Music

Well, the Shepp disc just ended. I don’t really want to listen to any of the other things I brought with me, not right now anyway, so I’m listening to Miles Davis’ The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965, which is on my hard drive in MP3 format. (Yes, I bought it.) I prefer [...]

Continue Reading CD Box Sets

John McWhorter wrote a piece in the City Paper http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_3_how_hip_hop.html a few years back about hip-hop, and that’s what I want to talk about today. Most of it is poorly aimed, ill-considered boilerplate. McWhorter criticizes Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message” for its bleak lyrical tone, but cuts off the verse he quotes before getting to the [...]

Continue Reading Is Hip Hop Bad For Black Culture?

Looking at Justin Timberlake’s on the old cover of the February 2003 issue of Vibe (it’s in the office, no idea why). Okay, fine. They had Eminem (and got Zadie “I Was A Promising Novelist For A Few Minutes There” Smith to write his puff-profile), then they got Justin, the white(r) Michael Jackson. But why [...]

Continue Reading Justin Timberlake on Vibe Magazine

This morning I’m listening to the Plastic Ono Band’s Live Peace In Toronto. I bought it for the Yoko Ono stuff; I really don’t like the Beatles. I never did. But I like Yoko’s voice atop a raucous guitar-rock band. I think she should do an album with Keiji Haino. I guess since it’s the [...]

Continue Reading A Year in Music, Heavy Metal and Jazz

I bought the two-disc version of Jimi Hendrix’s Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight on Tuesday, as my final CD purchase of 2005. I haven’t finished listening to it yet, but so far it’s…well, it’s pretty ordinary. In a way, it’s kind of cool to know that The Greatest Human [...]

Continue Reading Blue Wild Angel: Jimi Hendrix Live at the Isle of Wight

It’s important to start a new year off right. So I’m spending today listening to the first six Black Sabbath albums, in order. Black Sabbath Lyrics Released: February 13, 1970 – A Friday, no less! 1. Black Sabbath (6:16) 2. The Wizard (4:18) 3. Wasp, Behind the Wall of Sleep, Basically, N.I.B. (10:40) 4. Wicked [...]

Continue Reading Happy New Year 2006 – The Black Sabbath Way

Went and saw Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden, with Dio and Motorhead opening up. The last time I saw Dio was also at the Garden, but he was headlining, with Accept opening. That was in 1986. Times have changed; he doesn’t have a robot dragon shooting lasers from its eyes anymore. Motorhead were great, [...]

Continue Reading Iron Maiden Concert Rocks

I’m a professional music critic – I write for many websites so if you are into music you’ve probably read my stuff. This blog will consist primarily of my thoughts on music, but of course there’ll be digressions. I’ll try to update regularly, even if it’s just a list of what I’m listening to. Right [...]

Continue Reading Professional music critic blog

Today’s stack of CDs: Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Electric Heavyland Antipop Consortium, Antipop vs. Matthew Shipp Art Ensemble of Chicago, Americans Swinging in Paris John Coltrane, In Europe, Disc One Dimmu Borgir, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia Farmersmanual, Explorers We Opeth, Deliverance Cecil Taylor, Conquistador! Yes, Yessongs

Continue Reading Music CDs I’m Listening to Today

I’m just gonna post this article, instead of linking to it. It’s from this week’s New York Times Magazine 2002, the issue in which they run articles about people who died during the year, and it’s one of the best pieces of music-related writing I’ve read. It makes me want to go listen to Ratt [...]

Continue Reading Dead Musicians Fade Away: Dee Dee Ramone and Robbin Crosby