Album Reviews

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle reviews the 2017 solo album We All Want The Same Things from The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

[rating=7.00] If Inara George’s Dearest Everybody proves anything, it’s that she not need trade on her lineage in any way shape or form (she’s the daughter of Little Feat’s co-founder and figurehead Lowell George). The woman’s first solo album since 2009 exhibits an idiosyncratic voice also present in Inara’s other projects, The Bird and the […]

[rating=8.00] Given the success of Muscle Shoals, the movie documentary, a resurgence of recent recordings in Muscle Shoals (i.e Gregg Allman and The Black Keys to name just two), and the recent passing of FAME Studios founder, Rick Hall, more people are probably familiar with The Swampers now than were in their heyday. Muscle Shoals […]

[rating=9.00] Keyboard master Chick Corea and acclaimed drummer Steve Gadd met five decades ago and have played together intermittently during that time. Now they’ve come together again, formed a sextet and are delivering vital improvisational music with Spanish tinges, funky rhythms, and inspired soloing. This debut of The Chick Corea+ Steve Gadd Band is called […]

[rating=8.00] John Gorka has one of those singular voices that’s immediately recognizable not only for its deep resonance but for its warmth and comfort. On Gorka’s fifteenth album, “True in Time,” his patented delivery and intimate guitar are supported by a stellar cast of Minneapolis-based (Gorka’s home town) musicians who laid down these tracks in […]

[rating=9.00] Live at Lafayette’s Music Room is the latest in a recent string of Big Star-related releases dating back to the 2016 release of the Complete Third box set. The current campaign also includes archiving projects in the form of  Chris Bell’s I Am the Cosmos, Alex Chilton’s A Man Called Destruction, The Best Of […]

[rating=8.00] Umphrey’s McGee stays true to form on it’s not us, in that there is no form. Any Umphrey’s album or show is a stylistic journey, but this album shifts gears more than any they’ve released so far. Recorded over one week in late 2016, It’s Not Us is the band’s latest attempt to capture […]

[rating=8.00] Continuing his new run at Blue Note Records that began in 2016 with Evolution, Dr. Lonnie Smith’s new live recording All In My Mind documents him in a trio setting during a 75th birthday celebration at the Jazz Standard in New York City last summer. With guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg and drummer Johnathan Blake, the threesome […]

[rating=8.00] Leave it to Omnivore Recordings to keep reminding us about valuable music, both past and present. The latest gifts, with more coming, are the first two volumes of the legendary D.C./Baltimore-based soul and R&B label, Ru-Jac. Specifically, they are The Ru-Jac Records Story: Something Got a Hold on Me – Volume I (1963-64) and […]

In the second of two installments of Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle revisits his favorite albums of 2017, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop): See also: Wannabe’s Favorite Albums Part 1 and Glide‘s Top 20 Albums of 2017