Music

September  21, 2024

The Arts Fuse

Nick Cave’s Wild God

When no other deity would suffice.

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July 19, 2024

Quillette

On Nick Drake 

Isolation as musical daffodil.

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July 1, 2024

American Purpose

Born in the USA

The Boss’s misunderstood statement.

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April 17, 2024

The Arts Fuse

Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee

A mysterious, aquatic gem.

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February 12, 2024

Quillette

Nebraska

The Boss’s dark inner journey.

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January 4, 2024

American Purpose

Sonny Rollins

The life and work of a saxophone colossus.

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October 23, 2023

The Arts Fuse

The Replacements 

Tim gets a box set.

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October 19, 2023

The Smart Set

Hail Hail Chuck Berry 

The subversiveness of the brown eyed handsome man.

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September 17, 2023

The Arts Fuse

Joe Strummer Live

His last recorded concert.

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September 14, 2023 

The Smart Set

Hank Williams at 100

The lonesome blues boy still strikes a plangent note.

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May 15, 2023

The Arts Fuse

The Zombies’ Different Game

Those breathy, soulful voices magnificently hold up.

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April 15, 2023

The Arts Fuse

Time Out of Mind sessions

Dylan’s 1997 fragments.

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February 9, 2023

The Smart Set

Tom Verlaine

A tribute to the leader of my favorite CBGBs band.

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October 30, 2022

The Arts Fuse

Doggerel 

The new Pixies record disappoints.

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September 26, 2022

Rock and Roll Globe

Black Sabbath Vol 4

Icicles in your brain.

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September 8, 2022

The Smart Set

Mingus at 100

A playlist and tribute.

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June 24, 2022

Rock and Roll Globe

Cowboy Junkies

A mixed bag of a covers record.

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April 25, 2022 

The Smart Set

Roadrunner

Why Jonathan Richman wrote the greatest rock song ever.

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March 3, 2022 

The Smart Set

The Velvet Underground

Why Todd Haynes’ immersive doc almost hits the mark.

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February 15, 2022

The Arts Fuse

David Bowie’s Toy

A previously lost trip through his back pages.

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October 5, 2021

Rock & Roll Globe

The Replacements’ scrappy debut

“I hate music/ sometimes I don’t.”

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September 16, 2021

The Arts Fuse

Plastic Ono Band at 50

John Lennon’s hard won cup of instant karma.

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December 26, 2020

The Arts Fuse

This Isn’t Happening

Radiohead as soundtrack for the zeitgeist.

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September 7, 2020

The Arts Fuse

The Stooges Live in 1970

Hitting their primal stride.

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August 9, 2020

The American Interest

Ornette Coleman’s Visionary Jazz

His life and work, with a podcast interview.

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July 27 , 2020

The Smart Set

They Might Be Giants’s Flood 

TMBG’s masterpiece at 30.

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June 12 , 2020

Aquarium Drunkard

All Things Must Pass & Plastic Ono Band at 50

How the two best Beatles solo records deal with fame, exhaustion, and disappointment in very different ways.

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April 22 , 2020

Aquarium Drunkard

Miles Davis’s Sorcery

Review of a new documentary and a curated playlist.

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April 16 , 2020

The Smart Set

Pretty Pretty Pretty Peggy Sue

The perverse ambiguities of Buddy Holly’s signature hit.

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April 2 , 2020

The Arts Fuse

On Dylan’s “Murder Most Foul”

Dylan’s new song surveys the madness within America, and supplies a certain kind of corrective for it.

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February 3 , 2020

The Smart Set

Dusty In Memphis

One of the greatest nervous breakdown records of all time.
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January 17 , 2020

Aquarium Drunkard

Pop Music’s Greatest Yawps

The true meaning of some of the greatest vocal interjections in rock history.
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October 5 , 2019

The Arts Fuse

Overlooked Songs from “Country Music”

Country music is as rich and complex as any other genre, and it might be a good time to pay tribute to some artists that Ken Burns missed. ____________________________________________________________________________

July 11 , 2019

The Millions

Thirteen Songs That Prove Lou Reed Was a Literary Master

As the man himself put it, between thought and expression lies a lifetime.
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May 23, 2019

The Baffler

Rotten Goes Rancid

Never mind the bollocks, is there hope for John Lydon?

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April 23 , 2019

The Arts Fuse

Nervous Eaters- Back For Another Helping

Luckily for us, after playing the occasional electrifying concert date over the years, Boston’s own garage punks Nervous Eaters are reuniting once again.
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January 6, 2019 

The Arts Fuse

Ryan Lee Crosby’s River Music- A Potent Musical Stew

Crosby’s unique blend of Delta Blues and Indian Raga will deeply satisfy the slightly adventurous listener.

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October 22, 2018

The Arts Fuse

Joe Strummer 001- He Never Rested on His Laurels

What the box set makes adamantly clear is how egalitarian Joe’s musical vision really was. If you don’t already know his solo work, you should; if you don’t listen to The Clash, what’s wrong with you? _____________________________________________________________________________

September 10, 2018

The Smart Set

Giant Steps: Getting Hip to Jazz

As Louis Armstrong once said: “If you have to ask, you’ll never know!”

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May 16, 2018

The Arts Fuse

Rock Review: The Damned Deliver Damned Good “Evil Spirits”

Even after decades, The Damned is still grandly flying its freak flag.

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October 4, 2017

The Arts Fuse

Rock Review: Here Come The Monks — Again

The Monks were, and to some extent still are, the quintessential cult band.

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October 30, 2016

The Arts Fuse

Leonard Cohen — Embracing the Darkness

At 82, Leonard Cohen seems to feel that there isn’t a lot of time left and that he has nothing to prove to anyone, least of all himself.

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October 21, 2014

The Arts Fuse

Leonard Cohen’s Timeless Solutions to Our “Popular Problems”

Cohen fans, rejoice—Popular Problems proves that the power and depth of his music haven’t faded now that the man singing them is officially an octogenarian.

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May 30, 2014

The Arts Fuse

Help Make Roadrunner the Official Rock Song of Massachusetts

Bay Staters, be warned – we are living in a state without an official rock song. Luckily, if we pitch in, we can help the government solve this problem.

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February 2, 2012

The Millions

Nevermind Nostalgia: Twenty Years After Nirvana

Hearing that Nirvana’s Nevermind was 20 years old was kind of like seeing an old drinking buddy turn to Jesus in his autumn years. I was happy for him and everything, but I missed the old days when we shared the fortress of solitude.

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July 28, 2007

Flak Magazine

Redemption Song: A Life of Joe Strummer 

Salewicz knew the man personally (Strummer called him “sandwich”) and was known to have drank and smoked with him for years longer than many.

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August 2, 2006

Flak Magazine

Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs by John Miller

After looking more closely at the song and artist selection, there is some pretty glaring disharmony and outright dissonance.

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September 12, 2005

Flak Magazine

Nouvelle Vauge

The cover song always carries with it a unique risk.

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June 17, 2006

Flak Magazine

Words Are Enough: Leonard Cohen

The correlation between poetry and music is as old as either one.

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January 12, 2007

Flak Magazine

Roadrunner by The Modern Lovers 

One of the greatest things ever said about Johnathan Richman, was that he “looked like Dustin Hoffman and moved like Mick Jagger.”

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June 2, 2007

Flak Magazine

Paper Planes by M.I.A.

“People don’t really feel like immigrants or refugees contribute to culture in any way. That they’re just leeches that suck from whatever.”

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March 30, 2007

Flak Magazine

Words Are Enough: Robert Johnson 

Robert Johnson may or may not deserve credit for rock’s inception, but he definitely set the mold.