Album Review: Adele's 25

It is not, at this moment in time, possible to stream Adele's new album 25, so I went to Target and bought a physical copy. On a CD. It has some liner notes and everything, which is dope.

Album Review: The Best of Art Tatum

It is, perhaps, silly to call this a review. This album came out in 1991. We are a little late to be issuing reviews. Instead, I suppose, one might be well served to think of this as thoughts as precursor to an unqualified recommendation, and my encouragement to you to seek out this album (and really any recording featuring Tatum) on your own time.

Cher's Five Cher-iest Songs: A Ranking

Hi, everyone! It is 6am local time, and I have been up for several hours already (including a drive to Flint and back). While making that drive I had some time on my hands to consider the following question: which Cher tunes most fully encapsulate the Cher experience? There are few voices in the history of American "pop" music that are as unique and distinctive as Cher's. Even when she is bad, she is great. While the power of some pop stars lies in their ability to totally enmesh themselves in a larger structural apparatus designed to churn out music with the broadest possible appeal, Cher's power derived from her ability to speak to those outside of that range. She is the patron saint of particular kinds of non-conformists, and has made more from her measure of natural talent than many performers who have capitalized less fully on greater natural gifts. After some thought, I settled on five. Before I dive into the list, however, I should do a quick rundown of the rules I followed to compile this ranking:

The Magic of Captain Beefheart

So today I'm driving from Michigan to Wisconsin, and as I cross clear the northern border of Milwaukee County I decide to pursue one of my hobbies and exit the freeway to complete the last leg of my drive on small state highways. At the same time I turn on Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band's famous live album recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam in November 1980.

My Week in Brief: This Week in Pop Culture as Experienced by Dave

There has been a lot of news this week, obviously. The Court came down 5-4 in favor of marriage equality, upheld ACA subsidies, and let Alito write an opinion on the death penalty (a decision roughly akin to letting a Golden Retriever drive a car, he was so excited by the wind in his face he forgot that he was supposed to be performing a complex task and people will inevitably be hurt). I was also on the road, visiting my grandfather in Wichita, Kansas. Consequently, I didn't end up writing anything for this site. Today, to make up the difference, I'll do a week in brief, a rundown of notable things that I watched, read, or listened to in the last week!

Music Review: Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival (1956)

In 1993, Oscar Peterson had a stroke that significantly impaired his left arm and hand. For a pianist, this was a potential death sentence. There was significant question about whether Peterson would ever be able to play the piano again. It took two years for him to return to the keyboard, and he never regained his previous (unparalleled) virtuosity—though it is worth noting that his friend, and amateur pianist Bob Rae, famously maintained that “a one-handed Oscar was better than just about anyone with two hands.”

Album Review – Ethan Johns, The Reckoning

When Etta Parsons, writing for the New Musical Express, reviewed Ethan Johns’ debut album If Not Now Then When? (2013) she described Johns’ style as “Bill Callahan dealing with a lazy hangover.” Well, yes and no. Part of what made Johns’ initial album so frustrating was the paradoxical combination of his obvious talent and equally obvious lack of understanding of his particular musical voice. This is not all that surprising when you think about it.

Music Review – Ingrid Michaelson’s Lights Out

Ingrid Michaelson’s Lights Out dropped on Tuesday. I was nervous about this album after hearing the first single, “Girls Chase Boys,” a song that in a lot of ways exacerbated my largest problem with Michaelson’s output to date: namely, her penchant for combining interesting music with tepid lyrics.

Music Review – New Releases from Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan

Though it dropped last week, Johnny Cash’s Out Among the Stars was recorded in 1981. The tracks were then shelved for 31 years, until Cash’s son came across them. The date of recording is important. By 1981 Cash’s career as a recording artist had stalled. His label was no longer publicizing his releases, and even though his last album, The Baron, had produced a top ten single the album failed to appear in the top 20 on the country charts. Country music had begun moving towards the pop-country hybridization that would define the next three decades of the genre, and Johnny Cash’s relevance (which had peaked a decade before) was fading fast.