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

by Tom Johnson This album wasn’t initially as well received as I think it should’ve been. It wasn’t the masterpiece I was hoping for, but it was a step up from the wildly uneven 13. With the exit of guitarist/fellow-mastermind Graham Coxon, Damon Albarn pretty much had complete artistic controlRead More

Pink Floyd’s 1967 debut ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ is, quite simply, the greatest psychedelic album ever. Don’t bother writing, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ fans.

If I have anything to say about technology in this space, it’s usually negative. People who know me are aware of the contradiction: I’ve made my living writing software and spend a lot of time on the Internet, and yet consider myself something of a Luddite. You May Also Like:Read More

by Fred Phillips When Johnny Cash came to work with Rick Rubin in the 1990s, American Records had another man in black already on the roster — Glenn Danzig. You May Also Like: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, “Boomtown Blues” from The Distance (1982): One Track Mind

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

Royal Crescent Mob, a punk-funk quartet from Columbus, Ohio, seemed at the peak of the powers with this, its most cohesive, mature record. So, that was, of course, the end of that. You May Also Like: Royal Southern Brotherhood – The Royal Gospel (2016)

by Tom Johnson There’s something really worrisome when you hear that any highly regarded artist is doing the soundtrack for a kid’s movie. It conjures images of Sting and Phil Collins destroying their careers and what little credibility they had left. But, you know, Paul Westerberg. I mean, come on.Read More

The summer of 1977 was spent buzzing around in my friend Billy’s parent’s blue Chevy Nova. There were girls and waves of haze and a pile of 8-tracks in a puffy vinyl box on the passenger side floor. You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, the Innocent andRead More

A country love song delivered almost without any detectable irony is what follows “My Old School” on Countdown To Ecstasy. The charm of Countdown is it being full of styles and devices Becker and Fagen never visited again You May Also Like: Steely Dan, “Bodhisattva” from ‘Northeast Corridor’ (2021): SteelyRead More