The Pick of Destiny is the highly anticipated soundtrack to the upcoming New Line Cinema comedy, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. An epic musical adventure, the film follows Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) on their quest to obtain the Pick and become The Greatest Band on Earth.
Though fans shouldn’t mistake this various-artists soundtrack for the next Toby Keith album, the music for Keith’s star-turn film (also featuring Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, and Willie Nelson) builds from reflective balladry to unbridled, triumphant rock. It may be hard to separate the thematic sequencing from the movie it accompanies, but the soundtrack itself […]
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess [Original 1935 Production Version]
This is the first recording of George Gershwin’s classic to incorporate the composer’s final revisions for the 1935 premiere. Apparently it differs from the original published score though it won’t sound all that different to a layman who’s heard the versions dating from the 1970s onward, […]
In bringing a sprightly jazz-trio sound to classical works, most notably by J.S. Bach, pianist Jacques Loussier has been dismissed as a lightweight popularizer by both hardcore jazz fans and serious classical enthusiasts. Yet he must be doing something right to be at it more than 45 years after founding his Play Bach Trio. […]
It’s no surprise that a group named after something said during a baseball game would title an album after something said during a basketball match. It is a bit of a surprise that this band remains so incredibly good, and capable of surprising even longtime listeners. This one’s so diverse and such a mixture […]
In 2000, Sony Legacy issued an expanded CD version of this landmark 1969 live Cash LP, which included “A Boy Named Sue,” the Shel Silverstein novelty number that became one of Cash’s biggest hits. The original LP contained ten songs from Cash’s show, which actually ran far longer; the CD release added eight additional […]
This debut album by the small-town girl with the big, powerhouse voice showcases two distinctly different sides of Kellie Pickler’s music. The hard-riffing uptempo material recalls the heartland rock of Bob Seger and John Mellencamp, with Pickler providing a good-ole-girl twang. Among the highlights are the emancipated strut of “Red High Heels,” the playful […]
Capitol raised a few eyebrows when they signed indie stalwarts the Decemberists. There’s nothing blatantly commercial about the Portland quintet, from Colin Meloy’s quavery voice and hyper-literate lyrics to the band’s wide-ranging music, which encompasses baroque pop, prog rock, and dozens of other styles. Then again, he did once sing, “I was made for […]
Plácido Domingo has two passions: music and soccer. He has attended every World Cup final since 1990; this CD features several of the songs and arias he has performed at these events, including the premier recording of a song composed for him by his son, Plácido Domingo Jr., especially for the 2006 games in […]
Approach Aaron Neville’s Bring it on Home … the Soul Classics with anything but an open heart and you’ve missed the point. This is a serious CD, at once mournful, humble, and joyous, with no shortage of moments that recall the terribleness of Hurricane Katrina. One way of processing it is as a cataloging […]
Drummer Ben Riley played with Thelonious Monk in one of the pianist/composer’s finest bands, the indefatigable quartet of the mid-60s, and Riley has been one of Monk’s greatest advocates ever since, including this sparkling, joyous septet. Don Sickler wrote the arrangements for the band, devising an original approach to orchestrating Monk without a piano […]
Tenor/soprano saxophonist Branford Marsalis is a master of the “burnout”–an intense but deliberate and focused style of jazz that has its roots in John Coltrane. Unlike many Trane-ologists, however, Marsalis uses Trane’s concepts instead of the master’s notes. On Braggtown, named for a neighborhood in Durham, North Carolina, Marsalis delivers a virtual clinic on […]
These four symphonies, written in 1775, all have three movements connected by a fermata or short cadenza. Within this form, Bach achieves extraordinary diversity of character, mood, and expression, with contrasting articulation, rhythm, and dynamics; the conversational juxtaposition of winds and strings creates variety of color and texture. The fast corner movements are sparkling […]
Wonderland is something like the musical equivalent of a photographic negative: an oddly inverted place which–as one might guess-–bears more than a passing resemblance to the world Alice visits in Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece. Badi Assad’s second release on edge/Deutsche Grammophon–a collection of her versions of other artists’ compositions–brings new meaning to the term “cover,” […]
