Posted by Vinyl Fever on Jun. 30, 2009, at 3:55 pm
Vinyl:
Fugazi – 3 Songs (7″)
Originally recorded in 1989.
Levon Helm – Electric Dirt Electric Dirt again finds Levon steeped in tradition in his connection to the land and those who live by it, but this record goes deeper and wider, incorporating gospel, blues and soul elements in a bracing collection of originals and carefully chosen outside songs.
Wilco – Wilco (The Album) LP+CD
Wilco’s seventh combines the intimacy of its previous studio disc, Sky Blue Sky, with the experimentation of A Ghost Is Born in a set that boasts strong melodies and often unabashedly pop arrangements. LP includes the album on a CD.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jun. 30, 2009, at 1:26 pm
It used to be that MTV would overplay videos to such a degree that it was impossible not to know the latest singles by Madonna, or Prince, or Michael Jackson (may he RIP). Those artists blew wads of cash to make miniature movies for their songs. (Michael and sister Janet’s 1995 acclaimed video duet, “Scream,” cost $7 million alone to produce.)
Nowadays, MTV doesn’t play videos so much as it airs clips of them during the closing credits of its neverending reality TV programming, so many artists have turned to YouTube to get the vids out and are likely alot more budget conscious when making them. The results vary from fun and inspired to downright garbage. Here’s a look at two Moby videos created in support of his ninth album (out today on Little Idiot). I’ve also included a preview clip of Bjork’s live Voltaic CD/DVD release. (Complete clips from the DVD would be nice but sadly, there are leaked or uploaded as yet.)
Artist:Moby Album:Wait for Me Songs: “Shot in the Back of the Head,” “Pale Horses.”
Both of Moby’s new singles have intrigued me with their raw electro-meets-organic feel. The video for “Shot in the Back of the Head” is David Lynch’s dark and abstract translation of the song, which is rather gloomy all on its own; and “Pale Horses,” the second single with haunting female vocals by Amelia and melancholy overtones, is directed by Elanna Allen and follows a lonely alien who takes a train to the moon to find some companions. Both are animated, but in very different styles. Grade: A for both; the music was good and the videos compelling enough to make me want to check out Moby’s new album. (CHECK OUT THE VIDEOS AFTER THE JUMP). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 30, 2009, at 12:35 pm
Uh oh, the 40th anniversary of Woodstock is about a month and a half away. Did you remember? If not, it’s probably due to the distinct lack of buzz, seeing as there is no official concert scheduled, although boosters keep adding “as yet” in hopes that original co-producer Michael Lang will manage to put together a show in New York’s Prospect Park.
A handful of mostly lame events are planned for different parts of the country, and a tour called Heroes of Woodstock — featuring Mountain, Jefferson Starship, Tom Constanten (repping Grateful Dead) and others — has 16 dates on the books (none in the Southeast). In all, though, it would seem as if folks have other things on their mind than memorializing the watershed cultural event.
That doesn’t mean it’s a complete wasteland. Sony Music has released a well-thought-out group of reissues called The Woodstock Experience, five two-CD packages pairing a classic 1969 album and a complete Woodstock performance. Sony catalog artists Santana, Janis Joplin, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Airplane and Sly and the Family Stone got the treatment.
Thirty-three acts performed at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair from Aug. 15-18, 1969, including such long-forgotten names as Quill, Sweetwater, Keef Hartley Band and Bert Sommer. (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, The Byrds and a handful of lesser-knowns declined invitations. Jeff Beck, Iron Butterfly and Joni Mitchell canceled.)
Only a handful of the performances have been immortalized, mostly via the 1970 film Woodstock and its soundtrack. And Sony can legitimately boast three of them in this collection: Sly, Santana and Joplin. Winter did not make it into the movie and while Jefferson Airplane were represented with two songs in celluloid, their set has not earned the same historical cachet as the top three.
Let’s have us a closer look at these twofers. I’ve ranked them on their merit as live performances. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 30, 2009, at 8:28 am
According to industry insiders, three Michael Jackson albums — Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller — each sold 100,000 copies last week. The sales tracking week ended at the close of business on Sunday (June 28) night and will be reported today. That means the bulk of the sales took place in the three days after Jackson’s death.
Those six-figure tallies would’ve put the three discs at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the Billboard 200 —slightly ahead of the Black Eyed Peas’ The E.N.D. — but catalog albums are not eligible for the album sales chart, so Jackson will instead dominate the Pop Catalog survey.
