Tag Archives: Classic Rock and Oldies

Slade was one of those bands huge in the U.K. – somewhat like Sweet, Suzi Quatro, and even David Bowie to a certain extent – that we kept hearing were going to break huge in the U.S. at any moment in the heart of the glam era of the early-to-mid …

Rhino Handmade's new series of proto-psychedelic 60's goodness debuts . . .

The best instrumental surf music conveys more and delivers it deeper than vocal surf music. Vocal surf music is often obvious and trite. Great surf instrumentals have one monolithic ally, the sea. The sea is so wide and deep and long that it determines our weather. Words are trivialized by …

I was deeply gratified to see Traffic inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week. Among the most listenable rock-based groups to ever record, Traffic – with a core of uber-talented singer/songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist Steve Winwood, singer/lyricist/drummer Jim Capaldi, singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Mason and Chris Wood on tasty woodwinds – …

Essential Cheap Trick, the new 36-song, 2-CD career retrospective from America’s greatest power pop band, finally gets it right. Authorized Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits both focused too much on the later records and pop hits, neglecting the first album entirely and underrepresenting the classic In Color and Heaven Tonight …

Man, this one sounds juicy, stanky and ugly in all the right ways – at a bowling alley, no less! THIRD ANNUAL PONDEROSA STOMP ROOTS ROMP SCHEDULED FOR APRIL 27-28 AT NEW ORLEANS’ ROCK ‘N’ BOWL MID-CITY LANES Two-Day Festival Promises Cavalcade of Unsung Blues, R&B, Rockabilly, Swamp Pop and …

It’s refreshing, perhaps paradoxically, to hear a full set of music as resolutely out of fashion as slide guitar specialist George Gelish’s new home-produced CD “Don’t Quit Your Day Job.” Combining many of the elements that formed what’s now called classic rock with a knack for catchy riffs and choruses, …

As demonstrated at the first Woodstock in ’69, the original Santana band was a killer live unit, fundamentally a soul band that played hardcore African and Latin/Caribbean polyrhythms (Mike Carrabello – conga and percussion, Jose Chepito Areas – timbales, conga, percussion, Mike Shrieve – drums, Coke Escovedo – percussion) for …

Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey, the companion CD package to the PBS film series, is nominated for Best Historical Album. The list winds on like the mighty Mississippi to include many of the greatest popular musicians and songwriters of the 20th century: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, B.B …

Eddy Clearwater and Los Straitjackets Rock ‘n’ Roll City is nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album, which is kind of funny because, like the title says, it’s rock ‘n’ roll. Eddy “The Chief” Clearwater, 69, is a longtime Chicago electric bluesman and roots rocker with an affinity for wearing a …