review Archive
26 Dec 2020
Album (and EP) Review: Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets — ‘Lay it on Me’ and ‘Walkabout’
Sometimes, when two great musical forces meet, the results can be disastrous, or at least unimpressive. I don’t count myself as a fan of the ill-advised Lou Reed and Metallica […]
20 Dec 2020
Album Review: Two Pound Planet — Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox
The story of Two Pound Planet is the story of countless bands: they write and played some great music, got the chance to work with a great producer who understood […]
18 Dec 2020
Book Review: David Menconi — Step it Up and Go
Attempting to weave together the many and varied stories that collectively tell the story of popular music in North Carolina is a task of herculean proportions. It’s a task best […]
15 Dec 2020
Book Review: Barrett: The Definitive Visual Companion
There have been quite a few books written about Syd Barrett. Some have emphasized the more lurid and sensational aspects of his story, including his drug use, mental illness, dismissal […]
11 Dec 2020
Album Review: The Neptunas – Mermaid A-Go-Go
There’s something inescapably, relentlessly cool about surf rock. The style had its heyday in the early ‘60s, but it’s never gone away. And for good reason: there’s something irresistible about […]
09 Dec 2020
Album Review: Chicago Soul Jazz Collective – It Takes a Spark to Start a Fire
On their first recording, the Chicago Soul Jazz Collective tackled a collection of familiar genre standards, and the results were impressive. For their newest release, however, the group applies its […]
08 Dec 2020
Album Review: George Benson – Weekend in London
As the emcee tells us right up front, this recording marks the first time George Benson appeared onstage at Ronnie Scott’s in some 45 years. In the interim he has […]
07 Dec 2020
Album Review: The Whit Boyd Combo — Party Girls OST
Admittedly, it requires a certain kind of sense of humor to appreciate such a thing, but as fate would have it, I’m just such a person. So as out-there as […]
04 Dec 2020
Album Review: The Krayolas – Savage Young Krayolas
In the shady corners of rock’s history, there have been more than a few retro purveyors who managed to breathe new life into well-trodden styles. Occasionally, they’ve done more than […]
30 Nov 2020
Album Reviews: Redd Kross — Phaseshifter and Show World
Over the span of a decade-plus, Hawthorne, California band Redd Kross navigated the tricky path from punky indie band to one that sounded like the epitome of arena rock. And […]