I was going to respond to Rolling Stone‘s recent 200 Greatest Singers list with my own Top 40 or Top 20 or even 5, but maybe I’ll just turn it over to you. That’s right–you. Who are your favourites? Better still: why? Continue reading Top however many singers of all-time
Pictured above: TOBi 1. Julian Taylor – “Wide Awake” The melody of “Wide Awake” is sunny; the instrumentation, charming Americana/roots; the singing, unaffected. But it’s the lyrics, bittersweet and heartfelt, layered with multiple meanings, that captivate me most. The verses of “Wide Awake” offer loving remembrances of family scenes from Taylor’s early and teenage years: drinking sorrel and ginger beer at Christmas with his folks; … Continue reading Howard Druckman’s Top 12 Songs of 2022
By Joe Yanosik (As a follow-up to the previous video post, Joe Yanosik, author of A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe, offers up his personal PPU Top 10. 1. The Plastic People of the Universe were formed in 1968 by 17-year-old Milan Hlavsa. From the start, the Plastics played cover versions of songs by the Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, and the … Continue reading Top 10: Plastic People of the Universe (Joe Yanosik)
In A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe (2021), Joe Yanosik reviews and grades every known PPU record on the planet (including side projects and mutations, not to mention books and DVDs), all the while — through a series of “historical interludes” — telling the band’s remarkable story, from their post-Beatles/Velvets-obsessed roots in Prague to their critical (if somewhat unwitting) role in … Continue reading A Consumer Guide to the Plastic People of the Universe
By Tim Powis My Lou Top 10—well, not exactly. That would include “Sweet Jane” (the final, Loaded version), “Heroin,” “Pale Blue Eyes,” the usual stuff. Ho hum. Here’s a more idiosyncratic or at least, I hope, less obvious selection. 1. “Foggy Notion” – Some time around 1980 I bought a bootleg single of this unreleased Velvet Underground song, from 1969, and loved it immediately. Five … Continue reading My Lou Top 10 (Tim Powis)
Tim Powis: My Interview With Lou Reed It wasn’t supposed to be me. Or, considering how things turned out, maybe it was. At any rate, the original plan was that my boss, Alida, would go to New York to interview Lou Reed for Arts & Minds, the Bravo program I’d begun working at two or three months before. This was early 2000. Lou had just … Continue reading Passing Thru Fire (and Hurricane Annie)
Here are a couple of observations upon looking at my completed list. I noticed that the country songs are very no-holds-barred romantic by both pre-rock, rock, and post-rock (is that what we’re in now?) standards. I am intrigued by how much country songs (such as Luke Bryan’s) rock the way rock n’ roll used to do. “That’s My Kind of Night” sounded so appropriate next … Continue reading Top 50 Favourite Songs: Jill Blardinelli
What makes a song great? Is it the beat? The vocals? The rhythm? Maybe it’s a particular drum or guitar solo. For me, it’s a combination of all those things and more. Like movies, a great song becomes part of your identity. You carry it with you even when you’re not listening to it. A great song is like a great movie. It overwhelms you … Continue reading Top 50 Favourite Songs: Aaron Aradillas
Vancouver Sun readers respond to Bangs’s John Lennon obituary, Dec 23, 1980. Continue reading Lester letters, pt. 2
For Lester Bangs, on the 40th anniversary of his death. A letter to the Charlotte Observer, July 19, 1982. Continue reading Poe, Einstein, Bangs et al.
RockCritics.com 