She's no stranger to the towering highs and lows of the heart, and Etta James's soaring, gospel-tinged pipes match up well with the rigors of unabashed bliss. Happily, the good people at Chess Records recognize this, and they have thoughtfully collected some of the best examples into one tidy record. Kicking off with her classic treatment of "At La[Read More]

There was a time, before Karen Carpenter was born, when most American female popular singers, even the black ones, sounded a lot like the way she would one day sound. The music of singer-drummer Carpenter and her piano-playing brother Richard came to be called soft rock, but it's really just good, straight American pop. This CD, released in March 1[Read More]

Singer-songwriter Stephen Merritt's ironically morose lyrics, Tin Pan Alley stylings, sugary melodies, and idiosyncratic sound have earned his band the Magnetic Fields cult status and the adulation of grad students everywhere. The ambitious, genre-hopping, and intensely heart-tugging three-disc set 69 Love Songs probably won't gain Merritt the wide[Read More]

Singer-songwriter Stephen Merritt's ironically morose lyrics, Tin Pan Alley stylings, sugary melodies, and idiosyncratic sound have earned his band the Magnetic Fields cult status and the adulation of grad students everywhere. The ambitious, genre-hopping, and intensely heart-tugging three-disc set 69 Love Songs probably won't gain Merritt the wide[Read More]

Layla stands as one of a handful of pillars of classic rock. The short-lived ensemble that was the Dominos provided an outlet for Eric Clapton to vent his then unrequited (and secret) passion for the wife of his best friend, George Harrison. Romantic anguish inspired Clapton to write and collect an embroiling and interconnected song cycle. Meanwhil[Read More]