Released: July 27, 2010 Label: MVD Visual Back in 1998, I was lucky enough to catch the Specials on the Warped Tour. Despite being only a subset of the band’s classic line-up, they were outstanding. Nonetheless, the constant parade of half-hearted reunions that permeate the rock scene today still kept my guard up for this release of the 2009 reunion… Read more »
Label: UMe Released: June 9, 2009 Before I get into this review, I really have to get something off my chest. I am sick to death of the 666 crap. Iron Maiden writes one song and titles one album related to this and it seems like it remains everyone’s favorite focus. It just strikes me as rather sad that metal’s… Read more »
Label: Image Entertainment Released: November 18, 2008 I’ve always known that the Beatles are rock’s greatest band. There’s no denying it. But I do have to wonder why I question that every time I listen to the Who. I think it’s because the Beatles made rock music what it is, but the Who actually embodied it like no one else…. Read more »
Label: Sony Legacy Released: September 16, 2008 (originally released in 1959) “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” – Charles Mingus These aren’t just words from Charles Mingus. He didn’t always manage to make things simple, but one of the many amazing things about Mingus Ah Um is that he took this incredibly… Read more »
Label: Yep Roc Records Released: July 8, 2008 Baseball is a slow game with a level of intensity and athleticism that is generally below that of many other sports. Yet there’s nothing quite like sitting in the bleachers on a warm summer evening. There’s nothing like the 7th inning stretch, nothing like a double play. Even in the days when… Read more »
Label: Epic Released:October 7, 2008 What should we expect from a live recording of a band within a year of its own demise, a band who had recently dismissed its heroin addicted drummer and was already splitting apart at the seams in the wake of its own internal turmoil? Will it show the band burning out or fading away? With… Read more »
Label: Shout Factory Released: August 5, 2008 There is little doubt that James Brown is an iconic figure in American music. From “Please, Please, Please” to “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud),” Brown has found a way to resonate not only within the Black community, but also in a broader America. As Al Sharpton says in The Night… Read more »
Label: A&M Released: 1988 In the liner notes of this album, Joe Jackson writes perhaps the best case for this album’s greatness: “I’ve always had two stubborn rules about playing live. Firstly, no matter how small the audience, how bad the acoustics, how smelly the dressing room, etc, every show is important. It’s possible to play to about a dozen… Read more »
Label: Roadrunner Records Released: March 25, 2008 De Novo Dahl find themselves in the difficult position of following up their amazing Shout EP with a full-length release. Even if they were able to reproduce the exuberance of “Shout” (the best musical expression of joy since U2’s “Beautiful Day”) over the course of the entire album, I think it may well… Read more »
Label: Smithsonian-Folkays Recordings Released: 2007 New Lost City Rambler Mike Seeger (half-brother of Pete) serves up 28 traditional songs, some with vocals, some without. These are old songs, songs that have been around awhile, songs that Seeger probably learned from old scratchy 78s. Seeger approaches these songs with love, appreciation and authenticity. Some of the guitars he used are as… Read more »