Improperly named, the Average White Band was anything but. First off, one of the rhythm guys, at least by this point, wasn’t white. Second, and this is far more important, they funked it up with a vigor and style that would never be confused with average. You May Also Like:Read More

Relationships heading toward their end can often impart a kind of repelling force between the couple involved. In “For You,” a relationship has run off the rails and there’s no small amount of soul searching. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E StreetRead More

Some fun facts about this track: 1. “East St. Louis Toodle-oo” is the only Steely Dan track in which Becker and Fagen are not in the songwriting credits. This one was written about fifty years earlier by Duke Ellington and his trumpet player, Bubber Miley. You May Also Like: FiveRead More

Canned Heat, the doomed boogie-blues revivalists, only made a lone appearance at the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. Yet they still managed some star-crossed magic. You May Also Like: William Shatner and Canned Heat, “Let’s Work Together” (2020): One Track Mind

Bruce accompanied by a lone piano, playing a sparse progression. Motorcycle outlaws (“The angel rides with hunch-backed children”)? Little kids on a bicycle adventures (“Baseball cards poked in his spokes…”)? You May Also Like: No related posts.

The popular line about “Barrytown” is that this is a song disparaging the Unification Church members and followers of its leader, Sun Myung Moon, or “moonies You May Also Like: Walter Becker, “Hard Up Case (Live at Slim’s 1995)” (2024): Steely Dan Sunday Walter Becker, “He Wants You (Out)” (1997):Read More

Believe it or not, Phil Collins was once just a member of this group called Genesis. Back then, before Collins turned Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks into his backing band, Genesis had begun its musical life as a witty, sometimes quite theatrical prog-rock project. The twin departures, however, of PeterRead More

by Tom Johnson Our oldest daughter is preparing for her first days of first grade. Supplies have been bought, some in ridiculous quantities (seriously, 36 pencils for the first day alone?!) You May Also Like: No related posts.

As a kind of companion piece to “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd St?”, the mood shifts dramatically here, trading all of that romantic positivity for stark reality … or at least a reality whose dark side is winning out. You May Also Like: No related posts.

One litmus test to tell if you’re a baby boomer or older is if you can remember when the term “dude” was only used by surfer dudes or stoners out in California. In those days, everyone was aware of the term, but most people outside those two groups generally stayedRead More