Call for Papers: Director Spotlight: Orson Welles

Sean Murphy
Image: Sean Murphy

Sean Murphy loves music, books, and movies and can’t imagine a world without sub-titles. He was born in northern Virginia and has never found a compelling reason to leave. He studied English at George Mason University and has an MA in Literature. One of his thesis papers dealt with the utopian impulse in ‘70s rock (which, depending upon one’s perspective, at least partially explains why he opted not to purse that PhD in Cultural Studies). During his time at PopMatters he has written music and movie reviews, along with the occasional essay. Despite living just outside DC, he remains recalcitrant in his conviction that paychecks mean less than personal fulfillment and that the pursuit of peace is not ironic. Endorses, in no particular order: anyone who is similarly allergic to right-wing radio and reality TV, the Red Sox, miniature schnauzers, Pho and Blanton’s single barrel bourbon. Ambition: to write the pretty-good American novel. Other stuff, too: http://bullmurph.com/


Features

Wednesday, May 15 2013

In Defense Of... The Greatness of the Gatsby

Kathryn Schulz’s failure to appreciate F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterwork, as professed on Vulture.com, is a contemporary case study for how not to assess literature.


Monday, April 1 2013

Neil Young: Long May He Run

If Neil Young had once been inclined, or tempted to say either/or to the burn out/fade away options, he is now declaring neither/nor.


Friday, November 2 2012

Ten Horrific Movie Scenes for Post-Halloween

Since truth is invariably stranger -- and scarier -- than fiction, some of cinema's most unnerving scenes come from movies not found in the Horror section.


Monday, August 27 2012

The Once and Future King: 'SMiLE' and Brian Wilson’s Very American Dream

Almost half a century later, The SMiLE Sessions fully vindicate Brian Wilson's obsessive efforts: the material is complex but accessible, intense but assured, the fully realized vision of a unique talent.


Wednesday, August 8 2012

Thoughts on the Olympics, Improvisation and Jay Adams

In Olympic action we hope to see perfection. With jazz improvisation we want something beyond even that.


Columns

Wednesday, May 8 2013

Pink Floyd: The Prog Rock Archetype

Although they became hugely successful, Pink Floyd championed a type of integrity that seems uniquely associated with progressive rock: they never imitated anyone else or copied their own previous efforts.


Tuesday, April 9 2013

Time Stand Still: Why Rush Belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rush, as much as any rock band, represents the eternal present tense: they adapted and evolved in real time, reflecting the issues, sounds and styles of their day.


Thursday, March 7 2013

1967 and the Prog-Rock Progenitors

If 1967 characterizes a high point where rock music could be appraised as Art, it also initiated an explicit realignment of what was henceforth possible.


Thursday, February 7 2013

Why Is Prog Rock So Inadequate, Simplistic, Reductive, Portentous and Perfect?

Somewhere between the first hit of acid and the last ray of light from the disco ball, rock music got ambitious. What we would come to know as prog rock would go on to launch a million air guitars.


Friday, April 9 2010

Hellraisers: They Lived This Way Because Nobody Else Could

These guys were geniuses at life: living fully on their own terms, and after all the broken glass, bludgeoned livers, and wrecked relationships, the sum shined brighter than the scattered bits and pieces.


Reviews

Friday, April 19 2013

Shuggie Otis: Inspiration Information / Wings of Love

Certain albums, such as Inspiration Information, never quite find the audience they deserve, failing to connect due to fashion or fate, or because too many souls have been sold in the service of crossover pop candy.


Friday, March 8 2013

Jimi Hendrix: People, Hell & Angels

For Hendrix enthusiasts, and the historical record, this latest (and hopefully not last) installment is priceless in its way.


Thursday, December 13 2012

'The Who Live In Texas '75': 'Nough Said

By the time they got to Texas, in 1975, The Who had nothing to prove except the undeniable impact they could still make, any place, any time.


Thursday, December 6 2012

Emerson Lake & Palmer: Emerson Lake & Palmer / Tarkus (Deluxe Edition)

Steven Wilson's magic touch graces these reissues, and whether you’d like the familiar versions made slightly better, or are keen to enjoy slightly remixed versions, or want to see how these chestnuts translate in 5.1 Surround Sound, these are the discs you’ve been praying for.


Tuesday, November 13 2012

'They Live' Is the Most Blunt Critique of Unfettered Capitalism Ever Committed to Celluloid

They Live is like The Matrix, without the billion dollar ballet routines.


Bottle Rocket [9.Jan.09]
Love Story [1.Aug.08]
Stanton Moore: III [30.Nov.06]

Blogs

Wednesday, March 20 2013

Ten Songs From 1967 That Shaped Prog Rock

If 1967 characterizes a high point in rock music, it also initiated an explicit realignment of what was possible in the genre -- for better or worse.


