Juliana Hatfield: Hey Babe, Bye Babe; a Fiction Romance
I know i promised a Juliana Hatfield overview but as I started researching I realised she wrote an autobiography, “When I Grow Up,” last year which I have just downloaded onto my kindle and will give a quick read before I attempt my usual brief to the point of incoherrence think piece. This kindle (my…
New releases April 21st; anti-Beatles matter; best gay anthem ever?
Every Tuesday Itune changes my life: I go through the new releases, buy ten to fifteen songs, tuesday evening buy another couple from people’s whose songs I liked and by Saturday decide whether I want to invest in the entire album. So here’s this weeks round up: It is more than possible Pet Shop Boys…
Taylor and Miley: the difference between talent and genuis
Miley Cyrus is a talented girl, a fine comedienne with a nice voice and some good -and sometimes some great- material. She might be the Marie Osmond of the 00s and she might be more. With a howling pack of tweens and younger girls screaming for blood she appears to be traversing the horrors of…
Lily Allen live at Roseland April 20th, 2009 reviewed; the Dead were the Byrds, no, really
The back up band was a bit nondescript, the mix was screwed up on the first two songs, she didn’t perform “Alfie” and otherwise Lily was excellent at Roseland last night. I arrived halfway through the opening band’s set and I have one valuable piece of advise for them: CHANGE YOUR NAME. They are a…
Me and Polly Magoo; lost rock clubs; best sets ever; people I should love and don’t
Back in the day PJ Harvey could do no wrong: from the insane charged and sexual confusion of her earliest solo work like “Dry” and “Rid Of Me’ to the Jungian wetness of “To Bring Your love To Me” (possibly the best album of 1994) we were right there with her. But then things went…
Lil Wayne and the state of hip hop
To paraphrase: hip hops been going down hill ever since Biggie died and by now… wow, if you’d told me five years ago, when the Cash Money crew got blown off stage by Eminem, Snoop, and Dre at Summer Jam, Lil Wayne would be the keeper of the faith idda wondered who shot Jay-Z. Well,…
Dylan and Conor 2009
Look at it this way: every album Conor Oberst and Bob Dylan have ever released are must owns with the possible exception of the 1973 “Dylan”. And it looks like Conor’s “Outer South” (due May 5th) and Dylan’s “Together Through This” (April 28th) could well be masterpieces. Start with Oberst: recording as a member of…
Hair today; middle age Tilbrook; Yeah Yeah Yeahs; bring back sunday afternoon concerts; god vs god
Say what you will about Andrew Lloyd Webber, and I can think of a few choice words, when he put on a Broadway show you could see the money. The same can’t be said about “Hair” and the very cheapness of the enterprise (orchestra: two keyboards, four horns, two guitars and a bass), stage? barren)…
The Beatles without their clothes on (yes, Spector again); Hair yesterday; album of the year?
Any true Beatles fan can’t listen to them any more. Much like 60s’ Dylan, there is no more to be learnt in the byways of their material and even the three anthology’s did little to shed new light. For one thing, they had been available for decades on boots and for another thing, they were…
U2 and changing your mind and writing about music; initial thoughts on Live In London with a peek at “Death Of A Ladies Man”; a word about my writing
The Stone gave it 5 stars, Blender gave it 5 stars, Q gave it 5 stars. Unfortunately, “No Line On The Horizon” is one of the worst albums of U2’s career. If I was still writing professionally I’d have given it 1 star and now, a coupla weeks after my imaginary review, I’d have to…
Prolific Prince; Kris and Ethan and country music
I’ve been waiting to get my hands on the new prince “Lotus Flower,” triple for awhile but not wanting to blow $70 online and with no “Target” stores in NYC it had to wait till a trip to orlando this weekend. And I’m not really ready to discuss it yet. But i am ready to…
Bob Mould at Joe’s Pub -Waiting for Lily Allen
About Joe’s Pub -the food is OK, the sightlines are great and if you wanna see a band up close hope and pray they visit this village haunt. Last nights Bob Mould gig was sold out. Mould is the former frontman for Husker Du and Sugar and the set was sure brilliance -I had a…
And Away we go…
My name is Iman Lababedi. I am 52 years old. I was a music critic for Creem, the Village Voice and other publications in the ’80s and hung up my typewriter in 1988 never to return. But i continued to listen to music and I continued to write. I listen to music just about every…
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