Moseying out onstage Wednesday at Downtown Disney’s House of Blues in Anaheim, Jerry Lee Lewis looked like, well, a slow-moving senior citizen. Then he took a seat behind the piano, his fingertips ran over the keys and he took charge with a singing voice that sounded at least a couple decades younger. The Killer had […]
Snoop Dogg was arrested Tuesday for investigation of illegally possessing a handgun and drugs as he left NBC Studios after performing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” police said.
The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and two members of his entourage were arrested around 6 p.m. after a search of his Diamond […]
Rapper Young Jeezy and his label Corporate Thugz Entertainment are holding an essay contest, offering a scholarship to an Atlanta teen.
Allhiphop.com reported that Young Jeezy announced the “What Inspires You” essay contest in which students will write, in 300 words or less, about what inspires them every day.
It takes guts, if not outright egomania, to abandon your given surname and adopt a loaded one like Legend, but the former John Stephens must have sensed that loftiness would one day be his calling card: Once Again, the follow-up to the Grammy-gobbling, platinum pile-on that was Get Lifted, surpasses expectations. Not that it […]
This is the gift that keeps on giving–the Yuletide album that Chris Stamey and the dB’s originally released as a vinyl EP in 1986, later expanded into a CD, and have now updated as a 21-cut extravaganza of holiday cheer (and occasionally bittersweet reflection). It’s like a family album of a musical clan that […]
Smokey-voiced chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux’s third CD is a lovely collection of after-hours ruminations and should confirm her rise to fame. Credit producer Larry Klein for doing a bang-up job with the album’s sound: the elegant, pared-down arrangements are all brushed drums, acoustic guitars, and cool organ licks. But of course it’s Peyroux’s voice that […]
With Leavin’, her 20th studio album, Natalie Cole looks to be issuing a challenge to longtime listeners: if you’re in, it’s because you see stardust and are gripped by a warm sensation anytime her legendary voice eases through a speaker. If you’re out, it’s because you’re not as musically adventurous as she is. Of […]
Some writers and fans have taken to calling this album Kid B, the (obvious) implication that it’s the companion piece to Radiohead’s masterpiece of electronic rock. And while The Eraser does compare favorably to that work, it’s no longer ahead of its time, just simply of its time. We can’t all be visionaries all […]
Over the years, Putumayo World Music has introduced audiences to collections of exceptional music from around the globe, proving that no matter how diverse, all people share a common bond. One of Putumayo’s goals has been to introduce people to other cultures as a way of helping to overcome prejudice and bring people of […]
Here we have a sweet little pick-me-up: 10 songs based on the biblical plagues that occur in the book of Exodus, arranged in order. The whole thing was commissioned by a British arts council, and for better and worse it sounds like it. Super literate singer-songwriters (Scott Walker, Rufus Wainwright, Stephin Merritt) and a […]
As part of the celebration of her 45th year in show business, legendary vocalist Dionne Warwick is revisiting some of her most legendary hits on My Friends and Me, an album of duets with a stellar lineup of female performers including Gladys Knight, Olivia Newton-John, Mya, Gloria Estefan, Kelis, Reba McEntire, Cyndi Lauper, Celia […]
Originally released in April 1995, fresh off the success of “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”, the band recorded a deliberately chaotic and eclectic album that sounded nothing like its predecessor. With influences from the Groundhogs to the Frogs, Captain Beefheart to the more obscure mid-’80s central California hardcore bands, “Wowee Zowee” confused critics and alienated […]
This impressive–and frankly, fun–musical document is still sending out shock waves almost 50 years after its original 1952 vinyl release. The Smithsonian’s six-CD reissue is painstakingly researched, annotated, and packaged (even boasting an enhanced disc for the techno-capable). Unlike field recorders, eccentric filmmaker/collector/musicologist Harry Smith assembled the Anthology from commercially released (though obscure) 78 […]
Like their Miami godfathers, the Twins enjoy a single-minded focus on blurred-together, misogynistic party tracks. Similarly, their not terrifically complex formula isn’t something that commands a lengthy shelf life. Wisely, the Twins steer clear of a “Whisper Song” reprise. Tracks like “Keep on Coming,” “Water” and the Wyclef Jean-assisted “Dangerous” (which nicely sews in […]
