JoJo does Toto. Delicious, and not just phonetically. This clever third single from the teen’s sophomore album, “The High Road,” takes the melodic hook from the group’s 1982 No. 1 chestnut “Africa,” places it on endless loop and adds an entirely new lyrical melody on top. Get that? “Anything” is not a cover, not a […]
“Hard Rock Hallelujah” opens with a church organ that sounds the requiem for taking rock too damn seriously. Lordi glories in a rave-up that stomps nu metal’s sobbing inner child into the ground with platform monster boots. True, “Hallelujah” isn’t far removed from ’80s hair metal, but it doesn’t depend on of-the-moment production, so it […]
The launch single from Josh Groban’s current “Awake,” “You Are Loved (Don’t Give Up)” again reaped top 10 rewards at AC, in spite of the format’s November-December indulgence of Christmas music. Follow-up “February Song” is more adventurous and features the majestic singer’s most alluring, elegant hook to date. Amid a lyric of hope for perfection […]
Infamous for a lack of format-exclusive artists, AC radio has embraced romantic piano man Jim Brickman with a record-breaking 24 chart smackeroos. The latest offering from current “Escape,” “Never Alone” features vocals from country-esque trio Lady Antebellum’s lead singer, 20-year-old Hillary Scott, with Brickman lending signature keyboards to a lyric professing steadfast love. Brickman has […]
Dashboard Confessional’s last album, “Dusk and Summer,” abandoned emo dramas in favor of arena rock, not long after touring with U2. For sunset ballad “Stolen,” Chris Carrabba keeps vocal catharsis to a minimum, sending only a few whispery lines over a soulful, less-is-more groove that unabashedly quotes “With or Without You.” Anyone can write a […]
“Tough” is one of those slice-of-life ballads that will make women smile and men nod in agreement. The first verse finds a man marveling at all the things his wife does every day as she chauffeurs the kids, runs errands, does aerobics and always smiles when he walks through the door. In the second verse, […]
The Rolling Stones will headline Britain’s Isle of Wight Festival as part of their 27-date European tour this summer.
The tour will begin June 5 in Werchter, Belgium. It will end Aug. 21 with a show at London’s Millennium Dome, re-branded the O2 Arena, it was announced Thursday.
Other stops include Paris; Rome; Budapest, Hungary; St. […]
Soprano Anna Netrebko rescheduled her Carnegie Hall debut for May 30 as part of a program arias and debuts with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Netrebko had been scheduled to make her Carnegie debut with a recital on March 2, 2006, but announced in December 2005 that she was canceling the concert […]
Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie’s “Glamorous” and New York rapper Mims’ former chart-topper “This Is Why I’m Hot” occupied the top slots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for a second week.
R&B singer Akon’s “Don’t Matter” also stayed put for a second week at No. 3. Gym Class Heroes’ “Cupid’s Chokehold” featuring Fall […]
An arrest warrant was issued for rapper Foxy Brown on Thursday after she failed to appear in court on charges stemming from a scuffle in a beauty supply store.
Brown was applying beauty products in the bathroom of Queen Beauty Supply when an employee told her the business was closed and it was time to […]
The Who resumed its North American tour after lead singer Roger Daltrey returned from a near-weeklong bout with bronchitis.
“Boy, it feels good to be out of bed,” Daltrey said about 30 minutes into The Who’s concert Thursday night at Alltel Arena.
Daltrey sang all but one song in a 95-minute set, resting his voice only when […]
From the hardship suffered by black sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta nearly a hundred years ago, the blues, a deep soulful music full of passion and rhythm, was born. Featuring a collection of legendary blues heroes recorded throughout the twentieth century, The Rough Guide To The Blues tells the story of how the blues […]
Even if you’re not well-versed in Portuguese fado music, it’s easy to be swayed by its rich, mournful sense of emotion. Mariza, one of the genre’s premiere contemporary vocalists, see fado as an international language. She makes a convincing case on Concerto em Lisboa, a live recording captured duirng her acclaimed performance at the […]
“Salsa dura” isn’t simply a genre of music. It’s a feeling, born of a certain people in a certain time. In this case–the sounds of dancehalls and hotel ballrooms of the Bronx, Spanish Harlem and Brooklyn in the 1970’s. The lively Rough Guide to Salsa Dura NYC attempts to encapsulate that energy in an […]
