The Sweet brings back memories of a time when a pop song could be ambitious, melodic – and still be popular.

by Pico If you’ve followed this space the last couple of months, you’ve might have first noticed the warm reception that Brazilian bassist Leonardo E. M. Cioglia got here for his majestic debut Contos. And if you missed that, perhaps you detected the album’s prominent mention in the “Best ofRead More

I think it was about a year ago since there was last a discussion of 80s funk at our little corner of the blogosphere. But really, you can’t have a conversation about that topic without putting Prince into the equation. This ain’t about the once-nameless Purple One, though (for allRead More

All music borrows from something else (even though I wonder if that’s really true when I listen to some of the whack jazz I encounter). The difference between a visionary artist and a hack is how creatively the borrowing occurs. No-Man is a band that borrows more creatively than most.Read More

For all his eccentricities, Rahsaan Roland Kirk could be a staunchly sensitive interpreter. This terrific Bill Withers cover is but one example.

by Pico Now with Thanksgiving and and that bloody shopping ritual called Black Friday behind us, the Christian season of Advent has begun. For the Catholic faith at least, it starts this Sunday, and lasts until Christmas Eve. This observation of the impending birth of Christ (and his second coming)Read More

“Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight,” from Paul McCartney’s collaborations as the Fireman, screams – literally – for attention.

NICK DERISO: “I’m Having Fun” arrives as advertised. That is to say, it’s a bubbly, rollicking party record, featuring King Curtis — the Fort Worth native was one of the last of the great R&B saxists — shaking a bandstand to its foundations while keyboardist Champion Jack Dupree lays inRead More

by Nick DeRiso Herbie Hancock almost didn’t pull off “The New Standard.” This High Concept offering from 1996 found Hancock, with varying degrees of success, adapting songs by popular artists like Peter Gabriel, The Eagles’ Don Henley, Paul Simon, The Beatles and Prince. You had to give him credit —Read More

That classic album rock group Heart never really left us, but lately the Wilson sisters have reconnected with what made it such a great band back in the seventies. The vintage sounding all-new CD Jupiters Darling (2004) and last year’s live DVD Dreamboat Annie Live meant that the “old” Heart—notRead More