My experience with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
A historical look at one of the earliest concept albums ever written...
There's something Hazardous about this album, alright...
The depress-a-thon of love continues with a rock opera of two lovers in Berlin during the 70's.
My relationship with the music of The Who and my experience seeing them play live in Kentucky, 2/16/13
Starting off February with a romantic folk opera based on Greek Mythology. This can only end well...
The final review in the saga of David Bowie
I am not somebody who believes firmly in the ‘Troubled Artist’ school of thought. This is the notion that many great pieces of art stem from the creator’s need to express their innermost feelings, be it of sorrow, misery, anger, loathing, etc....
I mentioned back in my Pin Ups review by David Bowie that he initially had the idea of doing a companion album with Pin Ups, a cover album of British Invasion Era music that influenced him. The companion piece was to be titled “Bowie-ing Out”...
So far throughout Bowie month, one might’ve made the assumption so far that I’m not terribly fond of Ziggy Stardust. While I don’t despise the character or the album, I’m certainly not the biggest fan. I give Bowie credit for the idea of the...
Covering songs can be a very tricky and oftentimes thankless task in the music industry, especially nowadays. Generally speaking, any art form that is remade or ‘reimagined’, to put it more pretentiously, is not often going to be greeted with...
After Bowie released his widely acclaimed magnum opus, people considered him a full, bona-fide rockstar, adoring his lush and lavish performances and costumes as the character of Ziggy Stardust. During his touring in America, however, always working...
The most defining element of rock that I think is also the greatest element is the undeniably energy that is injected into not only the music but the performances as well. The purpose of rock and roll from the beginning was meant to be music that...
As the year of 2012 draws nearer and nearer to its end, our thoughts become more and more occupied with the looming promises and threats of the future ahead of us, for good reason. Part of what makes the future so fascinating to us, I believe, is...
Happy Holidays to everybody as we close the year of 2012. Speaking personally, I’ve always found the December Holiday time to be one of the most enjoyable times even in the worst of years. Even if one grows older and more cynical with time,...
When one hears the word ‘swashbuckling’, the imagery of sea battle, rife with pirates and thieves alike clashing shimmering silver swords and blades at the crow’s nest of a ship whilst chaos and cannon fire roar below, can easily come to mind....
America is a nation whose history matches its present state: confused, uncertain, troubled, corrupted, and painfully insecure, masked behind vague and overblown ‘accomplishments’ that might mean nothing today. Perhaps the only difference is just...
Not too long ago, I reviewed a concept album that focused on the fallacies and faults of post-war Britain entitled Arthur: Or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire. I still hold that album in very high regard for its amazingly catchy melodies,...
On Friday night, November 23 of 2012, my father and I attended the ‘An Evening With Leonard Cohen’ concert at the Akoo Theater in Chicago. I am not a person who makes it a point to go to concerts or live shows, be it for time issues, money...
If you were to pay me a penny for my thoughts, I would be one of the first to state how much I dislike the pop genre of music with very little hesitation. Saying something along these lines will definitely earn me a title along the lines of...
Concept Album Corner – ‘In Bocca Al Lupo’ by Murder By Death One of the many possible problems in creating Concept Albums, particularly more modern ones, is exactly how broad the concept might be. In some cases, with albums...
The history of music, I find, is often a fascinating one. The progression of music and all of its many forms and genres throughout the decades and even centuries is filled with influence for the present and the future, both of which in turn can...
An early seasons greetings to you all on this month of All Hallows Eve. Horror, fear, and terror can take many forms and many guises in our culture, as mankind certainly seems to have a fondness for it. Be it in film, literature, paintings, and even...
Whether the citizens of America choose to acknowledge it or not, the USA’s constantly altering fads and fashions are certainly influenced and mixed in with other cultures from across the globe. America has indulged in everything from German metal...
Any art form, no matter what the medium, requires a painstaking level of work, in the creative process as well as the production process. Each medium has a set of rules, some complex and some simple, that are meant to be followed and broken. Some...
The question of what is and what is not considered ‘art’ has always permeated our culture. Art has the ability to allow people a form of expression without words, to distill a thought or an idea in its most primal form in our subconscious....