by Something Else Reviews OK, there was the symbol thing. And the awful attempts at hip-hop phrasing. And the Sheena Easton thing. And the using of a certain ubiquitous letter of the alphabet (“Take Me With U,” “I Would Die for U,” “U Got the Look,” “I Wish U Heaven,” “Nothing Compares 2 U,” so on) in the songs. And [...]

by S. Victor Aaron Electric blues guitarist Melvin Taylor had been sporadically recording solo albums for 20 years when Dirty Pool arrived — and was somehow just beginning to find fame. Already a hit in Europe, it had taken a steady run of performing in Chicago’s famed blues clubs to slowly earn Taylor a well-deserved reputation as an equal talent [...]

by Nick DeRiso Erik Hartley can’t decide about things, and that uncertainty creates an interesting tension on the new EP Not Me Being Nervous. The in-joke ends up being that he’s anything but “not nervous.” Hartley, instead, couldn’t be less settled, with looming questions about girls, about life, about getting back some piece of himself after the day’s many small [...]

Spend enough time around rock music — or, at least, rock critics — and you’ll be convinced that any number of Seminal Works, Forgotten Gems and Timeless Standards are must-have items for your record collection. Even if they turn out to be, you know, retreads dressed up as brilliant pop redux (Gene Clark’s post-Byrds catalogue, many of Syd Barrett‘s solo [...]

by Nick DeRiso Freddie “Steady” Krc’s work as leader of the Shakin’ Apostles is as crunchy and cool as his old boss Jerry Jeff Walker‘s contemporary stuff is serene and settled. The group had gone through several lineup changes since its inception in 1993, but by 2000 settled into a format of hard-rocking guitar, bass and drums to back Krc’s [...]