‘Reviews’ Articles
After releasing her acclaimed rockabilly opus, Sea of Tears, last year, the Boston-based singer/songwriter continues mining the same Americana musical vein with this tribute to one of America’s top country singer/songwriters, Loretta Lynn. This could be one of the most flattering, solid and heartfelt celebrations yet of the Coal Miner’s Daughter’s down-home country.
Here Jewell, backed only by her accomplished combo of Jerry Miller on guitars/pedal steel, Johnny Sciascia on upright bass and Jason Beek on drums, presents a dozen Lynn tunes from the ’60s and ’70s. Jewell doesn’t inject the same drawl and grit into these songs as her hero; rather, she interprets them with a slightly more folky, melodic voice. But with the spare country rocking and honky-tonkin’ at the hands of her backing boys, Jewell maintains the integrity of each feisty, melodic Lynn composition. The unflinching songs come alive as Jewell and her band keep it simple, allowing Lynn’s clever lyrics and attitude come through. Read more...
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After selling 40 million albums and racking up 22 top 40 hits over 35 years, John Mellencamp has left the record business for the record playground.
“I’m not selling anything anymore,” says the iconic Hoosier. “I see my records as calling cards now. If people can discover my songs without having them shoved down their throats, it makes me feel good. And what’s the point of being in the rat race if it’s not fun anymore?”
At 58, Mellencamp has downsized his commercial ambitions and promotional zeal but not the creative standards and heartland vision that shaped such classics as Pink Houses and Small Town.
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The Gershwin vault is a musical Holy Grail, a metaphorical repository of more than 100 unfinished songs and fragments of songs written by legendary composer George Gershwin and his brother Ira. Last year, the Gershwin estate handed Beach Boy Brian Wilson the keys.
Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin includes familiar songs, gently reinvented, and two previously incomplete tracks, now finished by Wilson and a collaborator. It avoids the excessive fealty paid by most Gershwin re-interpreters – the swelling background vocals, the saccharine strings. It is affectionate but not literal. Read full review
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This is an odd question to be asking in 2010, after he has spent nearly 20 years making music: What makes a Mark Kozelek solo album different from a Sun Kil Moon album? For most of the 2000s, the distinction was more than just words on a jewel-case spine, as he debuted new material under the Sun Kil Moon banner and then reinterpreted it in live or demo settings as a solo artist. Musically, it always sounded like a matter of electric versus acoustic, full-band versus solo guitar, jammy versus intimate. It’s the two sides of a man who has turned himself into a cottage industry through his Caldo Verde label, releasing scores of companion EPs and limited-edition live LPs that keep his old songs alive. But the split between Sun Kil Moon and Kozelek has never come across as merely a sales gimmick. Instead, it’s a way to document the complex lives of his songs, which are never quite finished but always hold the potential for rebirth and transformation. Read more...
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Half of the Stone River Boys’ debut is perfect for a bit of beach music shaggin’ while the other half would feel right at home at a honky-tonkin’ juke joint.
The Austin-based band rose out of the untimely death of singer-musician Chris Gaffney who, along with guitarist Dave Gonzalez (The Palladins), led the criminally overlooked Hacienda Brothers. Gonzalez, as a tribute to his buddy, teamed with singer Mike Barfield and pedal-steel ace Dave Biller to continue creating its “country-funk.”
And true to its mission, the band offers the twanging rockabilly-country of Buck Owens or Johnny Cash alongside the Southern soul of Solomon Burke or Joe Tex. Read more...
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Whether you’re a fan of The Doors, have a slight interest, or just like good films then When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors is a must-see. This is the first feature documentary on The Doors and it’s going to be hard to beat this one. Fast paced, informative, and entertaining in its 96-minute run time, When You’re Strange is seriously a joy and a thrill to see more than once.
Written and directed by Tom DiCillo and narrated by Johnny Depp, the film recounts the roller-coaster ride that was the five-year lifespan of The Doors. You may have read the books and seen the bio-pic, but this documentary truly brings to life the twisted, dark dream-like world of Jim Morrison and The Doors’ music. The documentary is put together using film from those hectic, exciting days, much of it never before seen which makes the tale told here even more enveloping. The real photos, footage, and audio of the stories and events that are legendary are all here. Read more...
Tags: classic rock, Doors, DVD, Jim Morrison
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Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been one of America’s greatest live bands since their first club tours and opening-act jobs, in 1976 and ’77. Lethal garage-rock modernists with pop-hook savvy, they’ve always had the chops and empathy to make a studio record like Mojo: everybody in one room, going for the master take together and getting it fast. They just took 34 years to work up the nerve. Read more...
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The sophomore release from Brooklyn-based saxophonist/composer John Ellis presents one of the year’s most unique, fresh and satisfying takes on jazz. Here Ellis’s melodic sax work is buoyed and bumped along by his unusual combo, Double-Wide. The group features Hammond B3 player Brian Coogan, Jason Marsalis (of the Marsalis musical family) on drums and Matt Perrine handling the bottom, not on the bass guitar, but the sousaphone. Perrine’s busy, funky, slippery brass lines play off Ellis’ twisting, turning sax and, other times, lock in with Marsalis’ syncopated percussions. Ellis’ lively compositions slip and slide between avant-garde jazz, N’awlins boogaloo, pop cheesiness and Nino Rota film score melodiousness. Each piece, enlivened by the sweet harmonica work of guest Gregoire Maret, sports serious musical execution coupled with whimsy and a sense of adventure. For a breath of fresh air, let John Ellis & Double-Wide march you down the Crescent City’s musical streets and alleyways. – Eric Feber Reprinted courtesy of The Virginian Pilot
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This inaugural record by Brooklyn native/Toronto resident Shakura S’Aida introduces a major new female blues voice to the music world.
S’Aida –a featured artist in the recent Attucks Theater’s Blues Discovery concert series – teams with incendiary blues-rock guitarist/sister-songwriter Donna Grantis for an album of rather generic sounding blues-rock.
What lifts this recording from sameness is S’Aida’s powerful voice and Grantis’ expert and sharp guitar. Working with producer Jim Gaines’ (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana) arrangements, S’Aida showcases sultry vocals that soar, howl, purr and soothe through rockers and soul ballads.
Grantis shadows and punctuates S’Aida’s emotive vocals with incisive, clean guitar lines, lifting each song with energy and spark. This album is still worth the price thanks to S’Aida’s memorable vocals and Grantis’ stinging guitar. Read more...
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“This is at once the worst studio album the Stones have ever made, and the most maddeningly inconsistent and strangely depressing release of their career.’’
— Lester Bangs, Creem magazine album review of “Exile on Main Street,’’ August 1972
“It’s a bit overrated, to be honest. I’m not saying it’s not good. Compared to ‘Let It Bleed’ and ‘Beggars Banquet,’ which I think are more of a piece, I don’t see it’s as thematic as the other two. It’s got a raw quality, but I don’t think all around it’s as good.’’
— Mick Jagger interview, Rolling Stone, Dec. 14, 1995 Read more...
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