Archive for the 'Song Reviews' Category
R.I.P. Jim Carroll
Author: Doctor B
Death as a subject in rock music (or “nec-rock-philia” as some wags have dubbed it) is nothing new. It showed up in everything from Mark Dinning’s 1959 one-hit wonder Teen Angel, to J. Frank Wilson & The Cavaliers’ romance-comic-like tear-jerker from 1964, Last Kiss to Bloodrock’s grinding, dirgey, death-metallic 1971 hit, DOA. Nonetheless, when Jim Carroll’s single People Who Died arrived at the radio station I spin for back in 1980, my jaw hit the floor. What was this guy up to? What was this guy on? Read the rest of this entry »
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Rundgren takes the mic back from Sulton for the ever popular 'Soul Medley'. Photo by Lynn Vala
Rundgren reemerges with an Orange suit on, much like the one worn during the Liars tour. This medley is obviously what they rehearsed the most, or it at least sounded that way as apart from some errant Theremin notes (and those things were hair-trigger at best) this was as tight as it gets.
Ever enchanting Amos warms the ivories on her trusty Bosendorfer piano. Photo by Lynn Vala.
Picking up from last time, we are now reviewing the concert show for Amos’ most recent release Abnormally Attracted To Sin. Red Bank to the average visitor (which I consider myself to be) is a quaint hamlet akin to Philadelphia’s South Street before the Mardi Gras riots of a few years ago. After a lovely dinner at a local diner, we venture to the venue. An all-American meal before seeing a show from an all-American girl.
Who just so happens to live in England.
Sea Sew Suds
Author: HJ Mills
The first thought that pops into my head when I think of Lisa Hannigan’s “I Don’t Know” is a pink, sparkling bubble bath because that’s what it sounds like – an audio bubble bath. Singing with a smile that can be heard through any speakers, Hannigan proudly sings “I don’t know if you write letters or you panic on the phone/I’d like to call you all the same/If you want to/I am game.” Though the music video lacks the suds, the paper cut-outs work out nicely. As her second single, it’s lovely as a single rose to pluck or biting into a ripe mango – so sweet. Read the rest of this entry »
The Young Person’s Guide To Fripp & Eno
Author: Jeff Boule
Again, we have a reissued blog from a time lost to the digital gremlins:
Mr. Billingsworth,
Upon bringing in the email, I found your exchange with my Mrs. from earlier today regarding Fripp & Eno. I have a few points of interest and we can also discuss Prog matters in general.
So I here I am in the New Jersey dust bowl sitting through Street Sweeper Social Club featuring Tom Morello. While he is an innovative guitarist, I got nothing for him, I got nothing for Rage Against The Machine. I am here for Nine Inch Nails. If this is truly going to be one of those farewell tours that precede another farewell tour later on, I will be pissed. Street Sweeper Social Club is a mutation of “Kid Rock meets Poser Metal”. The PNC dust bowl is filling up and the crowd is respectably mixed in demographic. Morello, the guitar player for SSSC, tells the crowd to stand up for their last song (thankfully) but I adhere to no such demands from any front person.
SLIMMED-DOWN TUBES SPRING FROM NY ON WORLD TOUR – B.B. KING’S 05-31-09
Author: Jeff Boule
(Photo by Lynn Vala)
If you are a bit longer-in-the-tooth as I am, you remember a time when MTV played music videos, those alleged promotional devices that were short-form movies scripted to coincide with the lyrics and tone of the song being promoted. If you consider this time period (from 1981 to about 1992) when we were still recovering from the post-disco era, music that suddenly had images to accompany the sounds seemed like a logical place for this 7-piece-plus musical theater troupe of a band. Since their inception through their last major release, they have been minimally a 7-piece. TWO guitars, TWO keyboardists, bass, drums and vocals with occasionally added female vocals, dancers, roller skaters, actors, sometimes just the guys backstage would walk around on stage and it would be so heavily populated no one would notice.
Last Of Last Of The New-Wave Riders – Utopia Storm Tokyo, 1979
Author: Jeff Boule
Utopia bid adieu after a night on stage. Photo by Coming Age.
It is painfully; finally time to wrap up the on-going series of reviews tackling the Utopia box set Last Of The New Wave Riders. This set features Utopia playing to the American-culture-starved Japanese inquisitive yet reserved audiences. Japanese audiences were the most accepting of the some-time obscure and were willing to hear out the overtly obscure. No better place to play Utopia’s material. Unless you are Todd Rundgren and in your enthusiasm to entertain you do something that mortifies the people in the first few rows.
