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Category Archives: Music Reviews
Norah Jones sang that?
At 31, Norah Jones is no-questions-asked sublime. Ten Grammys (and seven nominations) make her a formidable presence commercially. Also critically – even that curmudgeon Robert Christgau acquiesced: “What’s not to like?” Her versatility makes her a coveted collaborator to artists, genre no bar. And so, as we listened to album after album that Jones has served up since her not-quite-jazz-but-getting-there-in-a-hurry début Come Away With Me, which swept eight Grammys in 2003, we may have overlooked her off-road excursions. …Featuring fixes that jig-saw bit back in place. Continue reading
Posted in music, Music Reviews
Tagged ...Featuring, Betty Carter, Blue Note, Grammy, Joni Mitchell, m magazine, Music Reviews, Norah Jones, Outkast, Q-Tip, Ray Charles, Robert Christgau, Ryan Adams, Talib Qweli, Willie Nelson
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Before it was called grunge
Going to college in the nineties, I was awestruck to learn that the guitarist for one of the most influential grunge bands of the time traced his roots to Kerala. As Mallus do, I established instant kinship with Kim Thayil, whom Rolling Stone magazine named the 100th greatest guitarist of all time. Continue reading
Posted in bands, Music Reviews
Tagged chris cornell, hiro yamamoto, kim thayil, matt cameron, nirvana, pearl jam, seattle, soundgarden, superunknown
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Before the beards – ZZ Top’s Fandango!
Walking a fine tightrope between the live and studio sounds, and maintaining continuity with the previous album, Fandango! became a watershed record in ZZ Top’s career. Bands with a big stage sound often betray themselves when they enter the studio but ZZ Top had figured their way around that. Fandango! also coincided with a time when the band’s trademark beards started to appear. Continue reading
Posted in music, Music Reviews
Tagged beard, Billy Gibbons, classic rock, Dusty Hill, Fandango!, Frank Beard, Gilette, MTV, music review, ZZ Top
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Don’t shoot the trombonist – how Sinatra got even with Dorsey
Crime writer Anthony Bruno, chronicling Sinatra’s links with the mob, writes of how the crooner found a godfather in New Jersey gangster Willie Moretti after his stint with the quartet Hoboken Four ended. Impressed with Sinatra’s talent, he gave him a break to sing at his casinos. Sinatra, Bruno writes, could “talk” the lyric as if he was speaking directly to his listeners, and this made him a heartthrob of the teenage female fans known as “bobbysoxers”. Sinatra was still making hits with James when he got his next big break in 1940 with the “Sentimental Gentleman of Swing”, trombonist and bandleader Tommy Dorsey. Formerly of the Dorsey Brothers, the temperamental perfectionist had sacked brother Jimmy and renamed his band to the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Dorsey, aware that his band did not have a classical jazz sound, invited Sinatra to infuse the missing element of swing. Continue reading
Posted in Music Reviews
Tagged anthony bruno, frank sinatra, m magazine, Music Reviews, the mob, tommy dorsey
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Taylor Swift – three times lucky
As with precocious artists who need an unsolicited rush of celebrity to launch them from pedestrian fame to glittering stardom, Taylor Swift’s ratings shot up after her acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards was rudely interrupted. Rapper Kanye West, not known for good manners, stormed the stage halfway through her limelight moment saying that Beyonce deserved the award instead. Though Beyonce later invited Swift on stage to finish her acceptance speech, the incident made West the laughing stock of the entertainment circuit and even the White House (Obama reportedly called him a jackass). It also made Swift palatable to the media. The 14 songs on Speak Now aim mischievous arrows at her exes by smartly stepping clear of lyrical clichés. Swift has said that her relationships offer copious grist for songwriting. “Better than Revenge” has her snarling cattily at a girl who stole her boyfriend. The line “Don’t you think I was too young to be messed with” in “Dear John” is rumoured to be a swipe at John Mayer, on whose recent album Swift sang two lines. Those apart, there are fine touches in “Back to December”, “Speak Now” and “Haunted”. Continue reading
Posted in Music Reviews
Tagged fearless, john mayer, m magazine, music review, speak now, taylor swift
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Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’ – Chart attack!
Canadian indie art-rock band Arcade Fire tells patient, involved stories. Their music is artistic, layered and rich in instrumentation. Live, they flaunt the jigsaw bits that comprise the mosaic of their orchestral sound, performing with an ensemble of medieval museum showpieces like hurdy-gurdies and glockenspiels. Continue reading
Posted in Music Reviews
Tagged arcade fire, canada, chart success, funeral, indie, indie bands, indie music, itunes, limewire, merge records, montreal, neon bible, the suburbs, the wilderness downtown
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