review Archive
30 May 2009
Album Review: Johnny Winter — The Johnny Winter Anthology
First things first. Whenever a career-spanning anthology crosses this reviewer’s desk, three questions immediately come to mind: Has this artist’s career been summarized on disc before? How’s the sound quality […]
29 May 2009
Album Review: Wattstax: The Living Word
With apologies to Sir Walter Scott, “oh, what a tangled web we weave, when again we practice to re-release.” The 1972 Wattstax festival was black R&B’s excellent (if belated) answer […]
28 May 2009
Album Review: Stax: The Soul of Hip-Hop
This compilation would have been an inspired, brilliant idea, had it not been done already (see review of the 2008 Blue Note compilation Droppin’ Science). So instead it’s merely a […]
27 May 2009
Album Review: Various Artists — Stax Does the Beatles
Before succumbing to the vicissitudes of the record biz, Stax Records was one of the coolest labels in the 60s and 70s. Rawer and earthier than Motown, the black-oriented label […]
26 May 2009
Album Review: Various Artists — Malt shop Memories
I’ve made a similar point before, but it’s worth saying again: in general Time-Life musical retrospectives haven’t got a long history of credibility. In general they’ve been viewed as cash-ins, […]
25 May 2009
Album Review: Droppin’ Science: Greatest Samples from the Blue Note Lab
This is one of those projects that makes you ask, “Why didn’t someone do this sooner?” Many artists on the famed Blue Note label have had their work sampled over […]
24 May 2009
Album Review: The United States of America – s/t
It’s easy to forget that in 1968, getting weird and unearthly sounds on your album (assuming you wanted them; plenty did) was no easy task. There were no presets, no […]
23 May 2009
Album Reviews: The Replacements Reissues (2008)
The Replacements – Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (Rhino/Rykodisc) The Replacements – Stink EP (Rhino/Rykodisc) The Replacements – Hootenanny (Rhino/Rykodisc) The Replacements – Let it Be (Rhino/Rykodisc) […]
22 May 2009
DVD Review: Otis Redding — Respect Live 1967
This brief DVD is an effort to collect all extant performance footage of Otis Redding in the months before his untimely death. On that level, it succeeds, more or less. […]
21 May 2009
Album Reviews: Rascals / Young Rascals Reissues (2007)
Young Rascals: The Young Rascals (Collectors’ Choice) Collections (Collectors’ Choice) Groovin’ (Collectors’ Choice) Rascals: Once Upon a Dream (Collectors’ Choice) Freedom Suite (Collectors’ Choice) See (Collectors’ Choice) Search and Nearness […]