Freddie Mercury, talking about his band Queen, once compared them to the sweeping Hollywood auteur Cecil B. DeMille, and he wasn’t that far off. The group, which also included guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor, was a heady mixture of heavy metal, prog, power pop, discoRead More

Much of Springsteen’s early work was populated with large casts of characters and places, skillfully woven into the narrative. Heck, sometimes the people and places were the narrative. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle’

With little apparent interest in pursuing non-ironic love songs, Steely Dan have often touched on themes of criminal activity (hell, I think most of The Royal Scam was about crime). They never pursued the topic with an approving tone, though. You May Also Like: Steely Dan, “Carey” (circa 2001): SteelyRead More

The distractions when it comes to Heart (gender politics, obvious curtsies to Led Zeppelin, wall-to-wall 1980s power-ballads, etc.) are swept away You May Also Like: Elton John – Greatest Hits 1976-1986 (1992): On Second Thought

A tune that couldn’t be further away from the dark organ-based groove of his band, “The Car Won’t Stop” finds Deep Purple’s Roger Glover indulging in a childhood passion for skiffle. You May Also Like: No related posts.

Sparks fly on E Street when the boy prophets walk it handsome and hot… Yeah, sometime a song hits hard because of the meaning. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle’

Issued in the wake of the devastating attacks on New York City in 2001, Bruce Springteen’s “You’re Missing” nearly overwhelmed me with grief.

I never really understood what the heck the story line in this Steely Dan song was really about. The title, I suspect, provides the clue.

by Mark Saleski No harm meant by this remark: I’d rather listen to John Mayer than Elliott Smith. So there, I’ve said it. Not to illustrate that I’ve got no indie cred. That I apparently have no taste in music. Not even to piss off the legions of Smith fans.Read More

At ninety seconds, it’s the briefest of all Steely Dan songs, and one of only a couple SD recordings where strings accompaniment was used. You May Also Like: No related posts.