Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Lana Del Ray, these are the artists whose albums did it for me this year. When it comes to a Best Albums 2012 list, I wouldn’t be satisfied without them. It was a great year in music, even if the industry continues to struggle. Here's why I thought these albums stood out. in no particular order:...
Of all the albums and artists that surfaced last year around this time on “Best of” lists, only one has made good on their promise. And, that is unquestionably Bruno Mars. His debut album doo-wops & hooligans was an amalgam of everything right and wrong with music today. Mars aka, Peter Gene Hernándezis, is simply a whirling dervish of creativity; he wrote, sang, produced or co-produced everything on his first album....
Peter Gabriel’s classic album So was featured in a compelling behind-the-scenes documentary in October and has just been released on DVD by Eagle Rock Entertainment. I have to say, it’s one of the best behind-the-scenes compilations I’ve ever seen. Gabriel’s smash album contained many of his most beloved songs including “Sledgehammer” and “In Your Eyes.” Released in 1986, it was his fifth studio album and seventh album overall. So became the best-selling album of Gabriel’s career and went five-times platinum in the U.S., selling more than 5 million copies. It was also his first experiment with pop music, albeit “on his own terms,” he once said....
David Crosby, who personified the ’60s counterculture through his music with The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash (sometimes Young), is hip deep in the presidential fray along with bandmate Stephen Stills, who’s lambasting GOP candidate Mitt Romney. Crosby will be featured on Brett Winterble’s show on XM Satellite Radio (Channel 168) on Monday (Nov. 5). The interview could be electric. Winterble used to work for right-wing screamer and conspiracy formentor Rush Limbaugh....
When did Howard Stern stop being a shock jock? Was it when it became a rather prescient judge on “America’s Got Talent?” Or, when he recently celebrated his 30th anniversary on radio in New York; he debuted Aug. 30 in 1982 on WNBC. With his move to satellite radio from terrestrial radio, naysayers claim he’s lost his edge. As for me, I’d listen to him anytime. Meanwhile, another new format, Internet radio, has emerged since Stern’s departure....
Since Adam Levine and Maroon 5 burst onto the scene in 1997, they’ve been hard to ignore. With songs like this year’s “Moves Like Jagger,” “Payphone” and the current “One More Night,” they’re the kings of rock. I love Levine’s voice; face it, he’s got the perfect instrument and his role as a judge/mentor on NBC’s “The Voice” has clearly bumped him along. He may be playing the bad boy onscreen, but clearly, he knows exactly what’s he’s doing....
Peter Gabriel’s Secret World Live … from 1993 has been fully re-stored and remastered by Eagle Rock Entertainment, which has just released the famed tour footage on DVD and Blu-ray, and it’s a fascinating viewing and listening experience. This particular band featured not only his regulars, bassist Tony Levin and guitarist David Rhodes, but also Paula Cole on vocals (what ever happened to her?), Shankar on violin and guests Papa Wemba and Molokai....
roducer John Van Eps has taken 10 tracks from the band Chicago, de-constructed them and rebuilt them from the ground up, creating something so revolutionary, so different, that it’s taken me some time to digest and appreciate. ...
Brett Winterble, long known for his outspokenness on political issues on Sirius/XM Talk 168, is now bringing his pungent commentary to the best of the current world of pop culture and entertainment. And does he have a few things to get off his chest. He scooped a number of other major media outlets by landing an interview with Casey Anthony attorney Jose Baez. And, he just spoke to Judge Jim Gray, the Libertarian party VP nominee....
Tom Silverman has spent more than 30 years in the recorded music business, as the founder and chairman of Tommy Boy Records, one of the leading dance record labels. Silverman saw a gaping hole in the music industry so in 1981, he and partners, Joel Webber and Marc Josephson created the original New Music Seminar....
Bee Gee Robin Gibb, in failing health for the last year died today, after battling valiantly to beat a variety of ailments, including cancer, Along with him, the iconic pop group The Bee Gees is passing into history. As a group, the brothers Gibb, Robin, twin Maurice and older brother Barry, defied almost insurmountable odds to become an iconic entity like no other. ...
When singer, songwriter Phil Collins first played his song “In The Air Tonight,” Atlantic Records chieftain Ahmet Ertegun, had some suggestions that ultimately gave birth to a drum line heard throughout the 1980s. Truth be told, it even holds up today and has been captured on Eagle Rock Entertainment’s double DVD set, Phil Collins Live At Montreux 2004...
Bee Gee Robin Gibb, in failing health for the last year, has slipped into a coma, and the end is feared near. The Bee Gees as a group has defied almost insurmountable odds to become an iconic entity like no other. From "How Deep Is Your Love," to "Night Fever," to "If I Can't Have You," we can't really recall any other music that so fit a film. Of course the 1977 film, based on writer Nik Cohen’s novel, "The Tribal Rites of Saturday Night," was epic in every sense of the word....
When those in the know talk about the major behind-the-scene players in the music business, three names always come up: Clive Davis, Mo Ostin and Ahmet Ertegun. Ertegun’s legacy was secured in February when his widow gave $26 million to Oxford University. The money will pay for at least 35 graduate scholarships every year through the Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Scholarship Fund....
Peter Gabriel began his solo career with the terrific song “Solsbury Hill,” from the first of several solo albums that were all self-titled. The results are now on a staggering, mesmerizing two CD set called Live Blood from Eagle Rock Entertainment. The music for his CD set was recorded live at London’s iconic Hammersmith Apollo on March 23 last year, and several of the songs are now legendary, among them “Sledgehammer,” “Don't Give Up” and “Red Rain.”...
