Do I really need Paul McCartney singing the music from the Ratpack generation? Sometimes I think it’s a sign of my growing lack of maturity that I can still never completely relate to the music my parents listened too. Intellectually I can dig Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme, and I actually like Tony…
Category: Reviews & Commentary
Reviews & Commentary
Orbital Never Say Never
After supposedly calling it quits back in 2004 with the release of Blue Album, the U.K. electronica duo, Orbital are on the verge of completing the inevitable comeback they began back in 2008. A new album, Wonky, is set for April and they’ve already released a teaser single, a light, effervescent bit of alka-synth-pop called,…
Reviews & Commentary
Lola Dutronic Does Suicide (the band, not the act)
I came across this charming video of Lola Dutronic singing Suicide‘s “Keep Your Dreams.” It’s a long way from “Ghostrider” and “Frankie Teardrop.” John Diliberto ((( echoes )) .
Reviews & Commentary
Progressive Rock Returns WXPN 7-Hour Marathon
I’m just hours away from WXPN‘s Progressive Rock Marathon. I’ll be joining Dan Reed, Biff Kennedy and Star’s End pilot Chuck Van Zyl bringing Progressive rock to the airwaves of Philadelphia, Central PA and the world Saturday, January 7 from 10AM-5PM. Since the show is a special segment of XPN’s “Highs in the 70s,” it…
Reviews & Commentary
Sam River’s Final Note R.I.P.
Jazz Giant Sam River’s Passes Away. I was so sad to hear of the passing of Sam Rivers at 88 years of age on December 26, 2011. He was an iconoclastic musician who came up in the free jazz days and cut through that scene with music blazing in serrated slices. I got to see…
Reviews & Commentary
These are the 100 Greatest Guitarists?
M.I.A from The Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists 100 Best Whatever-lists are designed to engender debate and outrage and 100 Greatest Guitarists is likely to create even more of a firestorm than usual. Of the millions who followed the Byrds’ dictum to “get an electric guitar and learn how to play,” many are bound to be…
Reviews & Commentary
NEARFEST Apocalypse
After announcing that they were resurrecting NEARFEST in 2012, the festival organizers have decided that 2012 will mark the last NEARFEST. In true ProgRock fashion, they’ve labeled it NEARFEST APOCALYPSE. Prog was never known for understatement. Well, like just about every classic prog group they’ve presented over the years who were resurrected from the grave,…
Reviews & Commentary
NEARFEST RETURNS IN 2012
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, or maybe King Crimson rising from Robert Fripp‘s mind, NEARFEST, the venerable progressive rock festival, will return in 2012 after cancelling the 2011 show due to poor ticket sales. With the original founders back at the helm, look for the festival to return to it’s mix of vintage…
Reviews & Commentary
Mike Oldfield Mentor David Bedford Heads for Star’s End
Composer, keyboardist and Mike Oldfield Collaborator David Bedford Passes I was sad to hear of the passing of David Bedford, the English composer who had a deep engagement with progressive rock in the early 1970s. It actually started a little earlier in Kevin Ayers and The Whole World, a rollicking post-psychedelic, pre-progressive rock, musically insane…
Reviews & Commentary
Ólafur Arnalds’ Living Room Songs.
Ólafur Arnalds releases a new song every day for 7 days, all recorded in his living room. The songs will be recorded and filmed live in the living room of his Reykjavík apartment and released instantly for FREE as streamed videos and MP3 downloads.Did he take a page from Echoes‘s Living Room Concerts which he…