Blogs, NPR, The New York Times have all been singing the praises of Philly’s Dr. Dog and now they have some hard evidence. We All Belong is one of the 2007’s strongest releases, combining tight arraignments with picturesque vocals and a lazy fall afternoon BBQ vibe; Dr. Dog has crafted a winner to go along with their energetic live show.
He is a legend, he is Scratch and he is The Upsetter. But he's also self-indulgent to a fault on his latest offering.
If Golem! would have let their raven hair down and stomped around the studio a bit more, Fresh Off Boat could have risen above kitsch.
New and old (well, except for the crowd who were just old), the two Who’s rocked the worlds most famous arena with a collection of “oldies,” but primarily relied on the rather younger songs. After putting out a “mini-opera” back in July, Townshend and Daltrey have begun to march forward, with plans to release a new album in the next month, offering the bands first serious output since 1982.
It is amazing that a band playing together since 1981 can still manage to play with such grace and fire, fresh songs alongside classics, with everything working out so seamlessly. Hopefully the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can reach that point someday. But if they needed any guidance, all they had to do was open their ears to one of the best bands of the last quarter century playing beside them.
Mad props need to be given to the good people at JellyNYC for providing free Sunday concerts in a quintessentially Brooklyn atmosphere, an old abandoned swimming pool.
Isolation is the central theme here, from the band’s name to the sound found on Fear Is On Our Side; it seeps through the casket cracks like rain water. A remote gasping vocal delivery of lines like “Reaching/For the end/Never make a sound.” place you squarely back in 1986 at a Cure/Depeche Mode double bill, while the music behind those lines manages to raise the stakes.
Less than two weeks after Kobayashi downed 53 and 3/4 hotdogs on the boardwalk of Coney Island, crowds once again crammed the shore ready to check out the sights and sounds of the 2006 Village Voice Siren Fest.
Under the blazing sun, Phil Lesh and Friends (Larry Campbell guitar, Barry Sless pedal steel, Joan Osborne vocals, John Molo drums, Greg Osby sax, and Rob Barraco keys) began stretching it out from the first note, with a patient jam that eventually fell into “Truckin’.”
Well-Matched showcases classic numbers such as the Phillips/ Parker rumbling “Mystery Train,” Dylan’s piercing "Positively 4th Street” and Jimmy Cliff’s reggae gem “The Harder They Come,” in a fashion that any music lover can get behind.
