by Nick DeRiso More musical journey than greatest hits, per se, “Let It Roll” is a primer on George Harrison for those who never got past his time with Beatles — and yet a still-intriguing way to reexperience some of his best solo cuts for those who followed along afterRead More

Denny Laine — Fab, one time removed? — will forever be the other guy in Wings, the Paul McCartney-led 1970s successor band to the Beatles. Even if that belies Laine’s important earlier contributions to the Moody Blues (“Go Now,” a Wings concert staple), his occasional takeout moment with Paul’s bandRead More

by S. Victor Aaron I always thought that the best covers are ones that takes a mediocre original and turns it into a genuinely good song. Such was the case when Atlanta roots rockers The Georgia Satellites took Ringo Starr’s hokey “Don’t Pass Me By” and gave it a swift,Read More

by Nick DeRiso “Come Together,” a concert first envisioned as a benefit to raise anti-violence awareness through the work of John Lennon, was scheduled to be held on Oct. 2, 2001, at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall. Then came Sept. 11. This rangy event, featuring recorded snippetsRead More

When Ringo Starr recently announced that he wouldn’t be responding to any more fan mail, it occurred to me that he must be completely unaware of the disastrous foibles he’s unleashed on a loving but ultimately unwitting fanbase. Certainly likeable (at one time, anyway), Starr was and is a drive-byRead More

NICK DERISO: The most interesting thing about this soundtrack recording from the Beatle-based movie “BackBeat” was that it didn’t include, you know, any Beatles music. Was — co-leader of the now-forgotten 1980s rock group Was (Not Was), but more famous by then as the producer who gave Bonnie Raitt’s careerRead More

George Harrison remains the Beatles’ great unresolved mystery — the guy who might have actually done more had he been in any another band after 1965. Or not. His solo records are a frustrating mix of the sublime, the blatant and the unremarkable. Sometimes within a three-song sweep. Sometimes withinRead More

In February, 1968, before departing for an ill-fated trip to India for an extended course in transcendental meditation, the Beatles convened at the Abbey Road studios to cut a single that would keep them in the public eye while they were away. That single eventually became John Lennon & PaulRead More

NICK DERISO: Cuban sensation Gonzalo Rubalcaba entered the U.S. not yet a legend, but discovered by one, Dizzy Gillespie. Rubalcaba (very Corea, but with some Hancock mixed in) made a splashy debut on both the Blue Note and Messidor labels in the early 1990s — reinvigorating the Afro-Cuban jazz movement.Read More

by Nick DeRiso John Lennon was a bundle of contradictions, both peacenik provocateur and tender tough guy. He lived a life that was simultaneously brash and vulnerable, easy going and hard eyed. A flower child who was viciously murdered, Lennon’s story — and, indeed, his art — took twists andRead More