Album Reviews

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Michael Fremer  |  Jun 14, 2017
In his annotation for Riverside’s 1966 reissue of the 1961 Jazzland original single LP release Monk & Coltrane (RS 390) critic Ira Gitler (who is credited for inventing the expression “sheets of sound” to describe the note cluster technique Coltrane devised during his short time playing with Monk) writes “Coltrane’s talent, set in such a fertile environment, bloomed like a hibiscus.”

Brent Raynor  |  Feb 01, 2006

Maybe it's the fact that it's early Saturday morning and I've just woken up on the couch with an endless sea of empty beer bottles in front of me on the coffee table that's got me to thinking. I mean, it seemed like a perfectly good idea at the time: drink as many beers as I possibly could in one night while listening to Tanglewood Numbers repeatedly in an attempt to get into the notoriously alcohol-soaked mind space of leader David Berman. After all, I'm always up for a scientifically based experiment, and considering I was using one of the great thinkers of our time, Neil Young, as my model, I figured nothing could go wrong.

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 01, 2003

The Welsh group’s latest album is a sprawling, densely packed ambitious affair, filled with bouncy/sludgy ‘60’s pop melodic vistas that often sink into mysterious, dark, twisted musical and violent lyrical undergrowth. Lead singer Gruff Rhys’s chocolate-coated vocals are the perfect foil for the fatalistic, slyly rendered subject matter: the war in Iraq, war in general, pollution, petro-chemical mayhem, and even a song seemingly about two pet turtles named Venus and Serena (“Flushing meadows down the stream/Living life as though it’s a dream”). All of it is delivered lightly dusted with tuneful confectioner’s sugar.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2007

This year's (2006) showing of this 1965 animated special drew a huge audience. I don't have the numbers but I think it beat everything in its time slot.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012

This eclectic instrumental group combines synth, drums, guitars, bass and cello to produce a hard driving, propulsive percussive sound that's  rich with scraping, edgy textures one minute and warm, inviting and lagoon-like the next—though almost always with strong forward motion.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2004

With frenzied, wailing, guitar lines that sound more like squealing subway cars careening around sharply curved rusty tracks than what you think of as a “guitar part” in any known genre of music, and a car alarm voiced lead singer who’ll convince you Yoko Ono was on to something, Melt-Banana’s noise littered music is a neon-lit sci-fi fun house assault that at first sounds more like the sonic embodiment of a video game than an electronic re-invention of punk.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2010

The first Costello album backed by The Attractions released in March, 1978 on Radar in the UK and Columbia in America (with differing song lineups) cemented the singer’s leadership in the “angry young man” wing of the late ‘70’s “New Wave” musical explosion. More than expressing anger, the album was a full-blown misogynist outburst that contains some really nasty stuff starting with the opener “No Action,” which is filled some deliciously ugly obsessive/compulsive sentiments.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 25, 2013
Singer/songwriter Thom Chacon delivers hardscrapple tales in a voice well-suited to the task that will immediately remind you of what's his name? Maybe John Prine, or John Mellencamp, or Steve Earle or Bruce or Guy Clark or?

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 01, 2003

In his 35 year recording career with Fairport Convention, with ex-wife Linda, and on his own, Richard Thompson has made some great records and some that were ill-conceived and didn’t work, but none, in my opinion, that could be declared complete failures. Thompson’s guitar always pulled him through the weaker episodes, even as the team of Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake often sabotaged his sound during the late ‘80s/early ‘90s with their overproduction, studio tricks and other superflous sonic thickets. That’s just my opinion, and for all I know, Thompson loved that stuff. Maybe you’re a long-time fan who stayed away during that period, despite some superb songwriting and performances: 1991’s Rumor and Sigh (Capitol EST 2142 LP) for instance, which included the mischievous “I Feel So Good,” and the transcendent “1952 Vincent Black Lightning.”

Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2007

Despite the band’s name, there’s not much of a party going on in the lyrics of this UK quartet’s thoughtful second album. World events and how they affect today’s young people in the UK are at the core of the band’s viewpoint.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 26, 2017
Pictured are three percussion records you should own—especially if you feel like banging your head against the wall. One is an "oldie" Living Stereo novelty that's back in print, one was originally released in 1984 thanks to a grant from The National Endowment For the Arts (today an endangered species) reissued in the 1990s and one is a current release.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2011

Analogue Productions'  The Nat King Cole Story box set, originally scheduled to be released Spring of 2010 is finally here. We reviewed the box's sound quality last March based on test pressings but the actual box didn't arrive under early 2011. What's below is that review with additional information about the box and overall presentation quality—Ed.

Michael Fremer  |  Jul 01, 2006

Never mind that the tape has some occasional serious dropout, never mind that the legendary performance of the title track “One Down, One Up” commences mid way through the tune during a Jimmy Garrison bass solo, never mind that these performances are station dubs from live radio broadcasts, never mind Alan Grant’s radio announcements sprinkled throughout, and never mind that this treasure trove is probably not in the same league historically as the Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane Carnegie Hall concert unearthed at the National Archives and issued by Mosaic on vinyl recently (MQ1-231).

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2011

The poet/singer Gil Scott-Heron struck a raw nerve in the early '70s  with "The Revolution Will Not be Televised," a sarcastic, simmering three minute taunt set to a flute, drum and bass soaked jazz backing track that  sounds today more like Beatnik parody than jazz.

Michael Fremer  |  Jul 01, 2010

Whatever "it" is, Welsh born 23 year old Duffy has it. If you're old enough to remember and were a fan of Lulu's "To Sir With Love,"  you'll love Duffy's surprising debut, co-produced by Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, who's had an extensive solo and collaborative career since the breakup of that '90's band, the very busy Jimmy Hogarth, producer of Susan Vega's excellent Beauty and Crime reviewed elsewhere on this site as well as co-producer of James Blunt's unfairly reviled debut album, among many others and Steve Booker. 

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