Bloggerhythms

Lantern Shade,  Californian Jonathan Foster's fifth, independently released, studio CD is a beauty. The press release aptly states "the album steers towards the rock side of modern folk music," meaning Foster is more of a singer-songwriter than a folky, and that's a good thing. It makes his work more accessible without sacrificing the contemplative, lyrical aspects of folk. A hallmark of all excellent singer-songwriters is that they avoid superficiality and Foster is no exception. While thoughtfulness is still needed to fully absorb his introspective songs they avoid the head scratching opaqueness that often pushes some music fans away from the genre. "Alpine Line" is one of the set's fun tracks. It's a welcome contrast when placed next to "The Beast," a social commentary piece minus the preachiness that often accompanies songs of this type. The catchy "Where We Belong" - a favorite of Foster's - is an upbeat celebration of li...

Believe it or not "Tiny Dancer" is another out-of-this-world, classic rock single that never broke into the top twenty in America even though it's one of Elton John's greatest songs. It never got higher than #41 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1972, but it's a highlight of the 1971 Madman Across The Water LP. It fared better in Canada (#19) and Australia (#13). It was never released on a 45 RPM record in England. "Tiny Dancer's" length contributed to its less than stellar chart position. At 6:12, it initially had trouble receiving airplay and took several years to become the classic it is today. The truncated single, at 3:45, just didn't have the same impact as the full album cut. Also, there were radio stations that banned it because of the line "Jesus Freaks, Out in the streets."  Despite its modest run on the pop chart, by 2018 "Tiny Dancer" was certified platinum three times over by the Recording Industry Association of Ame...

The rock band Chicago, currently celebrating their 54th year in the music business, have never been a darling of the critics but there was a time when the Windy City jazz-rock outfit had a lot of street cred with young music fans everywhere. I have always believed (despite their early outspokenness against the Viet Nam War) that magazines such as Rolling Stone always hated them because their public behavior was never anti-establishment enough to suit the rock press who, during that era, often confused boorishness with artistic genius and self-expression. Unlike Jim Morrison, they never dropped their pants on stage. During Chicago’s salad days of the early 70s the critics were the only ones who didn’t like them. Music teachers liked them. Jazz musicians liked them. Doc Severenson, Duke Ellington, and Jimi Hendrix called themselves fans. Hendrix even took them on tour with him. He was also credited with saying to Chicago’s woodwind player, Walt Parazaider, "When I saw you ...

A couple of posts ago readers were treated to a discussion about Larry Kirwan's recent novel, Rockaway Blue . Now it's time to talk about what he is best known for - making great rock 'n roll.  As he has done twice  for Bloggerhythms  in the past , Kirwan, the former leader of Black 47, participated in a question and answer session by email. This time he discussed his most recent music, and as always, I thank him for his cooperation. We're going to talk about three separate releases.  Teddyboy  (2019) is a five song EP, Heroes/Belfast  (2018) is a four song set, and in 2020 the Irish native son released two versions of a one-off single, "Stronger and Better." Then the interview closes with one final question. TEDDYBOY I knew Teddyboy was a stage musical but I wasn't able to find anything else about it, so Kirwan was kind enough to fill us in with all of the details. This comes directly from the show's press release. " Teddyboy is a musical writt...

Tommy West, one half of the early 70s soft-rock duo, Cashman and West, passed away on May 2, 2021. In tribute, below is a very slightly edited reposting of an article that was first published on Bloggerhythms on September 30, 2010.  My lifelong passion for the Philadelphia Phillies is second only to my passion for music. For those of you not in North or South America, The Caribbean, Japan, or South Korea, they’re a professional baseball team from The United States and in 2008 they were the champions of the whole sport. On Monday night The Phillies won their division title for the fourth straight year and earned a chance to play in their second straight World Series. If they do indeed make it to the final round I'm hoping they get to play Joe Girardi's New York Yankees this fall so they can show The Bronx Bombers that they are the new sheriff in town. The impending post-season got me thinking about baseball songs and Terry Cashman's "Talkin' Baseball (Willie, Mi...