Paul Williams dies at 64. The founder of Crawdaddy Magazine and one of the first rock journalists passes early. David Fricke wrote a beautiful remembrance at Rollingstone.com Fricke’s experience with Williams echoes my own, which I blogged about 4 years ago. I’m re-blogging it here. An Homage to Paul Williams-Godfather of Rock Criticism There are…
Category: Reviews & Commentary
Reviews & Commentary
Ten 1967 Pop Songs that Shaped Prog-Rock.
There’s a fun article in Pop Matters called Ten Songs From 1967 That Shaped Prog-Rock. Writer Sean Murphy knocks out his reasons for songs you might not expect to have any bearing on Progressive Rock, like The Beach Boys’ “Heroes & Villains,” which he put at number one. I agree with his choice, although he…
Reviews & Commentary
Alvin Lee Goes Home R.I.P.
Alvin Lee Founder & Guitarist of Ten Years After Passes I remember watching The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson around 1969. I think it was Steve Lawrence, or another of those loungey Vegas entertainers Carson loved back then, was on the show talking about hanging out with this group Ten Years After. He was shocked…
Reviews & Commentary
Yoko Ono’s Oblique Strategies – Still Ono at 80
She sang with Ornette Coleman, produced the first loft concerts of John Cage, La Monte Young and the Fluxus movement, created conceptual art, pre-saged Diamanda Galas and the B-52s. Then she married John Lennon. “Count all the stars of that night by heart. The piece ends when all the orchestra members finish counting their stars…
Reviews & Commentary
The Only Love Song You’ll Need for Valentine’s Day
Every year on Echoes of the Heart, our Valentine’s Day soundscape, and I mean EVERY year, we’ve played Heidi Berry’s “Cradle.” Even though it is the ultimate love song, this year, we gave it a rest. But if you only hear one love song today, maybe this should be it. An exercise in romantic minimalism,…
Reviews & Commentary
Hauschka’s Mystery Prepared Piano
Here’s a bit of fantasy and prepared piano from Haushka, the German pianist who was recently on Echoes with violinist Hilary Hahn. This is from the press release: While on a recent US tour with Grammy-winning American violinist Hilary Hahn, celebrated Düsseldorf-born piano composer Hauschka took a time-out to create this very special 3-part performance…
Reviews & Commentary
The Troggs’ Last Wild Thing – Reg Presley R.I.P.
Reg Presley, lead singer and composer for The Troggs, dies at 71. I just played both sides of Wild Thing, the American debut album by The Troggs, named for their #1 hit song. I bought it in 1966 at Woolworth’s in Tewksbury, Massachussetts. Not even thirty-minutes in total length, it has only one bad song…
Reviews & Commentary
Ravi Shankar’s Last Raga Ride
or I Dropped My Microphone on Ravi Shankar’s Sitar. The word “icon” is tossed around pretty freely these days, and I probably fling it out there more than most. But put the name Ravi Shankar next to “icon” and you reset that bar to stratospheric heights. There are only a few musicians who stand out…
Reviews & Commentary
Moogfest Gone? Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit Here?
A press release was just issued notifying us about a change at Moogfest, namely that it will no longer be called Moogfest, but the Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit (MOEMS?) I could be wrong, but if I’m to read between the lines of the release, I suspect that they couldn’t come to an amenable financial…
Program Highlights, Reviews & Commentary
The Ritual and Rapture of Dead Can Dance.
Hear Dead Can Dance in an exclusive broadcast live from Geneva tonight 12/16/2012 on Echoes This article originally published in CD Review in 1990 On the day of our Exclusive broadcast of Dead Can Dances performance in Geneva in October, I unearthed this article I wrote on the band back in 1990 for CD Review…