• Smith/Kotzen

    Music

    Smith/Kotzen

    Black Light/White Noise

    This is the third album from rock veterans Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs). The busy axeslingers – especially Kotzen, who is always involved in solo and band projects – released their full-length debut and an EP in 2021. Smith-Kotzen has happily blossomed into a going concern. What’s interesting about Smith/Kotzen’s

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INXS – Shine Like It Does: The Anthology 1979-1997

A completely beautiful package for a band that really deserves the recognition. In the 1980s and ’90s, these Australian rockers made perfect pop/rock records that were laced with funk, soul, and R&B. They…

Red Allen, Frank Wakefield, and the Kentuckians

Washington, D.C. and vicinity, known for forward-thinking bluegrass bands like the Country Gentlemen and the Seldom Scene, also had staunch traditionalists, among them the team of mandolin virtuoso Frank Wakefield (a one-time Stanley…

Jan & Dean – Liberty Singles

Last month’s “Hit List” review of the Beach Boys’ U.S. Singles Collection: The Capitol Years (1962-1965) pointed out that, as great as the music is, what your $132.95 list price really goes toward…

Swamp Rat – Swamp Rat

The cartoon rats on its cover are a humorous representation of the three guys in this band – Dan Cohen (guitar, banjo, vocals), James Cook (bass and vocals), and Derek Mixon (drums), and…

The Pretty Things

England’s Snapper Records recently released the ultimate retrospective of the Pretty Things, purveyors of “thrash R&B” (to quote lead singer Phil May) and psychedelia. Featured in July ’15’s “Check This Action,” it weighs…

Samantha Fish

Faster

Samantha Fish’s latest continues an artful trajectory combining pop and gritty blues; Faster seduces the listener as it showcases empowerment, self-reflection, and taking control of one’s destiny. Under the watchful eye of producer…

The Atomic Bitchwax – II

Ed Mundell – my choice for Guitar God 2001. Although Mundell, lead guitarist for Monster Magnet (his day gig) and the Atomic Bitchwax (his side gig), might lack name recognition, he certainly doesn’t…

Tedeschi Trucks Band

I Am The Moon

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have released the first of a four-album set called I Am The Moon. Comprised of 24 tracks, the songs feature musical input from their 12-piece ensemble with Trucks…

Blues Magoos

Sundazed

Following British Invasion bands like the Yardbirds and Rolling Stones, but mostly fizzling before 1967’s Summer Of Love, bands that straddled the transition from garage rock to psychedelia don’t get much respect. These…

Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez – The Deep End

Horizon Music Group

The beehive-haired soul diva of the “Saturday Night Live” band offers a collection of mostly original soul and country songs (often mixed together, as in “Girl Growing Up”) that hit the sweet spot,…

Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

The album opens with static. The distortion bleeds into a sonic maelstrom of competing radio signals before a backbeat of drums launches the first song, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Welcome…

Toto: 40 Trips Around the Sun

Toto is one of those love ’em or hate ’em bands – you’re a fan of their intricate pop-rock, or not. Just out, this solid greatest hits package is spiced with three new…

The Teskey Brothers

Live at the Forum

Australia’s Teskey Brothers present blue-eyed soul from Down Under, with stellar vocals, guitar, songwriting, and all-around panache. With an EP and two LPs to their name, their latest live album is a tour…

Sam Bush and David Grisman – King of My World

If you see Sam Bush perform live, the first thing you’ll notice is what a wonderful time he has on stage. Few performers enjoy playing music as much as Sam, and it shows.…

Dumpstaphunk

The New Orleans funk ensemble known as Dumpstaphunk has been at it for a decade now. Led by Ivan Neville on keys, the band consists of Nikki Glaspie on drums and vocals, guitarist…

B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon

Charles Sawyer

Author/photographer Charles Sawyer’s association with B.B. King began in 1968 and led to his authorized 1980 biography The Arrival of B.B. King. This coffee-table production is no sequel, but a lavishly illustrated memoir…

Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Mercury

BTO holds an interesting spot in rock history, in essence serving as hard rock’s ambassadors to AM pop radio. Their reign was brief, but from 1973 to ’76, music fans could barely turn…

Yates McKendree

Buchanan Lane

A Grammy-winning engineer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and already a veteran of some of Nashville’s most-storied stages, the release of 21-year-old Yates McKendree’s debut album mandates the addition of another accolade – top-shelf purveyor…

Eliza Gilkyson

Songs from the River Wind

In contrast to her last few, politically-focused albums, Eliza Gilkyson considers this a “love letter to the Old West.” Revisiting her folk roots through originals, covers, and traditional favorites fits her lineage well…

Pete Seeger/Bruce Springsteen – Give Us Your Poor

The fascinating, and moving, concept behind Give Us Your Poor differs from previous fundraising, conscious-awareness efforts, in that established musicians are teamed with talented people who have been, or are currently, homeless. So…

The Allman Brothers Band

Rocking The Fox

What an embarrassment of riches this boxed set offers. Recorded on three nights in September 2004 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, it showcases a band that surely will be remembered as one…

Tinsley Ellis

Devil May Care

Donna The Buffalo

Sugar Hill Records

Micki Free

Turquoise Blue

Roy Orbison

Unequivocally Essential

Kenny Burrell – Lucky So and So

Here’s the latest from a true legend. Kenny’s been doing it for so long, and doing it as well as or better than everyone else, that it’s foolish to even think there’d be…

James Carothers

It’s no surprise that Tennessee native James Carothers kicks off his debut album with an original titled “New Country Singers,” a witty jab at today’s current crop of drink/party/pickup truck chart-topping lightweights. Suffice…

Tomo Fujita – Right Place, Right Time

Fujita is a professor at Berklee College of Music, and the music here flies in the face of the old adage, “Those who can’t do, teach.” Fujita proves himself a true player’s player;…

Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Zuzu Bollin – Boogie Uproar: Texas Blues and R&B 1947-1954

The history of early Texas jump blues is often summed up in one name – T-Bone Walker. While Walker’s pioneering guitarwork, great original songs, and landmark recordings are justly famous, his star quality…

Joseph Spence

Encore

Imagine you’re a zoologist who discovers a new animal species never known to exist. There have been rare musical discoveries that rivaled that. John Hurt played nothing like a Delta bluesman, even though…

Black Label Society

Doom Crew Inc.

BLS’ 11th album has Zakk Wylde sharing duties with guitarist Dario Lorina. Huge tones, harmonized lines, and blistering solos dwell in the realm of metal-infested stomp and fretboard intensity. Dedicated to their roadcrew…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Chris Thomas King – Me, My Guitar and the Blues

Chris Thomas King is the real deal: a modern-day blues revivalist with one foot firmly in the past and the other keeping time in the present. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, King grew…

The Bottle Rockets

Brian Henneman should be a country super-star. For more than two decades, Festus, Missouri’s favorite son, has combined Tom T. Hall wit with Roy Nichols chops as front man of the criminally underappreciated…

Chicago – Chicago I, Chicago II, Chicago III

I hear all you naysayers. You’re going, “Wait. This is a guitar mag, and you’re reviewing three albums by a lame pop band?” Well, that may be partially true. But these are the…