Mark Kemp | Rolling Stone

Contributor

69 items by Mark Kemp

Living Proof | ALBUM REVIEW

"I'm 74 years young," Buddy Guy announces over dusty acoustic guitar in Living Proof's opener. He sounds like an ancient Mississippi bluesman — that is, until the screaming, Chicago-style electric lead kicks in, obliterating the sepia-tone ambience....
October 26, 2010 12:00 AM ET
Live at the Fillmore Auditorium 10/15/66 | ALBUM REVIEW

Grace Slick was the female face of psych rock. But she wasn't Jefferson Airplane's original frontwoman. This concert disc (one of four newly released shows) is the first official live album to feature Signe Anderson, whose style...
October 26, 2010 12:00 AM ET
Charleston, SC 1966 | ALBUM REVIEW

Say what you will about Hootie and the Blowfish's profound mediocrity — their massive success was merely the launching pad for Darius Rucker's true calling: country. On his Nashville debut, Rucker's rich baritone, sentimental ballads and bright...
October 12, 2010 12:18 PM ET
The Complete Mother's Best Recordings... Plus! | ALBUM REVIEW

Taped at Nashville's WSM radio in 1951, these early-morning broadcasts (each 15 minutes long) reveal a wonderfully relaxed Hank Williams: He jokes around, promotes Mother's Best Flour and delivers spine-tingling performances of both old hymns and classic...
September 28, 2010 12:00 AM ET
I Feel Like Playing | ALBUM REVIEW

The older he gets, the more Ronnie Wood's ragged wheeze makes him sound like a cigarette-wrecked Randy Newman. This is not a dis. That broken, damaged voice is what makes the Stones guitarist's first solo studio disc...
September 28, 2010 12:00 AM ET
Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time | ALBUM REVIEW

Guitar Heaven reprises the cameo-heavy formula Carlos Santana has used since 1999's Supernatural, only this time the celeb vocalists lay into an assortment of classic-rock covers. The performances are mostly faithful to the originals, and Chris Daughtry...
September 21, 2010 12:00 AM ET
Public Enemy, Broken Social Scene Lead Hopscotch Fest | ARTICLE

Before he jumped onstage Saturday night with Public Enemy, bringing the noise to some 5,000 fans at the Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina, rapper Chuck D sat on a panel of writers, academics and fellow...
September 13, 2010 4:21 PM ET
Junky Star & the Dead Horses | ALBUM REVIEW

On his own albums and his contributions to Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham has tried hard to be the next great Texas singer-songwriter: He has the gruff voice, moodiness and melodramatic song titles ("The Poet," "Junky Star"). But...
August 30, 2010 12:00 AM ET
Chamber Music Society | ALBUM REVIEW

Upright-bass prodigy Esperanza Spalding was barely out of her teens when she dropped her first CD, Junjo, a stunningly sophisticated yet playful set of acoustic trio jazz: rubbery bass, piano, drums and sexy Latin melodies harking back...
August 16, 2010 6:34 PM ET
Spot The Difference | ALBUM REVIEW

Singer-songwriters Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook have named the new Squeeze album Spot the Difference presumably because there's so little difference between these versions of their classic power-pop hits and the ones on their sterling 1982 set...
August 16, 2010 4:10 PM ET
On Tour With Eric Clapton (Deluxe Edition) | ALBUM REVIEW

Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were a husband-and-wife team whose soul- inflected rock earned them an admirer in Eric Clapton — the guitarist even credited Delaney for giving him the confidence to sing. Cut at London's Royal Albert...
August 12, 2010 4:35 PM ET
Tin Can Trust | ALBUM REVIEW

When Los Lobos write their own songs, life is good. The East L.A. roots rockers' 18th album runs from the smoldering atmospherics and righteous indignation of "I'll Burn It Down" to the slinky instrumental "Do the Murray,"...
August 3, 2010 12:00 PM ET
The House | ALBUM REVIEW

Please allow Katie Melua to introduce herself: "I'd love to kill you while you eat," she sings over the eerie pedal steel guitar of the opening track. The Soviet Georgia-born, British-raised singer-songwriter is a...
August 3, 2010 12:00 AM ET
Symphonicities | ALBUM REVIEW

Who would have guessed that Sting's most exciting album in years would be a set of orchestral remakes? Symphonicities rocks hard from the outset, with a wallop of cellos and violins replacing the staccato guitars of the...
August 2, 2010 2:42 PM ET
Paramore Unplug at Summer Tour Kickoff | ARTICLE

Halfway into Paramore's tour kickoff Friday night in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, Hayley Williams took a breather to reflect on how much things have changed for the band since their last gig here five years ago. Hint:...
July 26, 2010 1:35 PM ET
Blind Boys, Amadou and Mariam Unite at Eclectic Fez Festival | ARTICLE

When the Blind Boys of Alabama hit the stage recently in Fez, Morocco, surrounded by the massive ancient walls of the majestic Bab Makina amphitheater, the four septuagenarian American gospel singers had an audience of about 5,000,...
July 1, 2010 5:59 PM ET
We Walk This Road | ALBUM REVIEW

Hooking up with the jam-band scene may have been the worst thing Robert Randolph could have done. Though amazing live, he has never recorded a great album — until now. Randolph puts overcooked funk on the back...
June 22, 2010 12:50 PM ET
BINGO! | ALBUM REVIEW

On his first studio album in 17 years, Steve Miller returns to his blues roots but gives BINGO! the slick party-pop vibe of classic Miller albums like The Joker and Fly Like an Eagle. With singer Sonny...
June 15, 2010 8:35 AM ET
Fela! Original Broadway Cast Recording | ALBUM REVIEW

This soundtrack to the musical about the late Nigerian political activist and inventor of Afrobeat is a powerful Fela primer. It includes some of Fela Kuti's best-known songs ("I.T.T.," "Zombie"), as well as adapted material (like "Trouble...
June 8, 2010 4:40 PM ET
Live on the Sunset Strip (Reissue) | ALBUM REVIEW

When Otis Redding hit L.A.'s Whisky for four nights in 1966, the 24-year-old Georgia kid was still, as Carla Thomas once sang, "pure country," addressing the crowd as "ladies and gentlemans." This disc is a notch less...
May 24, 2010 1:00 PM ET