• 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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Led Zeppelin: The Biography

Bob Spitz

Zeppelin has been the subject of countless books, but Spitz delivers a fresh, insightful examination of their saga – both the rock and roll exceptionalism and wretched excesses. There’s an exploration of Jimmy…

The Yardbirds – Birdland

Birdland

It’s hard not to be skeptical over every “reunion” that comes along when you’ve got Toad The Wet Sprocket reuniting after all these years – five to be exact. If that’s a reunion,…

Dio

Metal fans are pretty much in agreement that the late Ronnie James Dio was the greatest metal vocalist of his generation – or any other, for that matter. His majestic yet theatrically masculine…

Danielle Nicole

As bassist and vocalist of the sibling group, Trampled Under Foot, Danielle Nicole helped her brothers play stomping blues and R&B that was authentic and rollicking. On her solo debut she leans more…

Simon And Garfunkel – Live from New York City, 1967

“Sherman, set the Way Back machine for New York City, 1967. I want to go to a concert.” This new release from Columbia Legacy beats Mr. Peabody’s infernal device by a mile. Recorded…

Ten Years After – The Anthology (1967-1971)

If you’re lucky enough to catch Ten Years After on classic rock radio these days, it’s likely the 1971 hit “I’d Love to Change the World.” As strong as that tune is, it…

George Clinton

Let’s get it out of the way. That title… one of the best in recent memory. Then again, what else should we expect from the man who arrived in the Mothership to bestow…

Dr. Dog – We All Belong

Dr. Dog is five guys from Philly who’ve listened to more than their share of Beatles and Beach Boys. It’s not a bad thing. In the context of the band, their names are…

Bob Dylan

Triplicate

This new collection extends Dylan’s venture into the Great American Songbook, a journey he began with 2015’s Shadows In The Night, this time offering three discs of material beyond the Frank Sinatra catalog.…

Jack White

Willie Wonka Rocks

Jack White was recently crowned the Willy Wonka of the rock and roll world by Rolling Stone, and a better description of the man, his music, and his Third Man Records enterprise would…

Spirit

It Shall Be, 1968-’72

Rock history is littered with truly gifted bands that inexplicably never broke big, from The Move to The Replacements. Spirit is another, an L.A. group dripping with talent and the ability to mix…

George Cotsirilos Trio

OA2 Records

Veteran jazz guitarist Cotsirilos’ latest record is a swinging set driven by his considerable chops and skill at composing and interpreting music. His bandmates, Robb Fisher (bass) and Ron Marabuto (drums), are the…

Yes

While Yes is still a working band, it’s mostly in name only. This three-CD set, taken from a 2004 Massachusetts concert, shows the classic mid-’70s lineup featuring guitarist Steve Howe, bassist Chris Squire,…

Alecia Nugent – Alecia Nugent

Don’t let the spelling of her first name lead you to believe Alecia Nugent is one of those overly affected country divas the labels trot out with lugubrious regularity. Instead, her debut album…

Brad Paisley

Hot-Picking Comfort Zone

Brad Paisley’s albums have followed a formula that began on his 2001 sophomore album Part II. Generously programmed with abundant cameos, they blend love songs with catchy numbers celebrating idealized small-town and rural…

Cecil Alexander

Various artists

By 1973, Yes, ELP, and Jethro Tull were scoring gold albums in the style we now call progressive rock. Overnight, dozens of U.K. bands got the message and shifted course – they dropped…

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo – Live!

Roger McGuinn & Chris Hillman with Marty Stuart

A premier folk-rock band morphing into psychedelia in the mid ’60s, the Byrds pioneered country-rock with 1968’s Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Personnel upheavals had seen David Crosby fired, Gene Clark going solo, and…

Life in the Fast Lane

Mick Wall

Despite personality conflicts and substances galore, The Eagles created impeccably crafted music. Mick Wall’s book explains how Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner, Don Felder, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit…

Graham Dechter

It’s always a treat when a young player arrives on the scene with an understanding of what came before him. Dechter is a traditional jazz player who lets us know right off the…

Side Hustle

Thom Rotella

Rotella’s long-established fretboard brilliance has put him in some heady music, film, and TV sessions over the decades (including frequent contributions to “Family Guy”). A protégé of revered L.A. “Wrecking Crew” guitar giant…

Mark Knoll – High Time

High Time

Great guitar sounds and a musical mix of blues, rock, and pop highlight this disc. The opener, “Gotta Give It Up” hints at what’s in store – big, bold guitar with a great…

Kenny Burrell – The Best Of Kenny Burrell

Kenny Burrell – The Best Of Kenny Burrell The good thing about compiling a Kenny Burrell “best of” is, since his 1956 solo debut, it’s hard to find any clinkers; the hard part…

Alison Krauss and Union Station – Alison Krauss + Union Station Live

Although fine female bluegrass singers and songwriters like Hazel Dickens and Emmylou Harris have achieved success, Alison Krauss must be considered the first woman bluegrass superstar. Ever since her first release, Krauss’ CDs…

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…

Larkin Poe

Blood Harmony

The latest from the Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Lovell sisters continues to fashion elements of Southern rock, blues, and wicked slide guitar into a creative juggernaut. Megan wields enviable feel and sensuous perfect pitch and…

Sean Watkins – Let It Fall

Let It Fall

Sean Watkins is one third of the young Grammy-nominated supergroup Nickel Creek. Along with his sister Sara and mando phenom Chris Thile, they’ve lit up the festival circuit with fresh musical energy. Let…

Skip James, Bukka White, R.L. Burnside, and Others

Worried Blues

The famed Fat Possum label strikes again! This series of separate CDs/LPs reissues 10 out-of-print albums and long-forgotten sessions of classic blues from 1963 through ’72, each offered under the title Worried Blues.…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Deke Dickerson and the Eco-Fonics – Number One Hit Record

Number One Hit Record

Walk the dog, son…walk the dog! I love this CD. Deke covers the roots bases, from rockabilly to country swing to surf and everything in between. And he looks the part with his…

Calvin Keys

To some, Calvin Keys is already a legend; to far too many, he’s an unsung hero or, worse, an unknown. In addition to being honored with Pat Metheny’s tribute “Calvin’s Keys,” on the…

John Mayer – Live in LA

Beyond the tabloids, “TMZ,” and his celebrity girlfriends, John Mayer is a songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist who ranks among the best in modern pop. And this disc shows all of his strengths. Kicking…