-
Music
Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and…
Thin Lizzy
Vagabonds of the Western World 50th Anniversary
Long before “The Boys Are Back in Town,” Thin Lizzy was a pugnacious Dublin trio with bassist Phil Lynott and guitarist Eric Bell. Vagabonds was their third album and there’s nothing else like…
David Weigel
The Show That Never Ends: The Rise And Fall Of Prog Rock
This journalistic dive into the history of prog-rock follows the music from its Beatlesque origins through the explosion of the Moody Blues, the Nice, Genesis, Rush, and dozens more. It’s not all original…
Various Artists
Guitarists John Primer and Billy Flynn, bassist Felton Lewis, and drummer Kenny “Beady Eyes” Smith are part of an aggregation that’s long worked for the preservation and perpetuation of Chicago blues. That core…
-
Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get…
-
Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with…
-
The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds…
Al Di Meola
Throughout his 40-year career, Al Di Meola has worked in several different styles, the common denominator being Latin music. On this new album, he delves into what might be termed his “World Sinfonia”…
George Harrison – Brainwashed
It’s become cliché to say a particular guitarist is recognizable after just one note, but in the case of George Harrison, it’s true. Because along with his many hats and talents – singer,…
Various Artists
Bear Family Records
Richard Weize and his Bear Family Records are based in Germany, but few have done more to preserve American roots and other world music. Weize is dedicated to seeking out and reissuing the…
Lloyd Jones – Trouble Monkey
The first lesson to learn from this CD is that looks can be deceiving. Jones' picture on the cover looks like the guy next door, with a Strat across his shoulder. But the…
Paul Johnson – Liquid Blues
Having played a pivotal role in the development of instrumental surf music in the early ’60s with his band, the Belairs (best-remembered for the Johnson-penned classic “Mr. Moto”), and having presaged any notion…
The Domino Kings – Some Kind of Sign
Despite personnel changes, The Domino Kings continue to offer some of the finest traditional country music you’ll hear. Stevie Newman, Les Gallier, and Richie Rebuth all play guitars here, while David Sowers handles…
-
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully…
-
Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from…
-
Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and…
-
Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s…
-
Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,…
-
Eve Monsees and Mike Buck
& Their Groovy Orbit
This is not a solo album as much as an anthology of Austin artists and styles – from blues to country to ’60s garage and psych, demonstrating the versatility of singer/guitarist Monsees (Eve & the Exiles, Blue Bonnets) and her husband, drummer Buck (LeRoi Brothers), as producers/organizers. The tracks span three years, but the names…
Tony Bacon – 50 Years of Fender – Half a Century of the Greatest Electric Guitars
In 1950, Leo Fender began production of the first solidbody electric guitar, and music hasn’t been the same since. Celebrating the anniversary of the event, this book provides a year-by-year chronicle of the…
Tony Joe White – Snakey
Snakey
The title track that opens the Swamp Fox’s latest offering sounds almost like a variation on his bluesy “As A Crow Flies,” from 1972’s The Train I’m On. Hallelujah! At this point in…
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Box Set
This four-CD box set illustrates again how the seed planted by Hendrix created a whole tree of rock guitar that still flourishes, although not at the level of creativity it did with Jimi.…
John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie is one of our unsung heroes of jazz-rock, and this gorgeous three-CD reissue amply proves it. His Quartet recorded three albums from 1978 to ’80, all included here: Arcade, Abercrombie Quartet,…
Pink Floyd & The Dark Side of the Moon
Martin Popoff
This book marks the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s masterwork – composer/bassist Roger Waters’ meditation on madness set over angsty, slow-tempo rock. The narrative digs into the weeds of their 1973 breakthrough, accompanied…
Allison Moorer
Ryko
Allison Moorer couples a pitch-perfect voice with an edge you rarely find in commercial country music. Her first recordings displayed a rustic rock-and-roll leaning you’d expect from someone with her looks and vocal…
Bob Schneider – I’m Good Now
I'm Good Now
Singer/songwriter whose subject matter spans love to hate, happiness to abject despair. While not exactly lighthearted, anyone who likes their music with a bit of meat on it will find plenty to chew…
The Robin Nolan Trio – Swings & Roundabouts
If you like gypsy jazz and you haven’t heard The Robin Nolan Trio, you should. Solo guitarist Nolan is joined by rhythm guitarist Jan P. Brouwer and bassist Paul Meader on Swings &…
Glen Campbell & Jimmy Webb
It’s no surprise, given Glen Campbell’s 2011 Alzheimer’s diagnosis and his lengthy Farewell Tour, that music and video from the past are emerging, like this 1983 Canadian TV show he did with songwriter…
Toulouse Engelhardt
Lost Grove Records
Acoustic-guitar pioneer John Fahey influenced a generation of fingerpickers, and none sound more like a genuine musical heir than Toulouse Engelhardt This is a solo guitar album, and its tunes, with titles such…
Doug MacLeod
Break The Chain
A three-time Blues Music Award winner for Acoustic Artist Of The Year, MacLeod also deserves the B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year conferment. His concerts, with between-song stories as essential as the tunes,…
The Byrds: 1964-1967
Roger McGuinn, Chris Hillman, David Crosby
Like Dylan, the three founding members of the Byrds were ’60s acoustic folkies who, inspired by Beatlemania and the British Invasion, defined the amplified genre dubbed folk-rock. This lavish, chronological account of McGuinn,…
Frank Zappa
Zappa ’88: The Last U.S. Show
This high-energy gig took place on Long Island; sadly, it turned out to be Frank Zappa’s final American performance. Despite incredible musicianship, personality clashes doomed this lineup and Zappa ended the tour early…
Joni Mitchell
Archives – Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971)
A year ago, Mitchell unearthed a batch of rare ’60s recordings called Archives – Vol. 1 and, boxed separately, remasters of her early studio albums. Now we have Vol. 2, a mammoth set…
Peter Case – Leet Us Now Praise Sleepy John
Peter Case has typically been thought of as a folksinger, and this record showcases that side of his talents. Except for a few songs, it’s Case and a guitar. But some of these…
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Déjà Vu 50th Anniversary
The essential tragedy of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is that they never recorded a sequel to Déjà Vu. Instead, the quartet resorted to fractious live reunions and disappointing studio albums cut decades…
Black River Delta
Swedish disciples of pre-World War II blues Erik Jacobs, Erik Nilsson, and Pontus Ohlsson, hauled a bunch of gear up to a remote cabin and got down to business. The result is an…
This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick
Brian J. Kramp
Bearing an incredibly accurate subtitle, the story told here is presented mostly as an oral history, loaded with minutiae about the adventures of Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos…
Soulive – Turn It Out
There are so many things to love about this group. Two of the most endearing qualities that draw me back to this CD daily are still dominant after about 50 listenings! Yeah, they…
Andy Timmons – That Was Then, This Is Now
That Was Then, This Is Now
Andy’s been around awhile, even though his isn’t exactly a household name. He was the guitarist in the pop/metal band Danger Danger a few years back, and he’s done sessions with numerous musicians.…
“Rockabill-Lee”
England’s Albert Lee provided one of Woodstock’s highpoints, with his band Ten Years After’s frenetic version of “I’m Going Home,” and Lee got caught up in the faster-is-better era. But as his sophisticated…
David Gideon
Reunion! Lonesome Desert Strum
The Teskey Brothers
Live at the Forum