10 Songs: Wednesday, March 18th, 2015
Happy – Marina And the Diamonds – If you’re so happy, why do you sound so sad? The vocals are arty pitchiness something like Florence Welch but less so and the song is a piano based slog – C+
Be Here Now: New Album Releases, March 17th, 2015
There is Beatle cover bands and then there is anything former Styx Glen Burtnick adds his name to. Last time I saw Glen he was playing McCartney to Marshall Crenshaw’s Lennon at BB Kings, here he is the Neil Innes of contemprary power pop. Maybe more than that, these are less satiric copies and more stand alones which make their own case – ALBUM OF THE WEEK – A-
Oldies But Goldies St Patty’s Special: The Pogues Farewell Concert 2011
I had heard Shane was pretty drunk on Tuesday. He wasn’t on Wednesday. He was holding onto the mic because that’s how he sings, he was immobile because decades of alcoholism and drug abuse has left him this way, but he caught every song tonight. 21 of them. Each a gem of Irish rock and roll. Each beloved.
Trial By Jury: The Moral Of The “Blurred Lines” Verdict
Robin Thicke goes to court and admits to being so drunk and coked up that he had nothing to do with the song he wrote? What did you think the jury, who are given to dislike the charm bereft pop star for his entire “Paula” debacle, thought of that? One of the writers of the song admits to not writing it.
Last Call: Week Of March 9th, 2015
Wrong Crowd – Young Guv – There is nothing not surprising about Ben Cook, whose Fucked Up third guitarist is more an offshoot of his other work. Like this disco mood piece with a very steady beat and bass motif – B+
Taylor Swift’s Top 10 Songs OF ALL TIME
Our Song – Despite the fiddle and the plunking guitar and the hee haw, this was a pure pop stroke that stands as a highway sign to the next three years and an instantly romantic song, thanking god for another great day.
10 Songs: Tuesday, March 17th, 2015
Funky Ceili – Black 47 – Not the version you know, the earliest one they sold at their residency in a bar on 2nd avenue, the one with the extended ending where Larry is telling his friends in New York he has lots of girls and is on MTV and they should come and visit! Much more fun!! – A
Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” Reviewed
Between money, success, the black man’s plught and the wages of sin, this is not untypical hip hop land thematically and while Kenrick can rhyme like a motherfucker, that ability hides his shallowness to a certain extent. Sometimes he is worth listening to, sometimes he is too self-obsorbed.
10 Reasons Madonna Ticket Sales Are Soft
In 2012, for the MDNA, she sold out Yankee Stadium in 20 minutes and added another date and she added two nights at MSG are on the back, so consider it the equivalent of selling out MSG SIX TIMES. This time she can’t sell out two nights? What happened?
Kenneth Brannagh’s “Cinderella” Reviewed
Even Lily James, whose father died when she was eleven years old (she uses his first name as her last name for the stage), has dreams and daydreams. Enjoy yours, you are much better off revelling in your imagination than castigating the world for having daydreams you disagree with.
That Was The Week That Was: March 9th, 2015
Being a founding member of either Soft Machine or Gong, flag wavers of prog rock freakdom both, Daevid Allen was a founding member of both and now he has died from cancer at the age of 77. As his son Orlando Moon wrote: “And so dada Ali, bert camembert, the dingo Virgin, divided alien and his other 12 selves prepare to pass up the oily way and back to the planet of love. And I rejoice and give thanks.”
UK Top 10 Singles 3-21-15
A mediocre snooze of a chart with Sam Smith ascendency AGAIN, with a snooze of a remix I might add. If they took it any slower it could never have reached the top of the charts. Truly, a well known drag
10 Songs: Monday, March 16th, 2015
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo -Verna Felton – If the live action doesn’t have this? To hell with em, I’m not going – A
Liam Gallagher: National Treasure???
“The live show, presented by Claudia Winkelman at the London Palladium, finished by announcing they had raised a total of £1,047,083,706 so far – £78,082,988 of which was raised last night alone.”
