Reviews

[rating=9.00] Despite the fact all the numbers on Jimi Hendrix’ The Cry of Love  and Rainbow Bridge have been issued in different contexts many times in the past, it’s tribute to the lasting power within the music that, sans historical content or additional numbers, the (re)issue of  these titles on vinyl and CD (the latter […]

[rating=9.00] Because Legacy Music has done such splendid work in the archiving and reissuing of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan’s music, The Complete Epic Recordings Collection‘s main selling point is, at least superficially, the inclusion of Live At The El Mocambo previously available only in video form. Packaging this heretofore promotional-only item along with eleven […]

[rating=9.00] Face the Music makes an ever so convincing case for Nils Lofgren as the unsung hero of  contemporary American rock and roll. Documenting his forty-five year career in great detail through music, video, text and photos, this uniquely-designed ten-disc box set portrays the multi-instrumentalist and songwriter as a self-motivated artist on his own terms […]

[rating=9.00] The Incredible String Band’s evolution is well-documented from its origins fifty years ago on the Edinburgh folk scene with Robin Williamson and Clive Palmer, the joining of Mike Heron for the debut in ’66 then leaving of Palmer for India and a solo career, to the expansion of the successful duo to a quartet […]

Did you know that Jeff Beck used to crawl through Ian Stewart’s back window to spend time with a girl who was staying at his house while he was away? Or that Jimmy Page, in his early teens, once played at a talent night held at Glyn Johns’ church? Or that Mick Jagger didn’t fancy […]

[rating=8.00] Music has always played such a massive role in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. He had the foresight and the knowledge to recognize the genius of Jon Brion well before he became Kanye West’s homeboy, enlisting the former Til Tuesday/The Grays auteur to score his directorial debut Hard Eight, which then led to […]

Melissa Etheridge led her funky rocking blues band through a ninety minute set of old and new music at the Chumash Casino Resort on one of the stormiest nights in recent memory. The evening started with a seasonal ceremony honoring the “Toys For Tots” program administered by local Marines. The concert was a fundraiser for […]

[rating=9.00] Reconfigured into a more compact design from its original issue in 2009, the 2014 edition of Big Star’s all-encompassing box set Keep An Eye on the Sky retains all the content in the original package including pre-formation demos as well as a live CD from a quasi-reunion of the band. Almost as much as […]

Chris Smither has played countless shows in his lengthy career, but none quite like this one at the Academy of Music in Northampton, Massachusetts. This show was a night of celebration as it honored the blues-influenced singer-songwriter’s recent 70th birthday and his 50-year career making music.  But that wasn’t all – this evening also kicked […]

Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers once described Centro-matic as “his favorite band that is still vital and intact.” This quote resonates with a bittersweet feeling now; on the one hand hearing such a respected songwriter call the Denton group his “favorite” and “vital” is the upmost compliment, but on the other hand, by the […]

[rating=7.00] Twenty-odd years into their career, Cracker is still going at it, as they return this month with an ambitious look into the dualities of their home state of California. Appropriately titled, Berkeley to Bakersfield, it’s a double album that offers forth two entirely separate takes on the Golden State sound and allows for a […]

‘Black Messiah’ broadens the range of black pop, sometimes by rendering it unrecognizable, sometimes by stretching its limits, and sometimes simply by reintroducing elements to it that we had forgotten. It’s a mission statement on black pop’s past, present, and possible futures.

When’s the last time you went to an evening of music headlined by an accordion player and based on the adventures of a man named Chicken – and then laughed uproariously, loved the music, and cried over the life story of someone you’ve never met? If you’re like this author, the above sentence seems completely […]

Turn out the lights and set the lampshades on fire, please. It’s time to party. Sort of.

[rating=9.00] Swooning strings introduce D’Angelo’s new single, “Really Love.” They never let up, and neither does anything else. Not Pino Palladino’s loping, melodic bassline, which seems to respond to the singer’s nonstop vocal coaxings and maneuvers. Not the flamenco-inflected guitar, which moves as naturally and idiosyncratically as Big D’s speak-singing. Not the whispered conversation in […]

Over 26 years of existence, Warren Haynes Presents The Christmas Jam has come to mean many things to many people. The event is most importantly a charitable home run for Habitat For Humanity. But it’s also an annual musical rite, a celebration of a longstanding southern musical community, and a tribute to Haynes’ hometown of […]

Dave Stewart, the mercurial English rock guitarist best known as half of one of the most successful pop duo’s of the 1980’s, the Eurythmics, brought another magical night of music to Hollywood on December 8th at The Roxy. Stewart has been a regular fixture in the Hollywood music scene over the last several years, playing […]

Old 97’s have been kicking ass for over twenty years, and what better way to celebrate than to play the album that put them on the map in its entirety live. Normally the full album live concept can be hit or miss to say the least, but when a band is celebrating their accomplishments with […]

Led in equal parts by the married couple Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, the Tedeschi Trucks Band (TTB) rolled into Tedeschi’s home state of Massachusetts last weekend for a two-night tour finale at the House of Blues in Boston. Both evenings, a sold-out crowd packed into the venue to see the band’s fusion brand of […]

Any music critic worth his salt fears the year-end list where it’s time to go back and sift through that bottomless collection of promos to produce a list of the year’s “best” albums. For one that obsesses over music and listens to just about everything, this is no easy task. This year saw more than […]