I think most music observers who are fans of Van Morrison – and could there be any who are not – consider this song a bit of a trifle, given the outrageous output that Morrison had already assembled at the point that ‘Wavelength’ was released in the fall of 1978 (just for example, ‘Brown Eyed...... Read More

Obviously, there was ‘Freebird’ and there was ‘Green Grass and High Tides’. That pair seems undeniable and indisputable as numbers 1 & 2. But beyond those two epic southern rock guitar marathons by Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Outlaws respectively, what would come next? I'd allow either of ‘Whipping Post’ or... Read More

For all the cheeriness of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘All You Need Is Love’, ‘Good Day Sunshine’, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, the Beatles also wrote some goddamn dark songs. And I’m not even talking about... Read More

Van Halen wasn't exactly my favorite thing. This song was a definite exception.... Read More

As legend, or some old music magazine, has it, an interviewer once asked George Thorogood why he didn’t write more of his own songs, to which he replied “Because Chuck Berry already wrote all the f*cking songs that ever needed to be written.” I can’t quite call this a direct quote, but I’m pretty confident...... Read More

..the group Poco, a band whose warm harmonies, jangling guitars and checkered membership put them at the nexus of the incestuous late ‘60’s/early ‘70’s California country-rock scene..... Read More

I didn’t get a haircut or shave for roughly two years. Yeah, some circumstances in my life changed…whatever. But the best answer I could muster, the truest, when people would ask me why I’d let things go is that I’d kind of always thought about trying it and, well, for the same reason dogs lick...... Read More

Years ago I was sitting around having drinks with a bunch of friends when someone introduced this very interesting question: If you could place yourself at any moment in history, what would it be? Most people had some very profound answers. I believe I remember three of them: One was to be present for the...... Read More

John Entwistle always said he did not play the bass. He insisted he played the bass guitar. The difference was not merely semantic. The man nicknamed “The Ox” established a treble-rich sound unlike most anyone in his era or since (per Entwistle’s own description: “Full treble, full volume”). And I would suggest, nowhere is it...... Read More

There’s not a lot to say about the Beatles that hasn’t already been said, so I won’t try much here. But I chose this song because in many ways it seems a perfect exemplification of what made the Beatles what they were – which was, c’mon, the greatest band of all time. This was at...... Read More