Still Records After All These Years

10/21/2021

We've been hearing this for awhile now. But the good news is that the demand for vinyl keeps growing.

Left for dead in the 1980s, vinyl records are now the music industry’s most popular and highest-grossing physical format. Getting them manufactured, however, is increasingly a challenge.

09/09/2021

Lindsey Buckingham is touring to promote a new solo album.

After a heart attack and (another) feud with Stevie Nicks, the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist returns with a new solo album.

02/03/2021

It seems a lot of artists' and record labels' catalogs are being sold these days. This is one of the more interesting transfers, although Sun had previously sold its rights to Elvis.

The independent company Primary Wave Music acquired recordings by Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and other pioneers — but not the music of one of Sun’s biggest stars, Elvis Presley.

01/28/2021

My first and all-time favorite jazz LP. Junior passed away on Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021 at the age of 92.

01/28/2021

I've acknowledged the passing of many favorite musicians over the years but none more meaningful to me than this. I bought my first jazz record in 1971, choosing Junior Mance's Live At the Top (Atlantic SD 1521, 1969) completely at random. 50 years later it remains my all-time favorite jazz album. My wife and I saw Junior perform many times, eventually getting to know him and his wife, Gloria, as well as the bassist and violinist from his last trio, Hidé Tanaka and Michi Fuji. The Times obit had not updated their file on him in at least a decade. It cites his last albums as coming out in 2008. He had several since then, the last that I'm aware of, in 2015. Around that time Junior began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. The obit also omits mention of a film, "Sunset And The Mockingbird", now in post-production, which documents Junior's and Gloria's struggles in his final years. The film's producers are continuing to raise money through Kickstarter to finance the final touches and hope to release the film at the end of 2021.

01/17/2021

R.I.P.

Known for creating the ‘Wall of Sound,’ he scored hits with the Crystals, the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers and was one of the most influential figures in popular music.

07/14/2020

Very sad news for lovers of Fairport Convention and of British folk-rock.

Folk singer, who also had a solo career, had a long-term illness

04/14/2020

The 50th anniversary of the iconic logo. 50??? Remember "Never trust anyone over 30?"

On the 50th anniversary of his famous “tongue and lips” emblem for the Rolling Stones, John Pasche says he had no expectations it would become so famous, or lucrative.

04/03/2020

I'd never realized that fading out the endings of songs is a thing of the past (maybe because I listen to so little new music.) Even now, if music's playing at home and I need to turn off the record (or cassette of CD or...) mid-song I will always fade out rather than end it abruptly.

The sad, gradual decline of the fade-out in popular music.

03/29/2020

Bob Dylan released his first original song in eight years -- a 17-minute long ballad based on the JFK assassination.

'Stay safe, stay observant, and may God be with you,' says 78-year-old songwriter in announcement about surprise track

03/29/2020

The brilliant Tom Lehrer wrote this song about (not) "Social Distancing" in 1953! If you don't know his political (and other) parodies from the 1950s and '60s I urge you to check his legendary LPs.

This short, humorous ditty was written and performed by Tom Lehrer in 1953. Although it doesn't mention the disease that was transmitted ba...