Sneak Peaks: New Album releases Week of March 16th, 2015
I have my eye on the new Alisson Moorer, she was so good with her ex husband Steve Earle a coupla years ago, and given the turmoil of her last year, I wonder how deep she can cut? To the bone? For sure, it will be better than Earle’s Terraplane, if not better then her former stepson’s Absent Fathers
Medium Cool: Talk Show Guest For The Week Of March 16th, 2015
I am not as big a fan as many, her lyric power is undeniable and her songs are driven exercises in alt folk rock, but she has one of those voices where everything sounds exactly the same… like Snoop Dogg. And already way too many vocal tics. Still… there is a reason people love her so much
Let’s Active: rock nyc Concert Picks Week Of March 16th, 2015
rock nyc is ground zero for Perfume Genius, we love him so much it is sickening. Not just me, though it is me who is going to see him at Studio 58 on Thursday, but Alyson Camus as well. She wrote this (here) about his LA show last October: “Several times during the show, I discretely looked at the young guy who was standing next to me and I saw that he was crying, crying real tears, and it broke my heart a few times… But this is the incredible power of sincere music…” I don’t think I’ll be crying but, who knows?
10 Songs: Sunday, March 15th, 2015
Till We Start To Kiss (Live) – Kat Edmonson – The best moment of her Le Poisson Rouge gig, is a soft samba of sauciness and Kat performs it with a quiet, slightly dizzy sensuality that has her whispering by the end – A
Meghan Trainor At Irving Plaza, Friday, March 13th, 2015, Reviewed
Meghan needs to calm down, get a good backing band, and play her songs, present herself, for what she is: a gifted singer songwriter. As a pop song writer, there are few better but as a pop performer she is an amateur -we know she can do it, she did it on “Title”, now she needs to rethink what she is doing on stage.
Spotify – Goodfellas Linked
Spotify are the least customer friendly outfit in the world. You gotta problem with their app? Tough luck, go deal with it yourself, they don’t give a rat’s ass. It is one reason they might go under. They just don’t give a damn about the customer, you are simply, on your own.
St. Patrick’s Day Without the Pogues And Black 47? How About Larry Kirwan?
I would be shocked if we don’t get a big dollop of Black 47’s back catalog, I mean Larry wrote em, why wouldn’t he play them? Which means that while, no, it isn’t the great Irish rockers, it is about as close as you are gonna get. So get there.
Must See: Marshall Crenshaw At City Winery, Friday, May 28th, 2015!
Unfortunately for me, I have plans tos ee Ed Sheeran when Crenshaw returns to City Winery on Friday, May 28th, 2015, otherwise I am definitely ready for another visitation… I swear, if I had another kife to live I would be the man’s publicist. No messing around, Crenshaw is one of our greatest songwriters, go see him.
Goldie Oldies: Two Taylor Swift Reviews From Prudential Center….
In 2010, I saw Taylor Swift at Prudential and was not amused, in 2013 I returned to the scene of the crime and loved her. Here are both reviews… Even 2013 feels like a lifetime time away now! In 2010, she was pretty big but not the world conqueror we know today….
10 Songs: Saturday, March 14th, 2015
With news that JB is playing this middle of Brooklyn King’s Theatre in September, it is as good as any excuse to give the man a spin. This late period, romantic dream is everything Browne does best, reminds me of an ex, and the “solitary nature notwithstanding” line still hits home – A
D’Angelo AT Best Buy Theatre, Wednesday, March 11th, 2015, Reviewed
D’Angelo has taken us from large funk band Prince, Funkadelic, Sly, etc, 1970s sounds through intricate experimental dance vibes all the way to the most intimate sharing. But it is more than that. he keeps on the one for 150 minutes, whether dressing down syncopated rhythms or destroying his rhythm section with mind blowing precision, any complaints have to be seen through this paradigm of world class dance music.
