Thursday, January 5 2012
Pine Hill Haints: Welcome to the Midnight Opry
An otherwise worthy batch of full-spectrum roots music that suffers from slipshod production.
Tuesday, November 1 2011
John Prine: The Singing Mailman Delivers
These two discs -- one live, one in the studio -- show Prine's early songs fully formed and genuinely brilliant, though we also hear him figuring out how best to deliver them.
Wednesday, September 14 2011
White Lies: iTunes Festival London 2011
Yes, this question's got a hold on me: Why does a band that relies on studio clean-up bother releasing live content that is so dull and subpar?
Thursday, January 20 2011
Arguing the Merits of Live’s “All Over You”
Painfully earnest and soberly overwrought, for one album and one song in particular Live managed to convincingly sell the drama.
Wednesday, August 25 2010
Jefferson Airplane: Setlist: The Very Best of Jefferson Airplane Live
Setlist fails to set an applause-worthy precedent.
Tuesday, August 17 2010
Marianne Dissard: Paris One Takes
Soft little "La Confetti" from L'Entredeux now opens with a guitar like a jet engine.
Friday, December 11 2009
Nirvana: Live at Reading
Few live shows are able to communicate a band's heart and soul the way Nirvana's is brilliantly encapsulated here.
Monday, December 7 2009
Tom Waits: Glitter and Doom Live
The idiosyncrasy with which the long-revered songwriter has built his legacy on transpires just as fascinatingly through a live venue as it does on his studio records.
Monday, February 16 2009
Phoebe Snow: Live
Think of it as the equivalent of one of those New Orleans funeral procession marching bands that mournfully wail on the way to the graveyard and then bust loose on the way home.
Tuesday, January 20 2009
Live: Live at the Paradiso Amsterdam
Alternative rockers Live drop in from the '90s to bring us a long-awaited live album. The only question: Who exactly has been waiting for it?
