Review: Leonard Cohen's Thanks for the Dance is like discovering a box of old love poems
Thanks for the Dance seems to bring down the curtain on Cohen’s parallel universe, the poetry he started to publish long before he began making records.
24 Nov 2019
Joe Henry's The Gospel According to Water is one of the best albums of his career
Given a few months to live released a creative gush in Joe Henry and the result is The Gospel According to Water, one of the best albums of his fruitful career.
19 Nov 2019
Blue Eyed Soul, Simply Red's 12th album, is a return to basics, full of typical suave vibes
Blue Eyed Soul, Simply Red's 12th album, is not innovative, groundbreaking, cutting-edge, topical or extensive. But it's a lot of fun and its title is comfortingly accurate.
09 Nov 2019
Music review: Jeff Lynne does it nearly all by himself on new album, From Out of Nowhere
Jeff Lynne's ELO is an elastic band that alternates between a one-man studio outfit and a 13-member touring ensemble with guitarists, keyboard players, three string players and others.
01 Nov 2019
Music review: Michael Kiwanuka's third album offers a sense of expressive wonder
Kiwanuka expands and deepens the sonic palette of its predecessor, reuniting the Londoner born into a family of Ugandan refugees with producers and creative collaborators Danger Mouse and Inflo.
01 Nov 2019
Album review: Ringo Starr's latest is a bundle of positivity and cheer, with good tunes to boot
With enviable energy and the simple, persistent message of "peace and love," Ringo Starr has become one of humanity's quintessential goodwill ambassadors.
24 Oct 2019
Music review: Mark Lanegan echoes inspired sounds of the '80s in Somebody's Knocking
Can Mark Lanegan lend credibility to the 1980s, that regularly disparaged but nevertheless exciting decade reduced by detractors to plastic keyboards and robotic drums?
20 Oct 2019
Music review: Elbow's Giants of All Sizes, a record that dares to envision a brighter future
While there's plenty of heaviness and weariness, the Manchester band's empathy and flair for the hymn-like help alleviate the oppression.
09 Oct 2019
Album review: Beth Hart's War In My Mind confirms the force of music, therapeutic value
Beth Hart reveals her innermost self on War In My Mind, an intense album where the only filter is the one ensuring songs with emotions that seep deeply into every aspect of the grooves.
28 Sep 2019
Hungarian writer, sociologist and iconic dissident Gyorgy Konrad dies at 86
Gyorgy Konrad, a writer and sociologist who was an iconic figure of Hungary's dissident movement while the country was under communist rule, died Friday at his home in Budapest. He was 86.
14 Sep 2019
Album review: Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde takes jazz turn on Valve Bone Woe
Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde brings much of the same qualities to Valve Bone Woe — her latest collection of tunes, mostly orchestral jazz.
09 Sep 2019
Tinariwen's new release Amadjar, the epitome of desert blues, was recorded under a tent
The story of this Western African band of nomadic Tuaregs from Mali includes exile, violent conflicts and an attachment to ancient traditions informed by current affairs.
08 Sep 2019
Work to Do: Marc Cohn, Blind Boys of Alabama blend pop, gospel in new album
Marc Cohn and the Blind Boys of Alabama's new album began as an EP of studio recordings before being wisely extended with their performance for the PBS concert series The Kate.
10 Aug 2019
Now, here's an album of Van Halen covers without any guitars... Wait, what?
Singer Inara George and producer-keyboardist Greg Kurstin, who make up The Bird and the Bee, carry off the intriguing concept with plenty of fun, grace and aplomb.
31 Jul 2019