Fresh LINKS
As Flag Day gives way to July 4 festivities, it's the finest time of the year to hoist a flag, ignite some shoddily manufactured fireworks (imported, of course) and sit at your computer while streaming a whole bunch of music that sings the praises of our great land. Happy birthday America. More at NPR
In a new book for the Prince’s Trust, celebrities including Kevin Spacey, Tony Blair, and Al Pacino reveal the songs that have most inspired them -- with surprising results More at The Times
The most important financial question facing Michael Jackson's estate, and the music business, following his death last week likely will be one of the toughest to answer... More at USA Today
The breaking of the sound barrier is not just an audible phenomenon. As a new picture from the U.S. military shows, Mach 1 can be quite visual. More at Yahoo
Past Print
As was written in the Bill Withers feature in the last issue of B&S, there have been a handful of new talents in the 70's who are now beginning to have a serious influence on the path of our music for this decade.
MoreShelf Life
"Runaround Sue" by Dion
I'd listen to Dion sing the Bronx
phonebook (or the Boca Raton, if the arrangements were good). Despite
the plays and replays, this one never gets old; the magic's in the
grooves: his confidence and slyness, the buoyancy of the track, the Del
Satins' backing vocals. Pure 1961, what Richard Price so well knows and
communicated so convincingly in his debut novel The Wanderers.
Bentley's Bandstand
When David Bowie’s single “China Girl” hit the airwaves in the first half of the ‘80s, the leadoff notes of the guitar solo slithered from the song like a lethal rattlesnake. They were the kind of blues lines that could have only been played by a handful of people, and the early money was on Albert King.
MoreALBUM OF THE WEEK
Jay Farrar is still looking out the window on long drives through the middle of the country, conjuring images of uncelebrated lives and stopping to read the roadside plaques that document centuries-old stories. In some cases the land is unchanging and elsewhere the familiar landscape appears abandoned or shrouded. Farrar is no fan of the unfamiliar, an element that informs both elements in the songs, the lyrics and the melodies.
MoreBoomerangst
1. Pete Yorn, Back and Fourth (Columbia)/live at the Roxy, L.A.: "Baby I don't know/What I think of us," sings Pete Yorn on "Country," one of the songs on his just-released fourth album. "Won't be here tomorrow/I get so mixed up."
MoreON THE CORNER
Legacy Records has released The Woodstock Experience, albums by Woodstock headliners Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone and Johnny Winter. Each two-CD set features the individual artist's complete Woodstock festival performance plus their 1969 studio albums.
More