Ben Harper, The Surfers’ Choice
Ben Harper, the superbly moody 30-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist, was on the phone from Raleigh, N.C.
“I’m not going to stay one Ben Harper,” he said. And indeed, his new album, Burn to Shine , explores rhythm-driven mid-tempos, Delta jaunts and harder guitar sounds that expand the folk and blues and rock Read More
Fiona Apple Blossoms
In 1996, amid talk of girl power and waifdom, a tiny 18-year-oldsinger-songwriter-pianist named Fiona Apple made her debut with an album called Tidal . Although at first taken as a marketing team’s capitalization on the Kate Moss moment, Ms. Apple soon revealed herself as a top-drawer popster; hit singles like “Criminal,” which Read More
Patti Smith: An Unauthorized Biography , by Victor Bockris and Roberta Bayley. Simon & Schuster, 336 pages, $25.
Patti Smith wallows in language. She chants. Rants. She loops incantations. The act of writing makes her kooky. “When I’m home writing on a typewriter,” she said, “I go crazy. I move like a monkey. I’ve wet Read More
Avenue B , Iggy Pop (Virgin/America).
Hours … , David Bowie (Virgin/America).
Vagabond Ways , Marianne Faithfull (It Records/Virgin U.K.).
James Jewell Osterberg (Iggy Pop), David Robert Jones (David Bowie) and Marianne Faithfull (Marianne Faithfull) are all 53 years old. Each has just released a record that confronts the state commonly referred to Read More
Mock Tudor , Richard Thompson (Capitol).
The time: July 19, 1999 (the middle of the heat wave). The place: Tonic, a Norfolk Street beer joint. There, British guitarist-songwriter Richard Thompson and his small band performed a low-profile 7 P.M. showcase to promote his just-released album, Mock Tudor . Before the show, he chatted with a Read More
The Contender: Richard Nixon, The Congress Years, 1946-1952 , by Irwin F. Gellman. The Free Press, 590 pages, $30.
You and I supposedly have a baby squatting in our psyches. An “inner child.” Maybe. But I believe most of us do possess an “inner Nixon.” For those of us who were teenagers during Watergate and Read More
This Time , Los Lobos (Hollywood Records).
Dose , Latin Playboys (Atlantic).
Soul Disguise , Cesar Rosas (Rykodisc).
Houndog , Houndog (Columbia Legacy).
This last year of the 20th century turns out to be the year of the wolf: Los Lobos. In the spring, that band from East Los Angeles released three Read More
Oar . Skip Spence. Sundazed.
More Oar: A Tribute to the Alexander (Skip) Spence Album . Various artists. Birdman.
Jewels for Sophia . Robyn Hitchcock. Warner Brothers.
Moby Grape songwriter-guitarist Skip Spence’s sole solo album, Oar , was recorded in December 1968 and released the next fall. Spence’s next 30 years were spent Read More
A Far Cry From Dead. Townes Van Zandt. Arista.
Cold Hard Truth. George Jones. Asylum.
Townes Van Zandt cringed when Steve Earle called him the best songwriter in America, adding that he would shout it standing on “Bob Dylan’s coffee table.”
“I don’t think Steve could get past Dylan’s bodyguards,” Van Zandt replied. Read More
In the song “Popstar,” 48-year-old Chrissie Hynde is a well-worn pop star addressing the jerky ex who left her for some Kylie Minogue wannabe. Although Ms. Hynde has never marketed herself as pop star, the song makes one contemplate her 20-some-year career-starting in England with her pulling down her jeans and mooning the cameras along Read More
