Blackberry Smoke’s last album needed a little more grit. If “Waiting for the Thunder” is any indication, maybe we’ll get some of that back.

There couldn’t have been a timelier song title than this theatrically creative nugget from master bassist/composer Mark Dresser.

Mostly an alternative presentation of ‘Road Games’, Allan Holdsworth’s chaff is superior to most guitarists’ wheat and after fifteen years of no studio material cut loose, it’s good to see any production from him.

I wasn’t going to listen to Steven Tyler’s new country-influenced album, but I’m such an Aerosmith fanboy that I unfortunately just couldn’t resist.

The two words that repeatedly came to my mind during Lyle Lovett’s concert were “generosity” and “faith.”

“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is both the last time all four Beatles were in the studio, and their last breakthrough.

For the post-bop delight ‘Allied Forces’ Steve Fidyk may be leading a small combo, but he always drums big and his bandmates think the same way.

Yes sounded looser and more passionate than ever, even as the band lost another key member ahead of 1974’s ‘Relayer.’

Free’s critically underrated ‘Heartbreaker’ was a direct foreshadowing of the success to come for Paul Rodgers and Bad Company.

‘Live At Maxwell’s’ is the first album to give those of us who hadn’t been able to see Duane Eubanks lead on the bandstand a taste of what he’s capable of in such a setting. We could use many more tastes like this.