Music Reviews: Rock

In old school animation—the way Disney and Warner Brothers did it way back when— rough drawings of the action were sketched on paper by the animators, who then flipped through the pages to see what they've drawn come to rough life. Once these roughs met with their approval they handed them off to secondary animators usually referred to as "in-betweeners" who produced the drawings that go in between what the animators hand them, thus producing the... Read More

Whether the members of Cream were considered “cream of the crop” players or ELP debuting before a crowd of 600,000 at the Isle of Wight, supergroups became a hot-button commodity that granted success in the late 1960s. Although Humble Pie may have included members of Small Faces, The Herd, Spooky Tooth, and the Apostolic Intervention, they were keen to distance themselves from any preconceived connotations by the music press. The foursome established a sound rooted in... Read More

By 1971, things were finally starting to come together for Genesis. Vocalist Peter Gabriel, keyboardist Tony Banks, and guitarists Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips initially churned out short baroque pop pieces on their 1969 debut, From Genesis to Revelation, while they were still pupils at England’s prestigious Charterhouse boarding school. Producer Johnathan King fought to keep the group’s arrangements concise to a simple pop formula, but Genesis was keen to... Read More

Serious Green Day fans will tell you American Idiot is not their favorite G.D. album and I'm not going to go down the road of naming names and producing my Top 10 G.D. albums. Your choice, but there are so many great ones, mostly fast, furious, Clash inspired all-American teen-angst infused punk with sly humor added. 2004's American Idiot is Green Day's Tommy—an ambitious, tune-filled, provocative rock opera that critiqued life in W's America and... Read More

If you were not expecting greatness from this set be prepared to be disappointed. The box set's producers understood that the high bar set by the all-analog 2014 The Beatles In Mono box set required this American follow up to be at least equally good, if not better, even though it covers but a single year in the life of The Beatles and the group's relationship with Capitol Records. But what a year it was! Filled with label competition, marketing intrigue,... Read More

On 1973’s Living in the Material World, George Harrison’s capacity for subtlety began to elude him in earnest.Six years earlier, he’d released “Within You Without You” on Sgt. Pepper’s — scolding, to be sure, but above all gorgeous, enveloping, and innovative. (Plus, the snickers at the end made it all land.) On the 1968 B-side “The Inner Light,” he channeled the Tao Te Ching with sweet poignancy. On other key songs I don’t need to name, he deftly threaded eros and... Read More

Thumbing through my parents’ record collection as a kid was the equivalent of an archaeologic excursion. Records were an object of wonder long before I became a bonafide collector, down to how the grooves came across the speakers and the mythology behind the album artwork. When I was five years old, my eyes became fixated on a cartoonish-looking album featuring four men donning a uniform of leather jackets and ripped jeans. My ears were eager to hear what it entailed,... Read More

“I have seen the future in pop music, and it is a band called Queen” - Jac Holzman, Elektra RecordsThe beginnings of Queen came from the remnants of guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor’s former group, Smile. The two bounded together and recruited vocalist Freddie Mercury, who pushed to rechristen the group Queen, and they added bassist John Deacon. The group gigged around England’s college circuit before cutting a demo at De Lane Lea Studios to test the... Read More

What with having to stare down pension plans and reduced bone density, it’d be reasonable to think that the release of a new Cure album might not have flicked across the radar of their original fan base. But anyone who caught one of the sold out gigs on their last live go around knows that’s fairly unlikely. Especially since the band did their part by opening all of those shows with the lead cut from the record everyone knew for some time would be called Songs of a... Read More

Spiritual pursuits and work as a sideman in music circles primed guitarist Robert Fripp to form the group he envisioned in 1981 after laying King Crimson to rest in 1975. Along with drummer Bill Bruford, bassist Tony Levin, and guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Adrian Belew, the quartet called themselves Discipline. The influence of new wave and post-punk made the group indicative of the time, bearing no resemblance to Crimson’s Mellotron swells and free improvisation.... Read More

Though not a descendant from grunge’s Seattle headquarters, San Diego’s Stone Temple Pilots was a force to reckon with. Its take on the genre by emphasizing 70s-based hard rock with hints of psychedelia and jazz allowed it to protrude and distinguish itself from masses of flannel. The debut album, 1992’s Core, wove into grunge lore with four hit singles and sales in America alone of over 8 million copies. After its first worldwide tour and a hyped appearance on MTV’s... Read More

Michael Fremer has misplaced his 1974 pressing of Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe (’), so he got a friend to hook him up with a loaner. When we pulled out the dust sleeve: Great googly moogly!“Rick, I’m tierd [sic] of you putting me down all the time. You do’nt [sic] know how much you hurt me,” begins a ballpointed breakup screed, from one Nancy. Reader, it’s a rough one: “All I ever here [sic] from you is that I’m fat, and ugly … I’m sick of you calling me a slut … You have... Read More

Amongst contemporaries like King Crimson and Genesis, Yes had more than enough going for it to stand out from the crowd. The combination of Jon Anderson’s angelic falsetto and abstract lyrics, Chris Squire’s lead-like bass runs, Steve Howe’s experimental guitar explorations, Rick Wakeman’s classically-inspired keyboard flourishes, and Bill Bruford’s percussive jazz fills encompassed the trappings of progressive rock at its most potent. Yes spent first half of the... Read More

Elliott Smith’s 1998 major label debut, XO, isn’t as vibey as its predecessor, 1997’s Either/Or. Nor is it as laser-focused as its follow-up, 2000’s Figure 8 — the Sgt. Pepper... to XO’s Revolver.Still, XO is special. It captured a crucial creative flowering for the late Smith, where an artist known for lo-fi hyper-intimacy strolled into a succession of L.A. studios with a head full of new sounds, and the confidence to let them loose. And a large handful of its songs... Read More

Artisan Sound Recorders masterings from "back in the day" were and are held in the highest esteem, kind of like "RL STERLING" (or any Sterling). For instance, if you want the best version of Exile on Main Street you want one with the Artisan stamp on it. The original L.A. Woman has the Artisan stamp.An original L.A. Woman pressing sounds great as anyone who owns one knows. It's arguably the best sounding Doors album. I have two and both also... Read More