How About Some Unironic Love for Emerson, Lake & Palmer?
Sean MurphyHere are three words that strike fear in the hearts of all those allergic to prog rock: Emerson. Lake. Palmer. Popular enough to have several songs still in the regular…
The Power of Political Narrative: Part One, The GOP (Revisited)
LIKE MOST EVERYONE ELSE I know, I grew up—really grew up, if I’ve ever actually grown up—in the Reagan 80’s. Take my childhood, please. Actually, it wasn’t all that bad,…
Alligator Lizards in the Air: In Search of the Sublimely Awful Lyric (Revisited)
Intravenus de Milo Spinal Tap album I can think of a lot of rock bands who have written some laughably awful lyrics. So can you. Part of rock and roll's…
The Holy Trinity, Part One: Yes
Ah, Yes. Now that Rush is rightly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it seems safe to suggest that Yes officially assumes the heavyweight crown as the most…
End of Summer (Camp) with a Bat, a Cat and a Clown
IT IS AN INEXORABLE, if lamentable rite of passage: revisiting mementos from one’s childhood and discovering that, to an adult’s eyes, they’re lacking. But then, “putting away childish things” is…
The Great Gig In The Sky: An Appreciation of Rick Wright (Revisited)
Back when Pink Floyd was the first band in space, they remained mysterious, and cool, by being invisible. For being one of the biggest rock groups in the world all…
Burt Bacharach Meets the Brady Bunch…on Psilocybin (Revisited)
I've written several times about the greatest American band that never quite was, Love, here, here and here. Today, with summer not quite over, I have some thoughts about the…
First Reading, Revisited
Two years ago today.
10 for NYC by 10, on 9/11
New York City would be unimaginable without jazz, and vice versa. Here then is a tribute for --and by-- several musicians who help define and celebrate the cultural mecca of…
R.I.P. Glenn C. (Remembering Glenn Cornick and Jethro Tull’s ‘Stand Up’)
Glenn Cornick was, of course, Jethro Tull's first bassist. He and Ian did not get along (something that can be said for most of the other 10,000 ex-Tull musicians) so…