I suppose it was the leopard-print pants, or maybe it was his tax exile move from England to Los Angeles in the mid-Seventies, or maybe it was the dreaded disco beat underpinning “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” Or maybe it was the simple fact that the immensely popular song even…

There’s an age-old joke that MCs at open-mike nights trot out before a particularly torturous act takes the stage. It goes something like this: “Ladies and gentlemen, this next act has suffered for their art. Now it’s your turn.” It’s a bit like being a Bob Dylan fan. His Bobness…

Yeah, sure, if you actually remember the Sixties you weren’t really there. True for any era worth remembering. But as long as the person doing the retelling has some idea of what’s important, the results should be okay. It takes real talent to make sex and drugs a dull read…

Randy Newman Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman (Rhino) Has there ever been an artist as politically incorrect as Randy Newman? Has there ever been a songwriter who risked so much of his reputation by singing in the voice of the unreliable narrator? Ever since 1968, when Reprise records issued…

There’s an absolutely great short film titled Neil Diamond Parking Lot that, unfortunately, most people will never see. Shot by two guys in Maryland, the film was done in 1995 as the followup to their 1985 underground cult classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Neither film had a budget; it’s strictly…

It’s weird to think that it’s taken this long for the box set community to get around to John Lennon. Yet it has been eighteen years this week since he was gunned down in front of his apartment in New York City. His recording career from the time he released…

Jonny Lang Wander This World (A&M) Pop culture mavens are always looking for a pretty new face on which to pin their fortunes. Nearly three years ago they found one in sixteen-year-old Jonny Lang, an anomaly of a teenager. Unlike most others his age, Lang spent the majority of his…

Beck Mutations (DGC) Over the course of the half dozen or so albums Beck Hansen has released, on indie labels as well as for major DGC, what is emerging is the sound and thought of a truly visionary (albeit warped) artist. Don’t be surprised if Beck turns out to be…

Nick Tosches, author of the definitive tome Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock ‘n’ Roll, asserts that rock and roll played out its entire life cycle, from birth to death, in the career of Bill Haley. Tosches writes that Haley cashed in his rockin’ chips for a piece of schmaltz…

Bob Marley and the Wailers The Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers: 1967 to 1972, Part II (JAD) This treasure-filled three-CD box set, which showcases Bob Marley and the Wailers’ work with legendary producer Lee “Scratch” Perry in 1970 and 1971, is the second installment of JAD Records’ projected ten-CD…

Hole Celebrity Skin (DGC) Courtney Love’s glamorously defiant look on the cover of Celebrity Skin, the latest CD by her band Hole, fits with her penchant for blissful contradiction. Her tousled hair and skimpy see-through T-shirt are as punk and stylish as the burning trees behind her, but the antihero…

John Hiatt The Best Of John Hiatt (Capitol Records) Few singer-songwriters exude the piss and vinegar of John Hiatt — not to mention a dastardly wit and hearty guffaw. Since the Seventies, while under contract to numerous record labels, this Music City-based songsmith has written and sung about oddball themes…

Pearl Jam’s got it bad. Unquestionably the most interesting of the grunge bands to follow in Nirvana’s wake, Pearl Jam has suffered at the hands of everyone. Even with all manner of concessions to the marketplace — a video, a tour with the help of arch nemesis Ticketmaster, a solid…

Resigned Michael Penn (57/Epic) Michael Penn is best remembered for two radio hits (“No Myth” and “This & That”) that are now nearly a decade old. His last disc, Free-for-All, came out a full five years ago. So it’s good to hear him return with a pop album as assured…

Interiors Brad (Epic) Along with tribute albums, side projects have become prevalent to the point of cliche in the Nineties. Composed of overcooked egos and half-baked musical ideas, most of these projects collapse under the weight of their own indulgence. Brad is a worthy exception, a quartet that plays its…

The Courier Cinnamon (Island/Soap) The Cardigans are the obvious frame of reference for this Swedish outfit’s blend of indie and lounge pop. The guitar-driven Courier also has some of the charm of the Sundays and Altered Images, though without the former’s amused resignation or the latter’s occasional sense of utter…

Music festivals come straight from Satan. It’s the only way to explain them. People have been complaining for years that rock is the devil’s music, but they’ve got it all wrong. Standing around all day sweating in the hot sun in an endless sea of human wreckage, sucking down four-dollar…

The attack is a bit “sweeter” this time around for Matthew Sweet. Instead of the usual jabbing guitars flexing up the straight-forward pop, the singer-songwriter has decided to tone things down. “Up until recently Matthew gave guitar players all the room in the world,” says guitarist Ivan Julian, who has…

Oh, sure, nowadays everyone likes Black Sabbath. You know, there used to be rules for this sort of thing. Black Sabbath at one time was viewed as a joke by most folks. The only people who liked them were kids so completely stoned all the time they were mesmerized for…

The most interesting thing about ZZ Top is that on the surface there doesn’t seem to be anything at all interesting about them. They’ve sold millions of records, lasted into their third decade, and continue to draw loyal herds no matter how their new album performs in the marketplace. Don’t…

Rahsaan Patterson Rahsaan Patterson (MCA) At the 28th annual NAACP Image Awards on February 8 in Los Angeles, Prince was honored with a “Special Achievement Award,” presented by Stevie Wonder. Prince told the attendees that he first heard Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life as a teenager and that…

Fluffy Black Eye (The Enclave) Call it a backlash against the Gallagher Brothers, trip hop, or all things Manchester. Whatever the case, it was only a matter of time before an English band picked up some screaming guitars and told us exactly everything that’s wrong with the world. Such a…