Album Reviews

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Album Reviews
Zing Went The String of the BSO
Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2007  |  1 comments

In describing the art of writing a serenade and Tchaikovsky’s relationship to it, annotator Fred Grunfeld wrote back in 1958 that the composer “prefer(ed) a well-filled concert hall to a single lady on a balcony.” No kidding!

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Album Reviews
Zombies Stalk Music Lovers
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 26, 2003  |  0 comments

One of the great "almost" bands of the 1960s, The Zombies had a career framed by two massive number-one hits: "She's Not There" in the summer of 1964 and "Time of the "Season" in 1969. It would be difficult to believe that any pop-music lover reading this has not heard those haunting minor-key tunes. This 20-track compilation demonstrates that The Zombies had much more to offer in between, but getting it all in one place has been difficult--and this compilation, good as it is, misses a few gems. If you want it all, try to find a copy of the four-CD, 119-track box set Zombie Heaven (ZOMBOX#7) issued in 1997 by Ace in the U.K.

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Album Reviews
Zu! Zu! Zu! Speakers Corner Reissues Early Esquivel Album
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 01, 2005  |  0 comments

For sound adventurers in the early days of stereo, no one’s musical arrangements fit the bill like Esquivel’s. They make Enoch Light’s close-miked percussive stuff on Command sound like punk-rock.

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Album Reviews
ZZ Top Classic All Analog From Warner Brother
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 01, 2009  |  0 comments

One side of this 1975 release gives you a smokin’ hot live recording of mindless, Texas-style speed-boogie music (the mind is not a terrible thing to waste!), while the other is a somewhat more introspective studio set.

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Album Reviews
“Loss & Gain Are The Same:” Bladee & Mechatok’s Immersive Good Luck
Malachi Lui  |  Jul 02, 2021  |  6 comments
In 2014, Swedish cloud rap artist and Drain Gang collective leader Bladee (Benjamin Reichwald) emerged with the lo-fi cloud rap single “Into Dust.” The song’s shallow lyrics (“I’m gonna bleed in the club/I got weed in my lungs/I don’t need any love/I can’t feel when I’m drunk”) and rudimentary video (a sunglasses- and sweater-clad Bladee stumbling through a forest with “WHYY” superimposed over the footage) are often memed, though he’s shifted styles several times since then.

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Album Reviews
“Ramblin’ On” About Led Zeppelin II   Or I Got Blisters on My Eardrums!
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 19, 2014  |  78 comments
Did you catch Train on The Howard Stern Show last week? The group performed a new, not particularly memorable single from their upcoming album and then at Howard’s request launched into a spectacular cover of “What Is And What Should Never Be” from Led Zeppelin II —an album originally released October 22nd, 1969.
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