Album Reviews
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Finding new recordings from Hank Williams is a pretty daunting task, and with each passing year, the chances of finding anything new grows dim, yet his legend lives on. Dead at a young age, his career was brief, yet his songs helped build the foundation of country music. The discovery of recordings made for the… Read more
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I want to be a problem I want to cause a scene I want to get reactions And wake you from you dream I don’t care if you don’t like it Or you think that it’s the best As long as you remember Then we’re up with all the rest — “We Got Your… Read more
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Corky Hale is one of the world’s premiere harpists, a child prodigy turned teenage TV personality via her appearances on the Freddy Martin show, and then to a gig accompanying Liberace, which suddenly beget opportunities left and right, performing and recording with musicians of all stripes and genres. For the quality of her self-titled… Read more
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Righteous Records’ latest compilation features over two dozen prime slabs of greasy, waxed-down vinyl, ranging from the well-known classics to some you’ve never heard before, and probably won’t hear anywhere else. Here are five of the best cuts from the collection: The Gamblers: “LSD-25” (Released 1960): Fun fact: not only is this song the… Read more
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When Bill Last began student teaching at Hamden High in 1977, he quickly discovered that he was surrounded by talented young people, and his fomenting desire to form a band was soon realized. He put together his group rather quickly, bringing together four young women as vocalists to accompany him. The group would get together… Read more
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I always felt that Chris Leo’s band The Van Pelt ended too abruptly. Along with ex-Blonde Redhead guitarist Toko Yasuda, the duo released two superior albums and a handful of singles, ending abruptly in 1997, the duo reformed quickly as The Lapse, and continued on making similar-sounding music. In fact, I wondered why they… Read more
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I first heard Vanilla Fudge some time in the mid 1980s, when I’d happened upon a copy of their debut album at Goodwill. I’d heard the name before, and had been told they were really trippy and psychedelic. When I put the record on the stereo, I wasn’t really prepared for what I heard. To… Read more
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Confession time: I don’t like The Doors. I don’t like Jim Morrison. I’ve never really bonded with the group; I think “Hello I Love You” is daft, while “Light My Fire” was better when Jose Feliciano recorded it. To me, Morrison’s music represents the pretentiousness of 1960s rock, and his story seems to be more… Read more
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It’s easy to dismiss the final years of Elvis Presley, and the criticisms that he’d delved back into substandard material and perfunctory live shows are valid ones. He was plagued with drug issues and health issues that would soon destroy his life. Surprisingly, though, he was an extremely prolific touring act, and while his… Read more
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Numero Group’s Unwound campaign continues with box set number three, entitled Rat Conspiracy. This set covers the year 1993 and 1994, including the band’s proper debut album, Fake Train, and its follow-up, New Plastic Ideas, as well as a handful of singles. Though the band had already been around for three years, it wasn’t until… Read more
The Recoup 