by Tom Johnson A definitive entry in the Talking Heads’ catalog this was somehow out of print at one point for, what, nearly two full decades? I was lucky enough to stumble upon a bootleg copy of the vinyl a while back but the sound quality was pretty rough; thereRead More

by Mark Saleski Every true music fan has in their pocket a short list: the artists who hold special meaning. Our relationships to those artists are different from the rest. Each release means something. They’re not just records, they’re events You May Also Like: Reevaluating Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Wild, theRead More

by Tom Johnson The great Grant Lee Buffalo may have been long gone, but the heart was always just the voice and guitar of Phillips anyway, wasn’t it? In between takes as Gilmore Girls’ resident town troubador, Phillips found a few free moments to record this stripped down tribute toRead More

At first, there’s a homespun innocence about Bobby and Suzy, this brother-and-sister duo. Recording in their music room at Charleston, S.C., you can almost see them as they once were You May Also Like: Bobby Kimball – We’re Not in Kansas Anymore (2017) Bobby Kimball, former Toto frontman: Something Else!Read More

King Crimson mastermind Robert Fripp finally got around to re-issuing his first solo album in 2006, one that manages to cover pretty much all the bases he would ever touch upon — arty rock, post-punk, new wave, noise, it’s all there. And finally it’s there as Fripp originally planned itRead More

Maybe because it’s the first Pink Floyd-related solo album I ever bought, but also because it came between two Roger Waters-heavy releases (Animals and then The Wall), this has always been a sleeper favorite for me. It’s a loose record, with some interesting instrumentals, never didactic — and anything butRead More

My favorite period of Genesis’ history — the years just after the iconic Peter Gabriel had left the group, when the band shouldn’t have been able to be a success, but drummer Phil Collins stepped up the mic and brought his own brand of iconic, if short, stature to theRead More

From its first dramatic rat-a-tat, this undulating rhythm signature that plays off a driving acoustic riff, “Northern Lights” moves with a persistent ardor. Alex Wand’s vocal runs in tandem, even as the drums recede into the background, until he has finally, definitively captured the center of the song. It’s onlyRead More

On this special edition of Something Else! Reviews’ One Track Mind, we hand the reins over to Toto co-founder and legendary sessions guitarist Steve Lukather. He provides insight into “I Won’t Hold You Back” and “I’ll Be Over You,” You May Also Like: Steve Lukather, “Someone” from ‘Bridges’ (2023): OneRead More

by Tom Johnson I am convinced that Wainwright is this generation’s finest melodist. I can’t think of a single young artist who so beautifully crafts vocals in such a way that it simply doesn’t matter what he’s singing about: You just want to hear the melody he’s singing. And thereRead More