Archives for 2009 » February
Record Review from web archive February 27, 2009
Isaac Hayes
When Isaac Hayes emerged from the shadows of Stax Studios and his role there as session musician and hit-writer extraordinaire, he stepped into the glare of his solo career, and what a strange, unlikely figure he must have cut. Here was the consummate behind-the-scenes guy emerging as a buff, bald, flashy figure of African-American assertiveness, [...]
Feature from web archive February 27, 2009
A new dawn for No Depression
Today marks a new dawn for No Depression as we continue the journey online. On October 1, we launched NoDepression.com. While traffic to the website has been great and the response positive, we have determined that it is impossible to bring in enough revenue to support our basic business expenses, the largest chunk of that [...]
Record Review from web archive February 26, 2009
Chris Isaak
Bruce Springsteen once posited that “we learned more from a three-minute record than we ever learned in school.” After 24 years of listening to Chris Isaak, who never exceeds the four-minute mark and rarely even nears it, I can safely say I’ve learned love will inevitably fall victim to the fatal flaw within the singer, [...]
Record Review from web archive February 25, 2009
Nighthawks
Has any modern band defied labels as successfully as the Nighthawks? They want it every which way – rock, blues, roots — and the ‘Hawks always get their way, and have for 36 years and counting. Such skillful genre-hopping is the reason their fan base ranges from mohawked skateboarders to dyed-in-the-wool Chicago blues purists. American [...]
Column from web archive February 25, 2009
A Rodeo King embraces his inner Lee Harvey Osmond
Last summer, a series of odd videos began circulating around the internet. They were shot against nondescript backgrounds around Hamilton, Ontario, and featured a hirsute guitarist in a lime green disco suit frozen in frame, with a hyperkinetic young man nearby dancing furiously to some soulful, groovy, dark music. The clips were attributed to Lee [...]
Record Review from web archive February 24, 2009
Randy Weeks
Randy Weeks has described his music as “late ’60s AM to early ’70s FM,” but on his new disc Going My Way, I hear a bit of early-mid ’70s AM in there as well. Which may be parsing eras and frequencies just a little too precisely, perhaps…but to me, the hits that dominated the AM [...]
Record Review from web archive February 23, 2009
Syd Straw
Syd Straw works at her own pace when its comes to releasing solo albums. Pink Velour, her first studio CD since War And Peace in 1996, carries the credit line “Produced (very slowly) by Syd Straw.” But it proves to be worth the wait, as Straw delivers an intensely personal collection of songs (ten originals [...]
Column from web archive February 23, 2009
Americana, by any other name…
For anybody who still tries to maintain that musical genre styles are set in stone and have their own set of compatible, identifiable players – kind of like Mount Rushmore, but allegedly more natural – things must seem to be getting kind of loose out there. Robert Plant, Joan Baez, Glen Campbell and Charlie Louvin, [...]
Live Reviews from web archive February 22, 2009
Vince Gill
When the Country Music Hall of Fame honors an act with the request that they be its single annual “Artist In Residence” – the featured performer and producing ringmaster for a series of special shows at the Hall – the selection itself implies that the artist is comfortable as an emcee. In the case of [...]
Column from web archive February 21, 2009
Deconstructing ELO
A confession, to begin with. The first record I ever reviewed – or, at least, attempted to review – was the Electric Light Orchestra’s 1979 album Discovery. As a freshman cub-reporter for The Edition, the Anderson High School newspaper in Austin, Texas, I’d been writing short news and sports articles, and it occurred to me [...]
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