Music Reviews: Vinyl

If you didn’t know anything about Karen Dalton when you dropped the stylus on one of her records, you’d quickly get the sense that her life probably hadn’t been an easy one. Mournful, and sung in a voice that parsed the terrain between Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin, the songs on the 50th Anniversary Edition of the singer’s second and final long player can be a tough listen. But thanks to multiple reissue campaigns, her work has filtered on down through five plus... Read More

In April 1958, Lester Young moved into the Hotel Alvin, a seedy hotel at the corner of Broadway and Fifty-Second street in New York City, which, because it was cheap, was home to many musicians. Lester owned a house on Long Island in which his wife and two children lived but the Alvin was directly across the street from Birdland, and that was where Lester wanted to be.Lester wasn’t playing at Birdland or any of the other major clubs in Manhattan. His chronic... Read More

Mendelssohn completed his Octet in E Flat Major when he was 16 years old. Good thing he started composing brilliant pieces while young because he was dead at 38. After completing the piece, dedicated to his violin teacher Eduard Rietz, Mendelssohn gave him the score as a birthday present on October 17, 1825. Rietz copied out all of the parts and it was quickly performed in an informal family gathering. Rietz lived an even shorter life. Tuberculosis got him at age 30.... Read More

Other than Donald Fagen, the boys hanging in the studio control room in the back jacket photo look either pissed (Denny Dias), mildly bemused and/or disgusted (Walter Becker), or completely stoned and/or exhausted (Jeff "Skunk" Baxter). Drummer Jim Hodder, too far from the camera to read and noticeably isolated physically from the others, would soon exit the band after being pushed out of the drummer seat by Jim Gordon and Jeff Porcaro on the third album... Read More

Despite the inherent lightness and breeze of "West Coast" jazz, this set recorded Halloween day 1956 is simultaneously cool and blazing hot, with Art Pepper and Chet Baker at their youthful peak navigating a set of intricately written and charted tunes, five of the seven by Jimmy Heath, hence the album's title, plus two by Pepper.If you're of a certain age, some of the uptempo vibe here will remind you of 50s and 60s era television show theme songs... Read More

Kyoto’s four-piece, all-female, Japanese punk sensation Otoboke Beaver are probably the most talented live band I have witnessed in years. My favourite rhythm section in punk rock? No doubt about it, with Hiro-Chan’s bass effortlessly interlocking with the incredible drumming of Kahokiss. Is Kahokiss the best drummer I have ever seen? No question - she can stop and start on a pinhead and hammer out multiple time-signatures in one song at a tempo and force that... Read More

The speculation below re digital is wrong. Patrick Milligan commented on an unboxing video that it’s from tape. I stand corrected and sorry I didn’t see obscure unboxing video. However, I stand by my sound comments. These records don’t sound great compared to previously released versions and the compression is noticeable and unwelcomed. Compared to nothing I’m sure they will sound okay. And glad they are cut from tape.The four albums in this box document an artist on... Read More

In 2008 Thorens commissioned Analogue Productions to create a 3 LP package celebrating the company's 125th anniversary. The resulting limited edition set—with songs selected from titles that had either been produced by or licensed by Analogue Productions— quickly sold out and now fetches big dollars on Discogs. The least expensive copy listed as I write this is at $170.00. The top price paid was over $400. Now Analogue Productions has repurposed the package,... Read More

Lori Lieberman performs this set of standards without a "net"—no reverb bath, or any kind of cover. Singing directly and closely "on mic" where there's no room for error she delivers her finest vocal performances on record backed by Matt Rollings on keyboards (piano and B3), Lyle Workman on guitars, David Piltch on upright bass and Victor Indrizzo on drums.Lieberman produced the record with Rollings, a player in Lyle Lovett's Large Band... Read More

Fed up with tight set lists and arena tour tedium, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers pitched its musical tent January, 1997 at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium for a two week residency. The Fillmore put 10 shows on sale—box office sale and pickup only— not sure how it would do. It was an immediate sell-out. More show dates followed until there were 20 sell-out shows between January 10 and February 7.

(This review, written by Carl E. Baugher, originally appeared in Issue 7, Spring 1996.)P is Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers), Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhand), Bill Carter and Sal Jenco. Also, as it says on the back of the LP jacket, “P is a land, not a liquid or a fruit.” Uh, ok. Not by any means the discordant thrash you might expect from this Gibby-led bunch, this quirky, curious album is consistently engaging, with a wide range of musical variety and coarse, crude... Read More

In 1966 The Beatles came to Japan, playing the 15,000-seat Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, firmly planting the flag of western rock and roll in the island nation. What followed were a series of Beatles and Rolling Stones-esq copycat bands, often assembled by various record labels, playing everything from covers of American blues hits, to sparkly pop ballads written by in-house composers supplied by the record label. As the Japanese had difficulty pronouncing the term ‘Rock... Read More

There's so much to like about this reissue of a 1994 Criss Cross release, here for the first time on vinyl, especially if you dig jazz organ. The title plays off of Wes Montgomery's 1993 Riverside album "Boss Guitar" on which Rhyne played in a trio with Jimmy Cobb on drums.That fun set mostly consisting of covers was Montgomery's 9th for Riverside and not exactly a collection necessity. Both Rhyne and Montgomery were Indianapolis natives who... Read More

Ahmad Jamal has long been known for his stately swing. He emerged as an innovative pianist, and a best-selling trio leader, in 1958, with his live album, "At the Pershing: But Not for Me". Even before then, Miles Davis touted him as a major influence on his own ballad style, citing his spacious phrasing and soft touch. Miles told his pianist of the era, Red Garland, to play like Jamal.I confess I didn’t follow Jamal much between his lyrical late-‘50s... Read More

Louis Armstrong, of all popular well-loved musicians of good cheer, never did release a Christmas album—until this one was recently cobbled together by some smart folks at Verve/UMe. How smart? It's Top 10 across multiple November 26th Billboard charts. This is kind of wild but: it came in at No. 9 on the Top Holiday Albums chart and launches in the top 10 on Jazz Albums (No. 4), Traditional Jazz Albums (No. 4), Top Album Sales (No. 7), Top Current Album Sales... Read More