Sarah McLachlan has only herself to blame. After all, in a country where Baywatch can pass as high drama, her idea to put together Lilith Fair, a pop music road extravaganza spotlighting women artists, was bound to score inordinate media attention on pertinent issues such as goddess worship, sex, lesbianism,…
Janet Jackson The Velvet Rope (Virgin) Mariah Carey Butterfly (Columbia) Is it mere coincidence that two of pop music’s most angelic, transcendent songstresses both have a new release in the stores — which, by the way, both proclaim to be their most emotional, personal, and gut-wrenching project to date? Sure,…
Inner Circle vocalist Kris Bentley recalls when the band performed for an audience of 60,000 at an 1995 outdoor festival in Switzerland. “We’re playing with a lot of big guys,” Bentley says, “Elton John, Page, and Plant.” “Lenny Kravitz,” adds drummer Lancelot Hall. “We’re high up in the lineup among…
At sundown, they come. From all over South Florida and all over the world, they come to hear and see him. They are his loyal subjects and he is their king. He rules over no country, no state, no province. Just a street. A glitzy, noisy, congested, exhaust-choked street. His…
The Beach Boys The Pet Sounds Sessions (Capitol Records) Not long ago VH1 aired a documentary on the making of some Fleetwood Mac record — it hardly matters which. Lindsey Buckingham sat behind the console, fiddling with knobs and dials until he managed to completely deconstruct one song, isolating the…
The loudest band in South Florida has quietly been crisscrossing the country on tour, releasing a slew of material, collaborating with fellow underground phenoms, and buying more amps. Although all four members of Cavity grew up in Dade, the group doesn’t have much of a local following. That, however, hasn’t…
Jessicka, the tousled, strident lead singer and lyricist of the metal-goth band Jack Off Jill, is relaying something to me that John Lennon once said about music being therapy for the masses. This is one way that she justifies her “tidings of bale” (as William Cullen Bryant once put it)…
When Keith Richards gets aroused, he gets a wild, distant look in his eye, his voice cracks, and his left leg rises slightly, the way a cat’s hindquarters do when you stroke its butt. It happens when he plays a signature guitar line, like in “Honky Tonk Women”; when he…
The Replacements All for Nothing, Nothing for All (Reprise Records) Sometimes I listen to old Replacements records and wonder why I still listen to old Replacements records. Their Twin/Tone albums were loaded with Kiss riffs and Beatles rips, novelty songs and poignant ballads, country goofs and punk poses — it’s…
Albita Una Mujer Como Yo (Crescent Moon/Epic) Albita Rodriguez used to open her local club shows by joking that she would give a three-part performance: Cuban music, followed by Cuban music, wrapping it up with Cuban music. The singer’s allegiance to the classic Cuban sound made for good shtick, but…
Some years ago I compiled a list of what I consider the 100 worst hit songs of the rock era. But this countdown to mediocrity — which began with Andy Gibb’s “(Love Is) Thicker than Water” and ended with the unfathomably abysmal Paul Anka anthem “(You’re) Having My Baby” –…
The five members of Al’s Not Well are no strangers to misfortune. The Hialeah-bred glitter-punk outfit has suffered the death of a beloved band member and numerous soured record deals. This past spring its luck seemed to have changed. Having spent two years building a local following, the band released…
Given our now fixed image of members of the press as ruthless invaders of privacy who pursued Princess Diana to a grisly end, it hardly seems possible that once upon a time journalists and photographers actually worked in tandem to keep a celebrity’s private life out of print. And no…
Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals Concrete Blonde y Los Illegals (Ark 21) For decades Los Angeles has been a center of American punk rock and its descendent genres. And for much longer the city has been a focal point for Latin culture in the United States. But while the pairing…
Looking at classic-rock record covers is like going to a modern art museum. Here, next to the Rothkos, there’s the iconic, prismatic cover for Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, designed by Storm Thorgerson’s Hipgnosis firm. Over there, just beyond the pop art gallery, are Peter Corriston’s Rolling Stones…
For any rock music fan opposed to cultural hegemony or self-righteous sanctimony, it’s difficult to resist gloating over the fact that U2’s Pop album and its ongoing U.S. tour have bombed. The tour’s most noteworthy emblem is a gigantic stage prop in the shape of a lemon, and that could…
Puff Daddy & the Family’s No Way Out is as stunningly slack a piece of work as has ever been issued by a major rap act. Puff Daddy, born Sean Combs, has one of the weakest verbal flows of all time; he mouths wan rhymes in a pinched monotone that…
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup Look on Yonder’s Wall Magic Sam The Magic Sam Legacy Roosevelt Sykes Feel Like Blowing My Horn Big Joe Williams Piney Woods Blues (Delmark) Slickness is bad for practically every type of music, but for the blues it’s fatal. The appeal of blues is rooted in…
Bridges to Babylon The Rolling Stones (Virgin) Although they’ve never really gone away, the Rolling Stones have had more “comebacks” than Richard Nixon. Every time they emerge from their cocoon of luxury for a new album, Rolling Stone magazine assures us that they’re back, that previous Stones records may have…
All Mick Fleetwood wanted was a guitarist. Fleetwood Mac’s drummer was checking out the studio of engineer Keith Olsen when he heard a track from an obscure California duo named Buckingham Nicks. Looking for someone to replace departed guitarist Bob Welch, he sought out the nimble-fingered Lindsey Buckingham. Perhaps out…
Labor of love. Labor of love. Labor of love. If I had a nickel — wooden or otherwise — for every time I’ve read (or overheard) someone recycle that soggy cliche, I could quit this writing nonsense tomorrow and pursue my dream of climbing Pamela Lee’s breasts unaided by Sherpas…
Bob Dylan Time Out of Mind (Columbia) There’s a federal statute prohibiting anyone who doesn’t admire Bob Dylan from becoming a rock critic, so it’s no surprise that I’m crazy about a great many of his recordings. Highway 61 Revisited and The Basement Tapes are my favorites, followed by Bringing…
