A couple of months after Alex Chilton's passing in May, 2010, the latter-day lineup of Big Star (Jody Stephens, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow), along with a number of special guests, played a tribute concert at Memphis' Levitt Shell . Though the entire concert was recorded, clearing the performance and song rights for release has proven too difficult to undertake all at once. Instead, Stephens, along with mastering engineer Larry Nix and Big Star's engineer, John Fry, have released an initial EP of John Davis' three performances: "In The Street," "Don't Lie To Me" and "When My Baby's Beside [...]
Folk-country song cycle relates 19th century issues to today David Serby 2009 release, Honkytonk and Vine , was a welcome blast from Los Angeles' honky-tonk past. The pointy-toed cowboy boots he wore on the album cover were matched by twangy country two-steppers that recalled the mid-80s Southern California roots renaissance of the Blasters, Dwight Yoakam and others. His follow-up retains the country melodies, but drops the rhythm-driven honky-tonk in favor of acoustic guitars, accordion, mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle and harmonium. The ten songs essay the economic and [...]
The missing chapter of Mel Tillis' singing career A decade before Mel Tillis found 1970s fame as a singer on Kapp and MGM, he recorded a number of terrific, often adventurous sides for Columbia. Tillis had been writing hits for years charting sides with Webb Pierce, Bobby Bare, Stonewall Jackson and others, but his own singles, including "The Violet and a Rose" and "Sawmill," found only limited success. Legacy's 24-track collection, a digital download reissue of Collectors' Choice' out-of-print CD , is a treasure-trove of Tillis originals, many co-written with Wayne Walker. Many [...]
Wild '60s Boogaloo and Freakbeat from France This fantastic French foursome is back with a new EP of 1960's-inspired boogaloo, freakbeat and swinging R&B. Isabelle Lindqwister (from Rodeo Massacre) provides the title track's guest vocal, but it's the hot, soulful Hammond and driving rhythm section that really heats things up with the instrumental "Emma's Theme." There's a new dance step stomp, "Do the Jungle Jane," that perfectly transplants a riff from the Munster's theme, and though the tempo slows for "Lion Club Boogaloo," the temperature doesn't drop a degree as the ride cymbal adds [...]
Moving collection of live performances drawn from 1977-2005 At first it seemed only a matter of timing that had Willy Deville and his band, Mink DeVille, part of the New York punk rock scene. Though they shared a stage with the Ramones, Patti Smith and Television (and toured with Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello), their music drew more from the Brill Building than CBGB. Signed to Capitol, the band's first four albums were produced by Phil Spector protégés Jack Nitzsche and Steve Douglas, and each brilliantly melded the Drifters' romanticism with electric [...]
Some days it feels as if Eddie and the Hot Rods was the hardest rocking band of the 1970s. Rising between the craft of pub rock and the back-to-basics energy of punk, the Hot Rods had chops, hooks and fire, especially on their second album, Life on the Line . They weren't afraid of guitar solos, stretching out on record and stage with tremendous magnetism and power, but never falling into to the hackneyed antics of arena rock.
Terrific EP from Lake Charles, LA power poppers Research Turtles are a terrific power pop band, but releasing records out of their Lake Charles, Louisiana base, and playing mostly local shows, they still haven't broken through commercially. But their lack of national renown isn't for want of great music or promotional savvy; they've effectively worked music bloggers, and last year they organized fans to vote the band's self-titled album as Radio Six International 's "Record of the Year" for 2010. The Turtles have recently knocked out the first of two EPs, [...]
Capitol sides from the Queen of Rockabilly With Wanda Jackson's profile raised by her new Jack White-produced album, The Party Ain't Over , Varese Sarabande offers up sixteen sides from her key years on Capitol. The set opens with 1956's "I Gotta Know," storms through rockabilly classics "Fujiyama Mama," "Mean Mean Man," "Rock Your Baby," and "Let's Have a Party," adds incendiary takes on The Robins' "Riot in Cell Block #9," Little Richard's "Rip it Up" and Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On," and fills out [...]
Career- and label-spanning summary of a second-generation legend For an artist of her stature, Rosanne Cash has been the subject of surprisingly thin compilation releases. Several 10- and 12-track single disc collections have been issued, but only Raven's imported 21-track Blue Moons and Broken Hearts and to a lesser extent Legacy's earlier Very Best Of really dug beyond the hits. That list is now expanded with this two-disc, thirty-six track collection, featuring a song list picked and programmed by the artist herself. [...]
Sophomore outing confidently meshes string band, bluegrass and modern sounds Though only 19 when she wrote and recorded this set, Sarah Jarosz has pushed well beyond the "prodigy" title of her early years on the bluegrass circuit. Even her 2009 debut, Song Up in Her Head , showed her to be a lot deeper than a musical wunderkind. Her string-band background is still evident on this sophomore outing, but as on the earlier single, The New 45 , she also reaches to progressive folk [...]
