THE 5 BROWNS BREAKING BOUNDARIES BY RONALD SKLAR Fifty fingers on five keyboards. Three girls, two boys, all from the same womb, digging classical music and – through sheer talent and charm — making us dig it too. What is this? Even the most pony-tailed of marketing directors could not dream this up. It is … Continue reading
The Lashes Get What They Want By Jay S. Jacobs Seattle is known as a hotbed for music mostly because of the grunge bands of the early 90s. There is a whole world of musicians from the city who never wore flannel, though. Jimi Hendrix, Heart, the Posies, MxPx – lots of talented artists have flourished … Continue reading
Poison – The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock (Capitol/EMI) The subtitle 20 Years of Rock is a bit of a stretch – thirteen of the eighteen songs on this compilation (and all of the top 40 singles) stem from three albums (and one soundtrack contribution) during the band’s white-hot period of 1986 to 1990. Of the … Continue reading
The Little Willies – The Little Willies (Milking Bull/EMI) The Little Willies aren’t just a side project for country-jazz-pop chanteuse Norah Jones and her boyfriend/collaborator Lee Alexander with a bunch of New York muso buddies like Richard Julian, Jim Campilongo and Dan Reiser. They are a legitimate band, a group of separate and equal pub performers … Continue reading
Journey And the Journey Continues… by Deborah Wagner When you think of classic 70’s and 80’s arena rock, undoubtedly Journey is one of the first groups that comes to mind. Now, over 30 years after the band’s creation – with countless hits and the 2005 release of their 13th studio album Generations – Journey is still having fun doing … Continue reading
MTV Video Music Awards Rock (Paramount-2003) and Hip-Pop (Paramount-2003) As always, Chris Rock says it best. While hosting the MTV Awards in 1997, he observes that a good video can lead you to like a bad song. And that’s pretty much what this MTV Awards collection – saluting this hip, attitudinal underdog of awards shows – should be all … Continue reading
The Electric Company The Best of the Electric Company (Shout! Factory-2006) HEY, YOU GUYS! Just when you thought you couldn’t recapture any more of your TV-watching childhood, The Electric Company has surprisingly and blessedly come to DVD. Nowhere near as good as you remember it – with crude graphics, cheesy synthesizers and overlong segments (it’s stuffed to the … Continue reading
Music Scene The Best of 1969-1970 (Volumes 1 & 2) (MPI Home Video-2000) The train wreck that is Music Scene – an uncomfortable, pre-Saturday Night Live mix of youthful comedy and popular music – is worth watching if only for its noble attempt to do what it did before what it did was done right. This ABC variety … Continue reading
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND – VELVET REDUX LIVE MCMXCIII (2006) Starring Lou Reed, John Cale, Moe Tucker and Sterling Morrison. Directed by Declan Lowney. Distributed by Sire/Rhino Home Video. 83 minutes. Not Rated. Everyone knows the legend of the Velvet Underground, a brainy group of beatnik New York musicians who were championed by pop artist Andy … Continue reading
Carrie Underwood Takes the Wheel by Jay S. Jacobs Carrie Underwood had over 29 million people show up at her coming out party. That day, when she and rocker Bo Bice vied for the final slot on Fox-TV’s mega-hit talent contest American Idol was the turning of a page for the young singer. Since winning the season four … Continue reading
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