Posts by Alby

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, initially the leaders and eventually the only two permanent members of Steely Dan, were rather obsessive. Known for fussing endlessly over their recordings, they stopped…

Given the volume of bad news over the past six months, it's inevitable that some of it slipped by without much notice. So I was surprised the other day when…

Jesse Colin Young, the folk-rock singer-songwriter best known for his recording of the hippie anthem "Get Together," died Sunday. He was 83. Born Perry Miller, he adopted his stage name…

Nobody writes more heart-rending ballads than the Irish, which is fitting given the litany of tragedies they've suffered, mostly at the hands of the British. None has had a greater…

The best Americana singer-songwriter you never heard of, Jason Molina, died 12 years ago today of alcohol-induced organ failure at age 39. He was revered by his peers in the…

When they broke up the band 14 years ago, the members of R.E.M. swore they would never reunite. We've seen enough bands go back on such pronouncements to take that…

Guest post by Nathan Arizona When Bobby Womack crosses 110th Street in the song by that name, he’s crossing the traditional demarcation line between Manhattan and Harlem. Harlem has the…

I don't care that Democrats haven't made angry noises about the end of our constitutional republic because I only care what they do, not what they say. Now that it's…

If you're only dimly aware of the Dropkick Murphys, chances are you think of the Celtic punk band as a bunch of white working-class louts, and probably sympathetic to Trump…

Vibraphonist Roy Ayers, an oft-sampled pioneer of jazz-funk fusion, died last week at age 84. Ayers started out in the post-bop jazz scene in the early '60s. His first LP,…

Anthony Keidas doesn't articulate what was squeezing his soul – he descends into babbling actual nonsense in the last verse – but if you read the news these days you…

Here's a point in favor of those who believe Trump is not sui generis but rather the culmination of the reactionary right's long war against equality and civil rights: The…

Elvis Costello wrote this about a romantic relationship – "Armed Forces," the 1979 album it appeared on, was going to be titled "Emotional Fascism" – but I can't help thinking…