It’s been since the beginning of August since we’ve last done a “Quickies” here, so we’re long overdue for another one. There’s been a bevy of music put out during these last eight weeks that our full-fledged reviews don’t begin to cover, and a lot of it noteworthy. Gosh, IRead More
Lodged toward the end of a nostalgic song cycle that attempts (with varying degrees of success) to recreate the soaring pop music of his California youth, Brian Wilson offers a moment of naked, welcome honesty. On “Midnight’s Another Day,” away from the florid orchestrations and dense backing vocals associated withRead More
NICK DERISO: This song, issued in the wake of the devastating attacks on New York City in 2001, nearly overwhelmed me with grief the first time I heard it. I thought of my father. He’s been dead 20 years this summer, and I must admit that — like everything fromRead More
It should probably be no surprise to anyone who is remotely familiar with us, but we here at Something Else! are not what you’d call avid watchers of MTV. Evidently, neither is Crosby Loggins; he was asked to be a contestant on their show Rock The Cradle three of fourRead More
Less anthematic, in the way of his work with The Who, than it is reflective and frank, Pete Townshend convincingly argues the case for middle-aged rock with “Slit Skirts.” That the gap between the extroversion of his band recordings and the smaller joys of his solo stuff was already disappearingRead 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
NICK DERISO: The title cut of “Medicine Show” is a room-clearing-brawl type of song: It forces you to pay close attention from there on out. Freddie “Steady” Krc and the Shakin’ Apostles reaffirm, and right from the start, their neat amalgamation of mop-top whimsy and Hill Country picking. They makeRead More
by Pico Here’s a One Track Mind that’s also a One Hit Wonder. Remember Dionne Farris? If you do, then this song must have made an impression on you, too. This is usually the part where I delve into the artist’s background and deliver the setup to the song ofRead More
by S. Victor Aaron Singer/songwriter Machan’s resume reads like Sheryl Crow’s before 1994: an in-demand backup singer for heavies like Sting, Pink Floyd, George Benson, Gov’t Mule, Pat Benatar and Hiroshima. And now, like Crow did back in ’93, she seems to be making an earnest attempt at a soloRead More
NICK DERISO: As pleasant as this compilation of songs from an October 2000 concert by Elton John may be, yeah, there are problems. The truth is, early 1970s records like “Tumbleweed Connection” (a studio release with no – no! – hit singles) and the rollicking “11-17-70” (a live trio albumRead More
