ever-so-loose aggregation dubbed ‘The Santa Monica Flyers,’ appearing on Neil Young’s Roxy-Tonight’s The Night Live has more than a little in common with his most regular accompanists of recent years, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real. Comprised of the Crazy Horse rhythm section of drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot, augmented […]

[rating=8.00] Through his almost 30-year career Omaha’s Dana Murray has been a collaborator, sideman, producer or educator, roles that he will continue.  Given his impressive resume, it’s rather surprising that this is drummer Dana Murray’s first solo album – The Negro Manifesto. Murray’s musical career has run the gamut from jam band rock to Broadway […]

[rating=8.00] Bob Rea has been making music for 50 years, but this is only his third recording, the previous coming 7 years ago. His is a vintage style, compared by some to Johnny Cash, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, John Prine, and even Leonard Cohen. Let’s just say he has lyrical elements of each. On Southbound […]

Mood and atmosphere are ramped up in A Perfect Circle’s first album of all new, all original material in 15 years.