Some readers will cringe and some will cheer, but there is no mid-point in possible reaction; such is the polar nature of the reactions to Simply Red, and it has been since the band formed out of the ashes of a punk band in 1985 (no joke – singer Mick Hucknall...
I can think of no other band which laid out their musical development from album to album so clearly as Talking Heads. Each Talking Heads album built on what came before, while adding some new element into the mix. Sure, you can watch the Beatles grow from Help to...
How does one qualify a record as beautiful? With other art forms, it's easy; a painting can be attractive or not, a theatrical production can capture human truths and faithfully represent them, a dance can be fluid in its' execution and affecting in its'...
As any heartbroken man can tell you, there's a progression to the ache in a relationship's end after the initial crushing event that is required for the healing process to start. First comes the anger – the man lashes out both at his surroundings and...
There was just no doubt that something was bound to change for Fat Possum Records eventually. Over the last decade or so, many of the original Mississippi bluesmen that the label initially sought to promote (including Asie Payton, Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside)...
Awright, No muss, no fuss, no talkin' (well, not much), what I got 'ere requires no introduction. Do you reprobates actually read these introductions anyway? Probably not – they're just the whipped filling on toppa yer SWAG right? And what a batch...
Everyone needs to own a Swingin’ Utters album. I know you don’t, but I also happen to know that you should. I know what you're thinking; you’re thinking, “With a name like that, what are they supposed to sound like – some joke...
There comes a point in one's life when you do what you want to do, and not just what you feel you have to do. I think it's safe to say that Rob Halford has reached that point. After almost forty years as the front man for one of the most influential bands in...
For decades, it was uncommon for a professional musician to take his or her career seriously. Many considered what they were doing to be a leisure industry – the guiding mindset being that they were able to work at a leisurely rate and whatever they were doing...
Whether it's deserved or not, some records just get a bum rap. Sometimes it makes sense – there have been occasions when the makers of the “bad record” in question were in an unfortunate place personally that reflected in the band's music or...