Music
Bobby Lounge, Bobby’s Back in Town LIVE (Abitian)
I’m a fan of the Bobby Lounge but I’m not a fan of live albums, and Bobby’s hasn’t changed my mind. The songs remain the songs, though some benefit from […]
Campbell Brothers, Rallytime! (Tulip)
For Jazz Fest 2006, blues guitarist and OffBeat contributor Marc Stone arranged a “Sacred Funk’ show with sacred steel masters the Campbell Brothers, a flight of New Orleans horn players, […]
Irvin Mayfield and Ellis Marsalis, Love Songs, Ballads and Standards (Basin Street)
The standards album has become, well, a standard itself. It’s a well-known, time-honored thing, and each artist’s challenge is to put his or her individual stamp on the standard. Irvin […]
The Doors, Live in Pittsburgh 1970 (DMC/Bright Midnight/Rhino)
Stephen Davis’ Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend got me interested in the Doors. It didn’t make me like the Doors, but his description of a band that knew it was […]
Various Artists, Spirits in the Material World: A Reggae Tribute to the Police (Shanachie)
Maybe this seemed like an obvious idea, but perhaps it was too obvious. When reggae artists cover Police songs, whatever is idiosyncratic about the songs is lost. The songs become […]
Look Back with Decoupage
For much of the 1990s, folk artist Suzie Millions set up shop in New Orleans, going to see music at the Mermaid and making little narrative pieces of art in […]
Helena, Fraise Vanille (Sunnyside)
French singer Helena Noguerra sings the songs of songwriter/painter/novelist Serge Rezvani on Fraise Vanille, and if none of that means much to you, it’s okay. I’d never heard of Rezvani […]
Rock City Morgue, The Cat’s Meow (Independent)
I admire bands that have a clear vision of what’s happening in their careers because I run into so many that don’t. Singer Rik Slave says Rock City Morgue made […]
Dame Shirley Bassey, Get the Party Started (Decca)
Dame Shirley Bassey got a renewed lease on musical life when Propellerheads featured her voice on “History Repeating” in 1997, and she’s enjoying interest again because the Arctic Monkeys are […]
