reissue Archive
18 Apr 2018
Album Review: Sun Ra — Standards
Jazz great Sun Ra (born Herman Blount) has an imposing reputation as the iconoclastic purveyor of wildly unusual and unconventional music. His influence is felt far beyond the confines of […]
18 Apr 2018
Album Review: An Evening with Ornette Coleman, Part 2
No one would ever accuse Ornette Coleman of making “easy listening” music. One of the acclaimed and innovative jazz musician’s few forays into what could loosely –very loosely – termed […]
17 Apr 2018
Album Review: The Cyrkle — ‘The Minx’ Original Soundtrack
Here’s as unlikely a pairing as you’re likely to encounter, even within the context of 1960s pop culture. The Cyrkle were an American pop group whose greatest claims to fame […]
16 Apr 2018
Album Reviews: Cocteau Twins’ ‘Head Over Heels’ and ‘Treasure’
Not to be confused with Thompson Twins, Cocteau Twins were a dream-pop band from Scotland. Between 1982 and 1996 the group released nine albums of original music, including a 1996 […]
16 Apr 2018
Album Review: Gary Numan – Dance
Casual listeners’ knowledge of Gary Numan’s body of work often doesn’t extend his hit single “Cars,” a track from his 1979 solo debut The Pleasure Principle. And that’s unfortunate, because […]
06 Apr 2018
Album Review: More of the Monkees (Super Deluxe Edition)
Too often the Monkees have been dismissed, and called names like the Prefab Four. While it’s undeniable that the group was assembled by music and television executives looking to capitalize […]
03 Apr 2018
A Look Back at ‘Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert’
This feature originally appeared on BestClassicBands. As 1972 came to a close, guitarist Eric Clapton had been musically inactive for nearly two years. He enjoyed a burst of activity in […]
31 Mar 2018
Hundred-word Reviews: Reissues, Archival Releases, Compilations
My shelf full of albums to be reviewed has run out of space. So once again it’s time for a raft of hundred-word reviews. All sixteen titles in this roundup […]
27 Mar 2018
Seven Jazz Archival/Reissue Releases
Monty Alexander – Here Comes the Sun (MPS) Jamaican pianist Alexander has a bright, flowing and lyrical approach to his instrument. Originally released in 1971, Here Comes the Sun was […]
16 Mar 2018
Album Review: Nina Simone — Mood Indigo: The Complete Bethlehem Sessions
Nina Simone (born Eunice Waymon) was a classically-trained pianist; she didn’t set out to be a jazz singer. Born in Tryon, N.C. in 1933, she was a musical prodigy, and […]