Tag Archives: rock and roll

The Knitters, The Aladdin Theater, Portland, Oregon – December 3, 1999

Quick, name a band that has only recorded one album, but 15 years later has inspired a tribute album and is packing clubs with dileriously loyal fans. If you said The Knitters, you’re right. Buy yourself “a big-ol’ cheap bottle … Continue reading

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Andy Gill & Kevin Odegard’s A Simple Twist of Fate: Bob Dylan and the making of Blood on the Tracks

Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks is a landmark album. It is listed on numerous “best-of” album lists, be they of “all time” or the Seventies, or of the rock era. It and its follow-up, Desire, are his two top-selling … Continue reading

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Gary’s favorite roots and Americana music of 2020

This was an amazing year for creativity of all sorts, not least in roots music. This list could easily be twice as long, especially as everybody else’s year-end lists come out and I learn about releases that I haven’t heard … Continue reading

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Son Little’s aloha

“We don’t have to suffer, you and I … we don’t have to wait in the shadows for the sunshine.” Thus goes the hooky chorus of “suffer,” a standout track on Son Little’s new aloha. The song was inspired by … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots

I’ve been a fan of Bloodshot Records, the Chicago insurgent country label since not quite the beginning, but sometime in the late 1990s. They’re celebrating their 25th anniversary this month with some live music events as is their wont, but … Continue reading

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Los Pirañas’ Historia Natural

The three musicians who comprise Los Pirañas have been playing together since they were in high school, 25 years ago, but they only formed this power trio in 2009. The three are based in Bogotá, Colombia, and guitarist Eblis Alvarez, … Continue reading

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Deer Tick’s Mayonnaise

After the critical and popular success of their 2017 self-titled double release Deer Tick Vol. 1 and Deer Tick Vol. 2, the Rhode Island rockers are back with a beguiling compilation. Mayonnaise is a companion piece to those previous two … Continue reading

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The Transgressors’ They Made Her a Criminal

They Made Her a Criminal by the Austin-based Transgressors, is sort of new and sort of not, depending on how you count these things. But its somewhat twisty release history pales in comparison to the deliciously tortured music this four-piece … Continue reading

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The Beatles’ The Beatles and Esher Demos

Well here we are again, celebrating another 50th anniversary of a ground-breaking Beatles LP with a deluxe, remastered reissue. This time it is the double LP The Beatles, otherwise known as The White Album, the first proper album the Beatles … Continue reading

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Geoff Emerick’s Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles

Geoff Emerick is one of the unsung heroes of The Beatles’ saga. Inveterate reader of liner notes that I am, I’ve been aware of his name for some time, but it tended to blend into the amorphous blob of names … Continue reading

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