Perhaps the Pale Fountains will finally garner some notice following the appearance of a new four-CD box set devoted to Michael Head's critically acclaimed band, which formed in Liverpool in 1980 and split up in 1987.
Read More »Pop
Music Review: Billy Nomates – ‘Metal Horse’
'Metal Horse' from Billy Nomates is an album that will probably fly under most people's radars but it's also one that needs to be listened to.
Read More »Music Reviews: Counting Crows’ ‘Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets!’ plus Freedy Johnston and Mike Henderson
Adam Duritz is still singing about loneliness, dislocation, alienation, and the pitfalls of stardom, but he remains an intense, attention-grabbing vocalist, and these nine tracks are up to the high standards that the group established early in its career.
Read More »Music Reviews: A Live Buck Owens Compendium, plus Tami Neilson, Maria Muldaur, Jeffrey Foskett, and a Rockabilly Anthology
“Buck took the shuffle beat and he took the lyrics and the style of honky-tonk, and he added the spunk, the vitality of rock and roll to his sound.”
Read More »Book & Music Reviews: A Biography of Joe Meek, England’s Counterpart to Phil Spector; plus Bobby Lee Trammell, the Rain Parade, and Brian Wilson
As Darryl W. Bullock writes in 'Love and Fury: The Life, Death and Legacy of Joe Meek,' the producer was a “pioneer, genius, maniac, naif…all of those things…and more.”
Read More »Music Reviews: Willie Nelson’s ‘Oh What a Beautiful World,’ plus Quote the Raven and Mason Via
While Nelson’s list of five-star releases is long, it’s hard to imagine that any of them outshine this album of Rodney Crowell covers.
Read More »Music Reviews: ‘Too Far Out,’ a Joe Meek Anthology, plus Eric Schmitt & Jimmy Jones
Meek's work is arguably less formulaic than Phil Spector’s and even more experimental and diverse.
Read More »Music Reviews: An Anthology Collects Hits from 1960, plus San Francisco Salsa, and CDs from Lance Cowan and Antonio Andrade
1960 is not exactly considered a peak year for popular music, and there's no shortage of drivel in this collection, but there are also dozens of great songs from the likes of Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, and Ray Charles.
Read More »Music Review: ‘Good to Know: The Beckies Story,’ Featuring the Left Banke’s Michael Brown
Review: an expanded reissue of the Beckies' only album, featuring Michael Brown of the Left Banke.
Read More »Music Reviews: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concerts, plus Bluegrass from Merle Travis, Mac Wiseman & Joe Maphis
We can argue about the wisdom behind the decisions to induct—or not induct—various artists into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. What seems undebatable is whether its annual induction ceremonies have been musically memorable.
Read More »
Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment