In the late 50s and early 60s, popular music was far more stratified than it is now. The categories were rigid and there was very little crossover between genres. Indeed, as the new decade dawned (1960), each camp was growing more firmly entrenched. Before the Cultural Revolution of the mid ‘60s, Jazz, R&B, Blues, pop, […]
Murder Most Foul [2020] was Bob Dylan’s best work in many years and it became a surprise No.1 hit! The song – more of a recitation with minimalist music – plays like an obituary to the last 70 years; a lament for the dream of America, “the shining city upon the hill.” Murder Most Foul […]
Woodstock 50 has been canceled…to the surprise of no one! The festival, spearheaded by original Woodstock promoter Michael Lang, had promised to revisit the “three days of peace, love and music” spectacle with a bill that was supposed to include Jay-Z, Miley Cyrus, the Black Keys, Dead & Company and a bevy of other musicians, […]
Coachella 2019 looks pretty crappy to me. Okay, I’m an old fogey, but I scanned through the line-up and all of the online pics from weekend one and there was only one picture of a musician actually playing an instrument. Do any pop acts actually play instruments anymore? And what’s with the K-Pop shit? So […]
Although it’s virtually a relic of the past, I have always considered the album – or LP, for “long-player” – as they used to be called – as a collection of songs with an overarching theme and a certain stylistic unity. In the case of an artist with a long recording career like Bob Dylan, […]
Throughout their career, and right up until the release of The Beatles [aka ‘The White Album’] the Fab Four had been a finely-honed machine designed to produce musical perfection. Their reputation was built upon an endless wave of beautifully crafted pop confections, exquisitely performed; perfectly articulated masterpieces. The White Album was the first and only […]
Today’s pop music cesspool is dominated by robotic music, made by robots for robots. There is a good reason that the music of the past is alive and well and vital and still being listened to today. Those artists came up through the ranks playing five sets a night together for many years before they […]
The PMRC was a group of influential “Washington wives” who sought to restrict sales of all music containing ‘explicit images or lyrics, including sexual or occult themes’ because they were offended by the content of some of the stuff they heard. Somehow they were convinced that violent or offensive lyrics adversely affected young people – […]
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: a classic album for sure, no doubt about that, but frequently elevated to ridiculous status by critics and fans alike. The Kinks’ Face to Face appears to predate it, arguably, as a mid-60s psychedelic ‘concept album,’ with all the mid-60s graphics found in Sgt. Pepper. Chronologically, The Pretty Things’ […]
I Feel Fine marked an important turning point for The Beatles. It was a great tune, and one of their favorite songs to perform live: it opened every set post-1964, and they played it right up until their final concert at Candlestick Park in August of 1966. I Feel Fine stayed at No. 1 for […]
Jason Darensburg's Blog-o-rama 