Album Reviews
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Kathy Heideman‘s Move With Love is an enigma. Who was Kathy Heideman? Nobody knows. Who played with her? Nobody knows. How many copies exist of this extremely rare record? It’s unknown. What happened to Heideman? That’s a very good question. This isn’t lazy blogger-ism on my part; Move With Love is a record that seemingly… Read more
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Whither Bros? It’s easy to write off twins Matt and Luke Goss. They didn’t make doing so very hard; their chiseled good-looks, their soulful singing voices, tweaked ever-so-much to sound not unlike Michael Jackson, and their every move and every song written by the management and production team: these things worked for them, but also… Read more
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In 1961, just as their star was on the ascent, tragedy befell the Bill Evans Trio. Scott LaFaro, their young, innovative bassist, was killed in a car accident. Understandably, Evans and drummer Paul Montain put the trio on hold. The trio’s first major recording sessions took place a year after LaFaro’s death, with Chuck Israels… Read more
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One could look at the history of Ghost Dance as a cautionary tale, even as their fate proves to be somewhat typical. Formed in the mid-1980s from former members of Skeletal Family, Sisters of Mercy, and Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, they signed to Chrysalis Records. Unfortunately, the relationship between band and label quickly started to… Read more
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The Fourmyula was a Beatles-inspired pop band from the tiny nation of New Zealand, and it’s easy to understand why they had a brief, fleeting taste of fame and success–they had excellent songwriting chops, and with their songs led by vocalist Carl Evenson, the band possessed a quality that was never hampered by the obscurity… Read more
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This is an amazing discovery of an extremely obscure Kansas-based power-pop band. Hailing from Topeka, this trio released exactly one four-song EP, before heading right back into obscurity. Yeah, yeah, there are tons of lost bands from this era but what makes this group so notable is just how damn close it comes to being… Read more
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Over the past few years, Drag City has served as the go-to archival label for The Source Family cult–a unique and peculiarly influential group that was devoted to health food, endless acid-rock jams, and their spiritual leader, Father Yod. This was no fringe organization; Father Yod owned The Source, a famous Hollywood vegetarian restaurant that… Read more
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Okay, so where has this record been hiding? Paul Nelson was a young man of musical ambition, a nerd-like love for computers, and, apparently, Tangerine Dream and other prog-rock records. He recorded this, his lone album, and it’s a shame he didn’t make more. First things first: skip over the first song, “Automated Man,” as… Read more
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It would be extremely easy to call Tiny Tim a one-off, but that doesn’t begin to do justice to just exactly how unique Herbert Khaury was. A large, imposing man with a voice that seemed unsuited for a man of his stature, Tiny Tim would become a fixture on talk shows for his singing and… Read more
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If one were feeling sarcastic, one might suggest that Honky, progressive keyboardist Keith Emerson‘s solo album from 1981, should have been titled Prog-Rockers in Paradise. While Honky is far from a Jimmy Buffett-style affair, it most certainly isn’t the austere, almost solemn affair of Emerson’s work with Emerson, Lake & Palmer; if anything, the record… Read more
The Recoup 