Ali Farka Touré’s Finished Business
Sean MurphyThere are usually two distinctive types of posthumous releases in music. The first and more frequent is the one that makes you cringe, often involving the rapacious pillaging of the…
2000-2009: Let’s Break it Down (Epilogue)
So, the recent discussion of the Top 50 albums of the last decade was supposed to end, as it began, with a sampling of songs. The introductory entry covered 2000-2004;…
Did You Get The Knack?
Look at that guy. You know which one I'm talking about. You've got three surfer dude boys in the band and the frontman with the thousand yard smirk. You know that…
Top 50 Albums of the Decade, Part Five
10. The Fiery Furnaces, Bitter Tea (2006) It's a funny thing: as decidedly out there as this effort obviously is, compared to the album that preceded it, Bitter Tea is practically conventional. Well,…
Top 50 Albums of the Decade, Part Four
20. Fiona Apple, Extraordinary Machine (2005) Mad genius? Compulsive artiste? Fragile chanteuse? Misunderstood icon? All of the above? More? Whatever it is (and it could be none of this), there…
Top 50 Albums of the Decade, Part Three
30. Sonic Youth, Murray Street (2002) Some might say Sonic Youth did their best work in the '80s; some may claim it was the '90s; others may insist they reached…
Top 50 Albums of the Decade, Part Two
40. Cornershop, Handcream For A Generation (2002) It seemed too good to be true that this band became one of the big stories in 1997 with their breakthrough When I…
Top 50 Albums of the Decade, Part One
Facebook friends, Bloggers, Strangers, lend me your ears; I come to bury the last decade, not to praise it. Actually, I do want to praise it, but I first must…
2000-2009: Let’s Break It Down
Facebook friends, Bloggers, Strangers, lend me your ears; I come to bury the last decade, not to praise it. Actually, I do want to praise it, but I first must…
A Kinder, Gentler Jethro Tull
Meanwhile back in the year…1978? It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. The progressive rock monolith (immortalized, or infamous, from the cover of Emerson, Lake…