rawk Archive
28 Jan 2023
Album Review: Crossword Smiles — Pressed & Ironed
Breezy, tuneful and possessing enough grit to set the music apart from standard-issue power poppers, Crossword Smiles craft solid, memorable tunes. The arrangements are uncluttered on these guitar-based riff rockers. […]
19 Jan 2023
Album Review: Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Celebration
When Mike Oldfield debuted with his album-length 1972 work Tubular Bells, it was a momentous occasion. The piece – essentially instrumental save for a bit of emceeing by The Bonzo […]
17 Jan 2023
Album Review: GA-20 — Crackdown
The guitar-and-drums duo format is one with a long and rich history in the blues idiom. That stripped-down setup has also found success in rock acts, from Flat Duo Jets […]
16 Jan 2023
Joel Selvin and ‘Sly & the Family Stone: An Oral History’
In 1998, Joel Selvin was well into his third decade as pop music critic/journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle; he had also authored several books. But his 1998 book, Sly […]
15 Jan 2023
30 Days Out, January 2023 #2: Andrew Scotchie, ABACAB, Neal Francis, Free Planet Radio
Here we are in mid-January. As I’ve observed countless times before, this is the “quiet season” in Western North Carolina. The weather can be blustery, but the season presents an […]
13 Jan 2023
The Cowsills: All in the Family (Part 4 of 4)
Continued from Part Three… During the Playboy appearance, Barbara Cowsill mentioned that the group was in negotiation with a new record label. And by 1971 The Cowsills had signed with […]
12 Jan 2023
The Cowsills: All in the Family (Part 3 of 4)
Continued from Part Two… Bob notes that when the Cowsills were on the way up, “Dad knew what to do, and how to ‘My way or the highway.’” Susan elaborates: […]
11 Jan 2023
The Cowsills: All in the Family (Part 2 of 4)
Continued from Part One… Mercury Records producer Shelby Singleton was always on the lookout for talent, and when he happened upon the Cowsills, he signed them to a deal. With […]
10 Jan 2023
The Cowsills: All in the Family (Part 1 of 4)
The Cowsills story is as much the story of a family as it is of a pop group. The two are inextricably entwined. And both are marked by soaring highs […]
09 Jan 2023
Book Review: Pink Floyd: The Animals Tour – A Visual History
With both the recent 45th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd’s Animals and the reissue of that album in upgraded format, now is the perfect time to revisit the […]