Blog: A Deeper Shade Of Soul

**This piece was written on Thursday. Fortuitous timing - check out Paul Krugman's column in today's NY Times . I'm attending the Advertising Age 2.0 conference this week, as part of a new music and advertising venture I'm involved in. It's my first time attending a non-music conference and it's interesting to hear new terms, new languages and hear the different discussions going on. And yet…it's all the same. The first panel I attended was about how the Internet is transforming the advertising world and how advertising, which used [...]

I was going to write something about Bo Diddley, but this piece on him by Dave Alvin of the Blasters says everything necessary. Wonderful stuff.

I've ceased to be a true believer in rock n' roll. It's happened mainly because of a couple of factors. Of course, there's my ever deepening love of soul, r&b and more recently, jazz, which has taken my ears in new and different directions. The other thing is that I've found very little rock in the past 10-15 years that's I've connected to. Alt-rock, in the abstract, has bored me to tears for years. (To listen to modern rock radio is an exercise in self-flagellation) Emo and post-hardcore strikes me less as coherent genres then apersistent and long [...]

From the Paris Review (as emailed to me this morning by Rock and Rap Confidential ). Great to see how genius translates in other forms.

Let's get this out of the way: Al Green's new album, Lay It Down , is not a return to the form of his 1973 masterwork Call Me or the flawed genius of 1977's The Belle Album . It doesn't have a song on the level of "Let's Stay Together," "Love and Happiness" or "Tired of Being Alone." It simmers rather than burns. And with that said… Lay It Down is a lovely album that is probably his best since [...]

Chris Rizik, the publisher of Soul Tracks , has a fantastic piece about Thriller's 25th Anniversary and what it means in our era of niche marketing and audience fragmentation. A sample: Today, a new CD struggles to attract a focused target group of urban college aged men or 30 year old suburban housewives, but nothing approaches the mass audience of Thriller and its progeny a [...]

Oh dear readers. Did you think that I had abandoned you? Never. I just, well…never mind the explanation. Here are some random recaps from the last three weeks: One Tuesday morning a couple of weeks back, I'm standing on the platform waiting for the 6 train. A few feet away from me is a doo wop group comprised of four black men in their 50's. At first, I pay them no mind, but then they start singing the Persuaders classic, "Thin Line Between Love And Hate," and everything shifts. [...]

Danny Federici , the wonderful E Street Band organist, accordionist and keyboard player who played with Bruce Springsteen for almost 40 years, died yesterday after a battle with melanoma. It had been known for several months that he was sick. His last full show with the band was in November but there had been word that he was making a recovery (he made a surprise appearance with Bruce last month in Indianapolis), so this very sad news is also somewhat stunning. Federici began playing with Springsteen in 1969, when Bruce was still a [...]

As I alluded to in another post a couple of weeks back, I've been drowning in music lately. Whether listening to new releases, demos or or older stuff (like the 15 disc Chess Records box set that I got over the weekend), it's been "too much music, too little time." I've been listening to the new Breeders album (disappointing), the new R.E.M. (pretty good), Erykah Badu (occasionally excellent and often pretentious), the Kills (completely shallow and I like it more than I thought I would), Portishead [...]

WNEW-FM was the New York rock radio station when I was growing up. I missed its glory years in the 70's, but it was a big part of my adolescence in the mid-80's. The station at its best was a mix of new and classic, but as the classic rock audience ossified in the late 80's and early 90's, the station became torn trying to please two very different masters. When Nirvana broke in '92, it was clear that the station could no longer be the vanguard of anything - its classic rock fans weren't that interested [...]

Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello joined Bruce & the E Streeters for an incendiary rock version of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" last night in Anaheim. Morello's playing especially at the end is incredible, and it's obvious that Bruce is feelin' it.

In 2008, it's easy to be snide about the Rolling Stones . "They're no longer relevant; they're only in it for the money; they're ancient; they're a joke." I read these criticisms often – usually immediately upon the Stones announcing a new album and/or tour. And after a few too many mediocre albums, sometimes I even utter similar criticisms myself. The last time I saw them, at Madison Square Garden in 2006 , was very disappointing, a lackluster, sloppy affair that made me utterly disinterested in seeing the band again. (Especially at those prices.) [...]

I guess all that Dean Wareham talk from yesterday got me in the mood for the Velvet Underground.

Liz Phair writes an excellent review of Dean Wareham's ( Luna & Galaxie 500 ) new memoir of his life in music, "Black Postcards: A Rock & Roll Romance" in tomorrow's New York Times Book Review . I haven't read the book yet, but after reading this review, I will be sure to. Luna were on Elektra when I worked there in the early to mid 90's, and they were one of my favorite bands on the roster. Their second album, Bewitched , [...]

A friend just sent me this photo from the Minneapolis airport. iPods, digital cameras, Bose headphones; it's all there in a vending machine. The perfect impulse buy. Labels would be smart to sell download cards pre-loaded with artists.

Springsteen and Nelly? I would bet on this NOT happening. I can just imagine the scene at the Springsteen's home: Bruce: "Hey Ev! (Evan is Springsteen's oldest son) What do you think about me doing something with Nelly? Evan: "Who? Oh, Nelly. Uh, I don't know Dad...he's kind of over." Bruce: "Yeah, I've never really considered it seriously. But I couldn't say no outright. I met him at an awards show. He said he wanted to do something and I didn't know what to say. [...]

Billie Holiday. Coleman Hawkins. Lester Young. Ben Webster. Sublime.

Once upon a time I loved U2. I discovered them when War was released early in 1983 and I was immediately taken by their passion and intensity. Not being familiar with punk and post-punk at that point in my life, their sound simply sounded more modern than what I accustomed to listening to, but they still obviously had spiritual ties to artists who I loved, like The Who and Springsteen. Even more importantly to me, U2 felt like they they were mine. I loved the Beatles, the Stones and the Who (I hadn't [...]

Dear Musicians, I am a big fan of music, as you know. However, I am currently backlogged with albums and songs to listen to. I have about 35 albums currently that not only do I want to hear, but I really want to delve into and listen to more than once. However, I don't have time to do that. So, could you all please refrain from releasing any more music until about mid-June? I should be caught up by then. Thanks in advance.

I'm officially embarrassed. I'm someone who prides himself on being in the know about soul – so how did I miss Joy Denalane ? The German soul singer, the product of a black South African father and a German mother released a great album in 2006, Born & Raised and I just discovered it this weekend from eMusic . Her voice, while powerful, has a wonderfully refreshing degree of subtlety, a trait that has been lost on most soul singers in the post-Mariah and Whitney era. While vaguely reminiscent of Mary [...]