Music

Invigorated by a 1968 TV special and the notion of returning to a Memphis studio for the first time since leaving Sun Records for RCA in 1955, Elvis Presley decided to pull out all the stops for his first non-soundtrack album in six years. The songs were well selected (“Suspicious Minds,” “Only the Strong Survive,” “Gentle on My Mind,” “True Love Travels On a Gravel Road,” “Kentucky Rain”), the production stripped-down, and the musicians Memphis-funky. Read More »

Portugal. The Man’s bizarrely titled fourth album kicks off with a groove so fat and swampy, you’ll swear it was recorded in Memphis, circa 1967. “The Satanic Satanist” opens with the anti-war anthem “People Say” that builds on that funky riff to become a full-fledged barnburner. “What a lovely day, yeah we won the war,” sings vocalist John Baldwin Gourley. “May have lost a million men but we’ve got a million more.” The rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to that awesome opener but it comes pretty damned close. Read More »

Can you believe that “All the Young Dudes” crooner Ian Hunter is 70 years old? Kinda shocking if you remember him with his white-boy ‘fro, tight jeans, and trademark shades fronting the proto-punk outfit Mott the Hoople during the 1960’s and 1970’s. But here’s the good news: on his latest solo outing, Hunter is a still-virile presence, singing with more force and feeling than vocalists half his age. Read More »

On the surface, David Bowie seems ill-suited to the chatty format of VH1’s “Storytellers.” He barely speaks on his previous live CDs and has seemed, through the years, content to project an inscrutable air of mystery. But where Bowie is concerned, it’s all about cha-cha-cha-changes. Read More »

The first time you hear Hill Country Revue, you will think they sound like the North Mississippi Allstars. That is a very good thing, and makes sense, since Cody Dickinson formed the new band with Chris Chew. Cody and Chris make up two thirds of the NMAS. Hill Country Revue’s debut album, “Make a Move,” is a blend of southern rock, blues, soul, and swampy funk guaranteed to get your body moving. Read More »