Songwriting as catharsis is clearly effective. Otherwise why would it have been done by the likes of Lucinda Williams, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and so many others, so successfully?
Their trick has been to make it accessible to an au...
It's long been my conviction that writing about music is one of the most widespread follies of modern times.
Each month, hundreds of thousands of words about music are written by people wearing converse trainers. What does it mean? Why bother descri...
Whereas 1984's Purple Rain had seen Prince merge the on-screen and on-record perfectly, remaining a classic to this day, Parade can't quite claim to be as essential. Again a soundtrack to one of the Purple One's excursions into cinema, it supports th...
Trombonist Nils Wogram is pretty much unknown over here but has made a name for himself on the Eurojazz circuit, and this double CD is a fine showcase of his talent as both a player and composer.
CD one is given over to Wogram's sextet, an all brass ...
This track has long been the stand-out track that exemplifies Manu Chao for me -- I've been loving this song ever since it came out a long time ago.
Studio Confessions is the groundbreaking third album from maverick Peven Everett. Before this enduring album hit the streets, Peven had released an amazing 12 critically acclaimed singles including timeless deep house classics like "Watch Them Come" ...