Blogcritics

Rock & Roll Feature: Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac Plays the Blues

D.A.N. — Sun, 2 Mar 2008 08:54:02 EST

It's just one of those classic albums and I'm glad to salute it around the time of it's 40th anniversary.
This is the sixteenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.It seems a little strange that in the 21st century many of the best rock and roll albums of all time are celebrating major...

Rock & Roll Feature: Marc Bolan Is the Electric Warrior of T-Rex

D.A.N. — Fri, 1 Feb 2008 08:50:13 EST

A precursor to punk is worth a listen.
This is the fifteenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.When it comes to one-hit wonders, sometimes that one hit really is that group's most interesting work. Other times...

Rock & Roll Feature: Radiohead Plays of the Colors of In Rainbows

D.A.N. — Tue, 1 Jan 2008 19:58:00 EST

In Rainbows is one of the most exciting albums of modern times.
This is the fourteenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.Seeing this is the first Rock & Roll Feature of 2008, I thought I would discuss an album that I think will end up...

Rock & Roll Feature: Led Zeppelin, Birth Of A Legend

D.A.N. — Sat, 1 Dec 2007 22:31:24 EST

From the ashes of the Yardbirds rose the legendary band that all but created heavy metal as we know it.
This is the thirteenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.For this month's feature I thought I would celebrate the current band of the hour, the one with their first reunion...

Rock & Roll Feature: Cream, Disraeli Gears Turn 40

D.A.N. — Thu, 1 Nov 2007 08:46:38 EDT

It's time to give this classic album another spin.
This is the twelfth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres, every month.This month is extra special for all of us fans of classic rock. Not only is Led Zeppelin reuniting in London for a one-time...

Rock & Roll Feature: The Sex Pistols' Seminal Album Turns 30

D.A.N. — Tue, 2 Oct 2007 07:31:42 EDT

The Sex Pistols turn 30. I'll be celebrating by listening to this album as loudly as I can.
This is the eleventh in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.Thirty years ago this month, the baddest, snottiest, most abrasive band in the world came onto the scene with their debut...

Rock & Roll Feature: The Traveling Wilburys - Vol 1

D.A.N. — Sat, 1 Sep 2007 12:07:38 EDT

Plenty of fun and a good rock feel which bears repeating.
This is the tenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.When it comes to “super groups,” I've always been partial to the short-lived Traveling Wilburys. Originally...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Rock & Roll Feature: U2 Plants the Joshua Tree

