Alas, Detroit, that city of industrial might, now known for blight and bankruptcy. Despite its current woes, Detroit (and Michigan at large) has always been fertile ground for the musical arts—and I’m not just talking about the legendary Detroit Symphony Orchestra or Motown—but something that had just as great a reach, but far less recognition: the “garage rock” scene of the ‘60s, which led to a variety of different and significant musical threads: early punk, as represented by Iggy Pop, rock, of the type played by Bob Seger and Mitch Ryder, the famously loud, raucous MC-5, and... Read More

 I’ve now had the opportunity to listen more fully to the Blue Horizon two-record set of Elmore James’ late studio tracks contained on To Know a Man. As described in my efforts to track down the origin of James’ recording of “Sunnyland” that I first heard in 1970, To Know a Man contains the “late” Elmore James sessions recorded near the end of his life. Although by no means “audiophile” recordings, this record set is not just something for completists. If you like the gritty, distorted sound of Elmore’s slide playing, you’ll like this set for a couple reasons:... Read More

  On the heels of my recent retrospective about Whitley, I have been seeking out good copies of some of his repertoire. This is not as easy as you might think. Living with the Law was his first, and most popular album; that one was released on vinyl in Europe and reissued recently. The original pressing is good; I haven’t listened to the reissue, which comes from Music On Vinyl. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I finally got my hands on a copy of National Steel, a promotional record tied to the release of Living with the Law. It contains select tracks from Law and sounds... Read More

I know that Aja gets all the attention from audiophiles, but musically, the first two Steely Dan albums –Can’t Buy a Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy—represented something very innovative at the time of their release in the early ‘70s and hold up extremely well more than forty years later. Thrill presents a band that can play really well- doing pop rock suitable for radio play that didn’t sound contrived; no song was the same- the styles, rhythms, instrumentation, and mood changed, sometimes dramatically, from track to track and each song was delivered with deft touches that were... Read More

  Radio overplay of “Maggie May” at the time of this album’s release proved that familiarity can breed contempt (at least when it comes to music). As a result, I never got “into” early Rod Stewart solo material at the time it was released. But with the passage of time, exposure and perhaps a bit of nostalgia, I started listening to his early albums. (The same thing happened with Elton John but that’s another story and a different article). Rod had already proven his mettle as a blues wailer on Truth, and had a couple interesting albums on Vertigo while also working with the... Read More