review Archive
21 Feb 2020
Come and Get It: Badfinger’s ‘Magic Christian Music’ at 50
With the benefit of a half century’s hindsight, it can be argued that despite massive creativity and talent, Badfinger was star-crossed nearly from its start. Though the British-Welsh band were […]
16 Feb 2020
Album Review: Louis Armstrong and His All Stars — Live in 1956
Though he had certainly been massively popular before, in the middle 1950s jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong was near the top of his game. In 1947 he broke up […]
13 Feb 2020
Presto: Deep Purple’s ‘Concerto for Group and Orchestra’ at 50
Looking back on rock history, it’s clear that the concept of rock/orchestral hybridization was fashionable for a time. Most rock listeners are familiar (and then some) with Days of Future […]
12 Feb 2020
Shot in the Dark: Utopia’s ‘Adventures in Utopia’ at at 40
Utopia – or Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, as it was originally and would years later again be known – started out as one thing and became another. In its original form, […]
10 Feb 2020
From the Archives: Review of Yes in Concert, Feb. 3, 2017
The following is an edited reprise of a Facebook post of mine from February 2017, three years ago this week. — bk Thoughts on last night’s YES concert in Cherokee […]
31 Jan 2020
Album Review: The Velvert Turner Group
Jimi Hendrix’s influence on music is incalculable. He affected the course of music not only as a fiery, innovative guitarist but also in his groundbreaking use of the recording studio-as-instrument. […]
27 Jan 2020
Hundred-word Reviews for January 2020
Every so often – pretty often, in fact – I find a stack of CDs has accumulated on my desk. They’ve made the cut as albums deemed worthy of sharing […]
25 Jan 2020
Album Review: LLGLDNBKS — ‘self-titled album’
In 1988, R.E.M. released an album titled Eponymous. The compilation – a survey of the band’s years on IRS Records, released after the band had decamped for Warner Brothers – […]
24 Jan 2020
Album Review: Marshall Crenshaw — Miracle of Science
Marshall Crenshaw’s experience in the world of major labels had come and gone by the time he made his sixth studio album, Miracle of Science. After the brilliant one-two punch […]
19 Jan 2020
Album Review: Bill Bruford’s Earthworks — Heavenly Bodies: The Expanded Collection
Bill Bruford is a hero in the world of progressive rock. Though it’s something of an oversimplification, the short story on him is that he found drumming for Yes not […]