In 1963 the Who’s Pete Townshend made a shocking musical discovery. A fellow art-school student played an album by American jazz-blues pianist Mose Allison. My American friend,” recalls Townshend in the liner notes of an old Mose Allison reissue, grins like his eyeballs are on fire and produces the cover…
Remember Mork and Mindy? On that TV series, writers used Robin Williams’ alien to make trenchant observations about American culture. Because the lines came from Mork, they seemed amusing and thoughtful, not threatening. Several years ago, my wife and I hosted our own Mork. Only his name was Moulaye and…
There’s something very intriguing about photographs of jazzman Al Di Meola. In every recent shot, the guitarist’s handsome looks are overshadowed by an uncomfortable intensity. Even when smiling, Di Meola conveys the kind of anger and pain seen in someone recently jilted. And in a sense, the jazz guitarist has…
If Rodney Crowell’s father had had his way, his son would have become a baseball player instead of the major-league singer and songwriter he is today. Rodney would be ripping triples to deep center instead of garnering triple Grammy Award nominations and winning one. He’d be lining his mantle with…
Becoming famous overnight can be hell. Just ask Nirvana. Or Teenage Fanclub. Two years ago, both groups were struggling indie bands whose latest records, while not stiffs, were not setting the world on fire. Still, these discs, Bleach and A Catholic Education, respectively, were solid enough to warrant A&R flybys…
Art and Aaron Neville were standing in the tunnel leading to the Celebrity Theatre stage. Like most headliners who take on local bands to fill out the bill, the Nevilles rarely know, let alone watch, their openers. But this night, the brothers had been drawn out of their dressing room…
Chris Griffiths doesn’t want to hear about dance music. At least not the contemporary, guitar-oriented kind. He doesn’t care about rave” dance parties or anything that bands like the Happy Mondays or Stone Roses are doing. Griffiths says he’s tired of the neodisco that’s infected his native England and that…
Yo La Tengo does a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams” that’s so loving, so unexpectedly true to the spirit of the original that probably even Stevie Nicks would approve. The band also does a version of Lou Reed’s It’s Alright (The Way That You Live)” that bests the Cowboy Junkies’…
As promised, here is the second half of the local tape and CD roundup, the first installment of which ran in February. Given the volume of local music we’ve been receiving, this feature may have to become a continuing series. To those bands wondering where the reviews of their cassettes…
In the mid-Sixties, Roosevelt Nettles had a future in music. A doo-wop/R&B singer in Phoenix, he was a regular on the local club scene. His first record, “Matilda,” was a regional hit. He was touring with national acts like Sam Cooke. To top it off, he inked a deal with…
Don’t blame Dan Hicks for being a bit cantankerous these days. Just as his career is once again gathering momentum, the Bay Area-bred “folk swing” king has turned 50. “People come around asking me how I’m gonna wrap things up,” complains Hicks during a telephone conversation from his hillside home…
It’s time for a long-overdue look at what kind of “product” is coming out of the local music scene. The number of tapes submitted was so large this time that one week won’t cover them all. Be prepared for a second installment to run soon. The variety of local music…
Adam Franklin, singer/guitarist for Swervedriver, remembers the last time he and his band encountered America. Swervedriver flew across the pond a few months ago with fellow Brits Ned’s Atomic Dustbin for a five-show, five-city tour stretching from New York to L.A. “We were constantly flying from zone to zone,” says…
In 1986, as American singer/songwriter Paul Simon was about to release his Afro-pop manifesto Graceland, one of Simon’s inspirations was about to hang it up. Born Simon Nkabinde, but known by his stage name Mahlathini, this spry, 55-year-old Zulu is to African popular music what Dylan or the Beatles are…
“We’re an alternative to the alternative, which is just a clever way of saying we’re the mainstream,” says Miles Hunt of The Wonder Stuff. “We’re just a pop band.” Being a pop band, though, places The Wonder Stuff squarely on music’s cutting edge. Pop is so old it’s brand-new again…
It began when Elvis Presley became Mr. Sex” by humping the air on The Ed Sullivan Show. It spread when the Rolling Stones secured their bad-boy image by grinning through drug arrests, and when John Lennon declared himself a saint through his more popular than Jesus” pontificating. Shock value and…
It’s November 1, 1976. A little New York City club called CBGB’s is holding an audition night. The audience is buzzing. It can sense that a music scene is developing around the club’s new and exciting emphasis on punk” rock. One of the bands on the evening’s bill is called…
For most bands, playing songs by other songwriters is a mark of shame, a sign that they don’t have enough original material. But for the Neville Brothers, the opposite is true. Despite excellent original material, they want to sing other writers’ songs. It gives them a chance to hone their…
Webb Wilder is quite a guy. Just ask him. He’ll poke his chest forward and gladly tell you he’s the last of the full-grown men” and the idol of idle youth.” Without missing a beat, he’ll boldly claim that he’s not just a musician, but a mujician.” I can pull…
By 1983, crazed country iconoclast Gary Stewart had finally slipped one toke over the line. The days when he’d peppered the C&W charts with classic cuts like “Drinkin’ Thing” and “She’s Acting Single (I’m Drinking Doubles)” were roughly ten years and 10,000 Quaaludes in the past. His long, rocky relationship…
The twin pillars of the music business are talent and hype. Although talent gets all the respect, it’s hype-an art that bears no relation to taste, trends or the truthÏthat’s made the music business what it is. Make no mistake, hype is not easy. Press releases and other printed materials…
The night I attended my very first concert, Led Zeppelin was playing in town. That’s where all my friends were, bathed in marijuana smoke and ten-minute guitar solos. The next day, they bragged about how great the concert was, and when they saw I didn’t care, they added that a…
