James Taylor – October Road
Oldies Songs A Late-Career Meditation on Time, Transition, and the Beautiful, Unfinished Journey of Middle Age. For those of us who have long revered the gentle, introspective genius of James Taylor, the…
John Prine – Sam Stone
The Black Hole in a Purple Heart: A Devastating, Unflinching Folk Ballad That Gave Voice to the Vietnam Veteran’s Invisible Trauma. The year is 1971. American music is caught between…
Walter Becker – My Waterloo
A Bitterly Humorous Confession of Self-Sabotage and Personal Defeat, Marking the Solo Return of Steely Dan’s Cynical Heart. The year 1994 felt like a dramatic, jagged piece of unfinished business…
Ted Nugent – Deck The Halls
A Savage Yuletide Shred: The “Motor City Madman’s” Unholy Hard Rock Reckoning with a Timeless Carol. The name Ted Nugent evokes a very specific, non-negotiable sound: raw, aggressive, unapologetic hard…
James Taylor and Carole King – Up On The Roof
Finding Sanctuary in the Sky: A Beloved Brill Building Classic Becomes a Heartfelt Tribute to Escapism, Sung by the Artists Whose Lives Defined It. The reunion of James Taylor and…
Wizzard – Brand New 88
A Sparkling, Nostalgic Fantasy: The Dramatic Retelling of a Boy’s Dream of the Perfect, Promised Rock-and-Roll Piano. The year 1974 marked a pivotal, yet often overlooked, transition in the Glam…
Ted Nugent – Snake Charmer
The Sleazy Allure of the Predator: A Gritty, Late-70s Hard Rock Warning About the Destructive Power of a Charismatic Personality. The twilight of the 1970s was an era where the…
MC5 – Tutti Frutti
The Two-Minute Manifesto: A Blistering, Iron-Clad Recommitment to Rock and Roll’s Primal Core, Stripped of all Psychedelic Fat. To understand the sheer, defiant drama of the MC5 opening their 1970…
Donald Fagen – Planet d’Rhonda
A Coolly Executed Confession of Obsessive Love and Fanciful Escapism, Set to a Breathtakingly Jazzy, Mid-Life Groove. By 2012, the world had come to expect a specific kind of exquisite…
Electric Light Orchestra – Don’t Bring Me Down
The Symphonic Rockers Ditch the Strings for the Studio and Deliver a Hard-Driving Anthem of Pure, Unadulterated Frustration. The year 1979 was a time of seismic transition in pop music,…