(Eagle/Shock) 3 stars The Doobie Brothers epitomise the laidback sound of ’70s California, with soulful, gospel-inspired harmonies and guitar-driven melodies underpinned by muscular rhythms. They’ve continued to perform live over the years, in various incarnations and got together again recently for ‘World Gone Crazy’. Aided by veteran producer Ted Templeman who helmed hits like ‘Listen […]
Archive for April, 2012
Jeff Beck Rock’n’Roll Party: Honouring Les Paul
| DVD review


(Shock) 4 stars Les Paul, godfather of the modern electric guitar and multi-tracking pioneer, was a jazz virtuoso whose country and Hawaiian-laced recordings (with wife Mary Ford) made him a star of the pre-rock era. For the last 25 years of his life, up to his death in 2009, Paul’s jam sessions were a weekly […]
Car Tape 2 – Lisa Miller | CD review


(Raoul) 3.5 stars Lisa Miller’s first ‘Car Tape’ CD started out as a covers side project in 2002 during a career lull, but became the Australian singer’s most successful recording. Eight years later, although the cassette tape concept now seems even more retro (when iTunes playlists are the go) Miller embarked on her follow-up with […]
Emotion & Commotion – Jeff Beck | CD review


(ATCO/Warner) 5 stars Here at last is the bravura studio album Jeff Beck had threatened to deliver since his classic mid-’70s albums, Blow By Blow and Wired. Like the late Roy Buchanan, whom Beck admired greatly, the British guitar wunderkind can make his instrument cry one moment and deliver ear-shredding power-chords the next. With Emotion […]
The Distance Between Two Truths – Mark Sholtez | CD review


(Warner) I had Mark Sholtez slotted neatly into a ‘‘cocktail jazz’’ pigeonhole and, when he opened for a concert by US jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, I expected more of the same. Wrong. The Brisbane singer delivered a spellbinding set of pop ballads laced with a few jazzy standards.
Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin | CD review


(Disney/Universal) Cover albums are suddenly in vogue, including Phil Collins’s faithful Motown tribute, Goin’ Back, and Marcia Hines’ more convincing reprise of Carole King’sTapestry. But the absolute standout is Brian Wilson’s “reimagining” of the George Gershwin repertoire. The former Beach Boy reveals his deep admiration for the great American composers melodic sensibility but the most […]
Life Goes On – Gerry Rafferty | CD review


(Hypertension/Planet) In 2009 rumours circulated about Scots-born singer Gerry Rafferty’s lapse back into alcoholism. Eventually the elusive muso reported in from Tuscany, saying he’d been working on his first album for a decade, the aptly-titled Like Goes On. This, it turned out, was mostly a compilation of 12 favourite songs he re-edited from CDs recorded […]
Mojo – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers | CD review


(Reprise) Tom Petty’s last studio outing with the Heartbreakers was nine years ago, although he did collaborate in 2008 with the band’s guitarist Mike Campbell and pianist Benmont Tench, reviving their pre-Heartbreakers line-up to record the self-titled ‘Mudcrutch’. Understandably, some of that raw rock ethos has carried through to Petty and the Heartbreakers’ latest, ‘Mojo’, […]
Roadsongs – Derek Trucks Band | CD review


(Sony Masterworks) Comparisons between the Derek Trucks and Allman Brothers bands are inevitable. Guitarist Derek is the nephew of veteran Allmans’ drummer Butch Trucks and played with the touring line-up in recent years, while his free-flowing technique recalls the great Duane. But the music from Derek and his own band over a decade surpassed mere […]
Band of Joy – Robert Plant | CD review


(Decca) Avoiding the temptation to recycle his back-catalogue, English blues-shouter Robert Plant has ranged far and wide in his recent exploration of genres, from world music to the collaboration with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand. Now, in a deliberate step away from that Grammy-winning roots pairing, Plant delivers Band of Joy, a solo offering named after […]