Tuesday, January 8 2013

Emotional Feedback on a Timeless Wavelength: Rush's 'Permanent Waves'

Permanent Waves is, on multiple levels, an unblinking stride toward the future, while it effectively shuts the door on the ‘70s.


Tuesday, November 20 2012

Gary Clark Jr.: Seeing Is Believing

If you have a chance to check Clark out live, do so. He sounds fine in a studio setting, and I encourage you to grab his new disc. But like most of the better acts, especially of the jazz and blues idioms, he needs to be seen to be appreciated, and believed.


Thursday, September 20 2012

Burt Bacharach Meets the Brady Bunch... on Psilocybin

Celebrating the great lost (and never found) Love single from the Summer of 1967.


Thursday, September 13 2012

Finding Grace in Beautiful Places

I use music as a viable source of empowerment: it is capable of conjuring up words and concepts that are oblique, or pretentious, or all-too-easily invoked, expedient for folks who ardently need a way to articulate the feeling they either can’t quite explain or desperately wish to get in touch with.


Levon Helm: So Real It Makes You Believe (Sound Affects) [1.May.12]
Print the Legend: The Man in Black at 80 (Sound Affects) [29.Feb.12]
Whitney Houston and the Wages of Fame (Sound Affects) [16.Feb.12]
Ben Gazzara and The End Of An Aura (Short Ends and Leader) [9.Feb.12]
Ranking R.E.M.: The 10 Best Albums (Sound Affects) [12.Oct.11]
In Defense of Good Sax (Sound Affects) [9.Aug.11]
(It's Always) Time For McCoy Tyner (Sound Affects) [11.May.11]
An Appreciation of the Compact Disc (Sound Affects) [28.Apr.11]
Billy Bang: Goodbye and Rest in Peace (Sound Affects) [19.Apr.11]
In Memory of Sidney Lumet: Celebrating 'Serpico' (Short Ends and Leader) [13.Apr.11]
Remembering Keith Relf, and the Yardbirds (Sound Affects) [24.Mar.11]
Right Down the Line: R.I.P. Gerry Rafferty (Sound Affects) [11.Jan.11]
A Timely Musical Blessing From Soulive (Sound Affects) [15.Dec.10]
Remembering Frank Zappa: 17 Years Later (Sound Affects) [9.Dec.10]
The Shape of Jazz That Came... (Sound Affects) [8.Sep.10]
Alex Chilton R.I.P. (1950 - 2010) (Sound Affects) [18.Mar.10]
Did You Get the Knack and Doug Fieger? (Sound Affects) [15.Feb.10]
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones In Concert (Consuming Consumables) [17.Dec.09]
This is Fela Kuti's Time (Sound Affects) [17.Dec.09]
The Day The Music Died, Redux (Sound Affects) [15.Dec.09]
Paint It Black (Sabbath) (Sound Affects) [2.Dec.09]
August Left Our World a Poorer Place x2 (Sound Affects) [10.Sep.09]
“Radical Jewish Culture” Redux (Sound Affects) [9.Sep.09]
R.E.M. - "Exhuming McCarthy" (stream) (Mixed Media) [10.Jun.09]
Kwai Chang Caine R.I.P. (Short Ends and Leader) [4.Jun.09]
See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me…Sell Me (Sound Affects) [23.May.09]
Herbie Hancock: Old School American Idol (Sound Affects) [20.Apr.09]
Got a Beef? Sure ‘Nuff ‘N Yes I Do (Sound Affects) [3.Apr.09]
John Zorn: Rebel with a Cause (Sound Affects) [31.Mar.09]
The Things They Carried (Short Ends and Leader) [30.Mar.09]
Before Bad Brains There Was Death (Sound Affects) [17.Mar.09]
Work Pig: Bringing Home the Bacon (Short Ends and Leader) [16.Mar.09]
Cheever: Straight No Chaser (Re:Print) [4.Mar.09]
"In my stories is where I live." (Re:Print) [25.Feb.09]
Mistaken Identity? (Re:Print) [2.Feb.09]
Freddie Hubbard: An Appreciation (Sound Affects) [31.Dec.08]
It’s All Part of Der Process (Re:Print) [3.Dec.08]
The Whiteness of this Whale (Sound Affects) [25.Nov.08]
Mitch Mitchell: The Perfect Engine (Sound Affects) [17.Nov.08]
Ornette Coleman: Then and Now (Sound Affects) [10.Nov.08]
Five Reggae Albums You Cannot Live Without (Sound Affects) [11.Jul.08]
John Belushi’s Greatest Performance (Sound Affects) [23.Jun.08]
Here's The Thing... (Short Ends and Leader) [18.Jun.08]
Nothing Golden God Can Stay (Sound Affects) [29.May.08]
The David Lynch Dilemma (Sound Affects) [12.May.08]
Earth Day (Sound Affects) [3.May.08]
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