Author Archive
27 Jan 2010
Album Review: Alice Cooper – Zipper Catches Skin
By 1981 Alice Cooper really had begun, thankfully, to flush the fashion (something he made an empty threat to do two years earlier). To the extent that Cooper had a […]
26 Jan 2010
Album Review: Album Review: Putumayo Presents Rhythm & Blues
Putumayo is, for many listeners, the first stop for various-artists world music collections. But the label has recently ventured into more mainstream genres. The latest exponent of this is Putumayo […]
25 Jan 2010
Album Review: Alice Cooper – Special Forces
As the 1970s ended, so did Alice Cooper‘s chart run. After an impressive string of hits beginning with 1971’s “I’m Eighteen” (from the album Love it to Death) and more […]
22 Jan 2010
Album review: Joe Meek – Meeky Meeky: Random Flakes Vol. 1
Much has been written about Joe Meek. His production technique might be labeled savant-garde: doing everything “wrong” he sometimes — often, in fact — got it right. Now recognized as […]
20 Jan 2010
Album Review: The Orange Peels – 2020
“Happy listening.” That was the message handwritten on a post-it from The Orange Peels‘ Allen Clapp. Owing to a slight mix-up in messaging, I ended up receiving a copy of […]
19 Jan 2010
Album Review: Eloy – Visionary
The word derivative is too often used as a term of disdain, as a pejorative adjective to tar a musical act with supposed lack of originality. But even if one […]
18 Jan 2010
Album Review: Let Freedom Sing — The Music of the Civil Rights Movement
In honor of the Martin Luther King National Holiday — (as a close friend wrote to me last night, “Remember to honor Dr. King. What he did, he did for all.”) […]
15 Jan 2010
Album Review: Research Turtles (self titled)
If Shoes fit, wear ’em. Despite the fact that Research Turtles are depicted on the cover of their self-titled, self-released CD as a sort of dirty-faced Knack for the 21st […]
14 Jan 2010
Album Review: Jeff Norwood – Awendaw
South Carolina acoustic bluesman Jeff Norwood conjures the spirits of Mississippi Fred McDowell and Robert Johnson on Awendaw. Using little more than (mostly) acoustic guitar, dobro, bass and footstomps, Norwood […]
13 Jan 2010
Album Review: Fran King – My Sweet Elixir
Fran King has been called an Irish McCartney. A more apt comparison might be Hawthorne California’s Emitt Rhodes. Like both Sir Paul and the mercurial Rhodes, King is possessed of […]