Bloggerhythms

Unsurprisingly, Michelle Shocked's always unfiltered mouth finally got the East Texas musician in a lot of trouble when her recent comments about gays offended a lot of people. The eccentric bohemian's on stage diatribe resulted in the cancellation of the remainder of her tour as well as ruining her reputation among liberals who comprise most of her fan base. Shocked very quickly tried to make up with everyone and even participated in a nationally televised sit down with Piers Morgan that didn't do much to stop the growing criticism. Unfortunately, the affair generated a lot more publicity than she ever received for any of her artistic endeavors. Since Bloggerhythms is only interested in showcasing music, and not using this site as a soapbox for politics or religion, we're only going to concentrate on the singer-songwriter's work. We are leaving the controversies to someone else. Shocked's early career was superb. Her first three major label albums are p...

For over three decades this original four LP set, later released on 3 CDs, was a sad disappointment. Great individual performances, especially some excellent, white hot, guitar pyrotechnics from the late Terry Kath, were overshadowed by the bad recording and production that made Chicago's signature attraction, their horn section, sound like kazoos. Thankfully, for all fans of this great band, in 2005 Rhino Records released a very good remastering of the entire original album and added a fourth bonus CD of previously unissued songs from the set of concerts. The week of shows this album was taken from were recorded in April 1971. Don't laugh rock n' roll fans. This is a very different Chicago than some of you may remember. The album was recorded at a time when rock was king, when eclecticism, improvisation, and inspirational songwriting were not only expected, but demanded of an artist. Previous to this remastering, the rare Live In Japan was the best example of what C...

Matt Stansberry & The Romance is a big, ten piece band that's a true, old time, white, rhythm and blues outfit that time traveled out of the 1950's and 60's and into the twenty-first century. They're reminiscent of the old Ray Charles lineup from way back when that featured a traditional R&B horn section with girl singers who sound a lot like The Raelettes. The leader and his sidemen are quite adept at what they do so don't be afraid to partake of Stansberry's work even though he looks more like Buddy Holly than Charles. The Romance are devoted to their retro-soul sound in the same way other modern, blue-eyed, soul men such as Mayer Hawthorne and Britain's James Hunter have followed their muses while successfully earning cult followings in recent years. Because Stansberry will probably never get rich panning for gold in the past it's obvious that his choice of music is truly a labor of love. The Edmond, Oklahoma band is a force to be reckone...

Danny Seraphine's California Transit Authority (CTA) is back with their second album, Sacred Ground , and this time the band took the field with a real live horn section that sounds like it was cloned straight from his old band, Chicago. Seraphine's current group is loaded with top notch session players who shared the spotlight with him on CTA’s 2007 debut, Full Circle . Ed Roth is on keys, Mick Mahan plays bass, and Peter Fish adds his keyboards to three tracks. The most important member is guitarist Mark Bonilla who also serves as CTA's unofficial music director. He co-produced the set with Seraphine, shared composing credits on eight of the fourteen tracks, and wrote most of the horn arrangements. While Bonilla's horn charts frequently remind you of Jim Pankow's work with Chicago Sacred Ground's overall vibe is a hybrid of that band's two most productive periods: the James William Guercio years and the tougher sounding moments from the David Foste...