review Archive
02 Feb 2010
Album Review: Frank Sinatra – Strangers in the Night (2010 reissue)
Sure, the title track of Frank Sinatra’s 1966 album Strangers in the Night is sappy, MOR stuff. Impeccably arranged and finding the 51-year old Sinatra in fine vocal form, the […]
01 Feb 2010
Book Review: A Dream Goes On Forever – The Continuing Story of Todd Rundgren, Vol. 2
Covering the life and career of Todd Rundgren is a serious, sprawling undertaking (trust me!). The prolific multi-instrumentalist has recorded and released several dozens albums, first as a member of […]
29 Jan 2010
Album Review: Alice Cooper – Dada
For 1982’s Dada, Alice Cooper brought producer Bob Ezrin back to run the console. Ezrin and Cooper had worked together on many of Cooper’s most commercially successful albums in the […]
28 Jan 2010
Album Review: The City Champs – The Safecracker
The gospel-flavored organ solo that opens the title cut on the City Champs‘ The Safecracker is something of a red herring. Though the sonorous B3 tones suggest that listeners will […]
27 Jan 2010
Album Review: Alice Cooper – Zipper Catches Skin
By 1981 Alice Cooper really had begun, thankfully, to flush the fashion (something he made an empty threat to do two years earlier). To the extent that Cooper had a […]
26 Jan 2010
Album Review: Album Review: Putumayo Presents Rhythm & Blues
Putumayo is, for many listeners, the first stop for various-artists world music collections. But the label has recently ventured into more mainstream genres. The latest exponent of this is Putumayo […]
25 Jan 2010
Album Review: Alice Cooper – Special Forces
As the 1970s ended, so did Alice Cooper‘s chart run. After an impressive string of hits beginning with 1971’s “I’m Eighteen” (from the album Love it to Death) and more […]
22 Jan 2010
Album review: Joe Meek – Meeky Meeky: Random Flakes Vol. 1
Much has been written about Joe Meek. His production technique might be labeled savant-garde: doing everything “wrong” he sometimes — often, in fact — got it right. Now recognized as […]
20 Jan 2010
Album Review: The Orange Peels – 2020
“Happy listening.” That was the message handwritten on a post-it from The Orange Peels‘ Allen Clapp. Owing to a slight mix-up in messaging, I ended up receiving a copy of […]
19 Jan 2010
Album Review: Eloy – Visionary
The word derivative is too often used as a term of disdain, as a pejorative adjective to tar a musical act with supposed lack of originality. But even if one […]