A little too mannered at times, Van Dyke Parks songs would fall flat on their ass were it not for his flair for musical mischief making. “Dreaming of Paris,” for instance, is the picture of genteel reverie until he announces that JFK has been shot You May Also Like: AaronRead More
Paul McCartney had always been cuffed around for the times when he got too cute or — worse, really — too domestic. Yet, until the 1980s, he’d always possessed an unerring sense of hitmaking magic. You May Also Like: No related posts.
Something clicked with Bobby Whitlock connected with Eric Clapton, and their combined voices — as singers, and as writers — fired the blast-furnace of anguish and lust that was Layla. You May Also Like: ‘All Things Must Pass Away: Harrison, Clapton, and Other Assorted Love Songs’ by Kenneth Womack andRead More
For all the times that “all-star” dates have let us down, the fault of a basic incompatibility that transcends anyone’s inherent fame, Things Are Getting Better features a pairing that utterly works. You May Also Like: Cannonball Adderley – ‘Poppin’ in Paris: Live at L’Olympia 1972′ (2024) Joe Jackson’s RainRead More
The Trinidad-born Etienne Charles plays with a knifing, jazz-focused intensity, but inside a layered, rhythmically complex atmosphere that makes Creole Soul anything but the same old straight-ahead fare. You May Also Like: David Garfield, “Sir Charles” from ‘Stretchin’ Outside the Box’ (2020): One Track Mind Charles Rumback – ‘Cadillac Turns’Read More
It’s probably smart of David Egan to release a self-titled album at this point — because despite his having written a trunk-load of songs for famous people, he’s hardly a household name. David Egan shows what a crime that is. You May Also Like: Remembering David Sanborn: “A Tear ForRead More
Though it’s always existed in the shadow of Wes Montgomery’s earlier Incredible Jazz Guitar, there is much to recommend about this easy-swinging 1961 follow up for Riverside — beginning with his able young sideman Ron Carter. You May Also Like: Wes Montgomery – ‘The Complete Full House Recordings’ (2023)
John Oates’ on-going Good Road to Follow singles series continued this week with the release on Tuesday of “Don’t Cross Me Wrong,” a song co-written by producer Vince Gill. You May Also Like: No related posts.
For most Led Zeppelin fans, the group’s canonical releases between 1969’s self-titled debut and 1979’s In Through the Out Door are consumptive enough that they needn’t bother with the solo efforts that followed. You May Also Like: No related posts.
Christopher Cross, because he had so much success in such a small window of time in the early 1980s, has a caught-in-time sound — one that remains, even on this expansive live document, redolent of a specific moment. You May Also Like: Catherine Sikora and Ethan Winogrand – ‘Things ToRead More
