Album Reviews

Let the monomania continue! I picked up an original of this at a record swap for a few bucks on a whim and was wowed! I brought a CD-R of it to CES one year and wowed crowds with the recording without identifying the chick singer.

This is an easy call. Art Pepper at a productive time in his career musically and otherwise, recorded with vivid clarity at Contemporary Studios and delivered to the listener as a double 45rpm LP. You’ll be convinced Pepper’s standing between your speakers playing lithe alto sax lines that exude the delicacy of Paul Desmond and the muscular force of John Coltrane.

Legendary, much sought after and barely in print when first released on the obscure International Artist label, both the original mono and stereo versions of Roky Erickson’s psychedelic scream and surf fest fetch big bucks.

Producer and concert promoter Norman Granz signed Ella Fitzgerald to his Verve label back in 1956 and thus began a series of stellar studio albums, orchestrated songbooks and live set releases, many of which have been reissued on both CD and deluxe vinyl.

This “supergroup” trio side project featuring Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age Joshua Homme and Led Zep bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones is sure to please lovers of classic rock and heavy metal, not to mention Led Zep fans of all ages. They’ve even got a logo.

Twenty five years later, it’s easy to forget that Graceland, the album many consider to be Paul Simon’s finest musical achievement, was mired in controversy because of the continuing disgraceland that was apartheid South Africa. Nelson Mandela was still jailed and protests erupted on college campuses and in the halls of government around the world.

While the Mississippi born, now New York based Wilson is labeled a "jazz singer," she's strayed far from her original comfort zone to cover everyone from The Monkees to Van Morrison to Robert Johnson—and more importantly done it effectively by re-imagining both the familiar arrangements and the listener's every musical expectation.