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 […]
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 […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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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, […]
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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 […]
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Frank Zappa’s Cheaper Than Cheep, plus Janis Ian, Christian Parker, Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed, and Big Love Car Wash Frank Zappa and his band, the Mothers of Invention, were riding high in June 1974. They’d just completed a 10th-anniversary tour and, only three months earlier, had released Apostrophe (’), their first and only Top 10 album. […]
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Music & Film Reviews:’Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII (2025 Editions), plus Julee Cruise and Emma Wilson Pink Floyd conquered the world with its eighth LP, 1973’s Dark Side of the Moon, which became one of the bestselling albums of all time. Its music is certainly adventurous, but to these ears, not quite as experimental—or exciting—as […]
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Book & Music Reviews: Decade of Dissent: How 1960s Bob Dylan Changed the World, plus the Bongos & Robert Forster If you lined up every copy of every book by and about Bob Dylan, they’d stretch all the way from Highway 61 to Desolation Row. They include volumes that discuss his songs or contain lyrics […]
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Music & Video Reviews: Badfinger’s Lost LP, plus Live Albums from Al Stewart, Translator, and Oregon Badfinger is best known for its first three albums, all from 1970 and 1971, and the Top 10 singles they spawned: “Come and Get It,” which Paul McCartney wrote and produced, “Day after Day,” which George Harrison produced, and […]
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