REVIEWS

Artist: Various Artists Album: American Epic (5CD Box Set) Label: Legacy/Third Man/Columbia/Sony Music It might sound like a bit of a reach on the surface, but the first thing that listening to American Epic reminded me of was my university experience and how music like that which can be found on this box set changed my life. My first full-time year – in addition to the classes which were requisite for a bachelor’s degree in Communications – I took a...

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...

Judas Priest Turbo 30 (Legacy/Columbia/Sony Music) Skim through the catalogues of any number of rock bands who have enjoyed a lot of popularity and, invariably, it’s easy to find the fly in the creative ointment that fans abhor; that album was Into The Unknown for Bad Religion, it was Unmasked for KISS and Metallica has yet to live down Load. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time for those albums or maybe they were just weak and generally ill-advised...

Round Eye Monster Vision (Sudden Death Records) Even on first examination of Monster Vision, it’s perfectly clear how poised to totally reinvigorate punk rock Round Eye really are now. The band’s 2015-issued debut album hit those who heard it like a force of nature and won converts to the band’s banner effortlessly, but their sophomore effort is something else; Monster Vision manages to retain the fury and mania of its predecessor, but also illustrates that the group isn’t just a...

Mastodon Emperor Of Sand (Reprise/Warner) After having spent the last few years stretching stylistically in a few different directions (The “White Walker” single found a home as the lead track for a season of HBO’s Game Of Thrones, 2014’s Once More ‘Round The Sun say the band get leaner and almost blurring the lines between metal and punk rock a bit), there’s something refreshing and exciting about the fact that Mastodon has made a glorious return to the sort of...

Sean White Dead & Gone (A Special Thing Records) If tragedy plus time equals comedy, then Sean White must have missed the memo. It takes great standup sets to really put into perspective what high levels the art form can take. In our modern times, Tig Notaro’s album Live probably is the best example of how tragic and introspective and hopeful and smart standup can be. And I’m sure Tig Notaro’s aware the kind of attention she’s gotten is bound...

Murray McLauchlan Love Can’t Tell Time (True North Records) When your body of work spans nineteen albums released over a 46-year period, it’s obvious that your love affair with music is a lifelong one. Such is really the only way it could be possible to take Love Can’t Tell Time, Murray McLauchlan’s newest release – by the singer’s own admission, the album is, “A great collection of songs I love to play when I have no other agenda than just...

Old 97’s Graveyard Whistling (ATO/Cadence) The Old 97’s have been touted as one of the alt-country greats for years now but, really, one of the things that has kept listeners coming back for a while now has been the band’s steadfast refusal to believe their own hype and just try to make an album which comes close to answering it. Now, at first, that modesty was cute (what music fan doesn’t like pulling for their heroes against the odds?), but...

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Flying Microtonal Banana (ATO/Cadence) Listening to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s ninth album, Flying Microtonal Banana, one is inspired to recall Karl Marx’s fairly damning summation of history’s propensity for repeating itself – “the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. In this case, there’s no denying that the fairly delightful rock n’ roll King Gizzard is peddling is the farcical incarnation of the psychedelic rock which first materialized in...

Five Alarm Funk Sweat (independent) Without intending to come off as trite, there are occasions when it’s possible to mark certain similarities between a new album and music which has appeared elsewhere in music history, but those moments can still reverberate with excitement because no one saw that music or the connection to anything else coming – from anywhere, ever. Such a moment hit me the moment that the music on Five Alarm Funk’s new album, Sweat, began to emanate...