Music

Shocking Michelle Shocked?

March 21, 2013
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Shocking Michelle Shocked?

On March 17th, singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked took the stage in San Francisco for a counter-cultural performance designed to challenge her audience’s assumptions.  San Francisco crowds love that sort of thing, but last Sunday they got more than they bargained for.  It turns out that while Ms. Shocked is still reliably left-wing on economics (her 2012 tour was titled ‘Roccupy!’, in sympathy with the fizzling ‘occupy’ movement), she has also become a born-again, fundamentalist Christian.   She now strongly supports Proposition 8 in California, which maintains…

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Bobbie Smith, RIP

March 20, 2013
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Bobbie Smith, RIP

Bobbie Smith, who had one of the smoothest voices in pop music, died last weekend at age 76.  He was lead singer for The Spinners, a Detroit-based group that was signed to Motown Records in the 1960s.  After failing to achieve success during the label’s heyday, they began to record with Philadelphia-based producer Thom Bell and had a series of hits between 1972 and 1976.  Even though they were from Detroit and never part of the Gamble and Huff stable of acts, The Spinners  nevertheless…

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Long Live Rock: Thanks to Technology

February 28, 2013
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Long Live Rock: Thanks to Technology

Few things make your writer more elated than unwrapping a new compact disc, transferring old vinyl to digital files or adding tunes to my Mp3 library. Recently, I had the great pleasure of performing all three in one morning — respectively opening Richard Thompson’s latest collection of impeccably performed Celtic-infused bittersweet rockers; preserving a nearly worn-out copy of Brian Protheroe’s eclectic 1976 LP classic “I/You” and downloading “Young Waverer,” the latest release by Canada’s libertarian response to rock’n’roll statism, Lindy Vopnfjord. Despite all three artists…

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Dave Clark Five’s Joyful Sound Remembered

February 14, 2013
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Dave Clark Five’s Joyful Sound Remembered

The Dave Clark Five was the second big British Invasion group and had several top ten chart hits in the United States between 1964 and 1967. . . . The DC5 sound and lyrics represented a more sanguine, less sophisticated brand of pop/rock music than the far-more critically celebrated Beatles. The DC5 tended toward greater simplicity and directness in both their music and lyrics than the Beatles. That made the DC5 more engaging and likable for people inclined toward those attitudes (of which I am…

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Martin Sexton: “The American” and Cultural Relativism

January 30, 2013
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Martin Sexton: “The American” and Cultural Relativism

Musical taste, and taste in general, is a funny thing. We live in an age where the reigning cultural paradigm is an enervating relativism, where all views are allegedly equal, when of course we know they’re not. I could give way too many examples of the judgmental non-judgmental and the intolerant tolerant, or the illiberalism of modern liberals. For what seems like eons, the West’s cultural elite have embraced the subjective as superior to the objective, if that even exists. Forget the law of non-contradiction,…

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10cc’s in a Box: Tenology

January 10, 2013
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10cc’s in a Box: Tenology

Seeing the band performing songs from their first two albums (10cc and Sheet Music, respectively) hardly would seem all that impressive were it not for the impeccably crafted songs themselves that lovingly honor doo-wop, doomed lover, and jailhouse rock’n’roll traditions. Sly wordplay abounds in nearly all the songs captured in this collection, as does the stellar musicianship for which the band seldom receives enough recognition.

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A Day that Exceeds Nigel Tufnel’s Dreams

December 12, 2012
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A Day that Exceeds Nigel Tufnel’s Dreams

As I’m sure you know, today is 12/12/12. This means that 11/11/11 – or Nigel Tufnel day – was exactly one year, one month, and one day ago. Nigel Tufnel, of course, was the legendary (?) guitarist for Spinal Tap who cherished his special Marshall amp, which the band could always count on when it needed that extra push, over the cliff. But even Nigel didn’t dare dream about taking it up to 12.

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Winterlight

December 11, 2012
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Winterlight

We all know that spring, and not winter, is the time that a young man’s fancy turns to love (just the opposite in fact: when it’s cold outside, he’s got the month of May). But can a great love song be set during the frosty winter months? If you think not, take a listen to “Winterlight” by the brilliant band Roman Candle (sorry, no embed code). In just under four minutes, it captures the Christmas season, fleeting romantic love, permanent bonds, and the beauty that…

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The Exemplary Dave Brubeck

December 6, 2012
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The Exemplary Dave Brubeck

Jazz composer, pianist, and band leader Dave Brubeck was an exemplary artist and individual, and he represented some of what is best in the American culture.

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Graham Parker’s Rumour Reunion and Abortion Anthem

November 20, 2012
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Graham Parker’s Rumour Reunion and Abortion Anthem

It’s been 35 years or so since your writer was introduced to the glorious amalgamation of rock, soul, and reggae put forth by Graham Parker and the Rumour, and my passion for the singer/songwriter and his backup band hasn’t waned since they released their last album together 32 years ago. That said, it’s been a wild ride ever since – Parker subsequently issued several good solo albums and at least four or five that can be considered great or even “classic” whatever that means in…

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Rocker Jack White Impresses

August 4, 2012
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Rocker Jack White Impresses

Well, at least he impressed me, and I bet if you listen to this Sound Opinions interview you will be too. You’ll be impressed by his intelligence; he’s obviously well read. His lack of pretension is refreshing, and the obvious joy he takes in music as an art form is tangible.

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Tull’s ‘Thick As a Brick’ Sequel a Worthy Follow-up to Rock Classic

June 26, 2012
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Tull’s ‘Thick As a Brick’ Sequel a Worthy Follow-up to Rock Classic

Ian Anderson and the band recapture the magic after four decades. Review.

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Doc Watson, RIP

May 30, 2012
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Doc Watson, RIP

There’s been an extraordinary loss of major figures in Americana and roots music in the last few months, including Earl Scruggs, Levon Helm, and Duck Dunn.  Yesterday another musical giant, Doc Watson, passed away, at the age of 89. Doc Watson was blind from infancy but taught himself to become one of the best guitar players in popular music. He was to the guitar what Earl Scruggs was to the banjo: an innovator who forever changed the way bluegrass and country musicians approached their instrument.…

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Plum’s Appraisal of American Tunesmiths

May 28, 2012
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Plum’s Appraisal of American Tunesmiths

"Honey, won’t you come to Tennessee?"

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Mad Men and Beatles

May 10, 2012
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Mad Men and Beatles

You may have heard about a little controversy from the latest episode of Mad Men. Protagonist Don Draper listens to the first couple minutes of "Tomorrow Never Knows" from the Beatles’ recently released Revolver album, then stops the music in a gesture that is equal parts boredom and disgust.Some fans of the show thought the scene was ridiculous, claiming that any high-powered ad man would have been hip to The Beatles in 1966 and would not have been alienated by a little psychedelia. I think…

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"Culture is the expression of the guiding philosophy of the day."—Murray Rothbard

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