Released 60 years ago in 1965 - this influential Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass album seemed to be the soundtrack of the time - even outselling the Beatles.
His whole approach from “The Lonely Bull "album in 1962 was…
Read more
Nine Below Zero - scorching R & B at the time of late 70’s New Wave and Pub Rock
Nine Below Zero emerged during that great UK Pub Rock era of the late 70’s.
Playing originals plus blues and old school R & B - they were respected by the rock crowd , the Punks and New Wave and…
Read more
BB King “Live at the Regal” LP - a landmark album of integrity and musicianship
BB King “Live at the Regal” recorded in 1964 at the Regal Theater in Chicago is a landmark album.
Kicking off the album is the stomping “Every Day I Have the Blues” by Memphis Slim. There’s dynamics with the growling…
Read more
Independent movie making (and teaching entertainment business) in Memphis is thriving with the new movie: The Coffee Shop
The Coffee Shop is the second independent movie produced in Memphis , TN under the leadership of Angela D. Green Esq. -Executive Director of On Location :Memphis (OL:M).
Initially the organization hosted an international film festival in Memphis - but…
Read more
England’s Dreaming by Jon Savage - the definitive study of the Sex Pistols and UK Punk Rock
For those of us who were around at that turbulent time in British society in 1977-78 - this is more than just a bio of the Sex Pistols - but indeed a full scale sociological study of the “winter of…
Read more
Sam Cooke - Live at the Copa and Live at the Harlem Square Club - two important live LPs from this soul pioneer
For any admirers of the late great soul legend Sam Cooke - these two albums are a must have, that sum up his career in 1963 and 1964 America.
The Harlem Square Club live album (1963) is raucous, improvisational and…
Read more
Randy Crawford - Revisiting her “Secret Combination” LP from 1981 and other delights
Huge in the UK - her breakout hit was guesting with the Crusaders on 1979’s “Street Life”.
That song seemed to be everywhere that year, with her plaintive soulful R&B vocal soaring above the majestic soul jazz musicianship of the…
Read more
Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66 “Look Around” album - the sight and sound of Brazil
The third album from bossanova legend Sergio Mendes was released in 1967.
It featured Mendes original compositions but also bossanova arrangements of some of the biggest songs at the time - notably the Beatles “With a Little Help From My…
Read more
The Madchester Scene and the Second Summer of Love
In the UK in the late 80’s rave culture exploded - bands like the Stone Roses legendary 1988 performance at Spike Island near Liverpool were touchstones forging a new direction that fused trance grooves with conventional indie guitar rock elements.
…
Read more
The Children of Willesden Lane- this sobering book is a tonic for the times
Mona Golabek’s book recounts the experiences of her mother (Lisa Jura) escaping from Vienna at the start of WW2, after witnessing the horrors of Nazi persecution of European Jews during Kristallnacht (or the Night of Broken Glass) in 1938.
Fourteen…
Read more