pop Archive
27 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: The Archies — Sugar, Sugar: The Complete Albums Collection
File next to: Bay City Rollers, 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Jackson 5 After his experience with The Monkees, pop impresario Don Kirshner made the calculated decision that his next project […]
27 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: Starling Electric — Electric Company
File next to: Pete Yorn, Bob Pollard, Bob Mould In 2008, Michigan’s Starling Electric released Clouded Staircase, one of the best albums of that decade, and one that almost nobody […]
26 Sep 2016
Yo La Tengo is Still “Murdering the Classics”
Hoboken, N.J.-based indie-rock band Yo La Tengo has long been recognized as much for their selection of cover songs as for their original material. Their sonic approach can recall anything […]
23 Sep 2016
Hundred-word Reviews for September 2016, Part 5
My week-long barrage of brief reviews wraps up with these last five. Look for more soon. Professor Longhair – Live in Chicago In 1976, New Orleans legend Professor Longhair played […]
14 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: The Twilight Hours — Black Beauty
File next to: Todd Rundgren, Ben Folds, Matthew Sweet Minneapolis’ Trip Shakespeare was always a band apart; they never fit into most people’s idea of that city’s sound. Scintillating vocal […]
09 Sep 2016
Brian Wilson: Critics’ Pet
I recently had the opportunity to interview Brian Wilson. I also had the opportunity to write not one but two features based on that conversation (and also based on a […]
07 Sep 2016
The Cowsills on Tour: Pop, American Style
As a band, the Cowsills formed in 1965. But they can make a credible claim to having been together much earlier. A self-contained group made up completely of family members […]
06 Sep 2016
Album Review: David Brookings and the Average Lookings – s/t
Power pop is a musical genre for true believers, artists and listeners alike. Relentlessly upbeat – even when the subject matter is melancholy – power pop charges ahead, determinedly uninterested […]
05 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: Paul Kelly — Seven Sonnets & a Song
File next to: Graham Parker, Richard Thompson, Davey Graham Australian treasure Paul Kelly has long been recognized as a consummate songwriter; more than most others who’ve tried, he bridges the […]
01 Sep 2016
Album Mini-review: Bun E. Carlos — Greetings from Bunezuela!
File next to: Guided by Voices, Cheap Trick, Paul Revere and the Raiders In the wake of a confusing and bitter divorce from his band of many decades, former Cheap […]