Bloggerhythms

From its cover to its overall mood  Who Believes in Angels  looks and feels more like a classic Elton John album from the 70s than one from Brandi Carlile. You're in for a surprise if you expect this ten-song set to sound like her breakthrough record,  The Story , or any other music she's made. Even so, don't be deceived. This isn't an Elton John release featuring guest star Brandi Carlile. It's a true collaboration from two artists who truly admire each other and love working together. At no point does the rock icon - age 77 - try to upstage or condescend to his much younger friend (43). She often overpowers his voice on the duets and takes the lead on many others. Carlile has always been considered an Americana artist, but she has rocked hard in the past and does so here. At the same time John hasn't sounded this interested since his chart-topping days. Who Believes in Angels is much closer to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Capta...

Medleys are a group of unrelated, short songs that are joined together when played. The majority of side two of The Beatles' Abbey Road  is a significant example. Suites are different. They're also a group of individual songs or movements played together, but they are related to each other in some way. Audio Apartment  defines a suite as:  "an ordered set of individual pieces or movements tied together by themes or tonalities." According to the website CLRN :  "The concept of a suite dates back to the Baroque period, and it has evolved over time to incorporate various styles, forms, and instruments." By the late 1960s suites became part of the burgeoning, eclectic pop and rock music scene. It was a device frequently employed by The Moody Blues and Chicago in their early years, but one of the most prominent examples was the second single by the wonderfully talented composers and harmonizers, Crosby, Stills & Nash. ...

Terry Chimes - born July 5, 1956 in London, England and credited as Tory Crimes on The Clash's eponymous, debut album - was their original drummer and is a member of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame with the rest of his former bandmates. Chimes is a very fascinating individual who is not your proto-typical punk-rocker. In his short, 167-page autobiography, The Strange Case of Dr. Terry and Mr. Chimes , the teetotalling vegetarian and spiritual rocker relates tale after tale about the rock 'n roll lifestyle and great insights about his famous band. He also tells us why he left the music business for a totally new, unrelated career. Unusually for a punk-rocker, Chimes grew up in a loving, stable family with two parents. That difference immediately set him apart from Joe Strummer and his mates, so Chimes often felt like he didn't fit in. In addition, Chimes was not aligned with the angry, political left as the other members of The ...

Although credited to Ringo Starr there should be no argument that the drummer's new country influenced album is a true collaboration with Joseph Henry "T-Bone" Burnett who produced it and wrote or co-wrote nine of its eleven songs. Look Up is a very nice set of tunes that Starr mostly sings in a laid-back style where he always sounds the most comfortable. He also plays drums on every track. Each song has its merits. Without disrupting the mood "Rosetta" is the only arrangement on which the Liverpool legend and his sidemen work up a sweat. Perhaps that's due to the presence of his brother-in-law - rocker and Eagle - Joe Walsh. The rest will easily appeal to Nashville's country establishment where most of the album was recorded. The first single and hands-down standout is "Time on My Hands," a breakup song that Starr sings without any vocal support or multi-tracking. H...

Charlie Feathers (1932 - 1998) began his career at Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service as a session musician, but the Mississippi born rocker wanted to make his own records. Eventually, Phillips granted the wannabe rock 'n roll star his wish. Unfortunately, the pioneering studio owner was never enamored with the records the quite determined singer-guitarist made at Sun. The highlight of his Sun years came when he demoed a song at the request of the label's engineer, Stan Kesler, who wrote "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" for Elvis Presley. For this, Feathers was rewarded with a composing credit on the record. Despite Phillips' reticence, Feather's Sun work was good enough to get him noticed elsewhere, and he eventually moved on to other record companies including King Records in Cincinnati, Ohio where he recorded eight songs released on four 45 rpm singles in 1956 and 1957. They were eventually compiled on a brief, nineteen-min...

This review first appeared here back in September 2011. Because that was a long time ago, and today is Easter Sunday, I'm resurrecting it with both of its original comments. It has been updated slightly. Andrew Lloyd Webber's detractors will throw his later Broadway musicals in your face every chance they get, but in 1970 Webber was a hot commodity in the rock music world. That was the year he and lyricist Tim Rice put together one of the greatest rock albums of all time, Jesus Christ Superstar . For those of you unfamiliar with Superstar the double LP was one of the very early rock operas and it taught many music lovers unschooled in the ancient genre what it was all about. Superstar was a true opera, not a musical. It possessed the characteristics of most classic operas: no spoken dialogue, clearly defined characters whose parts were sung by specific voices, reoccurring musical themes, a cohesive story, and a libretto. However, there were two major differences betwee...

Larry Kirwan in concert The exact date of Bloggerhythms' birth is unknown because some of its very early posts have been revised and republished using more recent dates. Regardless, to commemorate its twentieth anniversary this month here's the story of how this little outpost on the web began. With the cooperation of alternative music radio station  WXPN-FM in Philadelphia this article was first posted here on August 1, 2007 for an on-air event they were sponsoring that summer. It too has been updated. Most people do not get to meet the musicians they love the most. However, on the night of March 1, 2001 I got lucky. I met, shook hands, and interviewed Larry Kirwan, the former leader and co-founder of the since disbanded, Irish-American rock band,  Black 47 , before a concert at Finnegan's Wake in Philadelphia. This all came about in a rather odd way. After discoverin...

Sometimes it's best not to make an album. That's sad, because The Byrds - the justifiably much-loved and highly influential folk-rockers who rose to fame in 1965 - disappointed nearly everyone with their eponymous final album. I remember buying it on faith before I ever heard a note, and immediately upon listening to it I sided with the majority opinion. It was 1973, and the reunited original quintet hadn't worked together since 1966. Roger McGuinn , Chris Hillman,   David Crosby ,   Gene Clark, and Michael Clarke got the old band back together while McGuinn was still touring with his latest version of The Byrds that evolved from the original band. That outfit had long ago turned away from the sounds that initially made them stars into a group of full-blown country pickers that achieved only a modicum of commercial success. To me - just like The Beatles' White Album  - this eleven-song set sounded as if it was the work of individual si...