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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Grooves & Cuts: October 2022 – by John Apice Rest In Peace… Jerry Lee Lewis (Sept. 1935-Oct. 2022) – Photo by Rene Perez/AP 1975 Mary McCaslin (Dec. 1946-Oct. 2022) – Photo courtesy of Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel File SPILLED MERCURY: Kim Ware & The Good Graces – Ready Sometimes I don’t know if […]
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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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GROOVES & CUTS – September 2022 – by John Apice Some artists almost got away. Because of the heavy load, I postponed my blabber-mouth column & loaded up on reviews. I’ll be back. Nora O’Connor – My Heart Nora starts her 10-cut My Heart (Drops Oct. 7-Pravda Records) with some articulate catchy melodies with an […]
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“Can you imagine us years from today Sharing a park bench quietly? How terribly strange to be seventy” Old Friends by Paul Simon Old Friends was written by Paul Simon at age twenty-four. That to me is an amazing fact. How could a person of that age possibly even dare to write a song from […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: October 2022 By Bill Bentley Rory Block, Ain’t Nobody Worried. It’s become obvious that during the pandemic years a lot of musicians had a chance to slow down and figure out what it really is that makes their mojo work. For blues woman Rory Block, it’s the great songs of the ages, and […]
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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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