Listening Booth »
Listening Booth: Cheap Trick, “BUDOKAN!”
Cheap Trick – BUDOKAN! (Sony/Legacy, 2008) purchase this album (Amazon) On the surface, I grant you, this looks like a terrible idea, especially if you’re a Cheap Trick fan. Sony went back to the
Read More »Listening Booth: Eric Hutchinson, “Sounds Like This”
Eric Hutchinson – Sounds Like This (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) Nine times out of 10, I’ve got to believe that a singer/songwriter who got a crucial career break from Perez Hilton would rank
Read More »Listening Booth: Red Wanting Blue, “These Magnificent Miles”
When I was in my early 20s, I worked for a major concert promoter here in New Jersey. I recall that each time I walked into his office, I would see cartons on the
Read More »Listening Booth: Ry Cooder, “The UFO Has Landed”
Ry Cooder – The UFO Has Landed (2008) purchase this album (Amazon) It’s a hundred degrees in the shade, easy, and you’ve been hiding from the worst of the heat in this tiny bordertown
Read More »Listening Booth: The Gaslight Anthem, “The ’59 Sound”
Certain albums deserve to be heard outside the confines of small headphone speakers and cranked through the stereos of traveling cars speeding down the freeway. The ’59 Sound, the sophomore release from New Jersey’s
Read More »Listening Booth: Passion Pit, “Chunk of Change EP”
Steadily making its way around the Internet, the Chunk of Change EP by Massachusetts’ Passion Pit started out as a Valentine’s Day gift to founder Michael Angelakos’ girlfriend. Angelakos wrote and recorded the entire
Read More »Listening Booth: TV on the Radio, “Dear Science”
From time to time, the price bands pay for innovation is the inability of music writers to accurately capture what they’re doing. It’s a strange irony that the bands most worthy of being written
Read More »Listening Booth: Lilum, “Hello From VT” EP
In the fashion world, patchwork, the design concept that calls for small pieces put together as part of a larger design, might be considered pejorative. But when it comes to music, it’s the most
Read More »Listening Booth: Lucinda Williams, “Little Honey”
Like many other people, I welcomed Lucinda Williams into my life with the release of the Grammy-winning Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, in 1998. Over the course of the last 10 years, I’ve
Read More »Listening Booth: Taj Mahal, “Maestro”
Taj Mahal – Maestro (Heads Up, 2008) purchase this album (Amazon) Maestro celebrates Taj Mahal’s 40th anniversary as a recording artist, and true to contrarian form, Mr. Mahal has elected not to follow the
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