D.A.N. — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 08:58:07 EDT

This is the ninth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.Some bands have been larger than life since day one... I think U2 is the epitome of the statement. When they came onto the scene in the late 70s and early 80s their unique blend, a kind of post punk rock and roll with plenty of political statements in epic arena rock format, there was no doubt they had the vision for something huge, and indeed they became something huge. After much artistic experimentation, having delved into electronica/dance and coming somewhat full circle back to the more driving rock and roll that made them famous originally, they're still huge, now 30+ years later.I came to U2 unfortunately through a “Best of” collection, never my favorite way to first experience a band as they rarely give a truly accurate representation of what the band sounds like. When I came back to listen to the band's actual albums a few years later I found, as is typical, some of their best songs were not the hits at all. A good example is the album that really solidified them as one of the biggest bands of all time, an album that will actually have its 20th anniversary sometime in 2007 as well: The Joshua Tree. One of my favorite U2 albums, and not just because it contains my favorite U2 song of all time, “Where the Streets Have No Names”, but also because it contains some of the best songs from the band's career and really works as a complete work. The Joshua Tree is not just one of the seminal U2 albums for me, but one of the seminal rock and roll albums of all time, and that it why I chose it for this month's feature.A song that as I said, is my personal favorite and was also one of their biggest hits, opens the album. “Where the Streets Have No Name” is a driving rocker with layer upon layer of guitar tracks that sound both huge and spacious at the same time. It is a sound that is pretty unique to this band and the guitar style of U2 guitarist, the Edge, and makes this song sound so epic from the very first notes. Bono's soaring vocals push the song further in typical fashion and really set the tone for the album; anthemic, powerful and emotional. There are actually three consecutive hits to open the album each one was huge and remain rock staples to this day. Following the opening track is “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For”, a similar song in its building, pulsing style, but more restrained and less aggressively driving. Again there are great lyrics that are put over the top by Bono and a great sing-along chorus. The third of the big hits to start off this album might be in their top 5 hits of all time: “With or Without You”. A slow burning ballad it serves almost as the climax to the two previous songs when listened to in order because it builds and builds, just like the previous two, but eventually explodes with Bono's huge wailing vocals in a sort of emotional outpouring that is just spine tingling.... A great love song, or is it? I always found it interesting how this song is viewed as although the lyrics are confessional and emotional they're a bit darker than is evident on the first listen and I think this song is often misinterpreted, but it's still a great song none the less.“Bullet the Blue Sky” follows and is also one of my favorite U2 songs of all time with it's howling guitars, hypnotic pulse an darker outlook. It's a bit different than some of the bigger hits that the band produced, and that's part of the reason I like it as it's a good contrast to their more straightforward pop moments. Plus it has great poetic imagery that ranges from haunting to spoken word, really creating a great feel throughout. “Running to Stand Still” is soft and sorrowful throughout with it's soft piano, guitar accents and drum beats, but there is a subtle country twinge in its guitar licks and closing harmonica that really add depth. “Red Hill Mining Town” is one another one of those standout songs in my mind. A powerfully emotional song with a slower beat, and ringing guitar parts, but it's once again Bono's vocals that really put this song over the top with a massive “bring the audience to tears” type chorus. I'm also fond of the simple backing vocals on the chorus that really seem to add just the right accent and touch of a choir like effect. Great song that could easily sound melodramatic, but I think is executed perfectly and serves as a great midpoint for the album.The rest of the album has some definite highlights as well. There's the moving rocker “In God's Country”, which is catchy and a bit more stripped down than some of the anthems, but still sounds huge. “Trip Through Your Wires” has hints of blues, country, and rock and roll roots in its swagger and its harmonica bursts, with lyrics to increase that feel. “One Tree Hill” hints at some of the more dance type songs that U2 would really explore during the 90s, but also has sweet flowing lyric and a great catchy feel and chorus. “Exit” starts with a haunting almost gospel-esque feel, but slowly morphs, building from complete subtlety to a massive sound with pulsing drums and gritty guitar layers, with an almost proto punk rough edge, that grind and surge back and forth and echo a mystic feel that really seems unlike U2 if you're used to listening to purely the hits. Another one of my highlights, and then the closer, “Mothers of the Disappeared” again has elements of the more experimental U2, but pulls back into a soft counterpoint to “Exit”. The two songs compliment each other well and kind of echo elements back and forth, the latter sounding a bit like a subtle “clouds parting” type of climax to the first, building into massive layers of sound by the end before trailing off to close the album.Although this album will surely remain one of rock's legendary albums for producing some of U2's major hits, I actually think it works better as a complete work and is just a great album to listen to. There are a variety of styles, but they all sound firmly like U2, never sounding out of place or out of character, even in their more artistic moments. It's actually a pretty dark album, with a feeling of sorrow flowing throughout and a sense of weight. These are heavy ideas but they work and the band sounds determined, thought provoking and epic from start to finish, never completely melodramatic. With all U2 albums there are some great lyrical lines that have great imagery and often political or social weight and this a good example of the band's skill at song and lyric writing. At the same time though, it is an extremely personal album and it's very easy to see one's own soul in these songs, even when they're at their most epic and I'm sure thats part of why I think it's so great.Listening to The Joshua Tree in it's entirety, I think there is more to why this was the album that really made U2 huge. It is not just because it has three of their biggest hits. It's because from start to finish it's a great album that really shows a band with a vision and will to change the world, and they did, and continue to do so to this day.If you're completely new to U2, then this album is a good place to start as I think it's one of their best. I almost wish this was the album (or perhaps War or Boy) that I had first discovered U2 with because songs like “Bullet the Blue Sky”, “Exit” and “Red Hill Mining Town” paint a slightly different picture than the “Best Of” collections. You can also start at the beginning with Boy, which is also quite good, but I'd recommend staying away from the compilation sets with this band especially as they really seem to be a bad representation in my mind. If you're already a U2 fan, then I'd find it hard to believe you don't know of this album and if by some strange twist of fate you don't, you call yourself a fan? Better get listening.

