ZZ Top “Blue Jean Blues” (1975)
..This is Billy Gibbons putting on a blues guitar clinic, of restraint and intensity. He’s not exactly holding back but he’s not showing off either. It’s all tone and feel, with attention to every note and lick, and the perfect intention..... Read More
Elvis Costello “Accidents Will Happen” (1979)
Elvis Costello has been a lot of things in his astounding forty-years-and-counting musical career: post-punk prototype, new wave renegade, encyclopedic musical raconteur, image-bending iconoclast, standards revivalist, acerbic pop culture polemicist, hook-mastering marvel, and whip-smart wordsmith. What he has never been is sloppy. So whether it was a quirk of his songwriting style, or a subtle...... Read More
Whitney Rose “In A Rut” (2020)
“Don’t ask me how I got this way / Oh, that’s asking too much” cries Whitney Rose amidst the whirlwind chorus as she rattles off the title line ‘I’m In A Rut’ an appropriately repetitive 28 total times. Only her delivery is so rapid-fire, gaps collapsed between the few words and syllables..... Read More
Pink Floyd “Great Gig In The Sky” (1973)
One of the best-known songs on what remains the longest charting album in rock music history features none of the band’s four members, has no words, and spotlights only a session singer who initially turned down the gig to attend a Chuck Berry concert..... Read More
The Godfathers “Birth, School, Work, Death” (1988)
..The Godfathers, an ‘80’s English new wave band, seemed to have it boiled down to a pretty tight outline. There it is, on their biggest U.S. hit, a philosophy in four words..... Read More
The Guess Who “No Time” (1969)
A stoner soundtrack, The Best of The Guess Who, for an unforgettable night that was immediately forgotten.... Read More
B.B. King “I’m Moving On” (1991)
..The King Of The Blues, Mr. B.B. King, resplendent in a glittery tux jacket and wincing in apparent pain at the impossibly high note he’s managed to hit on his renowned Gibson guitar “Lucille”..... Read More
Creedence Clearwater Revival “Molina” (1970)
..I’d like to revisit the topic here to award an equally important title for the longest single fake ending duration – call it the qualitative title – to Creedence Clearwater Revival. In their 1970 hit ‘Molina,’ the band held their false finish for a full, time-stopping..... Read More
Hall & Oates “Back Together Again” (1976)
Who's the most successful duo of the rock era? I think most people’s first reaction would rightfully be Simon & Garfunkel, while some would choose The Everly Brothers. Upset picks could go to Sam & Dave, The Carpenters, or Jan & Dean. They’d all be wrong..... Read More
Rolling Stones “Dance Little Sister” (1974)
Over the years, rockers seem to have exhibited some curious ideas about sisters, but in particular little sisters. The thought occurred to me recently when hearing Elton John’s much-forgotten rave-up ‘Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock and Roll)’ – not explicitly about a “little” sister, but with the lyric..... Read More