Throughout her career, Beth Gibbons has personified the idea of quality over quantity. Fortunately, as is the case with all of Gibbons’ work, the album was well worth the wait.
SPOTLIGHTS: Alchemy for the Dead
CENTRO-MATIC: Fort Recovery
The following offers an admittedly long-winded retrospective on a band that personifies the term underrated: Centro-Matic. My original intention was to shine a spotlight on the 2006 release, Fort Recovery. For my money, the album represents the band’s high-water mark and a perfect point of entry for the uninitiated.
R.E.M.: Automatic for the People
Few bands can lay claim to having actually been there ‘from the beginning.’ In the case of alt-rock, however, R.E.M. not only spearheaded the genre, they managed to outlast nearly all of their first-wave contemporaries.
POE: Haunted
Poe's album "Haunted" is a genre-bending tribute to her late father, rich in emotions and lyrical prowess.
Run the Voodoo Down: Miles Davis – Bitches Brew
Released: March 30, 1970 Miles Davis famously said, “do not fear mistakes—there are none.” He’s also the man who reinvented jazz “four or five times.” He played his trumpet for decades, weathering one cultural revolution after another. He was an innovator, originator, and visionary. His audience spans a handful of generations at this point, and... Continue Reading →
That’s Me In The Spotlight: R.E.M. – Out Of Time
Released: March 12, 1991 It's nearly impossible to discuss R.E.M.'s ascent from enigmatic indie-rockers to stadium-filling pop stars without mentioning the band's seventh album, Out Of Time, and the brooding, minor-key anthem "Losing My Religion." The band had long conquered the college-rock landscape, but everything changed in 1991. Thanks to the universal embracing of the unconventional... Continue Reading →
The Sound of Stars Aligning: The Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Released: September 24, 1991 For better or worse, Blood Sugar Sex Magik changed everything. Not only did the record provide the Red Hot Chili Peppers their immutable mark of permanence on the pop-culture landscape (satellite radio is still eating up “Under The Bridge”), but the Rick Rubin-produced album also found Anthony Kiedis and the boys complete the transition... Continue Reading →
At The Peak of Their Powers: Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
Released: July 27, 1993 One of alt-rock’s most polarizing bands, Chicago’s Smashing Pumpkins successfully managed to ride the early-90s grunge wave to unparalleled success, all the while maintaining a unique sense of identity. Eschewing many of the genre’s aesthetic trappings, the band’s sound and image were more in line with the pomp and circumstance-excess of... Continue Reading →
Step Right Up: Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
Released: March 8, 1994 While hard to imagine now, there was a brief point in time when Nine Inch Nails (Trent Reznor's musical brainchild/alias/moniker) was one of alt-rock’s most prominent bands. And in terms of cultural relevance, the outfit’s apex occurred with their second full-length album, the appropriately titled The Downward Spiral. The Downward Spiral... Continue Reading →
A Defining Statement: PORTISHEAD – ROSELAND NYC LIVE
Released: April 1, 1998 Documenting Portishead’s July 24, 1997 concert at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom (which sadly closed in 2014), Roseland, Live NYC was released (on both CD and DVD) back in late 1998. Not only is Portishead’s one and only official live release one of the best sounding concert records of all time,... Continue Reading →