D.A.N. is the owner of multiple blog type sites. The main one, The Soul of Rock 'n' Roll is a music and rock 'n' roll oriented blog dedicated to discussing the music he loves, promoting new artists that he's discovered, discussing guitars and creating music, and how music relates to society. He also runs The Sights and Sounds from the Fifth Column, an open publication designed to promote authors on the web who promote positive ideas, changing the world, self improvement and resolving social, world and political ideas.

Rock & Roll Feature: Jefferson Airplane And The Summer of Love On Their Surrealistic Pillow

D.A.N. — Sun, 1 Jul 2007 06:10:55 EDT

This is the eighth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller. So this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.As any good music fan is probably aware by this time, the summer of 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the infamous “Summer of Love.” The historic period that would forever change the world, and especially music. There were so many seminal albums from that period -- a sort of musical explosion of creativity. But if I had to pick one band that best fit with the psychedelic feel of the late 60's it wouldn't be Jimi Hendrix, or Cream, (although they would be good choices too) -- it'd be Jefferson Airplane. And of course the album of that time I would have to pick would be be Surrealistic Pillow.Although it was released months before the Summer of Love, some people claim that this was the album that really kicked off everything with psychedelia. I don't know if I'd agree with that statement or not. I wasn't around when it debuted, and I didn't really start listening to the Airplane until after I'd already been listening to much of classic rock, I have not really researched everything about the psychedelic movement to make a good call. In fact, listening to the album now -- though having also heard everything that followed -- including Jefferson Airplane's own After Bathing at Baxter's that would be released at the end of that same year, it actually sounds a little tame in terms of psychedelic and sonic experimentation. Still, I do hear a lot of the influences from this album in just about everything from that era. I also think it remains a great album in its own right.Starting off pretty simply, “She has Funny Cars,” is a great subdued rocker that hints at something deeper in it's lyrical content and has a bit of a primal feel at time in its drum and guitar work. Then erupts one of the best rock and roll songs of all time, “Somebody to Love” -- a song I've always felt just hits everything right, from it's subtle cryptic lyrics to it's straight ahead pounding rock feel and slightly mystic flavored lead guitar work. It's just a heavy song with great haunting, but soulful vocals and an energy that a lot of heavier bands have seemed to grasp for, but have never quite reached. A few even covered this song directly. Still, they didn't quite hit it quite as right as this original version. “My Best Friend” is an upbeat, slightly bluesy and folksy song that builds into a bit of a folk blues stomp in the middle, which in the end gives a great feel and some depth. Then, things really get interesting with the trippy but beautiful mysticism of “Today.” This is one of my favorite songs off this album for it's great lyrical lines that seem to just hang above a very minimal musical backing. I'm especially fond of the tambourine beats, as there is something very visceral in that hypnotic pulse. It recalls another band and song that had just come onto the scene as well -- the Doors and “The End” from the Doors self titled release. This is quite interesting because I believe that Doors release was in Jan '67 -- where Surrealistic Pillow was released in Feb '67.I don't know if there was direct influence there or not.The album seems to get deeper and darker as it progresses into the next song “Coming Back to Me”. It's another slow burning mystic and folk flavored ballad, but seems far murkier than “Today,” with far darker lyrics and a style that only briefly breaks for the chorus. “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds” is almost a complete reversal from the previous two songs. It's an upbeat, straight up rocker, but still good. “D.C.B.A. -25” is a return to the psychedelic feel, this time in a upbeat rock song with great harmonized vocals and a swaying chorus. This song also has a great progressive guitar lead from Jorma Kaukonen that gives it a deeper feel than it might otherwise. Both this song and “How Do You Feel” have that great happy and melodic, but slightly more haunting feel, that a lot of the bands had at this time. “How Do You Feel” sounds more folksy than the psychedelic “D.C.B.A. -25”. In fact, this feel carries through most of the rest of this album, as this is a very upbeat record overall.Of course, the folk guitar instrumental work out “Embryonic Journey” is an album highlight. With it's sublime earthy, but extremely melodic feel, courtesy of the brilliant Jorma Kaukonen. Oh, and then there is this little song called “White Rabbit” on this album as well.One of the all-time anthems for the psychedelic era, “White Rabbit” is a surrealist acid trip in musical form, with great lyrics inspired by Lewis Carroll and a building feel that pulses and pushes towards it's ultimate climax. What really makes this song work for me though is Grace Slick's fantastic vocal work. It's hypnotic and trance-like, with surges that can absolutely send shivers down the spine, especially when she belts out the poetic imagery of the song's psychedelic conclusion.The album closes with the rock, blues, and folk stomp “Plastic Fantastic Lover,” that has some more great lyrical lines and guitar work that puts it firmly in the psychedelic genre. It also hints at the rougher, harder edged places Jefferson Airplane would go on their next album.“White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” are really enough reason to listen to this album. Both are stellar songs and probably the most well known songs the band ever did. But they surely are not the only standouts on this album. Personally, I might pick After Bathing at Baxter's as a more accurate representation of the Jefferson Airplane psychedelic ideas. Despite being a far more difficult album to listen to, (these songs do seem to a little constrained in their shorter, radio friendly format), I wouldn't make that choice by much -- as I like both albums a lot. There is some really great music throughout Surrealistic Pillow and some truly great lyrical lines, as well as hints of social comments, humor, and sarcasm all laced with deeper thought that work together to make a great album.This album really stands out for me, because in it, I see so many of the roots of the great things to come, as well as where the music scene had already been, musically, lyrically and sonorously in it's songs. That's probably why some people see it as the album that really kicked off the mainstream psychedelic movement. I'm not a music historian, so I won't try to cite direct influence or trace the lineage of psychedelia, but I think it's pretty easy to see this album as -- at the very least -- a turning point in the music of Jefferson Airplane, if not the popular music scene of the 1960s as a whole. That definitely puts this in the realm of “must listen to” albums. Even if you don't want to look at it as that influential, it's still a great album to listen to with great music.If you're coming to Jefferson Airplane rather late like I did, (late, meaning long after their heyday) then Surrealistic Pillow might be a good place to start. Then again, if you're a fan, then you already know about this great album. Either way, I think during this 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, Surrealistic Pillow is definitely one of the albums we need to be playing for it's historical significance and influence.And maybe on a regular basis as well just because it has some great music.

