Like the best mid-’60s work by Bob Dylan, the first three albums by the Clash redefined the rock-and-roll landscape into which they were unleashed. Between 1977 and 1979, the British punk foursome issued The Clash, Give ‘Em Enough Rope, and London Calling, along with a brilliant string of singles that…
The complaint most frequently levied against Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a conceptual one. Putting up a tourist-friendly, mainstream memorial to what began as anti-establishment music, critics of the Hall say, is the best possible way to snuff out any sense of danger the form…
The The has never really been a band, just an outlet for singer-guitarist Matt Johnson and his songs, his tales of dogs of lust and sweet birds of truth. Since the band formed in 1979, it’s been Johnson and whatever lineup he happened to be playing with at the time…
Jimmie Dale Gilmore One Endless Night (Windcharger/Rounder Records) The rise of the singer-songwriter has been one of the most gratifying and disastrous developments in contemporary popular music. Yes, Bob Dylan raised the folk and/or pop singer’s own song to high art. But ego has subsequently placed more weight on the…
>Bad Livers Blood & Mood (Sugar Hill Records) In the interest of full disclosure, Bad Liver Mark Rubin’s klezmer band, Rubinchik’s Orkestyr, played at my wedding a couple of years ago. But what’s a poor Jew boy from Dallas to do when it’s time to put the shtetl to the…
Chris Cornell SEATTLE — Former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell’s larynx was replaced today in an operation doctors described as the first of its kind. Cornell was forced to undergo the emergency surgery after a routine examination late last week determined that, after years of abuse, his larynx had virtually disappeared,…
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Déjà Vu: A One-Act The curtain opens, revealing four old men on a stage. They’re all standing in shadows, obscured from the audience. In the background, we hear what sounds like an echo of an ancient, familiar song — something long forgotten, except by the…
After a string of nominations and near-misses, Brave Combo finally won a long-deserved Grammy at the 42nd annual installment of the Grammy Awards, which happened February 23 in Los Angeles. The group won in the Best Polka Album category for last year’s Polkasonic, following previous nominations in 1996 for Polkas…
We won’t be hypocritical and claim that we’ve ever been big fans of the North Texas New Music Festival, but we’ll admit the organization has made several steps in the right direction in the past year. The latest is, perhaps, the best yet, though nothing can really top getting rid…
All too often, musicians are defined solely by their music, the lyrics they write, the records they make. A single frame becomes the entire film, a lifetime of personality quirks, habits, likes, and dislikes summed up by an hour of words and music — a few albums’ worth, if they’re…
Ed Hamell talks like he sings and plays guitar — fast. It’s a necessity for him; he has much to say and little time. He tells true stories that other songwriters couldn’t make up to save their souls or secure a record contract. He’s seen both sides: Hamell had the…
It must have felt empowering when the Disco Music Club, the world’s most celebrated DJ organization, asked the San Francisco-based Invisibl Skratch Piklz to refrain from signing up for its annual competition. The reason: Other DJs wouldn’t even bother to enter if the Piklz crew showed up. The contest had…
What’s a rock-and-roll guy to do after the hits have faded and the big major-label record deals are over? Perhaps scale down and sign the band to an indie label. Make a solo record and strike out touring on one’s own. Maybe find a liquor company that wants to target…
Scene, heard Despite recent rumors to the contrary, it doesn’t appear the Old 97’s will be leaving Elektra Records anytime soon, though the recent merger of Time-Warner (Elektra’s parent company) and America Online will no doubt result in the door hitting more than a few bands’ asses on the way…
Oasis Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (Epic Records) It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that Noel Gallagher had originally intended Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to be his solo debut, the disc that proved once and for all he was the one with all of the talent while…
ASKA Avenger (EMA Records) If this record came bearing the name Dooms U.K., odds are this paper would give it the familiar ol’ humjob, something along the lines of: “The Dooms rescue prog-rock from the history books and the dung heaps, proving unflinching ambition tempered with sincere passion results in…
Scene, heard While we can’t say many of the posters on the One Ton Records message board were big fans of our work, we’ll admit we’re more than a little sorry to see it go away. At the end of last week, the usual threads on the board (formerly located…
Maybe the biggest — or only — surprise about the latest disc from Chris Darlington (a.k.a. Christy Brigitte), Steve Visneau, and a bassist to be named later is that the group was still around to record it. Since changing its name from Mess, Darlington has seemed to be perpetually on…
His appearance, his name, his voice — everything about Ira Kaplan seems to belong to a high-school history teacher, or maybe a librarian. Intimidation doesn’t even begin to enter into it; at best, the Yo La Tengo singer-guitarist looks to be capable of sending an unruly student to detention. Maybe…
It would be so easy to dismiss The Cure as a band that has outlived its usefulness, that exists long beyond its expiration date. Its best, or at least best-known, moments live in another time, one long since past — the 1980s, to be precise, back when “Let’s Go to…
Since Luscious Jackson’s third album, Electric Honey, was released last June, singer-bassist Jill Cuniff has spent much of her time traveling around this country and others promoting it — playing shows and doing interviews all in the name of selling more records. Along with her bandmates, drummer Kate Schellenbach and…
After more than a year, as well as numerous pleas by the Dallas Observer and meetings between label and band, the speculation can finally end: Radish’s Sha Sha will not be released. And in the end, it’s not so surprising, but a plot twist everyone saw coming as soon as…
