Posts by Alby

Mavis Staples can make any song sound like gospel music. This John Fogerty song was an under-appreciated deep track from CCR's 1969 "Green River" LP until Mavis recorded it for…

Eddie Money, the classic-rock hitmaker from the '70s and '80s, died yesterday in Los Angeles, age 70. Born Edward Mahoney in Brooklyn, he ditched a would-be career as a New…

Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent who was controversially outed by the Bush administration in 2003, left Washington for New Mexico a few years back and is now running for…

Nobody's heard much from Michael Avenatti lately, but I thought of him again when I was listening to FOW's "Out-of-State Plates," its collection of B-sides from 2005. In fact, the…

Green Day made its name with a pop-punk combination, starting with "Dookie" in 1994, but this simple ballad is probably Billie Joe Armstrong's most lasting contribution to popular music. He…

The Human Beinz from Youngstown, Ohio, were a late-'60s one-hit wonder thanks to this rocked-up rendition of an all-but-forgotten Isley Brothers track. Originally the Premiers, the band changed its name…

I'm treading in El Somnambulo territory here, as the LP by the country supergroup The Highwomen -- formed as a sort of "answer group" to the '80s supergroup the Highwaymen…

Gospel-soul fusion? Anything was possible back in 1970, when Pacific Gas & Electric formed in Los Angeles. The band's most notable member was guitarist Glenn Schwartz, the original guitarist for…