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30 items by Jon Pareles

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  Dirty Work | ALBUM REVIEW

  Do we ask too much of the Rolling Stones? Here they are with Dirty Work, their umpteenth American album since 1964 — actually their twenty-first, not counting greatest-hits compilations, EPs and live recordings — and they're...

  March 24, 1986 12:00 AM ET
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  In Square Circle | ALBUM REVIEW

  Stevie Wonder has been laying low for the past five years. He couldn't help writing a few songs to fill out the hits compilation Original Musiquarium I, or knocking out soundtrack ditties for 'The Woman in Red';...

  October 24, 1985 12:00 AM ET
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  She's The Boss | ALBUM REVIEW

  When Mick Jagger begs, "Can't you see that I'm human?" in "Just Another Night," it gets your hopes up for She's the Boss. What a setup: Almost twenty-three years into his career as lead singer, lyricist...

  February 19, 1985 12:00 AM ET
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  All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes | ALBUM REVIEW

  Something strange goes on between Pete Townshend and his fans. Other cults engage in the same worship and advocacy, but die-hard Who fans don't stop there. Perhaps because Townshend is a compulsive anthem writer and pronouncement maker,...

  August 5, 1982 12:00 AM ET
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  Songs of the Free | ALBUM REVIEW

  You can count on the Gang of Four to provide fervent left-thinking rhetoric and kinetic rhythms, and Songs of the Free has a full quotient of both. On their third album, the Gang attacks nostalgia ("It Is Not...

  July 8, 1982 12:00 AM ET
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  Another Grey Area | ALBUM REVIEW

  Graham Parker couldn't have a good time if his career depended on it. His most memorable songs are powered by rage at something he can't get, whether it's answers to life-and-death questions or an easy lay. When...

  April 1, 1982 12:00 AM ET
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  October | ALBUM REVIEW

  It's impossible to take U2 as seriously as they take themselves. When lead singer Bono emotes lines like "No one is blinder than he who will not see" or "Open the door, open the door," I want...

  February 4, 1982 12:00 AM ET
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  Exit Stage… Left | ALBUM REVIEW

  Rush have been unfairly maligned as just an other barnstorming heavy-metal act, fit only to vibrate arena walls. Actually, the group is a lot more interesting than cock-rockers like Van Halen or AC DC, and fat less...

  February 4, 1982 12:00 AM ET
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  My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts | ALBUM REVIEW

  Marshall McLuhan would have loved the concept: sample the global media blitz, edit, add polyethnic rhythm tracks, name the results after a novel by Nigerian author Amos Tutuola and recycle them into the blitz. Talking Heads' David...

  April 2, 1981 12:00 AM ET
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  Fear Of Music | ALBUM REVIEW

  Time stands still when you're cracking up. At the brink of mental overload, there's a revelatory instant — a freeze frame in which everything fits together in new ways. Logic dissolves, paralogic reigns. And in that precarious...

  November 15, 1979 12:00 AM ET