Steve Crawford’s “1000 Essential Songs From The 1970s” Reviewed
Crawford’s book is not unlike the man himself, he seems unassuming but he takes you by surprise, he doesn’t shout in his writing, he lets his wide knowledge and wry humor work for him. He expects you to appreciate his writing and you? You’ll dip into it with Spotify on, and before you know it hours have passed
Spotify’s End Game
The question is the same as to why Taylor Swift left Spotify, the advertising generated free plan. ITune’ “IPlay” won’t have it because they don’t need it, they have 800 Million clients with credit cards already. Spotify won’t give it up because they will lose their subscriber base
Monty Python At Screening Of “Holy Grail”
Talk about a must see, the remaining Python’s all under the same roof (the roof in question being Beacon Theatre) as part of the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th (a Friday!) and while I expect we don’t get much from them, it is like, well, to be obvious, if the Beatles reformed to play “All You Need Is Love” -just one song, but would you want to miss it? I think not.
Bjork’s Video For “Lionsong” Is Here
It looked to me, her larynx, like a vagina, and I am guessing either I have a dirty mind, or it was intentional, or both. The song is a beauty but you know that, a before the fall love song: “maybe he will come out of this loving me, maybe he won’t…”
10 Songs: Friday. Match 13th, 2015
The World Ender – Lord Huron – I dismissed this out of hand the other day but more out of pique that it wasn’t “Fool For Love” than anything personal, a coupla more listens and it reveals itself as a twangy West meets rockabilly song with a very tasty drum roil – B+
My Interview With Squeeze In 1987….
‘Hits Of The Year’ had iffy music, made worse by a terrible lyric. Difford: “It was an abortion, actually. It was a song from Difford/Tilbrook which hadn’t come out right and we decided to record it again. I decided I didn’t like the lyric, Glenn said the lyric wasn’t strong enough, the producer didn’t like the lyric
Golden Oldies: Van Morrison’s Complete Works Review ANd Graded
I’ve written before about the impermanence of what feels like it will last forever. The way the Ramones were always playing around town in the late 1970s, early 1980s, we just assumed it and now it felts like a dream. In the 1990s, Morrison recorded album after album in the 1990s -TWELVE! We thought it would never end but in the 2010s he has recorded exactly one album of new material
US Top 10 Singles 3-21-15
Nothing new here, last year it was Tay keeping Meghan down, this year Mark keeping ed out of the # 1 position. That ten weeks at the top is pretty damn impressive I will say that.
US Top 10 Albums 3-21-15
Impressed by Kelly? Really? She moved 83K units, or if you prefer, she completely blew it and it is a miracle she got to the top, a miracle or good planning, depending on your take. For sure, it ain’t great. Plus, where, exactly, is Kid Rock? I think the heart of the charts is stuck in place: 50, Tay, Drake, Maroon 5, Sam and Meghan., and the other four in flux. A little different than last year when the chart was much more volatile.
10 Songs: Thursday, March 12th, 2015
Bad Day – Evans The Dead – This London indie rock band will break big any second now, and one reason is this exceptional fuzzed guitar and keyboad track, it is really a deep album track but it stands out because everything stands out. This is a beautiful track, a rolling out roar of melody and mood – A
The Things We Do For Live Shows…
There have been riots (Run DMC and the Beastie Boys) near riots (Public Enemy), concerts with a single white person (New Edition, Black Street -I sat behind Whitney Houston), people dying mid-set (Patti Lupone), standing in line for entire days (David Bowie at Roseland -actually my friend did most of the standing), hostile audiences (Liz Phair got booed off stage at Town Hall
Hellfrost Goes Nuclear: We Did Not Desecrate Dimebag Darrell Abbot’s Grave
Mainman Sinjin Wheatley says: “Lately we have been receiving a lot of hate mail because people have been confusing us with Nuclear Hellfrost. We just want to clarify that we are not associated with them or the recent vandalism to Dimebag’s grave.”
A Show I Sincerely Regret Missing: David Crosby At City Winery A Year AGo
This was City Winery, you can’t find ticket brokers for it, they don’t provide tickets so why didn’t I think, “oh ok, I haven’t heard Croz yet, but if it is a dog I’ll just blow off the $60 or whatever and if it is good? So much the better, right? That was what a smart person would do but nooooo.
