For all practical and fundamental purposes, punk rock is lifeless. Seriously. Joe Strummer’s optimism and socialistic glorifications have been stripped from all mediums. The misrepresented anarchy seen on Never Mind the Bullocks has been stomped to the ground by both militarized police (anybody else at the RNC?) and the docility following the promises made by our political leaders. Save the Buzzcocks’ DIY politics and the Ramones’ blissful naivety, it appears that punk’s remains are now …

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The Pogues’ album Rum Sodomy and the Lash perfectly embodies music’s ability to bring us into a different world. Although conceived within London’s booming punk movement, in no way do The Pogues fit into the simplistic energy that defined early U.K. punk rock. One listen to any track on Rum and you will quickly heed what separates this band from all of their contemporaries: Ireland. Hearing the atypical beauty of frontman Shane MacGowan’s growl in …

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Who is Human Sexual Response you ask? Very good question my friends. For although they were once hailed as the saviors of the post punk pack of the late 70s and early 80s, Human Sexual Respons (HSR) quickly faded into obscurity after only two albums. Before their demise HSR created a pair of quirky masterpieces. On their second album, “In A Roman Mood” (1981), HSR’s sporadic post-punk shines with their combination of pseudodancy drum beats …

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Pop music is shamelessly obsessed with love. From the “my baby left me” blues of the early 20th century to the “He’s the kind of boy you can’t forget” language of girl group invasion, love has been on the mind of many a musician. The Kerchief wearing heartthrob of a frontman Arthur Lee is no exception to this fondness of infatuation. Lee and his rock and roll outfit Love were manifestly
conceived within the boundaries of …

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The opening mallet-matted drum roll of Scott Walker’s solo debut is an extremely telling introduction. It instantly becomes clear that this pop album is to be both a heroic and tragic epic. Similarly, glancing upon the portrait of Walker that covers his 1967 Scott is an equally epiphanic experience. Upon a glance or a listen, Scott Walker is clarified to be a deceptively upbeat dark horse of sixties pop. “Man behind the music” clichés however, …

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Big Star – #1 Record

The debut LP of the Memphis Tennessee power-poppers Big Star could be one of the greatest records you’ve never heard. In fact, this beautiful album review could easily be filled with paragraph after paragraph of the numerous artists and rock and roll outfits that have been shaped and influenced by the record’s prose. …

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The Kinks – Something Else By the Kinks

Raymond Douglas Davies is a clever man. As the chief and nearly unchaperoned hit maker for the prolific UK outfit the Kinks, Davies has dabbled in some of the most catchy, interesting and clever rock and roll in the genre’s six decades. Continuing the …

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T-Rex – The Slider

Many bands manage to generate a single rock and roll gem before ricocheting into the depths of music history hell. Like the Kinks, The Velvet Underground and The Hollywood Argyles, T. Rex defied this explode-and-deflate pathway. In September 1971, T. Rex released an album often heralded as a pinnacle of rock achievement and sexiness titled Electric …

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Nick Lowe – Pure Pop for Now People

Do you love Elvis Costello like we do? Hidden in the shadow of Costello’s success is a musician that tastes, smells and even sounds like him. Nick Lowe is that musician, and his album Pure Pop For Now People is a benchmark in modern …

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