Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton The headline to an article in The Independent called Gerry Rafferty a “bipolar alcoholic industry misfit.” His biographers including his daughter Martha dispute none of that. The article was printed on the occasion of the 2021 release of “Rest In Blue” an album of Rafferty demos polished and completed by …
Continue reading “Gerry Rafferty Was Born 77 Years Ago Today”
by Kevin Burton You remember Eric Carmen for “All By Myself” and for the Raspberries’ “Go All The Way.” But it’s one of his B-sides that resonates most with me. We got word last week that Carmen had died at age 74. The news sent my mind to several places, including to a …
Continue reading ““No Hard Feelings” By Eric Carmen Is A Gem”
by Kevin Burton One of the greatest vocal performances in my time as a consumer of pop music is on a song that leaves me deeply conflicted; Stoney End by Barbara Streisand. The song grabbed me on some level immediately upon its 1971 release, even before I had the life experience to understand …
Continue reading “What Is The Meaning Of Nyro’s “Stoney End”?”
by Kevin Burton I’m guessing the final Beatles song, to be released later this week, will be neither a bang, nor a whimper. Or maybe it will be a bang, and a whimper and everything in between. That would be fitting for a band that was and is “ way beyond compare” to …
by Kevin Burton Let’s get a few things straight right up front. We’re all friends here, yes? The various sugars, sugar substitutes, creams, potions, spices, flavors, elixirs – chief among them pumpkin of any kind – these things that otherwise upstanding people put into coffee, these things individually and collectively are an abomination. …
by Kevin Burton Trying to wrestle down he lighter-than-air 70s anthem “Philadelphia Freedom” by Elton John is like trying to tell a stranger ‘bout rock and roll. You kind of can’t. You can parse the words if you like, look into its origins, the elements that went into it. But in the end …
Continue reading “Tell A Stranger About Philadelphia Freedom”
by Kevin Burton We are well into summer now; what do you say we go on a road trip? How about a rock and roll road trip? My wife and I had two mini vacations in late May and into June. The time on the road got my blood pumping. Could be another …
by Kevin Burton It turns out there really was a band called Sultans Of Swing that inspired the great 1978 Dire Straits hit. “Sultans Of Swing” is one of those tunes that stops you in your tracks. It just exudes cool. We tell its story, evoking a musical proverb from “Take It …
by Kevin Burton Elton John turns 76 today. So when I was nine years old listening to Crocodile Rock, he was all of 26. He wasn’t called Sir Elton back then, not hardly. He was a sight to behold. His wild costumes and antics on stage. His huge international hit songs, these …
by Kevin Burton I asked a co-worker, a big Beatles fan who has played guitar since high school, for his opinion on The Big Question: Who was the most essential Beatle? I suppose I was spoiling for a McCartney/Lennon fight. That discussion goes to Paul McCartney and John Lennon and stops there, right? …
Continue reading “The Case For George Harrison, Best Beatle”
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