Yesterday's Jukebox

Grateful Dead: Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings

[20.Jun.08] :. Ultimately, what I am trying to say is this: The Dead can be appreciated -- indeed, probably must be appreciated -- as a kind of continuing, evolving, shifty performance of “The Grateful Dead”.

The Lemonheads: It’s A Shame About Ray: Collector’s Edition

[28.Mar.08] :. This 1992 classic, a commercial smash and artistic peak for the Lemonheads, wants another bit part in your life. A walk-on would be fine.

Various Artists: City of Dreams

[13.Mar.08] :. This collection spreads piano, blues, street beats, and slippery funk over four discs that are as joyous and imperfect as the Crescent City itself.

Frank Sinatra: A Voice in Time (1939-1952)

[30.Nov.07] :. Sinatra's reputation was a victim of the changing times, and I don't think it's possible to overstate the effect that this transition has had upon the perception of his music.

Various Artists: The Brit Box

[20.Nov.07] :. Tracing the evolution of UK alt-pop from just after new wave died, through the Britpop explosion, and ending right before Coldplay emerged, this four-disc box set is both an excellent survey and a very well sequenced mix.

Love Is the Song We Sing: San Francisco Nuggets 1965-1970

[9.Nov.07] :. For the first time, the musical and attitudinal highs and lows of the Bay Area scene are on full, accurate, and coherent display. Forty years was a long time to wait.

Badfinger: Wish You Were Here

[25.Oct.07] :. The Beatles' favorite pet project left a failing Apple to record a pair of albums with Warner Bros. that haven't been reissued until now. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.

Foo Fighters: The Colour and the Shape

[23.Aug.07] :. For anyone who experienced the heyday of Nirvana, it's still surreal that the lanky, string-haired drummer is the guy who'd be on magazine covers and writing #1 rock radio hits 15 years later.

God Save Self-Indulgence

[16.Aug.07] :. Resist adult life with the Kinks' backward-looking Village Green Preservation Society.

Genesis: 1976-1982

[10.Aug.07] :. Genesis is slightly different from typical prog rock. Yes, they had the 20-minute song "cycles" and the classical allusions all up in their lyrics, but they also had a few other things that their proggy peers did not: specifically, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins.

Laurie Anderson: Big Science

[8.Aug.07] :. Remastered for the 25th anniversary of its original release, Laurie Anderson's debut remains a uniquely compelling and surprisingly timeless statement on life in the modern world.

Master P: Ghetto D

[19.Jul.07] :. You'd be hard pressed to make an argument for Ghetto D as one of the great rap albums of the '90s, or even, really, a very good album at all.

Pretenders: Learning to Crawl

[12.Jul.07] :. Their cathartic third proper album was really the last one under the Pretenders banner that could be considered something more than just a vehicle for frontwoman Hynde -- which is remarkable considering the ashes from which the album rose.

Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods

[11.Jul.07] :. This newly remastered version of the Mingus classic still sounds crazy after all these years -- crazy good!

Blondie: Eat to the Beat

[29.Jun.07] :. Almost half a million YouTube views later, Blondie's Eat to the Beat video receives a long awaited release on DVD with (yet another) remastered CD.