To say the Cyrkle got off to an auspicious start would be a major understatement. This 1960s pop-rock outfit was the first American band signed by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who named the group. (John Lennon provided the spelling.) In 1966, the Cyrkle served as an opening act at 14 U.S. Beatles concerts, including the […]
You’ve heard of Donald Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill? This writer would rather talk about big, beautiful box sets. Here (listed alphabetically, by artist) are 21 of popular music’s most spectacular gargantuan anthologies, each featuring 10 or more discs. Mildred Bailey, The Complete Columbia Recordings of Mildred Bailey (2000, 10 CDs). You’re probably wondering who the […]
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Les Cousins (folk anthology), plus Steeleye Span Live and Eric Brace & Thomm Jutz Rock wasn’t the only kind of music that was exploding in the 1960s: a major folk and blues revival was underway on both sides of the Atlantic. In the States, many artists who championed these genres performed at famed clubs such […]
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Paul Simon’s Seven Psalms, his first album since 2018’s In the Blue Light, isn’t quite like anything he has done before. For starters, it’s more prayer than pop, more meditative than melodic, and it is subdued enough to make even songs like “America” and “The Only Living Boy in New York” seem sprightly by comparison. […]
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Dead of Winter “I will measure up my life, my days as they go screaming by With Xs on the calendar, till pennies on my eyes I will count my many blessings with gratefulness my mentor And I will count myself in luck as I count the dead of winter” An unfinished song by […]
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“Yummy, Yummy, Yummy I got love in my tummy And I feel like a-lovin’ you” By Arthur Resnick and Joey Levine “Yummy Yummy Yummy” (YYY) is a song by Arthur Resnick and Joey Levine, first recorded by Ohio Express in 1968. Their version reached No. 4 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart in June and […]
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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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