A Flurry of Reissues from the Inimitable Jonathan Richman Jonathan Richman is an artist you’ll likely love or hate. His idiosyncratic, nasal vocals will either charm or annoy, as will his melodies and lyrics, which sometimes hint at his background as a new-wave act and Velvet Underground fan but often seem more suited to Sesame […]
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Billy Joel ’s ‘Live at Yankee Stadium’ Hits Some Homers Billy Joel had already recorded nearly all his best-known songs by June 1990, when he performed two shows at New York’s Yankee Stadium. A native of the state and a serious baseball fan (who, 18 years later, would also appear at Shea Stadium), Joel clearly […]
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Bob Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song, plus Tommy James and World Party Bob Dylan released the terrific Chronicles, Volume One, in 2004. Eighteen years later, we’ve yet to see part two of this memoir, but as you might have heard, he has just published something else instead: The Philosophy of Modern Song. It’s as […]
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The Beatles’ Revolver Reappears as a Box Set Can we pinpoint the time when the Beatles took their first giant step beyond creating extraordinary pop/rock love songs to chase even loftier ambitions? The answer is yes: it was April 1966, a mere three years after the UK release of their first album, Please Please Me, […]
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Music Reviews: Leonard Cohen Tribute, Roy Orbison, Joe Ely, Dean Torrence, the Claudettes, and Daphne Parker Powell Various artists, Here It Is: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen. Nobody performs Leonard Cohen’s songs as well as their creator, though artists ranging from Jeff Buckley to Judy Collins to Joe Cocker have recorded memorable covers over the […]
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Pink Floyd Remixed ‘Animals,’ Mark Knopfler’s ‘Studio Albums 2009–2018,’ and Rory Block’s ‘Ain’t Nobody Worried’ Your first question about the recently released 2018 remix of Pink Floyd’s Animals might well be, “Why did a 2018 remix take four years to come out?” The answer is that it took the group’s Roger Waters and David Gilmour […]
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In 2001, when Wilco presented Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to Warner/Reprise, the company famously deemed it insufficiently commercial. The label said it would not issue the record as is—a decision that now seems about as foolish as Columbia’s refusal to approve the U.S. release of Leonard Cohen’s Various Positions LP, which includes the classic “Hallelujah.” Wilco […]
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Black Music in Britain in the Sixties,’ plus Elliott Murphy and John Fullbright Gotta Get a Good Thing Goin’—Black Music in Britain in the Sixties is more expansive than its title might suggest. For one thing, “Black music” is a big umbrella; while R&B, soul, blues, and Motown-influenced tracks predominate, you’ll also find pop, reggae, […]
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Because of her health problems, Joni Mitchell hasn’t issued any newly recorded material since 2007’s Shine, but that doesn’t mean nothing has been released since then. On the contrary, in just the last couple of years, we’ve witnessed the appearance of a flood of CDs. Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years delivered five discs’ worth […]
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Freedy Johnston, Back on the Road to You. Given her love of late 1960s and 1970s pop and rock, it’s easy to see why the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs agreed to back up Freedy Johnston on his wonderful ninth album, which also features guest spots by Aimee Mann and Susan Cowsill and a top-notch four-piece backup […]
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