music

“Can I possibly believe that this deliberately barbaric sometime poet and her glorified garage band are worthy of comparison with Rimbaud, Jarry, Tzara, Gide, Mondrian? The short version of my answer is yes”

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“For this high school generation, attendance at a Led Zeppelin concert is as mandatory as freshman English.”

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“Sinatra remained white America’s last completely satisfying definition of masculine style — to somewhat disconcerting effect, let me add”

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“Even his weaknesses stem from too much talent. But the stamina of his personal vision is far preferable to the formulaic nowhere of the music business.”

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This is the show, this is the kid, the man of the hour, Mr. Dynamite, Mr. "Poppa’s Got a Brand New Bag," Mr. "Night Train"

Originally published:

“James Brown, probably the most influ­ential black musician of all time, will turn 56 in prison — and then 57 and perhaps 58 as well”

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“For a limpid half hour the Beatles ritually parried the out­side world, capping trivia with irrelevance in sullen eclat.”

"Easy Rider is the only film I know that not only uses rock well — though that is rare enough — but also does justice to its spirit."

The afterlife of a pioneering composer who changed New York, then disappeared

Floor fillers and surprises from Ben UFO, Lone, Colleen “Cosmo” Murphy, Noncompliant, and Dense & Pika