Thirty-seven years on this record has lost none of its bleak power, a truly adult record in a sea of rock banality: As a recovering cocaine addict, Bowie’s songwriting on Low tended to deal with difficult issues: “There’s oodles of pain in the Low album. That was my first attempt to kick cocaine, so that…
New Orleans is a city where cultural tradition matters. In New Orleans there is a balance between innovation and tradition. Improvisation never comes out of nothing. It is always rooted in history . . . in New Orleans. So this is an environment where people sort of backslide into the future. — Bruce Boyd Raeburn…
What Martha Argerich is to piano, Rory is to guitar. Below is another documentary about him. Hendrix on Gallagher from a previous post. bluesguitarHendrixMartha ArgerichmusicRory Gallagher
Here is a superb critical assessment by Bob Grant on Scruton’s work (H/T to BG). Roger Scruton’s 530-page blockbuster The Aesthetics of Music was published by Oxford University Press in 1997. A paperback edition followed two years later. Neither received more than a handful of notices, a few appreciative, but some grudging and some actually…
From offBeat and Keith Spera. Mr. Matassa helped facilitate the role of New Orleans in the birth of rock ‘n’ roll. He opened his first studio, J&M Recording, in 1945 in the back of his family’s record and appliance store at the corner of North Rampart and Dumaine streets in the French Quarter. Its pedigree is…
Well, Plant is back and the initial reviews seem to be very warm and pretty similar. Pitchfork The Guardian American Songwriter Paste Rolling Stone Live4ever bluegrassbluescountry and westernfolkgospelLed ZeppelinmusicRobert PlantThe Sensational Space Shifters
This from Parade Ben HarperbluesBrian SetzerDr. JohnEric ClaptonFats DominoJoe PerryJohnny Wintermusicstep back
Lou Rawls really is a “Jesus of Cool” — I’m puzzled as to why so many people (Rawls included) have thought that Sinatra was a great singing talent (a sacrilegious view I realize) — Rawls has THE style and voice, a fantastic baritone! To Sinatra’s credit he admitted as much: Thus, talent and dedication, rather than marketing…
A lukewarm review of Dr. John’s latest. Others think differently — here, here and here. Having seen the good doc’s lackluster performance of a few years ago, my hopes aren’t high — admittedly 60% of the audience were there for the support act that blew him away — The Blind Boys of Alabama (featured on this album).…
Keef and his daughter Theodora have joined forces to create a new children’s book. gus & meKeith Richardsmusictheodora richards
manwithoutqualities 