Contributor
31 items by Mark Coleman
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Rare Bob Dylan Documentary To Get Limited Theater Release | ARTICLE
Bob Dylan is not a man who is easily embarrassed. Eat the Document, A long-buried film about his 1966 tour of England, is finally...
November 12, 1998 12:00 PM ET -
Cyberpunk | ALBUM REVIEW
A science-fiction trip with Billy Idol? Get real. The guy's saving grace has always been an over-the-top cartoon looniness, coupled with at least one sure-shot single per album. Sadly, outing No. 6 comes up short — on...
July 17, 1997 12:00 AM ET -
The Healing Game | ALBUM REVIEW
Van Morrison is the living embodiment of an old cliché: His voice is so good, you could listen to him singing the phone book. During the course of a 30-year solo career, he has crafted classic albums...
February 11, 1997 12:00 AM ET -
Anthology | ALBUM REVIEW
There's a delicious tension in Al Green's music; you can feel this supernaturally gifted singer stretching and straining, pushing to achieve some new peak that lies just beyond his reach. His '70s hits are impeccable examples of...
January 8, 1997 12:00 AM ET -
New World Order | ALBUM REVIEW
In 1990, at an outdoor concert in Brooklyn, N.Y., Curtis Mayfield was hit by a falling lighting rig, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. New World Order is the soul titan's first new studio effort since...
November 14, 1996 12:00 AM ET -
It Was Written | ALBUM REVIEW
Literary skill is not the prime attribute of most hardcore rappers; these days the main attraction in hip-hop seems to be authenticity, not articulation. So the second album from Nas is frustrating. It Was Written proves that...
September 19, 1996 12:00 AM ET -
Insomniac | ALBUM REVIEW
The beauty of classic punk rock lies in its utter simplicity: Crude rhythms, rude attitude, pumping adrenaline and a loudly pronounced point of view are key. Once you get sucked in by that formula, any punk band...
November 2, 1995 12:00 AM ET -
A Whole New Thing | ALBUM REVIEW
The reissue of these long-out-of-print late-'60s albums documents the birth of funk — the bastard offspring of gutbucket soul and psychedelic rock. The collected early works of Sylvester Stewart, a.k.a. Sly Stone, provide a musical bridge between...
September 21, 1995 12:00 AM ET -
Dance to the Music | ALBUM REVIEW
The reissue of these long-out-of-print late-'60s albums documents the birth of funk — the bastard offspring of gutbucket soul and psychedelic rock. The collected early works of Sylvester Stewart, a.k.a. Sly Stone, provide a musical bridge between...
September 21, 1995 12:00 AM ET -
Down With The King | ALBUM REVIEW
Run-D.M.C. stages its comeback in the same way it stormed the pop charts in the mid-Eighties: straight-faced and ultraconfident, funky and forthright. Backed by the stripped-down beats of DJ Jam Master Jay, rappers Run and D.M.C. get...
June 24, 1993 12:00 AM ET -
Get a Grip | ALBUM REVIEW
If you wanna hang loose, baby, get a grip." When Steven Tyler delivers this bit of wisdom on the title track of Aerosmith's fifteenth album, it seems plausible enough. Or maybe it's just impossible to argue with...
May 13, 1993 12:00 AM ET -
Dry | ALBUM REVIEW
With its choke-hold guitar energy and the controlled vocal eruptions of Polly Harvey, this British trio created a college-radio splash on this side of the Atlantic There's an undeniable electricity to Dry, the band's debut: These musical...
December 10, 1992 12:00 AM ET -
Your Arsenal | ALBUM REVIEW
Mope no more. forsaking the cozy glow of cult-hero worship on his fourth solo album, Morrissey hurls himself into the cold cruel rock mainstream. Your Arsenal is the most direct — and outwardly directed — statement he's...
October 29, 1992 12:00 AM ET -
Back From Hell | ALBUM REVIEW
Struggling to appear relevant next to Ice Cube and the Geto Boys, Run-D.M.C. has shot itself in the foot. This groundbreaking rap group's fifth album is a bitter disappointment because it's so obvious — or, as rappers...
January 10, 1991 12:00 AM ET -
Mama Said Knock You Out | ALBUM REVIEW
Even his die-hard fans know the truth: L.L. Cool J needed to change his rap this time out. Blithe one-liners like "I'm so bad I can suck my own dick" dragged 1989's musically fierce Walking With a...
October 18, 1990 12:00 AM ET -
I'm Breathless | ALBUM REVIEW
An alternative subtitle could be Madonna Goes Broadway in a Major Way. She pulls it off with brass and panache, but then everybody knows Madonna doesn't mess around. Compared with Prince's mechanical-sounding Batman LP, at any rate,...
June 14, 1990 12:00 AM ET -
Shake Your Money Maker | ALBUM REVIEW
Blame it on the Stones. That pack of aging rogues may or may not fit the bill for the Greatest Rock & Roll Band in the World circa 1990, but the group's influence remains surprisingly vital —...
May 31, 1990 12:00 AM ET -
The Best Of Luther Vandross...The Best Of Love | ALBUM REVIEW
I can only speak for the things that I've been through," Luther Vandross declares on "Promise Me," and his absolute emotional veracity is what elevates this lavish greatest-hits package to the soul stratosphere. "So when it comes...
February 8, 1990 12:00 AM ET -
Follow The Leader | ALBUM REVIEW
On 'Follow the Leader,' Eric B. and Rakim's second album, Rakim (a.k.a. William Griffin) spends too much time trashing other rappers and reasserting his supremacy in the genre. Still, he has a point. Set to a menacing...
October 20, 1988 12:00 AM ET -
Viva Hate | ALBUM REVIEW
All by his lonesome self, The Smiths' founder might be expected to dig into his well-documented obsessions and really wallow. Surprisingly, the wailing soul's solo debut is a tight, fairly disciplined affair. Viva Hate reveals the talents...
May 19, 1988 12:00 AM ET
