The Beatles’ Early Recordings: Baby Steps Along Abbey Road
Revolving drummers. A chance meeting in Hamburg. The Beatles find a home at EMI. This story begins in the unlikeliest...
Category: Rock ‘n’ Roll
Best Summer Rock Songs from the Sixties and Seventies
I feature five from rock’s greatest decades, plus some honorable mentions. Summer just opens the door and lets you out....
Rocketman Elton John’s ‘Border Song’ a Cry for Peace, Down with Bigotry
Aretha Franklin honored the John/Taupin songwriting duo by covering ‘Border Song’ two years later. Unlike many of his musical brethren...
There Would Be No ‘Elton John’ Without Lyricist Bernie Taupin
With the release of the movie ‘Rocketman,’ we honor a unique and uber-successful songwriting partnership. Due to be released tomorrow...
John Fogerty’s Creedence Gig Was the Best of Times, Worst of Times
After leading the most popular band in America, Fogerty ended up in court accused of plagiarizing himself. Bob Dylan’s Advice...
The 27 Club: A Rock Club That Nobody Joins Willingly
It just so happens that rockers who died at age 27 left us the most wanting. Here are the first...
Satirical Rock Is About Subversion, Pushing Boundaries
Frank Zappa was the godfather of satirical rock. When he died, the genre went with him. For the record, folks:...
Clive Davis Scores Bruce Springsteen for Columbia Records
Bruce Springsteen, an unknown bar musician from New Jersey, plants a flag on the label of Bob Dylan. At the...
The Jefferson Starship Enterprise
Jefferson Airplane’s departure from its psychedelic roots was not a charted course. Jefferson Airplane’s musical prominence in the psychedelic sixties ...
When The Rolling Stones Crossed Over to Atlantic
The label switch came with a cast of characters: Ahmet Ertegun, Marshall Chess and Prince Rupert Loewenstein. The first meeting...
Aretha Franklin Found Greatness with Atlantic R&B Pioneer
Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler’s breakthrough: Let Aretha be herself. As the old saying goes, there are no guarantees in...
Arena Superstar Billy Joel Looks Back Fondly on Writing and Recording
Joel on long-time producer Phil Ramone: “He was the king.” Among legacy rock stars and bands still performing, Billy Joel...
Joni Mitchell Is Doing Fine, Thank You
“I sing my sorrow and I paint my joy.” Seven enduring essentials about Joni Mitchell. In a respite from the...
Nilsson, Schmilsson & Lennon: Weighing Another ‘Fifth Beatle’
Harry Nilsson, an unsung singer-songwriter, is perhaps better known for the company he kept. Prologue At a 1968 press conference...
Two Beatific Visionaries: Bob Dylan & Marvin Gaye
Groundbreaking albums linked music to social justice movements. Bob Dylan, The Times They Are a-Changing’ Bob Dylan & Woody Guthrie...
The Beatles’ Rooftop London Serenade
Despite rugged conditions, The Beatles gave it a shot. Abbey Road would follow. It started out as a solution to...
It Was 50 Years Ago Today! Rock Scaled New Heights in 1968
1968 marked the year when the Beatles topped the charts with a seven minute single, Hendrix exquisitely covered Bob Dylan...
The Making of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’
The vision of a shy Indian schoolboy named Bulsara became a pop masterpiece. Here is Queen’s official video of the...
The Beatles’ Rubber Soul: Rock’s Last Great Pop Album
The Beatles created a pop masterpiece from scratch…in one month’s time. You don’t know us if you don’t know Rubber...
Muscle Shoals: Musical Mecca in the Sticks
‘The Swampers’ integrated soul, rock and the blues to become sought-after, elite instrumentalists Specialty musicians in certain towns and cities...
Glen Campbell & ‘The Wrecking Crew’
The late hit-maker was once a part of an elite group of LA session musicians We mourn the passage of...
The Allman Brothers Made Blues a Part of Southern Rock’s Lineage
Ignoring Calls to Relocate to NY or LA, the Allman Brothers Planted a Flag in Macon, Georgia, Creating Ground Zero...
ZZ Top: Two Beards and a Drummer named Beard Wrote the Story of Texas Boogie
After Hitting It Big with Eliminator, the Eighties Caught Up With Them I remember so well that ZZ Top concert in Dayton,...
Canned Heat: Sex, Drugs & The Blues
Even a Famed Dalliance with Blues Great John Lee Hooker Couldn’t Prevent the Tragic Deaths of Their Star Performers It...
20 Awesome Songs from Rock’s Greatest Decade
A wistful view of rock’s greatness from someone who came of age with the Beatles First of all, some...
Neil Young & Lynyrd Skynyrd: The Friendliest of Feuds
Mutual Admiration Made Them Pivot to Damage Control At the center of it all was a 1974 hit song by Southern...
‘Progressive Rock’ – A Wayward Link in Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Saga?
The Rock Hall of Fame Seems to Be in No Hurry to Find a Place for Prog Rock Editor’s update:...
Jerry Garcia, Owsley & Mountain Girl
How a Lysergic Moment in Time Helped Create Rock’s Ultimate Jam Band People who came of age in the mid-...
Abbey Road’s ‘The End’ – A Beatles’ Farewell
The song was crafted to bring Beatles fans back to where it all began. Here is one version of The...
Revolver: The Beatles At Their Collaborative and Creative Best
On Recording the Greatest Record Album of All-Time The Beatles album Revolver, forever in the shadow of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts...
Fleetwood Mac’s Tour Stirs Memories of the Original Blues Version
Christine McVie Is the Essential Link Between Old and New Indisputably, the band is named for its founding rhythm section: Mick Fleetwood...
Helping Bob Dylan Create His Masterpiece
Mike Bloomfield’s & Al Kooper’s Excellent Adventure Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper met at the dawn of Bob Dylan’s conversion to...
Spinners Thrived After Motown Exit
Only a Matter of Time Before Spinners Join ‘Soul-Mates’ in Rock Hall of Fame It would be quite natural to assume...
The Beatles’ ‘White Album’: Brilliance Overcame Adversity
It Took the Likes of Eric Clapton to Break the Tension Most rock fans have a cheerful attachment to the...
Pete Townshend’s Political Odyssey
Did Woodstock Harden The Who’s Frontman? ‘We Won’t Get Fooled Again’ Tops List of Favorite Conservative Songs Peter Townshend’s legendary rise...
The Legendary Battle Between the Rolling Stones and Their Notorious Manager, Allen Klein
Amazingly, The Beatles Became Klein’s Second Helping By Andrew Goutman After countless lawsuits, verdicts and settlements (26 in all counting...
One Band. The Three Greatest Guitars in Rock History.
The Yardbirds, 1963-68 By Andrew Goutman Among true rock fans, the designation “greatest guitar player ever” is almost a...
We Still Dig the Harmony
CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG We Still Dig the Harmony By Andrew Goutman (September 5, 2014) A friend of mine...
JT’s Bite of the Apple
By Andrew Goutman In the recovery business, moving to another location to escape a substance addiction is called a “geographic...
Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady
By Andrew Goutman The Electric Lady studio was Jimi Hendrix’s vision of recording utopia…”a “psychedelic lair, with curved walls, multicolored lights...
Sheryl Crow’s Hit Song, “All I Wanna Do,” Gives Poet Wyn Cooper His 15 Minutes
By Andrew Goutman You must remember that great song from 1994…that Sheryl Crow ditty that won her two Grammys for Record...