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 29, 2009, at 12:31 pm
First Levon Helm survived throat cancer, then, improbably, he started singing again. And then, astonishingly, he returned to form. While his voice is thinner than during his days with The Band — he is 69, after all — Helm still brings the grit, that marvelous blend of Ozark country, blues and gospel.
His first album after recovering, 2007’s Dirt Farmer(Vanguard), was a treasure, an absolutely genuine slice of Americana that won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.
Its followup, Electric Dirt, is another triumph, extending the reach of Farmer while retaining its rustic character. The new disc, released Tuesday, June 30, is not simply a plugged-in extension of its predecessor. Although electric guitars pop up now and again, it’s still largely an acoustic album. The addition of horns on four tracks — two arranged by Allen Toussaint and two by Stephen Bernstein — gives the new one an added dimension, some extra oomph.
The horns get into the act right way with a springy version of the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed,” which has a decidedly Band-ish feel and kicks off the disc with a great deal of exuberance. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Web Editor on Jun. 29, 2009, at 11:00 am
by Denis Baldwin
This year’s Homemade Music Symposium played out over the weekend at the Ybor HCC campus, bringing together musicians, singer-songwriters, music industry professionals, entertainers, writers, photographers and most every other aspect of the music industry to discuss the state of music, the nature of creating and marketing musicians and give a taste of things to come.
Overall, the symposium was a great success. Saturday opened with “Poets of Popular Song, The Lyrics and Lyric Writers of the Great American Songbook,” featuring the piano work of Paul Wilborn and the 107-year-old Rosa Rio. After their performance, many of the attendees broke for the lunch while the rest of us sat at our tables and handed out free swag and met with people.
With three new songs and a Tom Petty cover, Have Gun, Will Travel (HGWT) continues to innovate at each show. Accordingly, HGWT’s set had New World Brewery dancing up a storm and singing their hearts out to old favorites like “When We Were Kings” and “Blessing and a Curse” (affectionately know by fans as “Bop Ba Da” after the chorus that stays in your head all the way home). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jun. 29, 2009, at 12:00 am
A weekly bulletin on musical guests playing late night TV; set your TIVOs or DVRs if you’ve got an early bedtime and you haven’t already caught these appearances (or want to see them again).
A delightful and talented band of troubadours, Cory Branan, Jon Snodgrass (of Drag the River/Armchair Martian) and Joey Cape (of Lagwagon), stopped in at New World Brewery on a balmy Thursday evening last June 25. The concept behind this tour was to get these three alt-country musicians together on a stage and see what happens in a casual format, kinda like the Revival Tour.
Jon Snodgrass and Cory Branan (pictured above) kicked off the festivities by alternating songs and occasionally performing duets – check out “Born Apart.” The audience enthusiastically joined in on their performance, singing along to their favorite tunes like Sondgrass’ “Song for Gibson” and Branan’s “Prettiest Waitress In Memphis.” (MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 28, 2009, at 7:48 pm
Billboard reports:
On the table for consideration is a Janet Jackson/Jackson Brothers tribute tour to celebrate the life of Michael Jackson, according to sources.
The proposal is either that the Jacksons fulfill some of Michael’s London shows, or do a U.S. tour where they would perform his hits and theirs with him. Janet would be the star of such a show, substituting for Michael since none of the brothers would be remotely capable of being
the lead performer.
Mohawk Bomb Records announced today the release of the debut EP from Ascending to Avalon, whose Soundgarden-meets-Minus-the-Bear throwback riff rock and psychedelic sensibility make them a prime choice to fans of Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes, Foo Fighters and Open Hand.
“Wake the Sleeping Sun” is a 7-song eclectic blend of styles that shows the band’s talent and diversity. Ascending to Avalon was started in March 2008, when Ryen Gerson (vocals, guitar) started jamming with Lance Miller (drums) and Eric Bourne (guitar) on some material that sat around in the depths of his mind. The trio quickly formed a bond which led them to record over 20 original songs and put forth a rough demo recorded in Ryen’s basement. In October 2008, producer Ivan Pena started working with the band and the result was “Wake the Sleeping Sun”, an eclectic display of the band’s range of influences, full of radio rock appeal.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jun. 26, 2009, at 2:02 pm
Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Dark Night of the Soul
From the first reports of a new project by artist/producer Danger Mouse and singer/multi-instrumentalist Sparklehorse (Mark Linkous), to the freaky 16-second video revealing filmmaker David Lynch’s hand in its artistic direction, to its Internet leak after the dispute with EMI turned into a permanently unresolved issue, Dark Night of the Soul has been generating a shadow-shrouded hype that reflects the album’s own bewitching eeriness.
