When You are in a David Bowie Frame of Mind…
We love Cage the Elephant, and have featured this six- member rock band from Bowling Green, KY numerous times. One reason we love the group is the creative genius of brothers Brad and Matt Shultz, who anchor the band’s success. Their newest, “Social Cues,”...
Lana Del Rey Slithers, But in a Good Way
George Gershwin knew what he was doing when he wrote “Summertime” and any song that even remotely claims lineage to the original has to have chops, and Lana Del Rey delivers in her cover of a hit from 1997, “Doin' Time” by Sublime, a now defunct ska band from Long...
It’s July 4th–Here Are Songs That Go “Boom”
Tomorrow, the skies will be filled with fireworks and the air with loud booms, and just as fireworks are a July 4th“must have,” “Boom Boom” by X Ambassadors is “must listen to” if your taste in music is eclectic, and you like complex, sophisticated, tight bands,...
Explosive! Intense! Energy!
Rebellion and rock are joined at the hip, by the hip, morphing from drag strips and street corners in the 50s, to garage bands in the 60's to punk in the 70's. By the late 80's and early 90's the stakes and intensity levels were increasing--The Offspring had a huge...
See you Later, Alligator
Icelandic quintet Of Monsters and Men had a mega-hit in 2012 with "Little Talks;" their latest release "Alligator" is all about the energy--explosive--and the group's originality. Creatively, they stand out from much of what is out there today. I see color raining...
G-L-O-R-I-A !
What's in a name? Apparently, a lot, if the name is Gloria, as we music-loving Boomers know: In the 1950s it was The Cadillacs and their doo-wop style; in the 60s it was Them/Van Morrison and the classic rocker, "Gloria;" in the 80s Laura Branigan's "Gloria" was a #1...
Love ELO’s “Strange Magic?” Try The Head and the Heart’s “Missed Connection”
Photo credit: e-Town. You can tell by the band's name--The Head and the Heart--it has a vaguely hippy-dippy vibe --that this is a band Boomers can relate to, which is confirmed when you listen to their latest single, "Missed Connection." For starters, you can hear...
The Black Keys: So Cool They Sizzle
Some hits are more equal than other hits, for example, Norman Greenbaum's (1970) "Spirit in the Sky"--it only reached #3 on the Billboard chart, but it's a bona fide classic, named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." Those who...
Some Songs Are More Memorable Than Other Songs
Some songs just have a a “different" sound, like Procol Harum’s blues/rock "Whiter Shade of Pale." One of 1967's biggest hits, it's a perennial Boomer favorite, with almost 100 million Youtube views. Dermot Kennedy creates a "different” sound,” too, and, tempo aside,...