Posts by Alby

As an antidote to the new Bruce Springsteen album, a pleasant enough departure from his usual sound but about as energetic as a Perry Como record, here's the song that…

The Thorns was an interesting experiment. Solo artists Shawn Mullins, Pete Droge and Matthew Sweet began working together as a CS&N-style acoustic harmony group in 2002 for an album that…

Al Kooper is one of rock's Zelig characters. His career started in the 1950s as a member of the Royal Teens, responsible for the single "Short Shorts." In the 1960s…

This is probably the only piece of music in the classical canon inspired by a political speech. Henry A. Wallace, FDR's third-term vice president, proclaimed in early 1942, "Some have…

Back when Midwestern power trios like Grand Funk Railroad ruled American rock, none was better than the classic lineup of the James Gang -- Jim Fox on drums, Dale Peters…

After that '80s-sounding song yesterday, I got to wondering what would be the most '80s song ever -- the one that best embodied the sound of the decade, for good…

This song was born in the wrong decade. If it had been written and released before the mid-'70s it would be considered a Carolina beach music classic -- it's got…

The LP was named "Loaded" because the band's new record company wanted an album "loaded with hits." The result was the most pop-oriented set of Lou Reed's career. Of course,…

This clip is from last year, but I didn't know about it until the weekend, when it popped up on my YouTube feed because I had clicked on a different…

This song, one of the best fusions of rock and gospel ever written, became famous from Preston's roof-raising performance at George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, but the original…

In all his long career, through his more than two dozen albums and endless session work, Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack Jr., who died Thursday at 77, made his strongest public…