AMY SERRATA
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
Amy Serrata’s self-titled debut album is a musical blend of soul, jazz, hip-hop and pop, threaded with themes of personal growth and positivity.
free download of the track “Rooted”
http://wdl7.streamhoster.com/elemental/amy-serrata-rooted.mp3
C
-leigh Silbernagel
Soundtrack To Watermelon Munching
Author: HJ Mills
The seasons are nomads, and Summer has come back for a visit. Watermelon and berries are no longer in hibernation. There is now potato salad to make for the backyard barbeques to come. The beach becomes an opportunity again. Ball Mason jars are just waiting patiently to house freshly caught fireflies. And the songs of summer are ready to prove that they are just as luminous as sunlight glimmering through the trees. Read the rest of this entry »
Utopia’s Last Of The New Wave Riders Hurtles Towards Oblivion
Author: Jeff Boule
Photo By Jeff Boule
Once again, we revisit, review and revise a blog lost to zeros and ones…
As we recover from the last two back-to-back weeks of the Deface Tour, we need to take it easy. With this in mind, we will be doing an abbreviated review (read: not a two-parter this week). We are continuing with our examination of the Utopia box set, Last Of The New Wave Riders. A set of live performance CDs spanning from early in Utopia’s career up to almost the end. This particular show, the Oblivion Tour, is a single disc. The only one in the box set that isn’t a two CD set. VALUE!
Vocal Blanketing: Ethereal Music for Rainy Days
Author: Adrienne Brown
Recently, during a rather frazzled moment of negotiating the vehicular nightmare that is Commercial Avenue in New Brunswick, I heard one of the most soothing songs to ever reach my ears. My radio was tuned in to 90.3 The Core (Rutgers University Radio) and the song that was playing was Generosity by Mirah. Not only was her vocal style an unexpected comfort as I weaved through traffic and random pedestrians, but the accompanying violins brought me to a place far from the industrial landscape. As a voracious reader of music magazines, I encountered articles extolling the wonder of Mirah, but had never actually given her music a listen.
Lady Sovereign and Damien Rice as survival tools
Author: Eliza Varner
This past week was finals for Winter Term. After 9 weeks of pretending I could understand inorganic chemistry (i don’t), it was time to lock myself in a study room, not sleep for 30 hours at a time, and drink 97 cokereward points worth of coke zero. To survive this nightmare of a time, I relied very heavily on a playlist which was a combination of breezy folk and femme fatale, Lady Sovereign and Damien Rice, among other artists. Read the rest of this entry »
Pop! Straight Out of Scandinavia
Author: Adrienne Brown
When it comes to our choices of music, we all have guilty pleasures. During my formative years, I was a huge New Kids on the Block fan. I tortured my parents to purchase every poster, cassette tape (yes, it was that long ago), and piece of merchandise I could get my hands on. My love of NKOTB even helped me to become elected to my intermediate school student council. However, as time moved on, so did my taste in music. By the time high school arrived, I had abandoned pop music in exchange for alternative bands like Nirvana and Depeche Mode.
The Sixties Live! — on You Tube
Author: Bob Bembridge
Robin Williams said if you remember the Sixties, you weren’t there.
One thing you couldn’t forget was the music. Bob Dylan sparked an artistic renaissance in rock music which hasn’t been equaled since. Most of those great songs of the Sixties are now available on You Tube. Here are a few of my favorite music videos which you can check out for yourself. (I’m recommending the You Tube video which contains the best available sound recording of each song.) Read the rest of this entry »
DIONYZA: “Quite Like Me,” Sophisticated Generational Bridge
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
DIONYZA
“Quite like Me”
Little Dizzy Records
DIONYZA has a polished sophistication to her skilled, soulful, modern R&B styled music. The daughter of Motown singer/songwriters Michael and Brenda Sutton is a welcomed newcomer to counterbalance the dime-a-dozen-divabots that are taking over the music scene. Her lyrical content and style heralds back to Chante Moore and Maysa Leak.
For those of you not familiar with the name David Byrne, he was the strange man in the suit and horned-rimmed glasses chopping at his forearm in the Talking Heads “Once In A Lifetime” video. Talking Heads long-time producer, Brian Eno, has been a long-time collaborator of Byrne’s. The show was billed as The Songs Of David Byrne and Brian Eno, right there, you know it’s going to be…
KANYE: 808’s & Heartbreak
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
Kanye West: 808’s and Heartbreak
The songs that are not about heartbreak are your classic Kanye self-swagger tributes: powerful tracks with stylistically well-done use of an auto-tune that showcases Kanye’s impressive vocal range and control. Ranging from the resolved, empowerment-anthem: “Welcome to Heartbreak,” to the unexpected throwback early 90s beat “Paranoid:” Kanye knows what he does best, and he delivers it once again.
KANYE: 808′S and HEARTBREAK
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
The songs that are not about heartbreak are your classic Kanye self-swagger tributes: powerful tracks with stylistically well-done use of an auto-tune that showcases Kanye’s impressive vocal range and control. Ranging from the resolved, empowerment-anthem: “Welcome to Heartbreak,” to the unexpected throwback early 90s beat “Paranoid:” Kanye knows what he does best, and he delivers it once again. Read the rest of this entry »
That Guitar Man from Central Park; David Ippolito
Author: Leigh Silbernagel
That Guitar man from Central Park; David Ippolito
Self-described as “Acoustic-storytelling like James Taylor might have written if heavily influenced by the Beatles and Broadway.”