When you think about it, Bruce Springsteen is kind of the person you want a rock star to be. He’s been making music for a good 45 years now and still seems as earnest and…
Angel Catbird (2016)
September 20, 2016
Last weekend Margaret Atwood was a special guest at Fan Expo Canada. Yes, that Margaret Atwood. The celebrated Canadian novelist has been more open to “geek culture” in the last few years and the massive…
Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Illustrated History
September 6, 2016
Few bands, if any, can lay claim to as colourful a history as Fleetwood Mac. Their founding guitarist went off the deep end, another quit to join a cult. Marriages splintered and relationships crumbled. And,…
Lost Rockers: Broken Dreams and Crashed Careers – Steven Blush with Paul Rachman and Tony Mann
April 11, 2016
I think every music fan has a band or two they loved who didn’t quite make it. Maybe their big single didn’t get enough airplay, maybe they had problems with distribution or maybe the band…
Really the Blues by Mezz Mezzrow and Bernard Wolfe
March 20, 2016
Deep in the bowels of my paperback copy of The Penguin Guide to Jazz, there’s a short section on Mezz Mezzrow. At the time my copy was published, only a few recordings of his were…
Real Life Rock by Greil Marcus
February 6, 2016
Relatively speaking, rock criticism is still new. Pitchfork’s been around for less than two decades; Rolling Stone is nearing 50. And most of the first wave of rock critics have either moved on to other…
The Who: 50 Years of My Generation
November 25, 2015
Back some 40-odd years ago, The Who were the loudest rock band in the biz and one of the best. They were four highly talented musicians, taking some of the most introspective and well-crafted songs…
M Train by Patti Smith
October 9, 2015
There isn’t anyone really quite like Patti Smith out there. As a musician, she’s almost without peer: by the sheer power of her ambition and ability, she was one of the few women to rise…
Why read a book of music criticism? It depends. You could be interested in a particular essay or review. Maybe you’re researching a band or period of music. Maybe you’re just a music nerd. But…