Let’s look beyond the goofy flutes and whatnot — and the oddly aggressive nature of the song, because it’s just so out of character for the nice man. Paul McCartney screwed up “Live And Let Die” in a huge way You May Also Like: ‘Wings Over America’ Remains a PinnacleRead More

“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was a Top 5 hit in part because Steely Dan didn’t cut corners – especially when it came to the drummer.

Supertramp was many things over its too-brief period of hitmaking — art-rockish proggers, post-Beatle popsters, kinda-classical rockers, memory-defining radio monoliths. There was much to love as they moved, over the course of the early-1970s to the early-1980s, from the esoteric to the very top of the charts You May AlsoRead More

As I drove down the hill into our town last night, I looked up at the horizon to see the mountains, usually nice and green, wrapped in an odd haze of gray. At 7PM, it was still 90 degrees. You May Also Like: How Beach Boys Found the Sun AgainRead More

On this special edition of Something Else! Reviews’ One Track Mind, we hand the reins over to Steve Smith, who’s had memorable tenures with Journey and Jean-Luc Ponty and now leads the fusion jazz group Vital Information. You May Also Like: When Jean Luc Ponty Made a Triumphant Return WithRead More

Steve Smith discusses the anniversary of his jazz band Vital Information, and an amazing career that includes stops with Journey, Jean-Luc Ponty, Ronnie Montrose and the Buddy Rich Big Band.

I wrote a Friday Morning Listen that was a mashup of Joe Jackson, Bruce, Clarence, and Fellini. I was nervous about a bunch of things that day, not the least of which was the health of Clarence. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent and theRead More

It’s something we’ve visited before, but many Steely Dan songs touch on topics from Becker and Fagen’s youth in the 1960s (see “Boston Rag”, “My Old School”). Donald Fagen would later explicitly make an entire album recounting his aspirations and hopes from the late 1950s and early ’60s; I thinkRead More

There’s no denying, if you dig into the stacks, the Who’s shuddering energy – equal parts speed, raw fury and rangy emotion.

When ZZ Top, tearing through “Waiting for the Bus,” howls “have mercy!” in tandem, I’m right there with them. You May Also Like: ZZ Top’s “El Diablo,” “Thunderbird,” “Rough Boy” + Others: Gimme Five