Radio's Next Dimension
There was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I’m not talking about the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Hadrosaurus, or even your garden variety Pterodactyls. These dinosaurs wore coats of proggy sound typified by 20 minute epic-length, multi-movement suites of music. These were dinosaurs that really knew how to play their instruments. Dinosaur’s with classical training, and [...]
It was a summit between the leading purveyor of the Hammond B-3 organ, “The Incredible” Jimmy Smith, and one of greatest jazz guitarists of all time, Wes Montgomery. And together, they unleashed not one classic album, but two. They didn’t call him “Incredible” for nothing. Jimmy Smith was the single most influential jazz organ player [...]
Like Tito Puente before him, Ray Barretto is one of the all-time greatest “Soul Drummers” of them all. He gave us the “El Watusi” in 1961, “Senor 007″ in 1969 and this gem in 1967. The music emanated from el barrio, the South Bronx and Spanish Harlem in New York City, via the then-fledgling Latin [...]
American brothers Ron and Russell Mael formed the group Halfnelson in 1970. Their first two albums were recorded in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren and released on the Bearsville record label. Both records tanked on these shores, so the brothers broke up the band, changed their name to Sparks, moved to England, got [...]
“Don’t Call It A Comeback, I been here for years…,” so begins the title cut from the 4th album called Mama Said Knock You Out by James Todd Smith…aka Ladies Love Cool J…aka LL Cool J. And back in the day in my hood, the strains of LL could be heard emanating from booming systems [...]
It’s Mother’s Day and you should always listen to your MOTHERS! Nobody and I mean absolutely nobody sounded like The Mothers Of Invention back in 1966 when they released their second album Absolutely Free. The Mothers offered their own brand of compositional complexity, out of the ordinary instrumentation, Doo Wop harmonies and Free Jazz wig-out [...]
“Walk On By,” “Anyone Who Had A Heart,” “You’ll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart),” “Message To Michael,” “Alfie,” “”Do You Know The Way To San Jose,” “I Say A Little Prayer” — the list goes on and on, making an argument for the notion that the songwriting partnership of Burt Bacharach [...]
I worked at Reader’s Digest in their recorded music division for five years compiling music collections for people who were much older than I was at the time. In effect, I was selling nostalgia to folks whose memories I did not share. The job proved research intensive and ultimately rewarding, and by creating these music [...]
The fact that Chicago Transit Authority was the horn band of the late 1960s has obscured the fact that Chicago was also one hell of a guitar band. Proof positive is this somewhat obscure track from their eponymously titled debut album from 1969. (Play the track and continue reading.) This song has it all! The [...]
“If it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a f*ck.” “The world’s most flexible record label.” “Undertakers to the industry.” “We came. We Saw. We Left.” “In ’78 everyone born in ’45 will be 33-1/3.” “When you kill time, you murder success.” “If they’re dead, we’ll sign them.” The above non-sequitors were all slogans for one [...]
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