The follow up to her 1974 pop triumph "Court and Spark," this remarkable, difficult, complex album showed Joni to be far ahead of... her time. show more
It was at the old 9:30 Club on F St NW in Washington, D.C. that I heard this for the first time. An... opening act had just finished, and the crowd was waiting for the next band to come on... when the DJ dropped the needle on this record; that is a moment I won't forget. show more
I performed and recorded this in my home studio in Virginia (except drums, recorded at Actiondale by Mike Harvey, performed by Chris Zogby),... then traveled to Nickel & Dime Studios in Atlanta, where I added a few finishing touches, and where it was mixed by Don McCollister. show more
Still one of the most amazing things I've seen on the Internet — for four Fridays in August, 2017, Neil Finn streamed a... LIVE webcast from his recording studio in Auckland, NZ to a global audience, of the rehearsal, performance, and recording of his album "Out of Silence" with a small choir, strings, musicians, family members, and remote participants — and released the album on the following Friday. Each live webcast was around 2 hours long, with the final one stretching to almost 4 1/2 hours. The technical feat alone was amazing, to say nothing of the incredible music. show more
This is simply great singing, great songwriting, great record-making. Chappell Roan and producer/collaborator Dan Nigro really hit it out of the park. Songwriting... / lyric writing coaches should teach "Pink Pony Club" in their classes, seriously. I hope she gets best new artist Grammy, because why not? show more
The patriarch of American composers... this collection of the ballets and orchestral works of his popular period from 1936-1948 is incomparable. A listing... on Discogs includes the scanned 12-page liner notes in "more images." show more
If you’ve been eagerly following Neil Finn’s incredible musical journey over the decades as I have been, this new album will not disappoint.... It’s the second album from Crowded House, v3, which includes both of his sons, Liam and Elroy, as well as Mitchell Froom, the band’s original producer from the ‘80s, and founding member Nick Seymour. Formed just before the pandemic, their first, and subsequently much-delayed album “Dreamers Are Waiting” was initially very difficult for me to get into… but finally a handful of truly beautiful songs revealed themselves. Same here with the new “Gravity Stairs” though it’s more immediately catchy… both albums have an unusual, dreamy sound, but close listening reveals Neil Finn writing at the height of his powers… reaching, experimenting, perfecting. “Magic Piano,” “All That I Can Ever Own” and “Night Song” are among the standouts here for me. It’s hard to easily summarize Finn’s towering musical output over the years… but for me it’s just getting better and better. show more