The 13 songs were written by DM and SH in collaboration with a noteworthy cast of nearly a dozen guests, who not only provided vocals but helped compose and produce their respective tracks. Each one retains its own individual feel, but all remain within Dark Night’s moody boundaries and feature DM’s skilled multi-layering production techniques. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 26, 2009, at 12:55 pm
Two years ago, Jonathan Berlin was in a bad place. He was the lead singer and songwriter for a band called Bernard that had a distribution deal through East/West, a division of Warner Bros. The trio, whose drummer was his longtime collaborator and best friend Jared Bowser, had played 300 shows on tour.
Photo: Ian Witlen
So what exactly was the problem, you might wonder?
“With Bernard, we worked our asses off to make it happen,” Berlin, 25 (at right in photo), says in a phone interview. “As it turned out, it just wasn’t fun. I always loved writing songs, but after we got hooked up with Warner Bros, I started writing and I couldn’t do it. It was like, ‘I’m writing a record for Warner Bros. This has to be good.’ The whole thing wasn’t really awesome.”
Given those circumstances, a lot of artists would’ve continued to flog it, but Berlin decided to walk away. The Bernard split led in part to a four-month rift between him and Bowser, 23.
Berlin decided to rethink this whole music career thing. And he came up with something of a novel solution: He had to basically stop trying. So Berlin retreated to his loft in downtown Jacksonville and started making music for himself.
Posted by Kate Cillian on Jun. 26, 2009, at 12:10 pm
It’s about time Incubus graced us with their musical presence again. For the past three years we’ve had to make do with listening to their 2006 album Light Grenades. Don’t get me wrong — my ears thoroughly enjoyed it (It was, after all, No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200), but after a good week of replaying the CD in my car, I carelessly tossed it in the back seat and retrograded back to my faithful Led Zeppelin collection.
I almost forgot all about my long-time love of Incubus. But I have good news friends; They’re back! Monuments and Melodies hit stores June 15th and it has been playing in my car and on my laptop ever since. The two-disc album showcases their greatest hits and new favorites to add to your list. For fans, this disc a must-have.
Ed. Note: What follows is a repost of an item by CL Marketing Director Joran Oppelt from his recent trip to SXSW. At the time, I thought it was just a really cool video. Today I think it’s become something more. You can see Joran’s original post here.
Quincy recalls his first encounters with Michael Jackson and their work on the best-selling records Off the Wall and Thriller, as well as the birth of MTV and how they broke through the “no black artists” mandate.
This exclusive CL TV video was shot in March at Jones’ 2009 South by Southwest keynote address. Video after the jump …
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 25, 2009, at 9:56 pm
Never has so much triumph dissolved into so much tragedy.
From kid star to King of Pop to punchline. And now dead. Michael Jackson was 50 when he died earlier today of a heart attack. A shock — but, then again, when it came to Michael Jackson, nothing was.
Some people will dismiss Jackson’s death as a fitting end to a twisted caricature of a life. They might even get a chuckle out of it. I won’t. I’m hit. This is one of those celebrity deaths that I’ll remember where I was when I heard about it. (As it turned it, it was at Cirque de Soleil; I left soon after.)
I’m upset, more than I guess I thought I’d be. But I’m focusing on memories. I was there, watching, when he wowed the country with his pre-adolescent charm on Ed Sullivan, his skin the color of milk chocolate. I was there, watching, as he turned into a man, still with childlike charisma.
I was there in 1979, in an arena in Honolulu, when he performed with The Jacksons, but the most riveting material was from his new album, Off The Wall. I was there, in front of the TV, when he first did the moonwalk on Motown 25 and folks talked about it for days, months. I was there, a newly minted music critic, giving Thriller all of three stars.
And yes, I was there when he gradually sanded his skin to the color of chalk and remade his nose into a button. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jun. 25, 2009, at 6:02 pm
He might not actually be dead yet, but TMZ is reporting that pop master Michael Jackson, who suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home, has passed away at age 50. According to them, the paramedics said that they were unable to revive him. (Other publications, like ABC News, MTV.com, NPR and the New York Times are not so quick to jump to the RIP conclusion.)
So is Jackson alive or dead? Is this the Shrodinger’s Cat paradox being played out right in front of our very eyes? Keep watching the headlines…
After repeatedly hearing this new disc hyped by The Mars Volta leader Omar Rodriguez-Lopez in recent interviews as their “acoustic record,” TMV fans might be a bit surprised when they finally get to hear Octahedron.
