// Category Archive for: Music

Music Review: Patti Page, From Nashville to L.A. – Lost Columbia Masters 1963-1969

By Melissa Bratcher

The new Patti Page release From Nashville To L.A.—Lost Columbia Masters 1963-1969 is comprised of unreleased masters from recording sessions in the 1960s. In those days, recording sessions consisted of laying down several tracks in a span of three or so hours, usually three or four songs live with an orchestra. The most commercial pieces would be put out as singles, others would be used as B-sides or album tracks, but there would almost always be songs that didn’t meet either criteria. From 1962-1970, Patti Page recorded almost 200 songs for Columbia. Fifty or so were singles; many were on albums. These leftovers, in no way inferior, are being released on From Nashville To L.A. for the first time.

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Music Review: Rene Lopez, Let’s Be Strangers Again EP

By Chelsea Spear

Could Rene Lopez be headed for Broadway? A cursory listen to his EP, Let’s Be Strangers Again, suggests a passing familiarity with contemporary show tunes. He writes songs with melodies so memorable you’ll be singing along and dancing down the street before the song has ended. His strong, sure baritone ably catches the ear, and his songs encompass conga drums, polyrhythms, and horn charts that suggest both Fania and 42nd Street. The slick yet straightforward production gives the album an inviting sound.

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Assemblog: October 25, 2013

Here Comes The Devil

New this week on Popshifter: Lisa enthuses over the new horror anthology Comfort Foods from the Nashville Writers Group; Jeff suggests five Italian horror movies that you may not have known about and wraps himself up in Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours; Melissa argues that sitars and flutes are more influential than previously thought in her review of The Dawn of Psychedelia and is disappointed in the new Fratellis album, We Need Medicine.

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Music Review: The Fratellis, We Need Medicine

By Melissa Bratcher

After a five-year hiatus, The Fratellis have returned with their third album, We Need Medicine. It attempts to be a return to former glory, but it falls painfully short. The songs aren’t as punchy as the ones on their surprising debut, Costello Music, or even its follow up, Here We Stand. Jon Fratelli’s voice is still brilliantly distinctive and compelling, and the guitar riffs are as crunchy as always, but the songs start with bombast and furor and then peter out to . . . not much. It’s disappointing.

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Music Review: Various Artists, The Dawn Of Psychedelia

By Melissa Bratcher

After listening to Cherry Red Records’ vast two-CD set The Dawn Of Psychedelia, I feel that I can say without a doubt that the humble flute launched the psychedelic revolution. Or possibly the sitar. Or a combination of both.

The Dawn Of Psychedelia attempts to trace back the origins of the Aquarian Age that defined the music of the ’60s. Sometimes, it hits the nail on the head. Other times, it sounds a bit like filler.

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Waxing Nostalgic Connecting The Dots: Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

By Jeffery X Martin

1977 changed everything. Whether you think of it as The Year Punk Broke or The Year Star Wars Came Out, 1977 flipped the game, changed the rules, and destroyed the playing field.

It was released on February 4, 1977. I don’t know precisely when Fleetwood Mac’s album Rumours entered the household, but once it was there, it seemed like it always had been. It settled in, immediately becoming part of the fabric of the house. It was the aquarium. It was the faux brick finish in the kitchen. It was “Second Hand News.” It was the green shag carpet. We put the album on, made it a pot of coffee, and sat down around the kitchen table for donuts, gossip, and “Gold Dust Woman.”

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Concert Review: Le Trouble at The Garrison

By Alexandra West

Toronto, ON
October 15, 2013

There’s a lot to be said for a band that can play a back room like their headlining tour has just hit Madison Square Garden, but that exactly what the Montreal-based band Le Trouble did last night at The Garrison in Toronto. It was a quiet night; the only marking besides the sandwich board outside was the artfully scruffy group of smokers. Tucked away in an unmemorable room on Dundas Street, The Garrison offers shows to those in the know and Le Trouble did not hesitate to take the stage with unrelenting energy while the small crowd looked on.

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Waxing Nostalgic Connecting the Dots: Kansas, “Carry On, Wayward Son”

By Jeffery X Martin

I grew up listening to the Moody Blues, so I was no stranger to pseudo-mysticism and lyrics that some people would consider “heavy.” In third grade, I knew what The Lost Chord was. I understood revolution in the streets as well as how to call occupants of interplanetary, most extraordinary, craft. Was I a weird kid? Were all pre-teens in the Seventies like that?

Maybe we were all weird kids, regardless of when we were born.

Carry on, my wayward son . . .

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Music Review: Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Social Music

By Melissa Bratcher

Jon Batiste was born into New Orleans musical royalty—it is not mere coincidence that Wendell Pierce’s character Antoine shares the surname. On their debut album, Social Music, Jon Batiste and Stay Human dip effortlessly into different genres and make a remarkable album. It’s warm and engaging, and Batiste’s piano prowess is awe-inspiring.

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Music Review: James Booker, Classified: Remixed and Expanded

By Melissa Bratcher

All Music Guide calls the original edition of James Booker’s Classified his best album. I can only imagine how delighted they will be upon hearing Classified: Remixed and Expanded. Released on CD and limited edition double LP vinyl, this remixed version offers nine never-before-released songs as well as voluminous liner notes.

James Carroll Booker III went by many self-given monikers: The Bayou Maharajah, The Bronze Liberace, The Piano Pope, The Ivory Emperor. A flamboyant and astoundingly talented pianist, he fits neatly into the lineage of New Orleans piano greats: Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, James Booker, and Booker’s student, Harry Connick, Jr. Booker was a bit of an odd duck, and perhaps that’s why he’s not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or comes to mind as unbidden as the other demigods of NOLA piano. Dr. John, himself no slouch, called Booker “the best black gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced.”

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