Tag Archives: Classic Rock and Oldies

“The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” (1984), one of the great electronic dance numbers of the ’80s, is essentially a technopop deconstruction of the melodic line from the Token’s classic “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (1961), to which the title coyly alludes. The brilliance of the song lies in its juxtapositioning of organic …

You have to admire David Bowie’s energy and enthusiasm at this advanced state of his career: Rock legend David Bowie announced on Monday he would headline two of Britain’s biggest music festivals next year … July’s T in the Park at Balado, near Kinross in Scotland, and at the Isle …

Mike Stone is a totally cool guy and a great engineer and producer, having done fine important work with Queen, Shoes, GBH, Gary Moore, Textones, Lou Reed, Joe Walsh, Al Stewart, Ace, and Strawbs, among many others. But his claim to fame, his key to multiple large homes and a …

Surely Pink Floyd is the strangest mega-successful group in rock history. Beginning in the mid-’60s as a R&B-based hard rock band like the Who or Pretty Things, the band – Syd Barrett on guitar and vocals, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, Richard Wright on keyboards, and Nick Mason on …

At 45 I have been listening rabidly to rock music for over 35 years – I AM classic rock. If it came out in the late-’60s or ’70s, I pretty much know it, but I have to admit all I remember about Bloodrock are their album covers. Barry Stoller passionately …

Volunteers is my favorite Airplane album. The Airplane were THE archetypal Summer of Love band, with the motto “Jefferson Airplane loves you,” trippy “feed-your-head” lyrics, a communal Haight-Ashbury lifestyle, and a musical style cobbled together from folk-rock (singer Marty Balin, guitarist/singer Paul Kantner), blues and roots-rock (legendary guitarist Jorma Kaukonen …

The confluence of Simon and Garfunkel galavanting anew throughout the land and the SACD release of classic Dylan albums led me to think about one of the most unusual and amazing figures in recent recording history. Do you know this man? He was president of the Young Republican Club and …

Greatness and fall from grace.

The astonishing first Doors album still doesn't get the respect it deserves.

I’ve been in a Bowie mood. Yesterday I discussed Bowie’s “plastic soul” period – today it’s Bowie’s extremely fruitful musical partnership with the great guitarist Mick Ronson. Ronson was born in 1947 and grew up in Hull in the north of England. As a child Ronson played violin, recorder, harmonium …