Month: August 2003

Years ago, there was a wonderful series of albums called West Meets East that paired Ravi Shankar with violinist Yehudi Menuhin. A boondoggle in theory, the marriage of sitar and violin was as brilliant in the listening as it was prescient. Today, of course, these kinds of cross-cultural juxtapositions are as common and crazy as…

Her big 1973 hit “Midnight at the Oasis” got new life when it was covered by the acid-jazz combo Brand New Heavies, but Maria Muldaur’s style of blues has been moving more and more away from both the new and the heavy. She’s proven especially adept at putting her own smoky stamp on the songs…

We’ve got to be honest with you and say that Georgia’s finest have been inducing yawns and indifference since their second album. Back when all they wanted to be was the second coming of the Byrds, we loved them. But as improbable as it sounds, somewhere along the line they got tagged with the “Best…

We’re not sure what it takes for a national treasure like Mose Allison to cross over into the mainstream—or if that’s even a desirable thing. But we duly note the elevation of similar artists in recent years. If deserving old bluesmen like John Lee Hooker and B.B. King can pass into the lexicon of soccer…

There isn’t much advance billing on the next album by the Dublin doozy. One wonders if Sinead’s pronouncement that she would, alas, no longer speak with the press has extended to a blackout on all publicity. The quieter, gentler Sinead is the wiser Sinead, and one built for the long haul. More important, without all…

Fairly or not, the words “David Byrne solo record” suggest inconsistency and pretension as much as clever musicianship. But the ex-Talking Head leader’s latest, a soundtrack to the new film based on the novel by Scottish Beat writer Alexander Trocchi, is worth overcoming any low expectations. Scotland-born himself, Byrne assembled a backing band made up…