Acoustic guitars highlight only a couple of the tracks on the new album, primarily the single “Since We’ve Been Wrong,” the over-7-minute “With Twilight as My Guide,” and “Copernicus.” The rest of the songs feature as much of the bombastic guitar and keyboard-driven rock as their fans are used to.
A special five-on-the-floor shout-out goes to track 2, “Teflon,” where vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala wails, “Let the wheels burn/ Let the wheels burn/ Stack the tires to the neck/ With the body inside.”
What strikes me as particularly “acoustic” about Octahedron is the lack of dense, arpeggiated guitar overdubs that typically define the Volta’s sound. In fact, the only guitar “solo” is placed at the end of “Luciforms,” the last song on the record.
All photos by Tracy May; to check out the complete gallery, click here.
The last time I was at The Ritz was for the fateful Corrosion of Conformity show where (4) people were stabbed with (1) ultimately dying. I’d heard a lot about the near million dollar renovation the venue had gone through prior to reopening a year (really? it’s been a whole year?) ago but I had not seen it yet. What better chance than for their free, one year anniversary show featuring one of my favorite songwriters, Grayson Capps (pictured with hair swinging at right)?
The venue itself is beautiful and the acoustics are dramatically improved. Granted, I am judging the latter on one show but Grayson and the Stumpknockers were loud and they sounded great and the re-configured ballroom is infinitely more conducive to live music than it used to be. While this isn’t supposed to be a review of the venue I wanted to mention it ’cause they did a fantastic job and I look forward to seeing more shows there. Read the rest of this entry »
Gainesville, FL – Vinnie Fiorello, drummer of ska/punk legends Less Than Jake and owner of Gainesville-based independent label Paper + Plastick Records, is celebrating his birthday in style this year. To commemorate, the music industry vet is giving away P+P digital catalog (except the latest release, Shook Ones’ The Unquotable A.M.H.) to the first 200 loyal fans that visit www.audiblediversiongroup.com/paperandplastick/browse/DigitalReleases at 3PM EST. “My birthday seemed like a logical day to do this” admits Fiorello. “While I’m celebrating with tacos and beer, people can celebrate with some of my best friends and favorite bands on P +P.” “I’m doing this because I want to share the music I love. Maybe you heard the band name or maybe you heard a song or two… so now is the time to dive into the P+P catalog for free at 3,” he says. A lucky 200 fans will receive over 80 free tracks, from artists such as Foundation, Farewell Continental, Gatorface, We Are The Union, Assassinate The Scientist, Protagonist, Blacklist Royals, Landmines, Coffee Project and Andrew Dost. Read the rest of this entry »
You know what they say, “when it rains, it pours,” and such is the case this week with three shows in four days. While I don’t expect anyone else to adhere to such a rigorous schedule, I do think you can find something you like in one (or more) of these shows. If you do make it out to any, find me and we’ll tell fish tales over a beer.
I am so excited about this show. Honestly, I just assumed Grayson Capps would never come to Florida. BUT! Here he is and he’s bringing his full band, The Stumppknockers, with him. If the sound of Southern soul mixed with back-country stomp with a little road-house blues sounds like something that might tickle your fancy, you need to get to The Ritz on Thursday night for this show.
When I last wrote about Grayson I said, “I find myself drawn to the drunks, whores and vagabonds that haunt Grayson’s songs. They’re like old friends you keep up with via letters in the mail, and with a new album comes new updates.” It’ll be nice to finally meet this motley crew of characters in person.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jun. 24, 2009, at 4:20 am
Musicians tend to disparage their local music scenes, but when it comes to Florida, neo-folk troubadour Lauris Vidal (pictured, photo by Charles Brewer III) says they likely don’t know how good they’ve got it. He didn’t. The 31-year-old Daytona-based musician (who plays guitar, tenor banjo, lap steel and a ukulele he crafted from a banjo neck and cigar box) grew up here, but spent five years performing for DC’s thankless audiences. “It was so cold and closed in DC, and you had to work so hard for no appreciation at all,” he told me during a recent phone coversation.
While the Sunshine State may seem like a cultural dead end, Vidal says Floridians are generally open to original music, including his own brand of shambling, Southern gothic-tinged roots. “Coming back here and playing and having people of all ages really appreciate it, and show it, felt amazing. It’s one of the reasons why I want to work so hard in Florida and help Florida’s national reputation.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Vinyl Fever on Jun. 24, 2009, at 3:20 am
VINYL:
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO – Dark Side Of The Black Moon: What Planet Are We On? More proggy psych from Acid Mothers Temple — mixes Pink Floyd with fuzzy wah guitars and cosmic sounds. Double LP includes an exclusive bonus D-side track.
