What better way to spend Halloween than with (as it’s lovingly referred to in the liner notes) “this thing“? “The Torture Never Stops” — a 24-song, two-hour blast of almost indescribably brilliant/crazy rock from an Oct. 31, 1981 concert by the equally brilliant/crazy Frank Zappa — affords us a uniqueRead More
You’re to be forgiven — even if you were there — for missing this one. Seems, because of lengthy set overruns by the bands that preceded them, the Who didn’t take the stage at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival until the no-kidding hour of 3 a.m. (The bill thatRead More
Missing in the eternal argument embodied in their 1970s lyric — Which one’s Pink? — was my idea that it was neither Roger Waters nor David Gilmour. Maybe there would have been no Pink Floyd, not really, without Richard Wright. That’s what I hear in “Live at Gdansk” with GilmourRead More
NICK DERISO: You would call Johnny J.’s stuff rockabilly, but that’s too small of a space. He’s got some blues in one corner, some echoey 1950s-era balladry in another. Carl Perkins, Fats Domino and Buddy Holly are party guests. This is the point where blues, jazz, country and rhythm musicRead More
The title of this Chicago song, named after a Greek character who eternally pushes a rock up hill only to have it roll back down, is sadly ironic.
NICK DERISO: I must admit, even now, an abiding love for the inner-ear damage that “Purrrr,” this long-forgotten hard-pop release, offers. But there’s more to it: Hollyfaith’s debut on Epic is, in some ways, perfectly done guitar-focused music, raunchily loud but then welcomely tender — and, in no small way,Read More
Extended improv sections of songs oftentimes turn into what Umphrey’s McGee calls a “Jimmy Stewart.” So what exactly is a “Jimmy Stewart?”
by S. Victor Aaron Last month Al Green released a new album, Lay It Down, which I’d recommend to any fan of pure, old-school soul. Later this month Chicago’s Stone Of Sisyphus, originally record in 1993, will finally be officially released. But twenty years even before that was taped, bothRead More
“Quickies” are mini-record reviews of new or upcoming releases, or “new to me.”
NICK DERISO: Produced by an actual working-class hero, touching listeners across every genre and making its case well away from the witheringly bright lights of the Sun Records myth, I’d argue that this record was when rock and roll finally came into its own. Written by legendary Frank Sinatra producerRead More