Rock & Roll Feature: Live Throws the Copper Away

D.A.N. — Fri, 1 Jun 2007 09:45:20 EDT

This is the seventh in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.If someone glanced through my music collection, they could probably pull out any album and I could tell them when I first heard it, my first impressions, and what memories I associate with that album to this day. Music is like that for me, very linked to specific emotions, specific feelings, and specific events. Standout albums that had a major impact on me are often permanently embedded in those memories as well.In the mid 90s, I was just beginning to become interested in rock and roll, getting into the currently alternative music scene that had exploded and so I sought out new music in as many places as I could. The band Live was a group that I became interested in through my older sister actually. Upon hearing their album Throwing Copper, I became engrossed and they remain one of the bands I continue to watch to this day. This album of theirs has had such an impact on me that I still listen to it pretty often and it still recalls the memories of those days when I first heard it.Throwing Copper was Live's second release and they were still a relatively young group of guys at the time, but deep songwriting combined with a hard edged sound combined for a bit of alternative magic that just hit at the perfect time to explode onto the mainstream rock charts of the mid to late 90s. Most people who grew up during that era can instantly recognize some of the singles that were released, with “I Alone”, “All Over You” both being quite popular and having catchy feels and choruses, and of course there is “Lightning Crashes” a building funeral inspired rock epic that is still the biggest single the band ever released. Still, along with these tracks, I feel that this album not only contains some great music, but also is one of the best complete albums of the alternative era, and maybe of all time.The album opens appropriately with a slow starting song, “The Dam at Otter Creek”, that has a great subtly dark and hanging riff that draws you into the album and sets the mood for what is to come. It's a dark smoky sound, but isn't depressing or directly angry, but more worldly angry and slightly mystic and eastern flavored. The song builds repeatedly, pausing slightly to increase the feel before pushing into a hard rock explosion with a lot of emotion. Once kicking in, the riff remains but is morphed into a hard rock stomp that keeps building till it eventually fizzling out at the song's conclusion. This is a great track in its own right, but its feel absolutely sets the tone for the entire album and makes everything that follows just that much more gritty, emotional, and hazy. To get a feel for the tone I'm talking about, take a look at the album art if you get the chance. It's almost like you're viewing all the music through the coppery, olive green that has tinted the album artwork photos a rusty, greenish sepia. You could also say that the bright red serves as a symbol for blood and the human emotion and the black is the darkness of the anger and sadness, but that might be stretching it a bit. Either way it's great album art that quite accurately reflects the feel that can be felt even on the first track.“Selling the Drama” follows and is a catchy pop rock song that did well on the charts with good reason. It's lyrical content is slightly dark, but not so dark that it is depressing and could drive people away, instead just dark enough to be authentic. “I Alone” and “Iris” are both harder rockers with the first having a slightly menacing feel to its lyrical content but rocks hard and still draws you in. “Iris” is one of my favorite songs from this album, with its slow minor flavored opening chords bursting into hard rock thump, a driving base line and drum parts that builds into a full on arena rock feel, while still remaining that same mystic, smoky undertone, but does open up like the sun coming through the clouds for its center section. A great rocker of a song with some compelling lyrics and some great lyrical work. Actually I think all the songs on this album have great lyrical work, it's one of the reasons I like it so much. The why Ed Kowalczyk sings his lyrics makes them hit that much harder, but still retain a feel that is easy to relate to, despite it's deep and often poetic mysticism.