Well, strings don't  come much bigger than Victoria. Who she? Victoria is the stand-up bass guitar Danny Thompson bought for a fiver (£5...

Velvet Underground : The Black Angel’s Death Song [ purchase ]  John Cale is another musician whose work I’m aware of and have enjoyed, bu...

I always remember the spring of 1989 as the season where I discovered thrash metal. Inspired by repeated viewings of MTV’s Saturday night al...

Should you ever wish to seduce me, let me give you a tip: whilst food would help, and I am really quite flexible in my tastes there and need...

Maya Beiser : Epitaph [ purchase ]  I’m not sure where I first heard about Israel-born, avant-garde classical cellist Maya Beiser, but it ...

The Staple Singers : I’ll Take You There [ purchase ] I’m a little surprised that I’ve never devoted a post to the great Mavis Staples—a...

How to even begin to cover the enormity and importance of this influential studio, musically, culturally and even politically, apropos race ...

  purchase [ Slow Train Coming ] Muscle Shoals has a special place in the pantheon of music from the 1960s on. It's the name of multipl...

Ain't technology wonderful? Want to do a duet with the deceased? No problem, and there is a rich seam of grave-robbing for profit, the s...

  The late country singer and rodeo rider Chris LeDoux spent the last few weeks back in the saddle as his name was honored on two fronts. Th...

A little over two years ago I wrote this , about the band New Order, proclaiming little love for their earlier incarnation as Joy Division, ...

Joe Strummer : Redemption Song Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer : Redemption Song   [ purchase Streetcore ] [ purchase Unearthed ] When Bob Ma...

  purchase [ Cry of Love ] Just before Cry of Love was released in 1971, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was over, and Jimi was doing a fair amo...

  purchase [ Aqualung ] My parents were serious amateur musicians. My dad directed a vocal choir of 40+ and an orchestra of 25+ in twice yea...

Right, Seuras, some positive stuff today, if you will, put a spin into a 1971 we can celebrate rather than bemoan. And, you know, that much ...

Ever the fly on the corpse, this theme immediately had me think of those unable to take up the challenge of looking back to 1971. Mainly fro...

Allman Brothers : Whipping Post [ purchase Don't Fight the Feeling - the Complete Aretha Franklin & King Curtis Live at Fillmore W...