Category: Music
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Beach Boys
Beginning their career as the most popular surf band in the nation, the Beach Boys finally emerged by 1966 as America’s preeminent pop group and the only one able to challenge (for a brief time) the over-arching success of the Beatles with both mainstream listeners and the critical community. From their 1961 debut with the…
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BBMak – Sooner or Later
Artist: BBMak Title: Sooner or Later Label: Hollywood Rating: 6.5/10 The British BBMAK is huge in Japan, but past histories and huge sales in other countries don’t mean a thing when an artist is trying to take on America. What does count is talent, and BBMAK has it. Sooner Or Later was primped and polished…
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BBMak
They’ve already caused a sensation overseas, and now the British trio BBMak are bringing their potent blend of pitch-perfect harmonies and guitar-fueled pop songs to U.S. shores with their Hollywood Records debut album, SOONER OR LATER. And for Mark Barry, Christian Burns and Ste McNally, taking their music across the Atlantic is the culmination of…
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Barenaked Ladies
Ed Robertson – lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo and percussion. Steven Page – lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, flute. Jim Creeggan – electric and acoustic bass, viola, violin, baritone guitar and singing. Kevin Hearn – keyboards, electric guitars, digital sampler, accordion and singing. Tyler Stewart – drums, tambourine, castanets, tympani, “roti de…
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Bare Jr.
Bobby Bare Jr. (vocals, guitar) Tracy Hackney (dulcimer) Dean Tomasek (bass) Keith Brogdon (drums) Teel (guitar) Bare Jr. rocks like a caged animal. That’s the first thing. They may be from Nashville but don’t go looking for twang. And the frizzy character up front may be second-generation country royalty, but this is not your father’s…
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Band of Bees
Deep in the idyllic countryside on the Isle of Wight, a slew of sounds emanate from within a small shed. The breezy summer sounds are a stark contrast to the UK wind and sporadic showers that pepper the island. Is that the smell of tropical flowers and fruits mixed with the familiar odor of Jamaica’s…
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Erykah Badu
WHEN AN ARTIST so thoroughly changes the rules that she makes it hard to remember what it was like before she was on the scene, it’s safe to say that she can be called “definitive.” With her third album, Mama’s Gun, Motown artist ERYKAH BADU is again defining the highest creative potential of music. Erykah…
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Badly Drawn Boy
Ask the average person on the street to depict a pop star and chances are, unless they possess a twisted sense of humour, their fantasy figure will boast few of Badly Drawn Boy’s traits. Look at him: chain smoking, woolly hat wearing manc. Now glance at our pop idols: six-packs, sterile, bland. Yet judging by…
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Badly Drawn Boy – Have You Fed The Fish?
Badly Drawn Boy is Damon Gough, a one-man musical machine. His past has seen two great records, one a soundtrack for About A Boy. Have You Fed The Fish? Finds him dealing with what he worked hard to avoid, success. Grand: There is nothing great here. Okay: “40 Days. 40 Fights” – A tribute to…
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Bad Religion – The New America
Artist: Bad Religion Title: The New America Label: Atlantic Rating: 5/10 Track # 1. You’ve Got A Chance Pulsating pop/punk. Rating: 6/10 2. It’s A Long Way To The Promised Land Sounds almost like a clich of themselves. 5/10 3. A World Without Melody A little less potent, but a lot more fun. 7/10 4.…