The Beach Boys very well could have been the American equivalent of The Beatles had they found a way to be more steady and work well with each other. However, the set also reveals the band’s influence on the general rock and roll scene more profoundly than ever, while also unleashing potential for much more.
Throughout his enviable career, Chris Cornell has always enjoyed taking his music in different directions. Whether blazing the trail for the grunge movement with Soundgarden, fronting rock supergroup Audioslave or releasing solo albums, Cornell was always experimenting with his artistic expression. Though at times his experiments failed, such as his ill-conceived collaboration with Timbaland, even at his worst Cornell’s music had one nugget of redemption: that voice.
Based on the range of material included in Songs From the South Vol. 1&2, not to mention the uniformly brilliant production throughout the two discs, it’s deeply confounding to consider that Paul Kelly remains sadly unknown outside his homeland of Australia. “”Before Too Long” and “”Look So Fine, Feel So Low” suggest how fully-formed he was as a writer and performer when he began recording. Then as now, he and his work transcend easy categorization or comparisons.
The guitar rock world lost a heavyweight earlier this year when British blues rocker Gary Moore died in early February. However, the Irish axeman made sure that the last gig he was to give – at the acclaimed Montreaux Jazz Festival last year – was a goodie
Peter Gabriel is in a class all his own as a musician. He has helped bring countless talented musicians to global attention, all the while also creating powerful music of his own. His latest outing, New Blood, is a re-imagined set of Gabriel’s classics set to a 46-piece orchestra, arranged by John Metcalfe (and, of course, lovely voices on various duets)
Even taken with its apparent downfalls, this is an album with which they should be quite proud. It not only proves their capability alongside their frequent collaborators, but actually asserts the relevance and necessity for a language that is wholly yMusic.
Rather than miss the mark with a couple of filler songs, she’s released an album teeming with unexceptional pieces that betray her strong hand at songwriting.
One of the most notable artists to come out of the 2010 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest was Minneapolis-based soul roots rocker Heatherlyn. Although she didn’t win the contest, she was voted into the Midwest Regional finals by popular vote so that has to count for something. And after taking a listen to her debut full-length release, Storydwelling, it is easy to understand why people like her so much.
Here, the Bottle Rockets pile into the Lucas School House, a former one-room building dating back to 1898 and strip the sound down to the bare essentials. The 13 tracks provided serve as a well-rounded and diverse sampling of the band’s excellent catalog, but prove even more memorable for the insights provided before, during, and after each performance.
As evidenced by the varied nature of the Nomad Series, the Cowboy Junkies do a lot of genres and styles well. For those that like the meandering whims and see-where-we-go improvisation of their stage dynamics, this album is made for you.
