Since Bob Dylan is arguably the best and most important songwriter of the entire rock era, it’s not surprising that his tunes show up on countless albums by other artists, including many that consist entirely of his compositions. This writer’s collection includes more than 800 Dylan covers, and while not all of them hit their […]
At least in the States, hardly anyone knows the albums of the British rock band Shack and the subsequently issued CDs from its leader, Michael Head, at least some of which rank among the most underappreciated popular music releases of the last thousand years. Though not quite that good, but well worth attention and even […]
Continue Reading
Reviewers, including this one, have often yielded to the temptation to compare some of today’s artists to folk singer and songwriter Nick Drake, because you can hear his influence in their work. But the truth is, there’s no one quite like him. Drake’s music does hint at his own influences, such as Bert Jansch, the […]
Continue Reading
Music Reviews: Counting Crows’ Butter Miracle, The Complete Sweets! plus Freedy Johnston and Mike Henderson Counting Crows released nearly a dozen studio and live albums between 1993 and 2014, including six that reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s chart and four that sold at least a million copies each. Things quieted down considerably after that, […]
Continue Reading
An Expanded Edition of Talking Heads’ More Songs About Buildings and Food Late last year, Talking Heads’ label released an expanded edition of the new-wave quartet’s groundbreaking debut album, Talking Heads:77. Now, only a little more than half a year later, we have a similarly enlarged version of their 1978 sophomore release, the flippantly titled […]
Continue Reading
Singer/songwriter Buck Owens, who died in 2006, was the quintessential exponent of country music’s Bakersfield Sound, a rock-infused, back-to-basics style that burgeoned in the 1950s around Bakersfield, California. His music influenced countless artists, ranging from Dwight Yoakam, whose albums include Dwight Sings Buck, to the Beatles, who recorded a version of “Act Naturally,” Owens’s first […]
Continue Reading
Book & Music Reviews: A Biography of Joe Meek, England’s Counterpart to Phil Spector, plus Bobby Lee Trammell, the Rain Parade, and Brian Wilson In the intro to a new biography of Joe Meek, author Darryl W. Bullock notes that recent years have witnessed heightened interest in the career of the music producer and songwriter. […]
Continue Reading
When it comes to mining the vaults, the Boss still has a way to go to catch up to the Bard. Bob Dylan has offered a ton of archival releases, including the Bootleg Series, which now encompasses nearly 60 CDs. Bruce Springsteen is headed in the same direction as Dylan, though, having issued lots of […]
Continue Reading
Music Reviews: The Wandering Hearts, Willie Nile, Christopher Cross, Iron Horse, and the Black Watch The Wandering Hearts, Déjà vu (We Have All Been Here Before). Original material dominates Wild Silence, The Wandering Hearts, and Mother, the three previous albums from this British folk-rock trio. For its latest outing, however, the group eschews self-penned tracks, […]
Continue Reading
Music Reviews: Gene and Eunice, J.M. Kearns, Tim O’Brien & Jan Fabricius, Michael Arbenz & Andy Sheppard, and Comet Gain Gene and Eunice, From Ko Ko Mo to Poco Loco: The Singles Collection 1954–62. If Gene and Eunice and the songs referenced in this anthology’s title ring no bells for you, you’re not alone. Gene […]
Continue Reading