From Booklist

This year’s package of bite-size think pieces about pop music continues the fine tradition of previous editions. Subjects and contributors include Robert Christgau on “postmodern minstrelsy” and why studying it matters, Robert Hilburn on Bob Dylan as “rock’s enigmatic poet,” and Chris Norris on the continuing cult-icon status of Saint [sic] Kurt Cobain. Greil Marcus kicks in on Buddy Holly, and two other contributors take on punk’s legacy: Is it dead, or does it just smell funny? Nicole White and Evelyn McDonnell bring news that cautious fans and musicians can use in their timely “Police Secretly Watching Hip-hop Artists,” and again this year, an Onion article, “Heartbreaking Country Ballad Paralyzes Trucking Industry” (a story that, factual or not, had to be told), peacefully coexists with the verifiable stuff. Ben Yagoda explores a subject that will grab catalogers and other metadata enthusiasts, “reflexivity” (fancy for self-referential lyrics and criti (more…)

From Booklist

This year’s package of bite-size think pieces about pop music continues the fine tradition of previous editions. Subjects and contributors include Robert Christgau on “postmodern minstrelsy” and why studying it matters, Robert Hilburn on Bob Dylan as “rock’s enigmatic poet,” and Chris Norris on the continuing cult-icon status of Saint [sic] Kurt Cobain. Greil Marcus kicks in on Buddy Holly, and two other contributors take on punk’s legacy: Is it dead, or does it just smell funny? Nicole White and Evelyn McDonnell bring news that cautious fans and musicians can use in their timely “Police Secretly Watching Hip-hop Artists,” and again this year, an Onion article, “Heartbreaking Country Ballad Paralyzes Trucking Industry” (a story that, factual or not, had to be told), peacefully coexists with the verifiable stuff. Ben Yagoda explores a subject that will grab catalogers and other metadata enthusiasts, “reflexivity” (fancy for self-referential lyrics and criti (more…)

From Booklist

Guest editor Mary Gaitskill says she put together this edition of Da Capo’s annual to be “like a mix tape of sounds a person might hear in life,” some of which “enter your imagination and take strange dream-shapes.” Manifesting strangeness are Kevin Whitehead’s disquisition on the “hidden affinity” between the music of Art Tatum and that of Thelonious Monk, Raquel Cepeda’s thoughts on the rise of “reggaeton,” and David Thorpe’s biting commentary on R. Kelly’s notorious sexcapades. Moustafa Bayoumi reports on American use of music in the war on terror: “usually heavy metal or hip-hop but sometimes . . . Barney the Dinosaur” is “pumped at detainees with such brutality [as] to unravel them” without leaving the telltale marks of bodily violence. Of particular interest to classic-rock fans and aging boomers is Tom Ewing’s remembrance of August 1966, when the Beatles’ two-hit single, Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine, topped the charts. Terrorism, sexual misconduct (more…)

From Booklist

Guest editor Mary Gaitskill says she put together this edition of Da Capo’s annual to be “like a mix tape of sounds a person might hear in life,” some of which “enter your imagination and take strange dream-shapes.” Manifesting strangeness are Kevin Whitehead’s disquisition on the “hidden affinity” between the music of Art Tatum and that of Thelonious Monk, Raquel Cepeda’s thoughts on the rise of “reggaeton,” and David Thorpe’s biting commentary on R. Kelly’s notorious sexcapades. Moustafa Bayoumi reports on American use of music in the war on terror: “usually heavy metal or hip-hop but sometimes . . . Barney the Dinosaur” is “pumped at detainees with such brutality [as] to unravel them” without leaving the telltale marks of bodily violence. Of particular interest to classic-rock fans and aging boomers is Tom Ewing’s remembrance of August 1966, when the Beatles’ two-hit single, Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine, topped the charts. Terrorism, sexual misconduct (more…)

