new release Archive
15 Jan 2013
Album Review: Dickie Goodman – Long Live the King
File this one under Guilty Pleasures. Back in the early 70s when I was a kid, the novelty records that Dickie Goodman put together were a cultural touchstone. A trash-culture […]
14 Jan 2013
Album Review: Various Artists – Who Are You
I’m cool with the concept of tribute albums. Hell, I play in a cover band, so I get it. Paying respect to a group or artist is a worthy goal, […]
09 Jan 2013
Album Review: A Fragile Tomorrow – Be Nice Be Careful
As baseball boffin / bowtied blowhard George Will likes to begin especially forceful pronouncements, “It is axiomatic.” What exactly is axiomatic in this case? That big-label backing does not always […]
08 Jan 2013
I’m in the Fan Club: A Conversation with Jellyfish’s Roger Manning, Part Two
Continued from Part One… Bill Kopp: I remember one of those live-in-the-studio sessions you did back around the time of the second album. It was for 99X, a radio station […]
07 Jan 2013
I’m in the Fan Club: A Conversation with Jellyfish’s Roger Manning, Part One
Jellyfish was one of the great bands of the early 90s. At a time when pop music had lost its way – or at least moved away from the things […]
02 Jan 2013
Album Review: Cleaners from Venus – The Late District
On The Late District, Cleaners From Venus (the nom de pop of Martin Newell) depart ever-so-subtly from their winsome brand of pastoral, homespun pop. Newell dials back (but certainly doesn’t […]
28 Dec 2012
Adventures with Mr Yeats: The Waterboys’ Mike Scott
The Waterboys are that curious band about which the critics and cognoscenti fall all over themselves raving (and for good reason), but that doesn’t make large ripples in the commercial […]
27 Dec 2012
Old (But Previously Unreleased) Jazz, New Vinyl
Recently, I devoted an entire week’s worth of coverage to vinyl releases. But as it turns out, a clutch of recent jazz releases on the new-but-already-venerable Jazzhaus label are also […]
26 Dec 2012
The Jeremy Spencer Interview
I’m a big Fleetwood Mac fan. But I should explain: I don’t care much at all for the AOR/California vibe of the mid 70-and-beyond megastar lineup. No, for me, Fleetwood […]
19 Dec 2012
EP Review: Wanda Jackson – Capitol Rarities
Though her recording career began in the mid 1950s, I only discovered Wanda Jackson sometime around 1993. Sometime that year I was in a Wal-Mart (I rarely if ever set […]