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm Double LP comes in beautiful litho-wrapped gatefold jackets and includes MP3 download.
Earth - Radio Live Vinyl only release. Radio Live is comprised of two tracks from a live radio broadcast on KFJC (12/31/07) and two tracks from a live performance in Vienna on their 2008 European tour.
God Help The Girl - God Help The Girl After the success of Belle And Sebastian’s most recent album, The Life Pursuit, band leader/singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch decided to pursue the writing of a rock musical scored for female singers. After auditioning vocalists via Internet contests, he made his choices and, with all members of Belle And Sebastian backing him up, recorded this record. It combines the strengths of early Belle And Sebastian records in a broader musical palette, drawing equally on musicals, ‘60s girl groups, ‘80s indie, and classic pop. LP includes MP3 download.
Green Day - Know Your Enemy7” Ultra-limited edition 7” single features the non-album B-side “Hearts Collide”. We have a limited few remaining after Vinyl Saturday!Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 23, 2009, at 3:44 pm
Six months after she triumphantly joined forces with Jon Bon Jovi on Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” at the Obama inaugural, Bettye LaVette drops this 23-minute digital-only EP, which includes a studio version of the Sam Cooke milestone and five other classics that she’s performed over the years.
The 63-year-old vocalist, whose career was rescued from obscurity by 2005’s I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti-), breaks songs down to their narrative essence. Her voice is weathered, full of cracks and breaks, kind of like Tina Turner in bad need of a lozenge. It’s a lived-hard voice that, while not adept at soaring melody, is capable of communicating a song’s deeper meaning.
LaVette has the uncanny knack of making you consider anew lyrics that you’ve heard hundreds of times (and perhaps forgotten) . When she sings, on the title track, “I used to go the movies/ And I’d try to go downtown/ Somebody was always there tellin’ me/ ‘Little girl, you cain’t come around,’” stretching the words as a pleading lament, it personalizes the song in a way that I’d not heard before.”
Backed by a piano/bass/drums rhythm section and subtle strings, LaVette rounds out the program with some challenging material, mostly because the songs have been so often rendered and their definitive versions established. She interprets “’Round Midnight,” “God Bless the Child” and “Lush Life” as blues-drenched jazz ballads, her voice pulling ears closer with pregnant pauses and conversational asides.
Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” backed only by percussion, sounds like she’s walking down a city street telling a girlfriend about her romantic woes. The set closes a lighter note, with a strutting version of Jimmy Reed’s “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 23, 2009, at 12:53 pm
The crowd cheers as a tattooed man with shaggy hair and a British accent belts out Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath tunes. An hour later, a blonde singer tears through a set of Motley Crue classics while his bandmates pound their instruments into submission. An hour after that, a grown man in a schoolboy outfit duck-walks across the stage and his cohort growls from under his cap while AC/DC riffs blast through the speakers.
Is this a dream team concert lineup of rock ‘n’ roll legends? Not quite, but the crowd is enthusiastic and it sounds pretty close to the real thing. In fact, the only part that’s completely unrealistic is the price, since admission to see all the bands ($10) cost less than parking at major rock concerts.
On June 30, three tribute acts performed at Jannus Landing at the Monsters of Mock show while fans sang along to the familiar sights and sounds. It’s not the real thing, but according to Martyn Jenkins, frontman for AC/DC tribute act Highway to Hell (and the evening’s headliners), the next best thing is pretty satisfying in its own right.
For what we assume will be a very limited time, Pitchfork is streaming the entire epic Guided By Voices documentary Watch Me Jumpstart on its site, for free.
The 1998 film tells the story of the unlikeliest of rock stars (featuring Dayton, Ohio born Robert Polllard, an ex-4th-grade teacher) who never actually became rockstars to the general public but still managed to spawn a new sub-genre of DIY music-making, from recording albums on cassettes to printing T-shirts and album covers in their garage.
You can watch the whole thing by following the link below the jump:
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 22, 2009, at 4:13 pm
The Killers will play UCF Arena in Orlando on Thursday, October 1.
Tickets are $52.00 for the General Admission Dance Floor, $38.00 for Reserved Lower Bowl Seating and $35.00 for Reserved Upper Bowl seating. They go on sale Saturday, June 27at 10 am at LiveNation.com, charge by phone 877-598-8698 and all TicketMaster outlets.Day of show the price increases to $55.00 for GA Dance Floor, $41.00 for Lower Bowl and $38.00 for Upper Bowl.
