Album Reviews

Spoon’s latest is an introspective affair that trades the group’s usual tuneful exuberance for something more contemplative. But don’t be aFreud! It’s got all of the group’s signature moves, from deep, behind the grooves beats to catchy melodies set against vast empty spaces punctuated by exclamatory soundscapes.

With the rhythm section of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Sonny Rollins’ bassist of choice Bob Cranshaw behind him, the long underappreciated Grant Green’s take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” superficially sounds like a transcript lifted from Coltrane’s 1961 Atlantic album of the same name from a few years earlier. It’s even taken in the same 6/8 time.

This “supergroup” trio side project featuring Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age Joshua Homme and Led Zep bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones is sure to please lovers of classic rock and heavy metal, not to mention Led Zep fans of all ages. They’ve even got a logo.

When Aaron Copland titled his Abraham Lincoln musical tribute “A Lincoln Portrait,” he was using the word “portrait” figuratively.

Producer and concert promoter Norman Granz signed Ella Fitzgerald to his Verve label back in 1956 and thus began a series of stellar studio albums, orchestrated songbooks and live set releases, many of which have been reissued on both CD and deluxe vinyl.

Far from the sad, wobbly finale you might be expecting, these last to be released Johnny Cash recordings are uplifting, inspirational and resolutely purposeful thanks to both Cash’s searing artistry and the sensitivity of the A&R work.

The Bay area based Blue Cheer issued this raw blues-psych record that runs a little more than a half an hour on the Philips label back in January of 1968.