One of the explanations offered for Prince’s 1987 shelving of his Black Album project was that he felt it was of inferior quality and didn’t want to release it. Considering that he released Lovesexy instead might be a good reason to doubt the rumour (along with the other, more interesting explanation that he had a religious experience related to it),… Read more »
I’m gonna give something new a try. Instead of reviewing a whole album, sometimes I’ll pick a lesser known album track that maybe most people don’t know or haven’t heard in years and I’ll review just that song. I’ll probably kick this off late in the week with Ian Hunter’s “Standing in My Light.”
I’ve often thought about what current bands come closest to filling the roles that older bands filled in the past. For instance, I wonder who are the Beatles of today? Or the Led Zeppelin? Or the Pink Floyd? Etc, etc, etc. While it is important, I don’t think their superficial sound should be the primary consideration. I’d give more weight… Read more »
Metal Mark’s post about the Rocklahoma nostalgia fest got me thinking about how so many of these bands continue on in name only with only one original member or proceed without a crucial member. One or both of two things can be true here: The latest version of the band is a disingenuous attempt to cash in on past success… Read more »
…that the Beatles are better than the Stones (or anyone else for that matter). From the late Kurt Vonnegut’s last novel, Timequake: I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply,… Read more »
Back in the mid to late 80s, Strange Fruit Records released a series (or three) of EPs that were actual sessions from John Peel’s radio show on the BBC’s Radio One. I bought some at the time and I’ve always loved listening to them. They have a lot of raw energy that likely comes from essentially playing live for someone… Read more »
That last post reminds me of another really cool record buying experience that I had. When the first Beatles Anthology came out in 1995, I contacted a local record store called Music Machine to pre-order the double LP. They took the order, no problem. Then I waited for the release. A few days before the release, the owner of Music… Read more »
I’ve always loved ordering music directly from labels and I try to do that whenever I can. By and large, my experiences have been very good. About 12 years ago, I had a particularly good experience ordering some records from Sub Pop. At the time, I was pretty strapped for cash, but I really wanted Mudhoney’s My Brother the Cow…. Read more »
I’ve been reading Metal Mark’s countdown of the best metal albums of 1986 lately and it has me thinking about crossover. During the mid 80s, speed metal was the result of hardcore’s influence on a group of young metal bands looking for something new on one side and young hardcore bands looking to tighten up their sound on the other…. Read more »
It’s probably cheating to write this, but I’m trying to get back into the swing of posting, so I thought I’d try something easy and accessible. There’s no question that Zeppelin is one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Standing alone, with no thought given to influence, these records stand up today. On top of that their influence… Read more »