review Archive
13 Jul 2011
EP Review: The Qualia – Memorial Gore
I’m not especially sentimental toward the synthier sounds of 80s pop; I had no particular use for Human League when Dare came out, and it hasn’t grown on me in […]
12 Jul 2011
Book Review: Fever: Little Willie John – A Fast Life, Mysterious Death and the Birth of Soul
I recently had a conversation with a friend and fellow writer/editor, and the subject of that discussion was the dwindling opportunities to tell compelling stories from pop music history. So […]
11 Jul 2011
Album Review: Neal Morse – Testimony Two
As something of a collector of obscure rock of the 1960s, I delight in an unofficial set of six CDs called Psychodelicias. It’s a collection of garage-rock, psychedelic, pop-sike and […]
07 Jul 2011
Album Review: Cannonball Adderley with Bill Evans – Know What I Mean?
As I’ve confessed elsewhere on this blog, by most reasonable standards I’m a jazz newbie. Yes, I did buy Weather Report’s Heavy Weather LP when I was in high school. […]
24 Jun 2011
EP Review: Riverside – Memories in My Head
Having come of age in the vinyl era, some of my media/format definitions don’t quite match up with their modern usage. An LP was a “long player” and usually ran […]
23 Jun 2011
Album Review: Alternative TV – Black and White Live
I like bootlegs. There’s something about the raw, unvarnished immediacy of a live recording that often captures the essence of a performance. Now, I understand that – for a wide […]
22 Jun 2011
Book Review: Crazy Train – The High Life and Tragic Death of Randy Rhoads
I was late to the party: I had amassed a collection of several thousand albums (vinyl and CD) before I even gave a serious listen to Black Sabbath. An acquaintance […]
13 Jun 2011
EP Review: Almost Free – In/Out
I remember the 80s. I was there. Any while some might recall big hair, shoulder pads, parachute pants and mullets, there was some very cool music. Not the MTV-centric stuff […]
10 Jun 2011
Album Review: Chris Difford – Cashmere if You Can
While there is no evidence and not a single reason to think it true, Cashmere if You Can from former Squeeze co-frontman Chris Difford feels like a songwriter’s look back […]
09 Jun 2011
Album Review: Father’s Children – Who’s Gonna Save the World
The story of Father’s Children is fascinating, but not altogether unique. Group comes together, develops a style, records an album, sinks without a trace. This Washington DC-based group recorded an […]