Education and the Social Order by Bertrand Russell It’s tough categorizing Bertrand Russell books because they tend to read like in-depth analyses but at the same time these are just Russell’s opinions and experiences that he’s recounting. The thing is of course that Russell has a very persuasive and charming demeanor to him that makes him very convincing. It’s undoubtedly why his writings brought him such success. Education and the Social Order is a perfect example of what...

Artist: Jane’s Addiction Album: Ritual De Lo Habitual – Alive at 25 CD/DVD Label: (Cleopatra/MVD Visual) As I’m confident is no surprise after fifteen years of extolling this fact, I love live concerts but find something about just focussing on a single album – a band playing that and only that at a show – a little hard to take. In that situation, what one is witnessing ceases to feel like a show or a concert and sort of feels...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 12” Razor Stomp EP by Suede Razors. It might sound weird to say, but it’s about time Suede Razors got around to releasing more than just two songs at a time. To date, Bay area bovver band Suede Razors have managed to build a shockingly devoted following on the srength of a succession of seven-inch singles (see “Boys Night Out” and “Here She Comes” – both of which are backed by...

Artist: Elvis Presley Album: Boy From Tupelo 3CD Box set Label: (Legacy/RCA/Sony Music) It’s strange but, now forty years after his death, the image of Elvis Presley hasn’t faded but has become pretty two-dimensional. For many, the popular images of Elvis are basically that of the man who swiveled his hips and made women swoon as he sang “Heartbreak Hotel,” and that of the fat man who ate fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches and died on the toilet. To...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the So It Is LP by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I must confess that, after having listened to music on a daily basis for three decades (first as a fan, then as a critic and a fan), I have grown cynical and hypercritical to jazz. The reason for that is pretty simple: I believe that jazz was once a cutting edge form which puahsed the possibilities of time, rhythm, meter, intonation,...

Alejandro Jodorowsky The Dance of Reality (Original Soundtrack) Photo: popmarket.com Let’s talk about Alejandro Jodorowsky’s evolution as a filmmaker. If you compare one of his latest movies Dance of Reality with his earlier work like El Topo or Holy Mountain, you can clearly notice how Jodorowsky’s become a much more polished filmmaker while still staying on message. That message of course is to challenge his viewers, bombard them with iconography, make them think, and truly try to change the world...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Modern Plagues LP by The Whistles And The Bells. If we can all agree that many of the best, most interesting albums are those which convey a particular image of its maker, then there’s little doubt of Modern Plagues‘ quality. From the very outset of The Whistles And The Bells’ sophomore album, listeners are presented with the image of auteur Bryan Simpson toiling gladly and madly in some fantastic underground fortress...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Blau Sang Vermell Cel LP by CRIM. The catch, when it comes to working within any pop music-based form (and, as inconvenient as it is to say, punk rock definitely falls into that category), is that language plays a key role in the music’s accessibility. Simply said, if a band’s not speaking the mother tongue of the country they’re playing to, they’ve already alienated a fairly an impressive portion of its...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Prayer For Peace LP by North Mississippi Allstars. The terms and conditions for being regarded as an “artistic dynasty” are vague and often vary from band-to-band but, without question or argument, the Dickinson family fits the bill. First, there was Jim Dickinson; for forty-six years, Jim Dickinson was present in one capacity or another (either as an “artist” or as a “producer”) to help realize some of the greatest blues albums...

A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Tackle Box LP by Hamell On Trial. It might sound a little ridiculous, but the truth is that some musicians need to have something which genuinely pisses them off – something they find truly abhorrent – before them in order to produce their best work. Take Ed Hamell, for example; Hamell has been a politically-minded songwriter since he first appeared in 1996 but his best music has always appeared when either...