For The Kinks’ first album with RCA Records, Ray Davies didn’t stray too far from the style which he had perfected. Muswell Hillbillies, the band’s ninth studio album, was named after Muswell Hill, the area of North London that Davies and brother Dave once called home. Like The Kinks’ classic Village Green Preservation Society before […]
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The third song on the first side of The Salsoul Orchestra's second album proclaims "It Don't Have to Be Funky (To Be a Groove)." But under the leadership of vibraphonist Vince Montana, Jr., the grooves were most certainly funky...as well as soulful, jazzy, and above all, danceable. 1976's Nice 'n' Naasty, just reissued in an […]
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It's been four decades since Agnetha Fälksog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad came together to change the face of pop music. This fall, the first album by the group the world now knows as ABBA is getting an expanded CD/DVD treatment - and those who are interested as to how the quartet came together will […]
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The feature-length documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me opens today at New York’s IFC Center and on Friday at Los Angeles’ Nuart Theatre. In conjunction with its release, Omnivore Recordings has recently unveiled a soundtrack album collecting 21 previously unissued songs from the legendary Memphis band. Rare is the cult band that actually lives […]
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It’s never been easy to describe Kim Fowley in just a word or two. Fowley is a producer, a songwriter, an actor, a manager, a publisher, a raconteur, and a promoter – both of himself and of various other acts. Gray Newell, writing the liner notes for Tune In Records’ new Fowley anthology, adds a […]
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Even before "Bad to the Bone" solidified his place in the pop culture canon, George Thorogood was a journeyman rocker with a distinctive voice and a knack for good old-fashioned blues. This month, fans will have a chance to rediscover the earliest part of his career, when Rounder Records remasters and reissues the first two […]
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CHIC and Various Artists, Nile Rodgers Presents The CHIC Organization: Up All Night - The Greatest Hits (Rhino U.K.) This new double-disc compilation, featuring hits from CHIC, Sister Sledge, Debbie Harry and more, might be the best Nile Rodgers-centric compilation in its price range. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.) Blood Sweat & Tears, Rare, Rarer & Rarest / Joe Farrell Quartet, Joe Farrell Quartet […]
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More than four years following his death, Michael Jackson’s presence is still felt. Every night on Broadway, the young Michael is conjured onstage in Berry Gordy’s sprawling Motown: The Musical. Cirque du Soleil's new Michael Jackson ONE is ensconced at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay. His brothers, The Jacksons, are continuing their successful Unity Tour this […]
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For many, the story of Fleetwood Mac begins with 1975’s self-titled album. But that album, which introduced Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to the group’s line-up, was in fact the band’s tenth. Long before locking into the L.A. pop-rock sound epitomized by “Say You Love Me” or “Over My Head,” the Mac had already experienced […]
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In 1976, John Williams was between Oscars – for Jaws and Star Wars, to be exact. The year was filled with great film scores from the future legend – among them, Family Plot, Black Sunday and Midway. Another of his fine works during America’s bicentennial year was for Arthur Penn’s western The Missouri Breaks, headlined […]
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