“Lightning Crashes” is surely one of the greatest songs, at least from the alternative era if not all time. A song that is so instantly recognizable and so immediately and intensely emotional, that it can easily bring tingles to your spine or tears to your eyes if you let it. It's a song that speaks for itself, so go listen to it to really understand. “Top” and “All Over You” are both catchy pop rock songs. The first having a bit more of both a mystic feel and a funky baseline and while the second is a true pop rock anthem that is catchy, sweet and poetic, but still pretty rocking.These first songs constitute what feels like the “first side” of the album, even though on CD there are no sides. The “second side” though, is where I really feel this album is overlooked, but gets incredibly interesting. It features a bit of biting social comment, moves through dark eastern mysticism, hits hard and then concludes with the perfect album closer... and then has a subtle coda. Of these tracks, many stand out. “TBD” is said to stand for the Tibetan Book of the Dead and also supposedly conicals Aldous Huxley's death. Also one of my favorite tracks, this song is truly haunting, but not scary, more sad and murky, before erupting in an outpouring of emotion that is accurately reflected in the roaring guitars. “Stage” is a bit of a dark look at the rock and roll lifestyle and what it can do to you, with appropriate hard rock thrash and impassioned screeching vocals. My favorite song on this album is probably one no one would expect, especially with such hard hitting singles and such an overall high quality of song writing, but it's “Pillar of Davidson”. A slow burner with a lot of mystic blues flavor, it's a song that features some of my favorite lyrical lines and also some of my favorite vocal feels when the song kicks into it's final chorus, echoing back and forth with intertwined lead and back vocals that have a subtle chant-like feel. It's a song that has definite high points emotionally and just a great, deep feel, message and style throughout. The album closes first with “White Discussion”, a somewhat dark world outlook, and another one of my favorites for both music and lyrical content. It starts with a bit of a funky riff before building into the same sort of hard rock explosive climax that recalls the album's opener, “The Dam at Otter Creek”. It's a great closer as these two songs, opener and closer are almost subtle musical echoes, one building to set the theme of the album with hard rock thump, and the other to tear it apart with the same power... And if that isn't enough, there is a hidden track on this album that serves as a perfectly subdued coda of a quiet soft bluesy ballad. Although all of these songs can easily stand on their own, it is as a complete work that this album works best. It's a complete statement with subtle social comment through cryptically poetic lyrical lines strewn throughout that are sometimes obvious, sometimes amusing, and sometimes effectively subtle. What really makes it great though, is that it has such an all encompassing feel to it that is present from the very first track to the very last. They may not be stitched together ala the rock opera, and they may not necessarily have the same themes throughout ala the concept album, but these songs definitely all relate and work well together, even as they shift emotions and styles.Throwing Copper will always recall certain memories of a particular time during my life, and so will always have a special place in my musical collection, but that isn't the only reason I think it's great. These are some compellingly well written songs that stay with you, are emotionally powerful, pretty thought provoking if you let them be and all work together to make a great, complete rock album.If you're a fan of Live, you're probably well aware of this album as it was something of a peak in their career that they never really were able to match again. If you're not a fan, than this is definitely the album to start with as I think it is worth having in any rock collection. I'd recommend it highly to anyone who is into the alternative era and modern rock with some depth, if not to all rock fans. It may have special meaning for me, but I think Throwing Copper will stand the test of time as one of the best albums from the alternative era.