Toby Lightman Devils and an Angel by Jay S. Jacobs The music biz is always hungrily searching for the next big thing. They’re trying to find an artist that has the talent and the vibe and the chops to make a huge splash in the choppy waters of popular culture. It should be someone who has … Continue reading
The Ed Sullivan Show Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (Rhino-2002) Your tolerance of the variety show format is equally proportional to the amount of hours you’ve viewed MTV since 1981. More than two decades have passed since the rest of television adapted to the now-taken-for-granted style of the quick-edited, odd-camera-angled, sound-bit, irony-heavy entertainment presentation. You are … Continue reading
JOSS STONE SOUL SISTER by Jay S. Jacobs You can’t help but notice the voice. It is strong, sensuous, assured. It soars to a crescendo or sighs to a whisper. It flat-out belts a soulful, joyful noise that reaches for the heavens and tries to box with God. Yet it doesn’t fall victim to the showiness … Continue reading
Michael McDonald – Motown (Motown) Michael McDonald does have one of the finest white soul voices in the world. With the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan and over twenty years of solo work his instantly identifiable baritone became a part of the pop music lexicon. So, it makes a certain amount of sense that on his … Continue reading
Vanessa Paradis – Au Zenith (Barclay/Universal-France) In the United States, Vanessa Paradis is probably best known as Johnny Depp’s live-in girlfriend. Other people may know her as the Chanel model or an actress. But in her native France, she is an institution. Paradis first made waves when she was only 14, with her 1987 international hit … Continue reading
Axelle Red – Alive (Virgin-France) I might have never heard of Axelle Red if I weren’t channel surfing one August night last year in the Sofitel Méditerranée in Cannes. With my admittedly rudimentary skills in the French language, I was looking for something, frankly, which I could understand. That’s when I stumbled upon an hour-long interview … Continue reading
Raphael Saadiq – Instant Vintage (Universal) Raphael Saadiq has logged well over a decade in the music biz as one of the brains behind Tony! Toni! Toné! and last year’s supergroup Lucy Pearl. But other than a few solo soundtrack singles over the years like “Ask Of You” (from Higher Learning) and “Get Involved” (from The PJ’s), he … Continue reading
Rosey Real Wild Child by Jay S. Jacobs The dream isn’t an uncommon one. A young Connecticut girl gets a job working for her cousin. This cousin just happens to be the right hand-person for the biggest concert promoter in New York. And despite the fact that the job is just a glorified gopher position, … Continue reading
Rod Stewart Storyteller – The Complete Anthology 1964-1990 (Warner Brothers 9 25987-2) ©1990 Description: It may just seem like Rod Stewart has been around forever. This box set makes it even seem more to be so. It is a long… and somehow in four disks rather lean… show of a distinguished career. What’s Good About … Continue reading
Jill Sobule Too Cool… by Jay S. Jacobs It’s Friday evening at the Upstage; a new Philadelphia venue built in a beautiful old bank building that has been used as a Goth nightclub for the last several years. Lloyd Cole, the Scottish cult-singer who turned some heads with his 80s band the Commotions, is unpacking … Continue reading
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