As Jeff Beck wraps up a well-received fall tour this month with Brian Wilson and several other members of the Beach Boys, he’s reflecting on what brought him to this admittedly offbeat place. You May Also Like: Why the Beach Boys’ ‘Sail On, Sailor’ Pointed to So Many Unrealized Triumphs

For the longest time, jazz has had its hard-edged fringe and so has rock. Keyboardist Landon Knoblock started CACAW with the intent to combine the two outliers of their respective styles to create something even more otherworldly. You May Also Like: Tim Berne’s Snakeoil – Incidentals (2017) Caroline Davis –Read More

Roy Harper has, it seems, always existed in the place between this album title’s two words. He’s famous enough to have been the subject of a Led Zeppelin song, and to have sung another for Pink Floyd, but yet somehow largely unknown too. You May Also Like: Projekt Gemineye –Read More

If “Up” from Roger Taylor’s forthcoming solo effort reminds you, in some ways, of Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga,” well, there’s a reason for that: He used the same analog synthesizer in both. You May Also Like: No related posts.

The disembodied voice of Richard Nixon — eerie, foreboding, completely full of it — heralds the arrival of this stark indictment of pols who tell you they want peace even while escalating conflict You May Also Like: Bad Company – ‘Desolation Angels’ (1979; 2020 reissue)

Blues Brothers 2000, the belated sequel to 1980’s blockbuster Blues Brothers, wouldn’t be as heralded as the first — and that’s in no small way because original star John Belushi was gone. Yet, Steve Cropper might just have better memories the second time around. You May Also Like: No relatedRead More

After an opening that manages to be sparse and yet unresolved, “Jaco” transitions into the first (only?) track on this album structured to feature rounds of solos in a more traditional jazz fashion. You May Also Like: ‘Bright Size Life’ Gave Early Definition to Pat Metheny’s Incredible Career Pat MethenyRead More

The decades have changed everything about this song. Once a paean, at least for me, of youth-bound angst — about dreams deferred for the drudgery (the tragedy!) of homework — it’s now shot through with real regret. You May Also Like: The Smiths’ ‘How Soon Is Now?’ Is the Gen-XRead More

A two-step shuffle, a slightly exaggerated country croon, and two feisty saxes with occasional late-period Coltrane wails arousing suspicions that these are wack jazz guys playing Merle Haggard, not dedicated country music musicians. You May Also Like: Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord – ‘Harder On the Outside’ (2019)

I was a big fan of Soil’s breakthrough 2001 album Scars, with its infectious hit “Halo.” As much as I liked that record, though, the band seemed to fade quickly for me. You May Also Like: No related posts.