This was my first Record Store event, and I only decided the day before to attend. I was in luck, a couple of miles from my home is a small record store that was participating in RSD. Record Store Day is about vinyl, and the support of independent record stores. This annual event began in 2008, and is celebrated in many festive ways, including the special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products, new release listening parties and artist appearances. Record companies and recording artists have really gotten involved and offer many limited edition vinyl products, which include spe ..read more

Success in the music industry is fickle, a creature of timing, promotion, talent, and luck. Here are five albums I own that sadly were neglected and passed into history. Larry Lee, Marooned. The sweet, polished vocalist of “Jackie Blue” of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Offered a solo album where he wrote or co-wrote the songs, this is a very fine set of melodic, upbeat songs, great arrangements and playing. For some reason this album didn’t click. A shame. Lee would move to Nashville and have a successful career as a songwriter. Richard Wright, Wet Dream. A solo album from Pink Floyd keyboa ..read more

Duos might be a folk or gospel thing, but after The Everly Brothers and Sam & Dave, pop and soul music was all over these duo groups. Not every duo was composed of two lead singers, singing around a guitar, as duos come in all shapes and sizes. Duos often mix different vocal styles, blending them into a soothing sound. Sometimes they write together, sometimes not. Sometimes they are leaders of a band, using a changing lineup behind them. Recording duos can be found in all genres of music. This is not a complete list of most famous or successful duos, just ones on my list. Loggins & Me ..read more

From about 1975 to 1979, Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb owned the radio waves. The Bee Gees had a few hits before and after that period, and produced hits for others, but the late 1970s belonged to them. Bob Stanley’s book The Story of the Bee Gees: Children of the World (2024, Pegasus) goes deep into the childhood, career and personal lives of this band. I found it an informative read, heavy on the music, but light on the business end of the band. In particular, there isn’t much about Robert Stigwood, manager/music publisher/record label owner, who grew rich off the band. The Sgt. Pepper film ..read more

The 1960s was a time of musical evolution and tremendous creativity. While record companies often nurtured young recording artists instead expecting instant success, many were fast out of the gate in delivering seismic results. Any list is subjective, and mine is too.  If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Your Ears (1965) The Mamas and The Papas. “Monday, Monday,” “Go Where You Want to Go” and “California Dream’” changed the pop landscape. This album gave us delicious four-part harmonies and folk-rock anthems. The Doors (1967) The Doors. “Light My Fire” and “Break on Thru (To the Other Side ..read more

It’s been more than 50 years since Jim Morrison died in Paris, but the world has never lost its fascination with The Doors. The Doors Unhinged: Jim Morrison’s Legacy Goes on Trial (2023, Akashic Books), is not a memoir of either drummer John Densmore, or of the band. While there is a little of both in the pages of The Doors Unhinged, the story is of success, greed and the battle over The Doors’ legacy. Name a classic rock band whose legacy is intact, or free of legal strife. There are a few, but not many. It usually boils down to power and money, that two-headed beast that seems to destroy an ..read more

The Pretty Things. R&B, psychedelic, glam, hard rock? What exactly were they? A bit of everything, like many British bands that started in the early 1960s the started out playing the blues before evolving into trippy progressive-rock and then harder British blues-rock. Lineup changes also broadened their musical pallet. Honestly, I wasn’t familiar with their music, but knew of the band. The name of the band reminded me of a Zappa or Alice Cooper type glam creation. I found it hard to warm up to them for some reason. For a blog I wanted to write on psychedelic-rock I knew the Pretty Things ..read more

Syd Barrett, the main songwriter of Pink Floyd at the time, is credited with coming up with the name, he had spray painted the word “hipgnosis” on his door. This the story of Aubrey “Po” Powell and Storm Thorgerson. Together, they created the most influential graphic arts business that created artwork for record albums and record marketing. Storm and Po. Storm and Po did not create the concept of album covers as artwork, but they certainly pushed graphic design to be recognized art. For them, it began when Pink Floyd asked them to design an album cover. space rock, so it needed a swirling mont ..read more

I wasn’t looking to read another book about the Eagles, but I kept coming back to this Life in the Fast Lane: The Eagles Reckless Ride Down the Rock & Roll Highway (2023, Diversion Books) on the library new books shelf. I’ve already read about the band from a number of perspectives, including former Eagle Don Felder’s book (Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles). Thankfully, author Mick Wall is more like James Ellroy than Cameron Crowe, so the reader not only gets the road, but the off-road Eagles stories. Wall doesn’t just provide the juice, he gives you the squeeze, and it ain’t always ..read more

I was shocked by the new Wilco album, Cousin. This is a band that reinvents itself occasionally, and their latest sound is impressive. I’ve stopped trying to label bands, it’s useless and generally inaccurate. Scott Bauer of the Associated Press called this “a deeply layered, musically rich record” where “the soundscape is so thick it feels like an aural impressionist painting, with layer upon layer of music melded together to create a sonic image”. I tend to agree. If you enjoy XTC, Radiohead, their offshoot band, The Smile, or even those veteran noisemakers, Broken Social Scene, Cousin shou ..read more