Author Archive

Musoscribe in Print

This just in from the editors at Shindig! Magazine: my feature on Barry Tashian and the Remains (referenced in a recent blog post) will run as a cover story in […]

Bootleg Bin: Spirit – Texas International Pop Festival, Vol. 7

Happy 62nd birthday to bassist Mark Andes. He was a founding member of Spirit, and later a member of Firefall and Heart. Here’s a review of a legendary performance of […]

Blast From the Past: Chirco – Visitation

There’s an obscure (as in, “didn’t sell”) album from 1972 called Visitation by a group called Chirco. The disc is classified by some as progressive rock, but this reviewer hears […]

Album Review: King Crimson – Lizard (40th Anniversary Series)

Among King Crimson fans, 1970’s album Lizard is a misunderstood release, and ranks among the least-popular of the group’s albums. That’s a shame, as Lizard is effective and groundbreaking in […]

Album Review: Nick Curran – Reform School Girl

Five seconds in, the listener will know that on Reform School Girl, Nick Curran means business. True, many artists have made careers out of reviving styles of old — Brian […]

Album Review: Gentle Giant – Free Hand (2010 reissue)

Sporting a sound that’s at once highly polished and more accessible than anything the band had done before, Free Hand remains firmly in the progressive rock camp. A challenging listen, […]

Special Valentine’s Day Review: Love – Forever Changes

The mid 1960s was a fertile era for popular music. Unprecedented creativity was the norm. The list of stone classic albums released in those few years includes some amazing records: […]

Here’s One You Missed: Randy and the Bloody Lovelies – Lift

Here’s a review I wrote for a now-defunct national print magazine back in 2007. The disc is still available if you search hard enough, and it’s worth your time. The […]

Album Review: Dick Wagner – Full Meltdown

As a member of Frost, Ursa Major and — most notably — guitarist with Lou Reed and then Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner has made quite a name for himself as […]

Album Review: Gentle Giant – In a Glass House (2010 reissue)

If you’re not expecting it, the smashing glass sounds that open “The Runaway,” the opening salvo of Gentle Giant’s 1973 In a Glass House, they’re a pretty jarring experience. While […]