pat thomas Archive

Album Review: True West — Kaleidoscope of Shadows

Even among vinyl aficionados like myself, there’s an acknowledgment that the CD era brought with it some important benefits. Chief among those was the archival movement: compilations and reissues of […]

Musoscribe’s Best of 2021: New Releases

Picking my favorite new releases for 2021 has been exceedingly difficult. I have no way of knowing to what degree (if any) the infernal and tragic pandemic had the silver-lining […]

Mushroom: Don’t Sit This One Out

When critics try to describe Mushroom, they call upon labels like krautrock, free jazz, freakout, ambient and electronic. Launched in 1997 by drummer Pat Thomas, Mushroom is all of those […]

Long Shot: The Story of Delaney & Bonnie’s ‘Motel Shot’ (Part 2)

Continued from Part One … The Motel Shot that finally saw release would consist almost completely of material from the studio sessions. On release, it fared well, reaching #65 on […]

Long Shot: The Story of Delaney & Bonnie’s ‘Motel Shot’ (Part 1)

As the 1960s rolled over into 1970, popular music was undergoing a seismic shift. The full reasons aren’t totally clear; maybe it was the disillusionment in the wake of the […]

Album Review: Mushroom — Psychedelic Soul on Wax

File next to: Brian Auger’s Trinity, Can, David Byrne The four cuts on Psychedelic Soul on Wax are as different from another as can be, but then Mushroom has always […]

Best Music of 2016: Reissue/archival Releases

I love new music, but I’m also attuned to keeping up with the latest in reissues and archival releases. Sometimes those feature some of my favorite artists; other times they […]

Rehabilitating Herbie, Part 2

Continued from Part One… “In the ‘60s, Herbie Mann wanted to appeal to younger audiences,” observes Cary Ginell, author of several books including The Evolution of Mann: Herbie Mann and […]

Rehabilitating Herbie, Part 1

Previously-Unheard 1969 Live Tapes from Jazz Flautist and his Band Nominally a jazz musician, flautist Herbie Mann (1930-2003) enjoyed crossover appeal and success that brought his music to a much […]