The young Neil Diamond graduates from songwriter to performe r Before Neil Diamond became a singing superstar he was a songwriter, but even as a songwriter he wasn't an instant success. He spent his teen years tramping from one publishing house to another, occasionally selling a song against royalties for hits that never came. It wasn't until an unsuccessful year on the staff of Leiber & Stoller's Trio Music and, ironically, a transition to recording, that Diamond found his voice as a songwriter. He first charted with Jay and the Americans' "Sunday and Me," and hit [...]
Blues- and gospel-influenced soul singer hits a peak on Stax Vocalist Johnnie Taylor wore a number of musical hats, starting with roots in gospel, striking a soulful resonance with Stax, and finding his largest chart success with 1976's "Disco Lady." Taylor brought his roots with him to Stax, and his first few releases were see-saw affairs that vacillated between blues and Southern soul. His rise as a bona fide soul and R&B star began with the arrival of new staff producer Don Davis, who helmed 1968's chart-topping "Who's Making Love." Taylor and Davis continued [...]
A hit songwriter's return to performing It's been fourteen years – entirely too long – since songwriter Matraca Berg recorded her last commercially released album, 1997's Sunday Morning to Saturday Night . Though she's never found the chart-topping success as a singer that she's scored as a writer (having penned "Wrong Side of Memphis" for Trisha Yearwood, "Wild Angels" for Martina McBride, "You Can Feel Bad" for Patty Loveless and "Strawberry Wine" for Deana Carter, among dozens of other hit singles and album tracks), critics and fans have treasured [...]
The Staple Singers make their biggest hits and best album The Staple Singers had been a together for nearly two decades when they landed at Stax in 1968. They'd recorded old-school spirituals for Vee Jay and folk-influenced sides for Riverside before finding a new direction with the Memphis soul powerhouse; not only did the Staples adapt to the soul and funk energy of Stax, but they evolved their material from the pointed social topics of the folk era to less specific, but highly empowering "message music." Their first two Stax albums, 1968's [...]
Deep soul debut LP from the Soul Queen of New Orleans Twice divorced and the mother of four by the age of twenty, Irma Thomas brought a lot of living to her career as a preeminent soul vocalist. Initially waxing singles for Ronn, Bandy and Minit, Thomas landed on the Imperial label in 1963. The following year she debuted the deeply emotional original "Wish Someone Would Care," crossing over to the pop Top 20 and gaining further attention with an irresistible performance of the Jackie DeShannon-penned B-side "Break-a-Way." The latter would earn cover versions, [...]
Two-disc overview of Davis' formative period as a leader This 2-CD set looks at the catalog of trumpeter Miles Davis during his five year stay on Prestige. Davis had recorded numerous sides behind Charlie Parker and led a few one-off sessions, but it was at Prestige where he was first afforded the time to try out new groups, develop original material and evolve his sound across a series of albums. Disc one of this set cherry picks from his early albums, featuring a variety of lineups that variously include Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver, Charlie [...]
An overview of Bill Evans' sides on Riverside and Fantasy This two-disc set bookends Evans most productive years, offering key sides from his initial stay on Riverside (1956 through 1963) and later work on Fantasy (1973-1977). The collection opens with a piece from his first album, 1956's New Jazz Conceptions , and really kicks into gear with the formation of his first stellar trio (featuring Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums) for 1959's Portrait in Jazz . With LaFaro's death in [...]
Prime Stax material from a blues legend Albert King had been bouncing around various blues scenes for over fifteen years when his 1966 signing to Stax led to both the label and artist achieving new levels of commercial success. King's earlier sides for Parrot, Bobbin, King, Chess and Coun-Tee had found mostly regional success, though 1961's "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" did manage to crack the national R&B top twenty. But it was the sides he cut for Stax, many with Booker T & the MGs as his backing band, that [...]
Booker T. & The M.G.'s salute the Beatles This 1970 album pays tribute to the Beatles studio swan song, Abbey Road . The original album's tracks (save "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," "Oh! Darling" and "Octopus's Garden") are arranged as instrumentals in three medleys and a solo spotlight of George Harrison's "Something." Booker T's organ and piano, and Steve Cropper's guitar provide most of the vocal melody lines. The results are interesting, if not always particularly inventive. Many of the songs find resonance with the group's soulful style, but neither the [...]
Driving Detroit rock spiked with punk and psych Detroit may have taken a body blow from the recession, but it only seems to have intensified the city's music. This Motor City quartet has the aggressiveness of a '70s punk band weaned on the Stooges, Amboy Dukes and MC5 and the range of a band that's listened through the transitions from garage to psychedelia and punk to post-punk. Things fall apart, Velvet Underground-style, on "Ideas to Use," but snap back together for the driving bass-guitar-drums riff of "Safe Effect." Touches of organ and a [...]
Hyperbolium
The Best Whitney Houston Covers: A Tribute
Clive Davis Cancels Pre-Grammy Party After Whitney Houston’s Death
Diplo & Don Diablo “Make You Pop”
