Showing posts with label rock music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock music. Show all posts
Jan 29, 2019
Jan 26, 2019
Nov 18, 2018
Sep 14, 2018
Jun 1, 2018
May 21, 2018
Dec 1, 2017
Sep 8, 2017
Dec 2, 2013
The Velvet Underground & Nico (CD)
When the Velvets recorded this debut, they were best known as the protégés of Andy Warhol (who designed the sleeve), and as a grating, combustive live band. Fueled by drummer Moe Tucker's no-nonsense wham and John Cale's howling viola, some of the straight-up rock & roll and arty noise extravaganzas here bear that out. But before Lou Reed was singing about sadomasochism and drug deals and writing lyrics inspired by his favorite poets, he was a pop songwriter, and this album has some of his prettiest tunes, mostly sung by Nico, the German dark angel who left the band after this disc. Even the sordid rockers are underscored by graceful pop tricks, like the two-chord flutter at the center of the classic "Heroin." --Douglas Wolk amazon.com
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Walk on the wild side: the best of Lou Reed (CD)
Singer, songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed was born on March 2, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. In 1965, he co-founded the Velvet Underground, a rock band managed by Andy Warhol. Reed went solo in the 1970s, scoring a hit with the song "Walk on the Wild Side" and releasing more than 16 albums, including Coney Island Baby and Berlin. He died on October 27, 2013, at age 71. (biography.com)
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Oct 1, 2013
AM - Arctic Monkeys
Summary: Arctic Monkeys release their fifth album, entitled AM. AM was produced by James Ford and co-produced by Ross Orton at Sage & Sound Recording, LA and Rancho De La Luna, Joshua Tree. The album was engineered by Ian Shea and mixed by Tchad Blake. Josh Homme, Pete Thomas and Bill Ryder-Jones all make guest appearances on AM as do the words of John Cooper Clarke, on the track "I Wanna Be Yours."
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Left of the dial dispatches from the 80's underground (CD) - Various Artists
Summary: In his notes for this passionately compiled box, producer Gary Stewart writes, "the diversity from the late-70s punk/new wave scene turned into a full-blown, variety-fueled, genre-busting orgy in the '80s...The music became, in the best sense of the words, more complex, more literate, a bit more serious, and as a result, made a strong impact on mainstream rock culture." From funk punk to revisionist roots rock to hard-core to smart-ass clever pop-and every musical nook and cranny in-between-Left of the Dial presents many of the '80s' most important tracks. Savor the far more influential flip side of the "Where's the Beef?" decade's musical output!
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Aug 1, 2013
Grace (CD)- Jeff Buckley
Summary: Resembling at times a soft-sung Robert Plant, Buckley was an intuitive vocalist capable of dizzying arabesques and choir-boy sweetness. He is joined here by a tight band for 10 tracks highlighting his stylistic range--Pearl Jam bluesy on "Eternal Life," impossibly serene on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," art-school noisy on "So Real," Led Zep daring on "Mojo Pin." Unorthodox, this was the debut of '94. --Jeff Bateman amazon.com
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Jul 1, 2013
Indiana (CD) - David Mead
Following a pair of terrific records filled with pop songwriting of the highest order, David Mead and RCA parted ways, leaving him without a label to release the completed Wherever You Are (produced by Stephen Hague). The layoff that ensued (three years between albums) led to a return to his childhood home of Nashville, a marriage, and the recording and release of Indiana, placing Wherever You Are on hold. Co-produced by Mead and cellist David Henry, Indiana, with its quiet, gentle tone and sense of transition, seems to be his most personal work to date. The acoustic guitars and strings that are at the center of the record's sound are the perfect backdrop for songs such as the weary and reflective "Nashville," the distant solitude of the title track, and the frayed hope of "Queensboro Bridge." And while the material here can have the feel of adult contemporary singer/songwriter fare, the depth of Mead's writing, both lyrically and melodically, steers it clear of any of the banalities that can creep into the genre. He never goes for cheap emotion or the obvious melodic turn, which is why some of the best moments here are the ones that seep in only after a few spins. Indiana may lack the immediate hookiness that made The Luxury of Time and Mine and Yours so irresistible, but it's every bit as strong and should prove to be just as enduring. (allmusic.com)
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Jun 1, 2013
Nothing's shocking - Jane's Addiction (CD)
Nothing's shocking - Jane's Addiction (CD)
Review