Singles Going Steady: Week Of March 9th, 2015
The first song off his eagerly anticipated collaboration with Pharrell is a Parliament/Funkadelic soundalike plus Snoop rap, and what is wrong with that? Nothing, but it isn’t exactly a shocker either and the heart of the song is a blad everyman modern hip hop veneer on a nothing special track – C+
10 Songs: March 11th, 2015
In which the former folkies attempt to widen their base by going for the rock sound of an earlyish U2… because, in rock, that’s where the money is: songs to be sung in stadiums where “I don’t know if I believe” and “tell me I’m alive” approximate deep emotions.” Ufortunately, they are a lot closer to a late period Coldplay. In artistic terms, a total disaster, in touring terms, who knows? – C-
Be Here Now: New Album Reviews, March 10th, 2015
This is their first new album in decades and while Jo Callis is missed, Fay Fife is here and though these have moments of maturity (sadly) and though there is nothing as great as “(My Baby) Does Good Sculpture” -what do you care if you’re listening to “Spike Heel Assassin”? Terrific, fun, a little older, not much wise… and FAY FIFE – ALBUM OF THE WEEK A-
The A+ List: “Martha” By Rufus Wainwright
This is the truest song you will hear about how death effects the living, it is so mournful it hurts to listen to it. When I saw him perform the album at Carnegie Hall, it sounded like words left unsaid. Today it feels like the deepest recesses of untimely grief. His greatest and most human song.
Last Call: Week Of March 2nd, 2015
Thorns Of A Rose (Interlude) – Ru Paul – Spoken word shout out to “the sweet sensitive souls who uncovers life cruel hoax”… Ru Paul advises prayer and stillness and why not? It isn’t a song but I don’t think it was written for me abd its audience might appreciate the sentiment – C+
10 Songs: Tuesday, March 10th, 2015
Come to Me – Bjork – The difference between Bjork 20 years ago and Bjork today is not sentiment, certainly not her singing, but the way she uses melody. In 2015, she does give us the luxury of melody and replaces it with texture. In 2003, she did both – A
Great Voices In Harlem, The Gloster Project, AT MIST Harlem, Sunday , March 9th, 2015, Reviewed
Any afternoon, any time at all, you get to listen to such a great collection of musicians, especially in such an intimate space, is a great afternoon. Or evening. And in aid of such a wonderful project: music can change your life
Bjork At Carnegie Hall, Saturday March 7th, 2015 Setlist
Working her way through her ninth and one of her best albums, the recently released Vulnicara, what I know about the show is what I read in the tabs: the Post, NYT and USA Today all raved, though, reading between the lines a little, Bjork and her 15 member orchestra may have been a little snoozy at times.
That Was The Week That Was: March 2nd, 2015
If you were in London, you coulda seen Kanye West meet up with the stars of Grime (stars? No Dizzee Rascal, no Tinie Tempah) after inviting them up on stage at the Brit Awards. Of course, you Brits shoulda absolutely included in their own homegrown rap scene -one we’ve covered for five years or something.
UK Top 10 Albums 3-14-15
Well, I am sure Noel is one happy Oasis but the question isn’t the UK, the question is the US and there he may find it a little more difficult. Meanwhile, The Shires are a pretty darn good pop duo and I hope it hits Stateside. Try “I Just Wanna Love You”.
UK Top 10 Singles 3-14-15
Now this is a fun list of songs, I will never like the Ellie song any more but I don’t hate it as much since watching that movie, and just about everything else is at least ok. Of the two new arrivals, Marlon is middling House pop and Years & Years is slightly above average synthpop.
10 Songs: Monday, March 9th, 2015
Aluminum Crown – Of Montreal – Another piece of droney psychedelia that reaches nowhere as it changes tempo and sound at the midway point like the Only Ones but not really vocals , and reaches its end not fast enough. “I’ve been hurt by trouble tree”? – C-