A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 40th anniversary, 2LP reissue of Signing Off by UB40. Maybe it’s just an extension of the unapologetic non-conformist in me, but I have never been able to stop myself from being drawn into music which goes out of its way to challenge expectations and/or just endeavor to go against the grain, defiantly. I know that, at least occasionally, I turn an ear toward music which doesn’t make me feel comfortable, in...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Jealous Butcher reissue of Infinite X’s’ self-titled album. After Longstocking met its end in 1997, singer/guitarist Tamala Poljak was clearly still riding some residual inspiration when they began assembling the music which would become Infinite X’s’ debut album. When the time finally came to start recording, the group of players assembled to comprise the band gave an ideal illustration of what it would sound like; Poljak’s pedigree was all about West...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fat Possum reissue of the Catholic Boy LP by the Jim Carroll Band. Readers need to know that, first, I did not sleep on this review – the truth is that I’ve written and then started over with this review a multitude of times, but it has always stalled at one point of another, and caused...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush LP. It’s not easy to articulate what kind of mark a fiftieth anniversary represents. Those who remain married for fifty years call it their Golden anniversary (or Golden Jubilee) and, while it’s not uncommon to live longer in the twenty-first century, fifty years is still a pretty significant event – it is half a century, after all. The point, ultimately is that a lot of life...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Wildflowers & All The Rest 3LP reissue by Tom Petty. Author Rae Carson once wrote that, “Some people, the best ones, are motivated more by the chance to prove themselves than by a command to serve. It is the work itself that calls them onward, especially if they believe they are the only ones who can do it.” In effect, some people do their best work – any kind of work...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Smell The Magic 12” reissue by L7. As a critic, I am not often given to crossing music with politics (unless, of course, I’m reviewing something like an album which has a political slant about it – like a Bob Dylan album or perhaps one by Rise Against) – but sometimes the moment just feels right – and listening to L7’s Smell The Magic EP inspires that sensation handily. “How could...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fortieth Anniversary, Record Store Day 2017-released, limited edition 2LP reissue of Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Not so very long ago, I was muddling through the stacks at my favorite record store when the sight of something surprising gave me pause. There, on a reasonably cool spring day, I found a copy of the Record Store Day reissue of Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidoids, originally...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the LP + 7” reissue of Peculiar by The Slackers. I remember the first time The Slackers released Peculiar in 2006 (back then, it came our on Hellcat Records). At that time, I was only a few years into working in the music press. I had a pretty good relationship with Epitaph, and they sent me a CD copy of Peculiar for review. Back then, I wasn’t too into ska – I...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into Fat Possum’s vinyl reissue of Wild Gift by X. As good as Los Angeles was and as important as that album would ultimately prove to be in the presentation of X, the band’s debut album will ultimately always play a supporting role to the band’s sophomore long-player, Wild Gift. Now, it’s important to note that Wild Gift would not, could not have happened had the groundwork not been laid by Los Angeles,...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Fat Possum reissued pressing of the Los Angeles LP by X. It might not be the first thing that fans think of when they’re looking at punk rock and trying to decode how the genre has evolved, but the fact is that the breed which was borne of Los Angeles in the late Seventies and early Eighties drew from a very deep well of inspiration – arguably a deeper one than...