The beautiful thing about irony in music is that, when it's done just right, the thematic ambiguity it can imply is infectious for some and will leave others turned right off – and the difference all boils down to an individual listener's sensibilities. It's really all about taste; one man's trash is another man's treasure and how a listener regards any particular record (but especially those which use irony as a key ingredient) depends entirely upon the values that a...
There are few propositions quite so dicey as those which attempt to crossbreed another musical style with metal. Why? The grim truth is that metal does not play well with others; while the initial results might be really cool, every band that has attempted to cross a Top 40-identified sound with metal has begun to flounder creatively as they try to figure out what to do next. The spent corpses left behind in the ongoing quest to find some sort...
Alright, so a couple of die-hard super-fans have already begun to publicly complain that, while the recent John Lennon remaster initiative claims to be an 'extensive' or 'complete' endeavor, there are a few things missing. "What could possibly be missing," you ask? A bunch of things – according to those die-hard-ests making the biggest noise. According to the true-blue few, in addition to the bonus tracks that were "unearthed" and appended to those reissues of Rock 'N' Roll, Plastic Ono...
After thirty years of time between, some perspective is required in order to understand the circumstances around Double Fantasy's original release. When the album appeared in late 1980, it was Lennon's first full-length record of new material in six years. Six years, for those keeping score, was the longest period of time between albums (by far) for the singer since he first appeared in the public eye with The Beatles in 1963. During that hiatus, history books say that Lennon...
Happy 30th folks,Wow – this is gettin' a little ridickulous – I'm still gettin' away with this shit! Maybe the biz has decided this could work – that guys like me givin' stuff away might help 'em sell somethin' or somethin'. That'd be somethin' wouldn't it? That'd make me quite the dupe, but the upside izzat I gotta bunch o' stuff ta lay on ya again'is week. Haddaya like 'at junkie? Trollin' aroun'is week, I found some good, good stuff,...
I almost wish I could have compressed all of this month's reviews into one monster review. The same themes run through all of the releases I've written in the last thirty days – roots music, collaborations, breaking down the boundaries between genres, and old pros having fun. But there is also a deeper commonality between these records. The reviews I've written – Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Robert Plant and Jerry Lee Lewis – are all artists who made their reputations...
Hot damn, this is fun! Y'know, I might come off like I'm abrasive an' I might jus' be a mean motherfucker, but goddamn I'm havin' fun wit' these weekly raids! Grabbin' alla this stuff for you fine junkies has put a new spring in my step – 'at's fer sure – an' people have noticed it when I come their way inna real world. Somebody mentioned it to me not too long ago; I might still be a miserable reprobate,...