Author Archive
17 Aug 2012
Hundred-word Reviews: August 2012
Here’s another installment in my occasional series of capsule reviews, generally covering indie releases. My self-imposed limit for this particular exercise is 100 words on each album. Niels Nielsen – […]
16 Aug 2012
Album Review: Yes – Open Your Eyes (vinyl reissue)
For some bands, personnel changes are the mile markers by which we chart their history. Members come and go, and (usually) each time, the character of the group changes in […]
15 Aug 2012
Album Review: Various Artists – The Red Bird Girls
You say you like Phil Spector‘s production? You like those girl-group sounds of the era that were so imbued with the stylistic flourishes of the producer, arrangers and composers that […]
14 Aug 2012
DVD Review: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – The Lost Broadcasts
My music-loving friends (a redundant phrase, that) and I occasionally indulge in an old joke: whenever the subject of certain musical acts come up, one of us will mention how […]
13 Aug 2012
Album Review: Stevie Jackson – (I Can’t Get No) Stevie Jackson
Belle & Sebastian have long been critics’ darlings, and for good reason. Never the most prolific of groups, the Scottish pop outfit has focused instead on creating works of merit […]
10 Aug 2012
Zappa Music in the Grand(mothers) Tradition: A Talk with Napoleon Murphy Brock
Yesterday I featured my conversation with Don Preston, keyboardist with The Grandmothers, a group that includes several members of Frank Zappa’s Mothers. Interspersed into that conversation were a couple of […]
09 Aug 2012
Preview — 1964: The Tribute
Here in my adopted hometown of Asheville, NC, there’s something of a modern-day annual tradition. Every year ’round this time, the local Fireman’s Association does a fundraiser. Now, this being […]
09 Aug 2012
Zappa Music in the Grand(mothers) Tradition: A Talk with Don Preston
During his life, Frank Zappa created literally dozens of albums’ worth of original music. That music went through a number of styles, but among the most critically- and commercially lauded […]
08 Aug 2012
Talking “About Stuff” with Harry Shearer, Part 2
Continued from Part One Bill Kopp: You’ve always had a unique gift – and clear affinity – for musical pastiche. For instance, “Celebrity Booze Endorser” is written by you but […]
07 Aug 2012
Talking “About Stuff” with Harry Shearer, Part 1
Harry Shearer is well-known in several areas of entertainment. As a long-time cast member of The Simpsons, he gives voice to many of the show’s characters (Montgomery Burns, Smithers, Principal […]