Thursday , June 11 2026

Album Reviews

Book & Music Reviews: ‘Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run,’ plus Reggae from the Mighty Rootsmen and the Kingston Lions

Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run

At one point Springsteen’s finances were so depleted that he couldn’t afford to hire the musicians he needed for the album...

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Music Review: Rolf Lislevand – ‘Libro Primo’ – Music for Archlute and Chitarrone

Rolf Lislevand

The Norwegian lutenist makes this 400-year-old music sound vital through a mature, warmly expressive sensibility, even as he explicates these old "texts" through a prism of meticulous technique.

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Music Reviews: A Marianne Faithfull Box Set, plus Robin Batteau and an Anthology of Early Rock and Rockabilly

Marianne Faithfull

Faithfull’s 1960s material is the subject of a recently released six-CD, 81-track anthology that shows she was capable of handling everything from traditional and modern folk to Brill Building tunes and rock.

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Music Review: Blue Heron & DÜNYA: ‘Lessons from Nightingales” – Songs of Sufi Mysteries by Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol

Lessons from Nightingales cover detail

This collaboration between vocal ensemble Blue Heron and composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol is as beautiful as it is tricky to describe.

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Music Reviews: Anthologies from the Pale Fountains and the Kinks, plus the Feelies and Kissing Other Ppl

The Pale Fountains – The Complete Virgin Years

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.

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Music Reviews: Nick Drake’s ‘The Making of Five Leaves Left’ and Eric Andersen’s ‘Blue River: Live in Tokyo’

Nick Drake-Making of Five Leaves Left-LP Box Set Cover

Let’s hope we’ll soon see similar boxes devoted to the making of Drake’s other two studio albums, both of which are as noteworthy as his debut. The world needs all the music from him that it can get.

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Music Reviews: Isabelle Faust: ‘Johann Sebastian Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Continuo’; Hongyi Mo, John Etsell: ‘Métamorphoses: Poulenc on Violin and Piano’

Isabelle Faust

Exemplary, living Bach from musicians with few equals at the repertoire; sensitive violin performances of Poulenc transcriptions and sonatas

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