With the flamboyant vocals of Andy Bell and the songs and synths of ex-Depeche Mode/ex-Yaz member Vince Clarke, Erasure was sure to succeed. And that they did, taking synth-pop to the dance floor with the hits Chains of Love; A Little Respect; Stop!; Chorus; Take a Chance on Me , and Always . Those join Oh L’Amour; Freedom; …
The dance compilation that boasts its definitiveness, its freshness, or, God forbid, its phatness or dopeness, is, as they say, a dime a dozen. But when a label like Rhino calls their new release an odyssey, chances seem good they’re going to deliver just that. Insert your favorite quote about reputation and disappointment here. This 28 track, 2-CD …
Any music fan can tell you exactly where they were on July 13th, 1985. There had never been a concert event of such magnitude-the biggest names in music performing in a concert broadcast live from 2 continents to an audience of over 1.5 billion. It is estimated that 85% of the world’s television sets were tuned in to …
Formed in Forest Hills, NY, in 1974, this quartet of quintessential punk forefathers blitzkrieged out of NYC’s legendary CBGB scene and into world fame with three loud, lean, hard, and fast albums before the Sex Pistols even took their first shot. Besides basically inventing punk rock, Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee, and Tommy outlasted almost every one of their …
The debate over whether he is punk or new wave is long over; today Elvis Costello is less likely to be found on a list with Strummer and Scabies than he is with Bacharach and David and Jimmy Webb. Lauded initially for his energetic and literate attacks on the social ills of Thatcher’s England, he has become a …
As with 1999’s Respect box, which chronicled women recording artists, Rhino again attempts to capture and condense a mighty field with the six-CD Say It Loud! And again, it largely succeeds. A companion to the VH1 series of the same name, Say It Loud! tells one story and many. It covers the development of many related genres, the …
With his meteoric run of hits from early 1955 through late 1961, Chicago’s Jimmy Reed reigned as the most popular bluesman of his day, rivaled only by fellow Mississippi transplant B.B. King. By the mid-’60s Reed was playing New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater and touring England as a star. Reed’s sweet, Delta-inflected singing complemented the …
One of the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands ever to strut the 50 States, these sharp-dressed Texas titans-Billy F. Gibbons, Frank Beard, and Dusty Hill-are a righteously hell rain’ power trio boasting a 30-plus year hit-making legacy, both in the studio and at concert arenas. With their revved up blues ‘n’ boogie, they always make the most …
Their first album with Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham went #1 in 1975, and it’s here with bonus single versions of Blue Letter; Say You Love Me; Rhiannon , and Over My Head ! …
The R.E.M. By MTV documentary is now available as a stand-alone DVD and on Blu Ray for the first time. The program includes the 111 minute documentary, as well as five deleted scenes featured on the REMTV box set and two trailers. It is also a great introductory piece for the REMTV box set with five seminal R.E.M. …