// Category Archive for: Retrovirus

John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band, Live In Toronto ’69 DVD

By Less Lee Moore

“It gave me a great feeling, a feeling I haven’t had for a long time. It convinced me to do more appearances, either with or without the rest of the Beatles. Everything went down so well.”
—John Lennon, as quoted on the Ottawa Beatles Site

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Otis Redding, Respect Live 1967 DVD

By Danny R. Phillips

Let’s be frank. Soul music of late has well, lost its soul. Sure, there is some talent out there. The NeYos of the world can dance, but would be lost without the new wonder known as AutoTune; Chris Brown has “allegedly” beat his girlfriend Rihanna; Justin Timberlake can sing and dance some but his connection with N’Sync will forever take away his soul card; Amy Winehouse is a great talent that will lose/has lost it all to crack; and R. Kelly spends too much time in handcuffs and at home making movies.
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Emerson Lake & Palmer, Live At The Royal Albert Hall DVD

By Michael Row

After 38 years on this planet, I can finally say with assurance that I will never, ever make a good Emerson Lake & Palmer fan. I’m just not cut out for it. This speaks more of my prejudices against uberserious concept albums, neo-classical influences on rock, and bad 70s fashion than it does anything about Keith, Greg, and Carl. But I also believe that, somewhere along the line, ELP has just gotta take some accountability, too. When you no longer have anything to say, please stop. Did ELP really think they stood a chance at hitting the charts after NIRVANA’s Nevermind?
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The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Film Remakes, Part Three

By Michelle Patterson

Read Parts One and Two of this series.

Ahhh, it’s time to close the final chapter to the film remake saga. Such wonderful memories have been created in the past few months as a result of devotion to this glorious torture. Boring bears on the baseball field, terrible tweens taking on the Disney vault classics, and Nicolas Cage punching a series of women in the face—I can’t say that it’s been complete misery. The ability to admit when I’m wrong has never been something that I’ve shied away from; there is concrete proof that on rare occasion Hollywood can get it right when they take another crack at a story that has already been told. Ironically, this trilogy of articles ends on a bitter note right when it’s supposed to be time to laugh and adore one another.
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Disliking Influence: Q & A with Robert Görl of DAF

Interviewed by Emily Carney

DAF, 1980
From Verschwende deine Jugend

In the late 1970s, post-punk music in Düsseldorf, Germany began to mutate into sounds which were original, energetic, and exciting. Fired up by the music coming from England (and somewhat inspired by more electronic sounds, like Düsseldorf’s own Kraftwerk), one band called Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF) began to synthesize a sound which wasn’t quite rock, wasn’t quite disco, but was innovative and unusual enough to earn them the future sobriquet as the “fathers of EBM” (electronic body music). DAF were the central figures in the musical Neue Deutsche Welle movement (German New Wave, or simply abbreviated as NDW).
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John Lee Hooker, Anthology 50 Years

By J Howell

What can be said about John Lee Hooker that hasn’t been said at least a thousand times before? If you’re somehow unfamiliar with Hooker’s well-deserved “Blues Legend” status, this two-disc compilation isn’t a bad place to start. Hooker was notoriously prolific, recording multiple versions of songs over the years, sometimes under assumed names (but usually laughably close, such as “John Lee Booker”) to avoid contractual snags. Because of Hooker’s prodigious output on so many labels over so many years, assembling a perfect career summary set—especially on just two discs—would be nearly impossible. That said, Anthology 50 Years does a more than adequate, if not-quite-stellar, job of offering an overview of John Lee Hooker’s idiosyncratic style.
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Fear Is A Woman’s Best Friend: Q & A with Deerfrance

Interviewed by Emily Carney

Deerfrance is best known as John Cale’s backup vocalist from 1978 to 1981. However, she is also notable for her own inspired excursions into music, and has been pursuing a brilliant solo career as of late with Extra Virgin Mary.
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Für Immer: Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft and Neue Deutsche Welle

By Emily Carney

In the late 1970s, post-punk music in Düsseldorf, Germany began to mutate into sounds which were original, energetic, and exciting. Fired up by the music coming from England (and somewhat inspired by more electronic sounds, like Düsseldorf’s own Kraftwerk), one band called Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF) began to synthesize a sound which wasn’t quite rock, wasn’t quite disco, but was innovative and unusual enough to earn them the future sobriquet as the “fathers of EBM” (electronic body music). DAF were the central figures in the musical Neue Deutsche Welle movement (German New Wave, or simply abbreviated as NDW).
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Commanding Cobra: An Interview With Cobra Commander

Interviewed by Megashaun

After recently finding a blog written by Cobra Commander in which he laments many of his boring day-to-day activities, I thought he would make an interesting interview subject. Getting in touch with him wasn’t as easy as I had hoped. The email address listed on his blog seemed to be to an unattended mailbox. My first attempt at communication with him went something like this:
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The Sweet, Action: The Sweet Anthology

Disc One: By Hanna

Glam Rock fans can be divided into two groups: the ones who think The Sweet were not actually glam because glam is an intelligent genre, and the ones who think The Sweet were the best Glam Rock band because they seemed to be in it for the money only.
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