A Century of Sound (in under 4 minutes)
Sean MurphySun Ra 1968 "Pleasant Twilight" from the wonderfully titled My Brother The Wind, Vol. 2. Duke Ellington on acid? Yes, and a lot more. It slams out of the gate…
Sleater-Kinney: The Woods (Revisited)
Cont'd: PopMatters is doing some heavy lifting in the service of setting the historical record straight. Starting today, they are assessing the Top 100 albums of the last decade. I…
Iron And Wine: The Shepherd’s Dog (Revisited)
PopMatters is doing some heavy lifting in the service of setting the historical record straight. Starting today, they are assessing the Top 100 albums of the last decade. I contributed…
How About Some Unironic Love for Emerson, Lake & Palmer?
Here 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…
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…
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…
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…