When does a band finally get to stand outside the shadow of its own past? That is the first question those who listen to The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here will ask themselves in frustration, because Alice In Chains appears right back where they were when Black Gives Way To Blue came out in most listeners' mind's eye; facing a wall of dubious expectation. Listeners will find themselves asking if singer William DuVall can stand up to Layne Staley's legacy (just...

Of Monsters And Men are certainly wearing their newfound fame and attention well. Formed just three years ago, the folk-flavored quintet charged out of Iceland like a force of nature and has captivated audiences with the beautiful, stunning and soulful vocal interplay of multi-instrumentalists Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir, Ragnar Þórhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson and their intricate, folky charms as well. The innate accessibility of...

As news of Ray Manzarek's death floated across the internet (including the bizarre, beyond post-modern moment when the story that his death was really an internet hoax turned out to be an internet hoax in itself), I was struck by a couple of recurring threads in my friends' Facebook posts. Of course, there were the inevitable video clips of the Doors, including a few which actually featured Manzarek as much as the other dead Door. There were also, just as...

If there's one performer destined to go the route of showtune slingin' cheesedick mediocrity in his golden years, it's Rod Stewart. Even at his commercial zenith, around the time of Blondes Have More Fun and "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy," The Mod had already cashed in any vestiges of credibility and masculinity along with, more importantly, the will to muster half a concern over the loss. Having held out on the Faces with his A-list oeuvre at the dawning of his...

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Then she leaves with someone you don't know.But she made sure you saw hershe looks right at you and bolts.…And your friends say, "What is it?You look like you've seen a ghost." They played the first Airborne Toxic Event CD regularly at my work and, even through a crappy sound system and the chaotic din of retail, those lines reached out and grabbed me. It wasn't just the punch of the lines themselves, it was the strings sawing away behind...

What do you say about a record which (at least occasionally) makes you cringe and recoil because some of the sounds on it are just so abhorrent, but it isn't so bad that the idea of listening to it doesn't always make you die a little inside? How does one say, “This record is bad, but not so bad that it's impossible to make one's way all the way through it?” How does one explain that, somehow, a record manages...

The problem with requiems – especially requiems made in tribute to celebrities – is that everybody involved always feels compelled to make sure their voice is heard loud enough that theirs is the one associated with the event. That such a personal thing as a requiem and remembrance is ever co-opted by the vanity of others is a little remarkable (and tactless) at best and a little disgusting at worst; and there's no good reason it should happen – not...

Hey junky,How're things goin' where you are, ya wood-armed reprobates? I betcher gettin' a little itchy again, 'specially cause I ain't ben aroun' regular-like ova da las' little while right? Aw, poor junky – well I'm here now ta calm yer nerves an' soothe yer ills wit' anotha bag o' SWAG, so relax awready! I got some pretty tasty pieces fer youse ta try dis week too – ain'chu lucky? Like I got some gear from Dawes an' Shovels &...

It's always fun to think that second chances come for those who deserve them, but the fact is that the chance to start over is a truly special rarity – especially for musicians. Forgiving (if only for a moment) is easy enough to do, but forgetting most certainly isn't; most times, while the circumstances which led to a band breaking up the first time may have calmed, they often end up reasserting themselves and being insurmountable again when the possibility...