essay Archive
26 Mar 2022
March Through Time: Traffic
In the space of only eight years, Traffic went through a number of lineups and styles. All of it is worthwhile, though in different ways. The early material has nearly […]
25 Mar 2022
March Through Time: Pete Townshend
As the primary songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend created a staggeringly significant body of work. But he recognized that some of his material wasn’t right for the group, so […]
24 Mar 2022
March Through Time: Split Enz
Back in the very early 1980s, I had a fake ID card. It wasn’t something I acquired to facilitate alcohol purchases; no, I just wanted to gain entry to the […]
23 Mar 2022
March Through Time: Paul Revere and the Raiders
I’m a serious fan of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Like The Monkees, the group has often been shortchanged in terms of the respect they deserve. The costumes certainly didn’t […]
22 Mar 2022
March Through Time: R.E.M.
I grew up in Atlanta, so R.E.M. was considered a local band (Athens is just over an hour’s drive). One didn’t even have to be particularly hip or plugged into […]
21 Mar 2022
March Through Time: The (Young) Rascals
“Blue eyed soul” is the term we used to employ to describe The Young Rascals (later simply The Rascals). But that problematic term fails to describe what really made the […]
20 Mar 2022
March Through Time: Porcupine Tree
Led by Steven Wilson, Porcupine Tree is for me the most important musical discovery of the 21st century. I first heard the group in early 2007, around the time of […]
19 Mar 2022
March Through Time: The Alan Parsons Project
The concept of studio-as-instrument has a proud tradition. It began, arguably, with Les Paul, was built upon by The Beatles with George Martin (and certainly others of that era) and […]
18 Mar 2022
March Through Time: Shuggie Otis
Shuggie Otis is a criminally under-recognized artist. A one-man-band when he was a mere teenager, he was also a superb guitarist right out of the gate. Son of legendary bandleader […]
17 Mar 2022
March Through Time: The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues’ career arc can be neatly divided into four distinct if unequal parts. The first is the r&b/pop era during which Denny Laine was a lead vocalist. The […]