Celebrating Brian Johnson on his 77th birthday. —Ed. A very brief history lesson. First Attila was the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then Sir Lord Baltimore took over as the greatest hard rock band in the world. Then along came AC/DC to produce an electrical surge that brought down the hard rock power […]
Television began life as a punk band—Richard Hell made sure of that. But Tom Verlaine soon tired of Hell’s determined amateurism and wildman antics (didn’t like him, you know, MOVING on stage) and so out went Hell, and as time passed Television became something very different. Twin guitars, lots of soloing, no “fuck rock ’n’ […]
Celebrating Jody Stephens in advance of his 72nd birthday tomorrow. —Ed. The Memphis group Big Star has long been a favorite of folks who love smartly conceived guitar-based pop-rock, and while few bought their records when they were hot off the presses, their status as an enduring cult staple is undeniable. After a long relationship […]
Checking in with cornetist-trumpeter-composer-bandleader-visual artist Rob Mazurek is always worthwhile. That’s because, to make it plain, the guy’s records just never miss. And when it’s a release by the Exploding Star Orchestra, that’s even better, as the band, which has been Mazurek’s primary musical focus over the last half decade or so (the group has […]
The John Lennon estate has been releasing deluxe reissues of his solo albums. Plastic Ono Band and Imagine have been released so far and now comes Mind Games. Each series, presented in various formats, is complemented by an expansive coffee-table book. The Mind Games album actually came out in 1973 after the album Sometime in […]
Formed in Los Angeles in 1980, Afterimage’s dark and moody approach was clearly influenced by UK post-punk while not being blatantly imitative of any specific predecessor. Joy Division is a bandied point of comparison, but Afterimage benefited from raw muscularity that reflected their Cali punk surroundings. Impeccably designed by Independent Project Records, Faces to Hide […]
Remembering Richard Harris, born on this day in 1930. —Ed. In which a Man Called Horse sings a Song Called Horseshit, and turns it into a megahit. If macho thespian Richard Harris seemed an unlikely singing star, Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park” was an unlikely success, clocking in at around 7:30 minutes at a time when […]
On October 4, Craft Recordings adds tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards and trumpeter Howard McGhee’s Together Again!!!! to the label’s already impressive Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series. Originally released in 1961, the set’s sturdy and energetic bop maneuvers are invigorated through the support of pianist Phineas Newborn, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Ed Thigpen. Pressed on […]
Remembering Marc Bolan, born on this day in 1947. —Ed. Never got into T. Rex as a kid. I lived too deep in the sticks, and the only kid I know who owned a T. Rex record refused to tear off the cellophane shrink wrap and play the damn thing because that’s the way he […]
Generally, when musicians go into a studio and a car wreck breaks out, no one’s happy. Ears are injured. Listener ears, record executive ears, ears everywhere show up at emergency rooms in screaming ambulances to be treated, some for life-threatening injuries. It’s not good. But what if, and it happens, the musician in question crashed […]
Celebrating Shaun Cassidy on his 66th birthday. —Ed. If David Bowie was so weird, how come former teen hottie Shaun Cassidy’s cover of “Rebel Rebel” on his 1980 LP Wasp makes the Bowie original sound so … tame? Sure, Bowie’s half-pooch self on the cover of 1974’s Diamond Dogs is what you might call weird […]
I think it was Mark Twain who wrote, “Bores, pretentious bores, performance artists”? On second thought, it was me. And despite what you might think, I didn’t have Yoko “Black Bag Job” Ono in mind when I wrote it—her thrashing around in a bag on stage was certainly pretentious, but it was also very entertaining […]
Celebrating Bryan Ferry on his 79th birthday. —Ed. Bursting onto the scene 50 years ago, Roxy Music’s blend of glam rock and art rock proved highly influential while being impossible to imitate, as the music of singer Bryan Ferry, synthesist Brian Eno, saxophonist Andy Mackay, guitarist Phil Manzanera, and drummer Paul Thompson was simply drenched […]
The name of the band was Mouse, and their sole album, quite rare and therefore terribly expensive in original form, was Lady Killer, released in 1973 by EMI’s prog-rock imprint Sovereign. The members were vocalist-keyboardist Alan “Al” Clare, bassist Jeff Watts, drummer Al Rushton, and most famously, the insanely prolific guitarist Ray Russell. The band’s […]
The music on this double album and six-song EP package was intended as a companion to a planned television special from Paul McCartney & Wings in 1974. Although the film was eventually released as part of the Archive series of Band On the Run in 2010 and some of these tracks have appeared on various […]
