Music Reviews

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Music Reviews
Slacker Radio: Giving Streaming Music a Human Face
Michael Berk  |  Dec 01, 2011  | 

Love radio? Tired of Internet radio's algorithmic bent, and long for the days when a flesh and blood DJ put a lifetime of obsession into picking that next track? Slacker Radio just might be what you're looking for.

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Music Reviews
Star Wars: A New Hope - 40th Anniversary 3LP Collector's Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 03, 2020  | 
Performance
Sound
Packaging
In a galaxy far, far away—well, to be more precise, it was actually in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh—I received a home-made C-60 compact cassette for my 11th birthday in October 1978. My audiophile grandfather had dubbed Charles Gerhardt conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of music culled from composer John Williams' original scores for Star Wars on Side 1 and Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Side 2.
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Music Reviews
Steve Hackett - Genesis Revisited: Live at Hammersmith
Mike Mettler  |  Jan 30, 2014  | 
Legacy. Some artists embrace it, some resist it. Early-period Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett decided to go the extra mile to dance on the volcano of his past, charging firth, er, forth to majestically recast the arrangements of a top-drawer selection of his ’70s output with the British prog giants.
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Music Reviews
Steve Winwood: Nine Lives
Billy Altman  |  Jul 21, 2008  | 
Columbia
Music ••• Sound •••

On his new CD's bonus DVD, Steve Winwood notes that musicians aren't necessarily music lovers - that they often lis

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Music Reviews
Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3: Northern Aggression
Brett Milano  |  Mar 02, 2011  | 
 
Yep Roc
Music •••• Sound •••1/2

 

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Music Reviews
Steven Wilson: Insurgentes
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 25, 2009  | 
K-Scope
Music ••••½ DVD-Audio Mix ••••• Extras ••••½
The once and future king of surround has done it again - or,
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Music Reviews
Steven Wilson: Juke Box Jury of One
 |  Jul 13, 2008  | 

Sure, you know that Elliot Scheiner, Frank Filipetti, and other producer/engineers are fans of surround sound. But among artists, you'll find no bigger champion of multichannel music than Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.

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Music Reviews
Supergrass: Diamond Hoo Ha
Parke Puterbaugh  |  Jul 15, 2008  | 
Diamond Hoo Ha Astralwerks
Music •••½ Sound •••

The glam-rock triumvirate of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Mott the

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Music Reviews
Surround Review: King Crimson
Parke Puterbaugh  |  Feb 02, 2012  | 

“Superb. The music is brought to life.”

That’s Robert Fripp’s own assessment of Steven Wilson’s 6-channel mix of Discipline. I have to agree.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

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Music Reviews
Tedeschi Trucks Band: Made Up Mind
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 09, 2013  | 
Performance
Sound
The potent combo of married co-bandleaders guitarist/vocalist Susan Tedeschi and slide-guitar maestro Derek Trucks and nine (or so) of their closest friends hits its stride on group album number three, Made Up Mind. Mind shows how TTB has finally forged the right blend of improv interplay prowess and gutbucket roots rock.
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Music Reviews
Tee Grizzley: “Blow By Blow” + “You Hear Me” In Dolby Atmos On Apple Music
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 17, 2024  | 
Detroit-bred rap superstar Tee Grizzley has joined forces with a number of powerhouse flow partners on his new 24-track LP Post Traumatic, which was released in full on October 4 after being teased with a number of hardcharging singles drops throughout the balance of 2024.

A-level guests on Tee’s fifth studio album include the likes of Future, 42 Dugg, Mariah The Scientist, and even his brother, Baby Grizzley. Synth loops and loping 808s permeate some of its backing tracks—cool choices due in no small part to one of the album’s key producers, Pi’erre Bourne (Drake, Playboi Carti).

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Music Reviews
Temple of the Dog: 25th Anniversary Expanded Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 10, 2017  | 
Performance
Sound
The Seattle music scene was devastated. Andrew Wood, the promising and charismatic frontman of Mother Love Bone, was found dead of a heroin overdose in March 1990. His bandmates and close friends were in despair, and the one catharsis they found to deal with their pain in the ensuing year was in making new music together. As a result, out of the wake of Wood’s passing was born a 1991 Seattle supercollective dubbed Temple of the Dog, who became best known for their massive grunge-era alt-rock MTV hit, “Hunger Strike.”
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Music Reviews
The 20th Century’s Greatest Hits
Robert Ripps  |  Dec 10, 2001  | 

Tune in a classical FM radio station or attend a symphony orchestra concert, and chances are you'll hear very little music composed after 1900.

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Music Reviews
The Alan Parsons Project: Eye In the Sky 35th Anniversary Collector's Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Apr 19, 2018  | 
Performance
Sound
It’s quite fitting that when Alan Parsons—the well-respected English producer and engineer whose enviable behind-the-board C.V. includes the likes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Hollies, Al Stewart, Pilot, and Ambrosia—finally ventured out on his own as a titular recording artist in the mid-’70s, his collective work was dubbed The Alan Parsons Project.

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Music Reviews
The Allman Brothers Band: Idlewild South: Super Deluxe Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Jun 10, 2016  | 
Performance
Sound
When the last notes of “Trouble No More” rang out at The Beacon Theatre in New York in the wee hours of the morning on October 29, 2014—closing an epic show comprised of three full sets and a two-song encore that had commenced over 4 hours previously on the night of October 28—most agreed The Allman Brothers Band had capped their long, storied 45-year career by hittin’ all the right notes. With thousands of performances under their collective belts, the Allmans triumphantly closed out the tab on being one of the most thrilling, adventurous, and aurally exciting live bands of the rock era.
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