Though the songs aren't quite as good as those on Ritual De Lo Habitual, this album is much more consistent, with a heavy rock-funk-punk mix that's a pleasure to hear. The slower songs (especially "Summertime Rolls" and "Jane Says") work well, while the up-tempo material--in particular the closer "Pig's in Zen"--is both catchy and ambitious. It's a fine album overall, and if the band's Zeppelin-ward aspirations don't quite work, their music is still quite good in its own right. --Genevieve Williams Amazon.com
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Review
Though the songs aren't quite as good as those on Ritual De Lo Habitual, this album is much more consistent, with a heavy rock-funk-punk mix that's a pleasure to hear. The slower songs (especially "Summertime Rolls" and "Jane Says") work well, while the up-tempo material--in particular the closer "Pig's in Zen"--is both catchy and ambitious. It's a fine album overall, and if the band's Zeppelin-ward aspirations don't quite work, their music is still quite good in its own right. --Genevieve Williams Amazon.com
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May 1, 2013
Van Morrison live at Montreux (DVD)
Van Morrison live at Montreux (DVD)
Summary: Van Morrison's long and illustrious career has included many appearances at the Montreux Festival. This two disc set brings together two of his finest performances from 1980 and 1974, featuring classic tracks such as Wavelength, Moondance, and more.
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Get Up - Ben Harper with Charlie Musselwhite (CD)
Summary: Ben Harper has teamed with renowned harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite to create Get Up!, a piercing song-cycle of struggle and heart, slated for release by Stax Records/Concord Music Group on January 29th, 2013. Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Harper, Get Up!, is his 12th studio album and first new recording since 2011's Give Till It's Gone (Virgin).
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Cold fact - Rodriguez (CD)
Summary: Sixto Rodriguez' 1970 EP made its way around a few times due to its catchy and concise songs with lyrics that are evocative representing his own troubled mindset.
Review
It's one of the lost classics of the 60s, a psychedelic masterpiece drenched in colour and inspired by life, love, poverty, rebellion, and, of course, jumpers, coke, sweet mary jane . The album is Cold Fact, and what s more intriguing is that its maker a shadowy figure known as Rodriguez was, for many years, lost too. A decade ago, he was rediscovered working on a Detroit building site, unaware that his defining album had become not only a cult classic, but for the people of South Africa, a beacon of revolution. Sixto Diaz Rodriguez was born in 1942 to Mexican immigrant parents in Detroit, Michigan. He recorded Cold Fact his debut album in 1969, and released it in March 1970. It s crushingly good stuff, filled with tales of bad drugs, lost love, and itchy-footed songs about life in late 60s inner-city America. Gun sales are soaring/Housewives find life boring/Divorce the only answer/Smoking causes cancer, says the Dylan-esque Establishment Blues. But the album sank without trace, thanks, in part, to some of Rodriguez's more idiosyncratic behavior, like performing at an industry showcase with his back to the audience throughout. As his music career became a memory, Rodriguez's legend was growing on the other side of the world. In South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Rhodesia, Australia and New Zealand, Cold Fact had become a major word of mouth success, particularly among young people in the South African armed forces, who identified with its counter-cultural bent. But Rodriguez was an enigma not even the label knew where to find him and his demise became the subject of debate and conjecture. Some rumors said he died of a heroin overdose or burned to death on stage. But the tide began to turn in 1996, when journalist Craig Bartholemew set out to get to the bottom of the mystery. After many dead ends, he found Rodriguez alive, well, free and perfectly sane in Detroit, ending years of speculation. Rodriguez himself had no idea about his fame in South Africa (the album had gone multi-platinum, Rodriguez has received not so much as a Rand in royalties), and embarked on a triumphant South African tour followed, filling 5,000 capacity venues across the country. Rodriguez was still largely unknown in the northern hemisphere until 2002, when Sugar Man, the album s extra-terrestrially wonderful lead track, was picked up by David Holmes. The DJ discovered the album in a New York record store, and included it on his Come Get It, I Got It compilation, re-recording the song with Rodriguez for his Free Association project a year later. Now, Light In The Attic is set to commit Cold Fact to CD for audiences in the UK and America, who can finally find out why halfway across the world Rodriguez is spoken of in the same reverent tones as The Doors, Love and Jimi Hendrix. (amazon.com)
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