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 22, 2009, at 1:35 pm
This album looks great on paper:
Legendary organist and Stax Records session mainstay Booker T. joins forces with the Drive-By Truckers, whose Patterson Hood is the son of Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood. Add Neil Young’s lead guitar into the mix, and the result? Gritty instrumental R&B gold, right?
Not really. Potato Hole sounds like a set of 10 rhythm tracks in search of songs — melodies, vocals, that sort of stuff. As a result, while some of the music has a certain scrappy energy, the whole affair ends up being tedious.
Versions of “Hey Ya” and Tom Waits’ “Get Behind the Mule” fare best, mostly because the aggregation has a melody to dig into.
Booker T. is not an improviser, a soloist of any particular skill. (Just listen to the Booker T & the MG’s 1962 hit “Green Onions” — it’s a quick, grabby riff with a good groove, and little else.) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 22, 2009, at 11:45 am
Boz Scaggs performs at Ruth Eckerd Hall Thurs., July 2
To casual music fans, Boz Scaggs is that smooth dude from the ’70s with those disco-ey hits “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle.” They might even know about his 1976 smash album Silk Degrees, which included those tunes as well as “Georgia,” “What Can I Say” and “Harbor Lights.”
Although Scaggs’ days as a major hitmaker ended in the early 1980s — in large part because he took a self-imposed hiatus for most of the decade — he has made estimable music in the 1990s and, especially, this decade. And he’s done so by turning to a familiar riff for recovering rock stars: singing old standards.
That news might cause eyes to roll — especially if you think Rod Stewart — but it would absolutely not apply in the case of Boz Scaggs. His But Beautiful (2003) and last year’s Speak Low are among the best examples of a veteran pop star delving into such old chestnuts as “What’s New?” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Easy Living,” “I’ll Remember April” and “Speak Low.”
He sings the material in a supple, torchy style, burrowing into the lyrics, caressing phrases with his round, throaty tenor. Scaggs has a natural knack for seducing you into these literate, urbane numbers culled from the legendary writers of the American Songbook. Read the rest of this entry »
Entertainment industry trade publication Venues Today announced that Ruth Eckerd Hall ranked #10 in the world in venues having 5,000 seats or less.With that same ranking, Ruth Eckerd Hall is #2 in venues having 2,500 seats or less.
This ranking is based on concert and event gross from April 16 to May 15 2009, with 11 performances during that period.Ruth Eckerd Hall ranked higher than such prestigious venues as the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago, the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando and The Balboa Theatre in San Diego, California.Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Jun. 22, 2009, at 8:44 am
In the late 1980s, Living Colour broke down the color barrier in rock radio with their hit album Vivid. The all-African-American band’s style of razory metal with tinges of funk and the an avant-garde proved that pigmentation didn’t matter when it came to power chords and thunder beats.
Living Colour broke up circa 91, then reunited in 2000. They have a new studio album, The Chair in the Doorway, set for release on Megaforce Recordson Sept. 15. For those of you who lived through the days when hair metal ruled the rock airwaves, it wasn’t only Nirvana et al that brought down that wretched reign. Living Colour and other bands played a part as well. Here’s the full text of a press release sent out about the new record: Read the rest of this entry »
I — probably like most interested parties — didn’t have high expectations for Dinosaur Jr.’s 2007 disc, Beyond, the first since the late ’80s to feature the original Dino trio of vocalist/guitarist J Mascis, bassist/vocalist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph.
Sure, I was excited about the band getting back together, and seeing them at Lollapalooza was fun, but few of these indie- and punk-rock reunions ever produce much in the way of exciting new music. Toss in the legendary bad blood between Mascis and Barlow and you had to figure Beyond was a one-and-done cash-in between the musicians’ other projects.
I’m glad I was wrong. Beyond turned out to be that rarity: a late-career album that fully captures why people loved a band in the first place, but that also displays a natural growth and maturity. The Weirdness it wasn’t.
But finding that spark again doesn’t necessarily guarantee a durable second act.
Mission of Burma’s second post-reunion disc, The Obliterati, despite my early high assessment, didn’t quite end up with the legs of the band’s first get-back-together album, OnOffOn. And I wonder if the same fate might befall Farm, Dinosaur Jr.’s good-not-great Beyond follow-up. Read the rest of this entry »
Vinyl:
