In looking back on 2007, it’s time to assess the releases over the last 12 months and pick out the more outstanding ones.

NICK DERISO: We blast off with two break-neck covers from this bluesy Tex-Mex bar band — Jimi Hendrix’s scorching “Hey Joe” and then ? and the Mysterians’ “96 Tears.” Consider yourself warned. This is floor-it fun, with the brake pedal broken off. Carrasco and Co. rarely stop even to breatheRead More

by S. Victor Aaron A lot of hay has been made of Porcupine Tree’s 2007 release Fear Of A Blank Planet, and yes, I’ve joined in the fray. It’s a solid effort from a band that hadn’t stumbled much to begin with. But PT’s leader Steven Wilson is just tooRead More

Full Circle isn’t not so much about a CD than it is a story of a certain musician’s redemptive long journey back from personal tragedies. And his new band is a musical group led by a man who sought to provide a willing public the soulful, energetic free wheeling styleRead More

Tony Joe White is one of us, pure and simple. Earthy and plain-spoken. Southern and proud. With all the contradictions.

Fewer bands in rock have been more unjustly maligned than Chicago. Now, I’m no fan of the David Foster years, but being responsible for some of the shlockiest pop of that era doesn’t diminish the more innovative and ambitious output of the seventies, especially those first five albums. You MayRead More

Turns out, chaff from Umphrey’s McGee still makes for a tasty loaf of bread.