From Library Journal

As accurate and obsessively detailed as www.allmusic.com is, its print cousins can seem somewhat redundant. This well-established entry, now in its third edition, offers biographical and listener’s advisory information on artists and recordings that All Music Guide (AMG) editors Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine have deemed rock an all-encompassing term that includes pop, soul, R&B, rap, and easy listening. Since the last edition (1997), about 3000 album reviews and 400 artist profiles have been added. That makes for a total of 2200 alphabetically arranged artist entries and 14,000 reviews (rated on a scale of one to five stars), most of which are signed. While the contributors cover a remarkable range of new artists from Aaliyah to Weezer, they often give short shrift to those who recorded prior to the 1980s; sometimes, whole bodies of work are ignored in favor of “best of” compilations. Refreshingly, most reviews are free of ro (more…)

Nice Gerdening Decor

Perfect tee for the young rock princess! Sleek fitting with angled assymetrical hem and sleeves.

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Remastered 1997 BGO reissue of their deleted 1972 Chrysalis album, engineered by Chris Kimsey. Contains all nine original tracks, including ‘You Give Me Loving’ and ‘Turned Off T.V. Blues’. Also features extensive sleeve notes and faithfully restored artwork. The full title is ‘Rock & Roll Music To The World’.

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Amazon.com

: Jack’s Big Music Show is a Nickelodeon television program that features puppetry, music, and guest performances by popular children’s music artists. Puppets Jack, his friend Mary, and dog Mel have a special clubhouse where they meet to make music together and where visitors often stop in for some musical fun and a little help solving problems. The barbershop-inspired Schwartzman (puppet) Quartet comes visiting in each episode and there’s always one or two music video interludes featuring popular children’s music artists like The Laurie Berkner Band We Are . . . the Laurie Berkner Band, Sweet Honey in the Rock Sweet Honey in the Rock–Singing for Freedom, Dirty Sock Funtime Band Mr. Clown and the Day the Sun Got Wet, or Steve Burns and Steven Drozd. “Groundhog Day” features The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart as a reporter for the Groundhog News reporting on the story of Gertrude Groundhog–a groundhog who’s too nervous and shy to come out in public to look for (more…)

Amazon.com

Fans of 1970s reggae are sure to rejoice at the chance to hear Jimmy Cliff and Joe Higgs talk about their music, to see hyperkinetic producer-musician Lee “Scratch” Perry at work in his legendary Black Ark studio (with Junior Murvin, the Heptones, and the Upsetters), and to enjoy the lively sounds of the Mighty Diamonds, Ras Michael, and U-Roy in concert. Fans of Jamaica’s best-known musical export, Bob Marley and the Wailers, may be a little disappointed, however, because the documentary includes only a couple of brief performance clips–though, granted, even momentary glimpses of Mr. Music at his peak are better than none at all. This 1977 installment of director Jeremy Marre’s 14-part Beats of the Heart series also features early black-and-white footage of Jimmy Cliff and Toots & the Maytals in concert, the Gladiators in the studio, and the Abyssinians, Third World, and Inner Circle in rehearsal. Scenes of Kingston street life are interspersed with (more…)

Amazon.com

Fans of 1970s reggae are sure to rejoice at the chance to hear Jimmy Cliff and Joe Higgs talk about their music, to see hyperkinetic producer-musician Lee “Scratch” Perry at work in his legendary Black Ark studio (with Junior Murvin, the Heptones, and the Upsetters), and to enjoy the lively sounds of the Mighty Diamonds, Ras Michael, and U-Roy in concert. Fans of Jamaica’s best-known musical export, Bob Marley and the Wailers, may be a little disappointed, however, because the documentary includes only a couple of brief performance clips–though, granted, even momentary glimpses of Mr. Music at his peak are better than none at all. This 1977 installment of director Jeremy Marre’s 14-part Beats of the Heart series also features early black-and-white footage of Jimmy Cliff and Toots & the Maytals in concert, the Gladiators in the studio, and the Abyssinians, Third World, and Inner Circle in rehearsal. Scenes of Kingston street life are interspersed with (more…)