It’s time that certain critics got over the band’s name and the singer’s then-seagull haircut, and just listen to the music here without prejudice.

Here’s one you might remember: “Ah! Leah!” by Donnie Iris, his only really big hit, which peaked at No. 29 in the Billboard charts on February 7th, 1981. That intro is a bit tongue in cheek, actually

Brit-styled power pop has been making undiluted rock bouncy and fun since the Beatles and “Can’t Buy Me Love” took the world by storm in 1963. New wave bands that emerged at the end of the 70s such as Squeeze The Cars, The Romantics and The Knack reminded us of why we went apeshit over the Fab Four, The Who [...]

Frontman is a first-time book from the Bongos’ leader and (well, what else?) frontman Richard Barone, part rock star guide, part autobiography — and a completely entertaining and fascinating read.

I’ve found that the Fixx’s Beautiful Friction becomes a richer experience the longer it plays — and the longer it stays.

PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone.

Their name focused on rhythm, but short-changing the shooting-star early-1980s post-punkers English Beat as a ska band is to ignore their essential, still deeply interesting complexities.

Howard Jones has posted a free download of a live version of “Like To Get To Know You Well” — originally a No. 4 hit in 1984 on the UK Singles Chart — as he gears up for an eight-date April swing through the UK.

Depending on your point of view, Athens, Georgia’s B-52s are either the greatest party band of all time, or quite possibly the gayest — and I mean that in the most non-homophobic, politically correct sort of way.

This English group combines alt-rock, world-music polyrhythms and chamber pop into an amalgam that sounds like David Byrne sitting in with Philip Glass.