You made out to Al Green. It’s what worked. Only later, did you realize all that had gone on in those records, starting with this — Green’s first charting hit, “Tired of Being Alone.” His is a voice that whips around, like a sparrow, from flat-footed baritone — all silky-smoothRead More

Bill Champlin has a face to match his voice — rugged and sharp-edged, a great gravelly visage.

The frontman from ? and the Mysterians once said that voices from the future told him they would still be playing “96 Tears” in the year 10,000. So far, so good.

by Nick DeRiso Benny Spellman’s “Fortune Teller,” a witty early-1960s story song, is one of my touchstone party records. Everything about it is perfectly New Orleans, from the pounding piano to this sizzling island-tinged percussion, from a group of yelping, mesmerizingly groovy R&B backup singers to its not one butRead More

Dr. Lonnie Smith enjoyed a Joe Henderson-styled late-career resurgence during the ’00s, capped by ‘Rise Up!’

From the first chunky guitar chords, the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around” is a different kind of a song about getting dumped, and still loving her anyway, and thinking to yourself — and then saying out loud — that you’ll wait for as long as it takes for her to return,Read More

Sam “Lightnin'” Hopkins, as always, did it in just one take – with the money upfront.

XTC was a band that gave pop music a good name. Since their bare, new wave/punk beginnings, melody always mattered.

The Sweet brings back memories of a time when a pop song could be ambitious, melodic – and still be popular.

by Nick DeRiso With a shout — and a persona — to match this barrel-house presence, Big Joe Turner lived up to his outsized name every night. Turner’s emergence was tied to those brawny blasts, since Joe came of age in a time when singers had to project past bigRead More