June 8th, 2023
André Previn's West Coast "West Side Story" A certain kind of jazz, superbly recordedBy: Fred Kaplan
Many have long forgotten, if they ever knew, but for a brief spell in the mid-to-late 1950s, André Previn was one of America’s most popular jazz musicians, at least judging by record sales, and his cover of West Side Story, released in 1960, marked his high point in that realm. It was his 6th and final album devoted entirely to a Broadway score—the first, in ’56, was My Fair Lady, which remained the best-selling jazz album for the next three years. It also marked pretty much his farewell to jazz, after which he turned to arranging unabashed mood music and then, in a total switch, to conducting classical symphonies.
Read MoreJune 3rd, 2023
Rhino High Fidelity's "The Cars" Reissue—A 4 Album Pileup 4 versions of "The Cars" debut album comparedBy: Michael Fremer
Like most "overnight successes", the individual members of The Cars knocked around for years working to find the right setting and musical formula before hitting it big with their debut album. Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr met in Cleveland, both moving to Boston in the early '70s and releasing non-charting albums in various "folkie" type groups including Milkwood and Cap'n Swing. The Cars formed in 1976 with guitarist and Berklee student Eliot Easton joining Ocasek and Orr (the three had been in Cap'n Swing) and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, who had been in a previous group with the duo but left to tour with musical comedian Martin Mull plus drummer David Robinson late of The Modern Lovers. Hawkes didn't join until early 1977. Whew!
Read MoreJune 2nd, 2023
Sam Rivers' Mid-Sixties Masterpiece "Fuchsia Swing Song" captures the thrill of transition between bop and avant-gardeBy: Fred Kaplan
In the mid-1960s, just as rock ‘n’ roll was displacing jazz as America’s foremost popular music, Blue Note Records took a bold but commercially disastrous foray into the avant-garde, signing such adventurers as Andrew Hill, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Graham Moncur III, and Cecil Taylor. It was a similarly risky move for today’s corporate-owned Blue Note to start reissuing some of these artists’ albums, a few years back, and on deluxe vinyl no less, but... Read More
June 1st, 2023
Taylor Swift's Record Store Day Exclusive: "Folklore: the Long Pond Studio Sessions" the 2020 disney+ documentary soundtrack encapsulates the artist's most vulnerable momentsBy: Nathan Zeller
Black velvet skies, desolate streets, and lilac bags beneath everyone’s somnolent eyes. Is the foreboding purple from sleep deprivation, early morning’s merciless frost, or both? Fossilised fingers despite wool gloves, numb toes underneath double-layer socks; next year remember three pairs. It seems an ordinary Saturday yet early as 3:00 AM record collectors camp outside. Why? Record Store Day; the day Taylor Swift fans receive their yearly limited edition release.
Read MoreJune 1st, 2023
Ghost Adds Some Flavor To Their Phantomime Sweden’s theatrical metalheads provide some fun from covering Iron Maiden to Tina TurnerBy: Dylan Peggin
Ghost is a band you can hardly run away from. Tobias Forge, who assumes the role of frontman Papa Emeritus IV backed by a revolving door of anonymous musicians known as Nameless Ghouls, has brought an element of theatricality back into the music world that can be traced to older acts such as KISS and Alice Cooper. With a schtick that serves as a Satanic parody of Catholicism it's one that could be seen as either sacrilege to the superstitious or tongue-in-cheek... Read More
May 29th, 2023
Haruomi Hosono’s ‘Hosono House’ At 50 The ever-changing legend's first solo album, reissued in Japan by Bellwood/King RecordsBy: Malachi Lui
Recently reissued for its 50th anniversary, Haruomi Hosono's 1973 solo debut Hosono House wasn’t the start of his career, but the first development towards forging his own path. It’s a short, comfortable-sounding record whose homely, domestic charm has proven its lasting appeal.
Read MoreMay 18th, 2023
Cécile McLorin Salvant's "Mélusine," Part 2: The Vinyl Edition The best living jazz singer's new French album sounds better still on LPBy: Fred Kaplan
In March, I wrote a rave review of Cécile McLorin Salvant’s "Mélusine", her second release on Nonesuch and the most unusual album that she (or any other singer on a major label) has ever produced: a series of songs adapted to a 14th-century fairy tale about a half-woman/half-dragon and the revenge she wreaks on a man who looks where he shouldn’t. Some of the songs were written centuries ago; others were Broadway showtunes, vaudeville ditties, or Salvant... Read More