Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . . (Season Two DVD)

By Danny R. Phillips

Elvis Costello has been good at many things throughout his career as a musician. From the snot-nosed, pissed off, former IBM employee who gave us “Accidents Will Happen,” “Alison,” “New Lace Sleeves,” and “Radio, Radio” to the still-much-loved, still-bitchy-at-times entertainer that he is today, his career has run the gamut. But it seems that some of his most curious work has been as host of the love fest known as Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . .
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Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, No Help Coming

By Danny R. Phillips

Country music as a genre, in my self-deluded opinion, has been on a downward, pop-infused shit spiral since the 1990s Garth Brooks era, culminating in the current supremacy of Carrie “Screech” Underwood and Taylor “Let’s Go To The Mall” Swift.

I feared all was lost, that the world would be contented with pop songs passed off as country because they contain one of the following things: a fiddle, a steel guitar, or the word “y’all.” Then I heard Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs latest release No Help Coming. Rejoice traditionalists; this record is for you.
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Foo Fighters, Wasting Light

By Danny R. Phillips

I’ll say it right now: In my opinion, the last few Foo Fighters records have not been, shall we say, stellar. And I will add that I stopped buying them after There Is Nothing Left To Lose, my personal belief being it exposed two things that threw a monkey wrench (sorry, corny song reference there) into the works.
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America’s Music Legacy: Dixieland Jazz (DVD)

By Danny R. Phillips

It has been said that Jazz is the only truly American music style. While other genres blend rhythm, tones, and instruments from other countries, Jazz—whether it be Davis, Coltrane, Armstrong, Hancock, Holliday, or Horne (or god forbid, Kenny G.)—was hatched, raised, nurtured, and perfected here within our shores.

Dixieland Jazz, a mash up of blues, ragtime, and other stylings is a perfect choice for the series America’s Music Legacy; it has a rich, colorful history that is explored here by host Al Hirt, the Jazz trumpeter and Dixieland luminary. Much like the Blues installment of the this series, it includes live performances and is packed with clips of giants who have already left us: piano great Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, and Eubie Blake.
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America’s Music Legacy: Blues (DVD)

By Danny R. Phillips

The series America’s Music Legacy, with installments on Dixieland Jazz, Folk, Country, Soul, and others has the goal of documenting the foundations of America music. And with this chapter, “Blues,” they do a fine job.

Though it can seem slightly hokey and the performances painfully staged (the performances are set in “clubs” with “customers” in the audience; when the audience does get movin’, it still seems like they’re just playing a role), the real saving grace is the fact that this DVD focuses on the music. Despite the lack of energy and wildness that the blues should inspire and a spontaneous feeling of excitement that the genre can sometimes generate, there are some great performances by great players to be found.
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American Hardcore: A Tribal History, By Steven Blush

By Danny R. Phillips

Over the five plus decades that rock & roll has been a force in American youth culture, many books have been written, most with futility, in an attempt to explain its history, its debauchery, its value, and the ebb & flow of the trends sprouting in all directions from its fruitful loins.

Steven Blush’s American Hardcore: A Tribal History not only explains a big part of the punk rock subculture but comes out swinging like a bloody knuckled little brother with something to prove.
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Best Of 2010: By Danny R. Phillips

Hope you enjoy . . . following my advice on these picks is optional and I will not be held responsible for the damages.

Albums

The Black Angels, Phosphene Dream (more…)

The Rolling Stones 1969-1974: The Mick Taylor Years DVD

By Danny R. Phillips

It would’ve been easy to make a documentary about The Rolling Stones’ golden age (Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street) completely flattering and slanted. That is not what the makers of this DVD did.

They recognize glaring mistakes (the two or three albums past Exile) as well as acknowledge The Stones’ experimentation and expansion into country, due in no small part to the presence of guitarist Mick Taylor (who had just left The Bluesbreakers) and Gram Parsons (The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers) and his own fast friendship with Keith Richards as both drug buddy and musical touchstone.
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What Are YOU Doing On Record Store Day 2010?

April 17, 2010 marks the third year of Record Store Day (they grow up so fast). According to the event’s website, it was founded as:

“. . . a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally. . . [t]his the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music.”
—Record Store Day.com/About Us

The first official Record Store Day was held at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008, christened by none other than Metallica. It is now celebrated on the third Saturday of every April. This year it will be held on Saturday, April 17.

This year, Sonic Boom in Toronto, ON will be hosting various in-store performances by Sloan, Adam Green, The Meligrove Band, Metz, Buck 65, and Valery Gore, beginning at 3:00 p.m. Admission is free, but they encourage everyone to bring non-perishable food donations for the Daily Bread Food Bank, which is running low on inventory at this time.

Here are some shout-outs to favorite record stores from Popshifter readers and writers. Next time you’re in that town, be sure to check them out!
—Less Lee Moore

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The Dudes, Blood Guts Bruises Cuts

By Danny R. Phillips

In my younger years, Power Pop was a genre that I avoided it like the Black Plague or Herpes. As a long time advocate of the virtues of punk rock I could not allow myself to support music with such an identity crisis. Was it hard rock? Bubblegum? What? With a few exceptions, mainly Cheap Trick, The Cars, and the riff from “Jessie’s Girl,” it was not something I championed or even tolerated.

Then came the 1990s and with it came bands like Weezer and the exceptional songsmith Matthew Sweet, musicians who embraced the principles of power pop and drank fully of its long and storied past. Perhaps years had softened my barriers or I was now old enough to see that punk has its limits. Power Pop was no longer the enemy.
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