Well I guess it began towards the end of 1996 when I received a call from [head of Magna Carta Records] Pete Morticelli and [head of Shrapnel Records] Mike Varney who wanted to put together a couple of “Super Groups” (for lack of a better term!). One turned into the Black Light Syndrome project with…
Rating: 4 stars (out of 4) In a revealing late chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry asks Professor Dumbledore whether their poignant interaction has been taking place for real or merely in his head. “Of course it is happening inside your head,” Dumbledore responds, “but why on Earth should that mean that…
Placebo (1996) – 3 stars Without You I’m Nothing (1998) – 4.5 stars Black Market Music (2000) – 4 stars Sleeping With Ghosts (2003) – 3.5 stars Meds (2006) – 5 stars Battle for the Sun (2009) – 3.5 stars Placebo, I suppose you could say, is a cult band, one of those prototypical you-get-them-or-you-don’t…
Yesterday a package arrived. By the Amazon logo printed on the side of the box, I knew it was finally time to crack open new material from Transatlantic, Buckethead, and Jupiter Sunrise. That last one in particular excited me since an ad for the cd, May the Box Burn Down around You, was the first…
Rating: 1 star (out of 4) Hollywood studios like to propagate the idea that romantic comedies are suitable for both men and women. Blind Side isn’t a rom-com, but doubtless this idea still came to them—hey, let’s combine Sandra Bullock (the women) and football (the men) to draw in maximum viewers. Add the holiday season…
Rating: 2 and a half stars (out of 4) For those who have seen the trailers and are reasonably familiar with the puppets behind the stage, Invictus will probably be much like what you expect. Clint Eastwood’s directorial style—at best, smooth and undistracted, at worst flat—Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon’s dignified acting, and a stirring…
Here’s the concept. I consider each of The Beatles’ twelve studio albums in their best form (i.e. their British releases) and rank them according to which albums I most want to listen to, end to end, right now. I’m ignoring the Yellow Submarine soundtrack (which most people like to pretend doesn’t exist) but including Help!,…
As far as I’m concerned, there’s no greater loss to music than the suicide of Ian Curtis at the age of 23. There’s no one I’d rather bring back for a couple decades of recording than him. That’s because the heights reached by him and his band, Joy Division, in their brief existence, are both…
Historians tell us that the world’s first jingle was written by the minstrel Bartholomew the Profitable in 986 CE. Hired by Percival of Shropshire to help sell chicken-bone dice, Bart traversed the countryside playing to captive audiences, replacing his traditional opener “The Tale of Sir Ywain the Bastard” with a ballad of 652 stanzas in…
This is Grant’s half of the Pinkerton point-counterpoint review. Read Dan’s half here. Pinkerton is the sound of a band afraid to become great. Representing a comeback after the hiatus Weezer took in response to their debut album’s surprise success, it doesn’t so much as reinvent the band as push their less desirable attributes to…