essay Archive
06 Apr 2026
Take Five: Non-Monkees Tracks featuring Davy Jones
Davy Jones was – and remains, nearly 14 years after his death – best known as one of The Monkees. The “prefab four” were television and recording stars, with a […]
03 Apr 2026
Take Five: Stellar Tracks featuring Terry Bozzio
Terry Bozzio is one of the most powerful and versatile drummers in and beyond rock. His career has taken him through pop, progressive rock, new wave, fusion and more. And […]
02 Apr 2026
Take Five: (Former) Rarities from the Byrds
Three Los Angeles musicians – Gene Clark, David Crosby and Jim (later Roger) McGuinn – started playing together in 1964 as a folk trio. Expanding to a quintet and taking […]
27 Mar 2026
Five Mid ‘70s Solo Turns from the Members of Yes
In 1975, progressive rock heroes Yes were on top of the world. Buoyed by the critical and commercial runaway success of a succession of albums – 1971’s Fragile, 1972’s Close […]
26 Mar 2026
Five Classic Cuts from the Church
Outside of the Church’s native Australia, the band’s albums have charted only once since 1992 (2003’s Forget Yourself reached No. 42 on the U.S. Indie Albums chart). But the prolific […]
25 Mar 2026
Take Five: Important Kraftwerk Tracks
When Kraftwerk began, it was an outgrowth of a project called Organisation, a highly experimental German group that released only one album, the avant-garde Tone-Float. After the demise of that […]
23 Mar 2026
Music Blurbs, Vol. 20
The Motet Founded in Boulder, Colorado in 1998, the Motet specializes in funk, soul, Afrobeat and jazz rock, combining those ingredients with a jam band aesthetic. Drummer Dave Watts put […]
17 Mar 2026
A Talking Heads Top Ten
With their sophisticated brand of new wave-meets-funk and art rock, Talking Heads were a bright spot on an already rich and vibrant music scene of the late ‘70s and beyond. […]
13 Mar 2026
Take Five: Classics from Echo & the Bunnymen
Roaring out of Liverpool, the English port city that birthed the Beatles, Echo & the Bunnymen combined sharp songcraft with modern electronic elements and a melodramatic aesthetic that made their […]
19 Feb 2026
Music Blurbs, Vol. 19
Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles Tribute bands are a significant and visible part of today’s live music landscape. Bands dedicated to capturing the sounds, visual images and overall vibe […]