Y Kant Tori Read, released in 1988, was the proper debut of Tori Amos. She would since disown the project, and the album languished for decades as a rarity. Thus, its low-key digital reissue this month warrants a revisit, and it shows that Amos’s feelings might not have been correct, as it’s a fine album that isn’t nearly as bad as she thinks, and clearly establishes the direction of her solo career.
The Replacements’ legendary guitarist, Tommy Stinson, stepped out on his own with a new band Bash & Pop. It came and went in a flash twenty years ago, but their debut, Friday Night Is Killing Me, is still an impressive record, twenty four years after its release, an impressive grand slam of straightforward, unpretentious rock and roll.
This mysterious record appeared in 1967, and with its cheesy sound effects and pretentious narration, it’s a record that’s impossible not to laugh at. But scratch the surface and you’ll find that this anonymous little record was actually the work of some of the finest musicians of the era and has since become a legend in its own right.
While the rest of the world was going crazy over the Beatles and the British Invasion, Bob Dylan was covertly conquering the hearts and minds of British musicians. Ace Records’ latest compilation serves as an excellent document of the love affair British artists had for the mysterious and cantankerous rocker.
While Alien Sex Fiend may be a stalwart of the Goth Rock genre, they’ve always been sonically adventurous, and this new three-disc compilation wonderfully highlights that diversity.
Tammy Wynette’s voice conveyed passion and heartbreak as she sang songs about heartbreak, loss, and disappointment. These two albums, both from 1974, are atypical in that regard, twenty-one emotionally powerful and gorgeously arranged country songs that might best be taken in small doses.
Bill Evans was easily one of the best jazz pianists of the 20th century, establishing himself with an impressive array of albums of his own. Yet he also was an in-demand musician, and this three-disc, four-hour set highlights just a smattering of his collaborations from his very fertile early years, while sprinkling in some choice selections from his own releases.
Hitchhiker is purportedly an “unreleased Neil Young solo album.” It isn’t really a lost album, though; instead, it’s the document of a quick, one night recording session, where Young played his latest compositions for his friend, David Briggs. It’s a welcomed–albeit way too brief–addition to the Neil Young archives.
This two-disc set serves as an introduction to the work of Gerald Levert–both as a solo artist and with his band, the beloved R&B trio Levert.
Surf duo Jan & Dean’s “comedy” album was intended as a contractual obligation, an unfunny joke that was rightly rejected, yet bowdlerized by their label after Jan Berry’s near-fatal car accident. Fifty-one years later, this reissue presents the album as it was meant to be heard.
