Contributor
40 items by Rob Tannenbaum
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MTV Unplugged | ALBUM REVIEW
Nothing minor happens in a Florence Welch song. While most of us worry about hangnails or roaming charges, her mind is gripped by images of blindness, despair, suicide and other symptoms of love. On Unplugged, she intensifies...
April 10, 2012 12:00 AM ET -
Tuskegee | ALBUM REVIEW
Imagine: You walk into a karaoke bar in Nashville and see Lionel Richie singing his cottony R&B hits with a bunch of country stars. Best vacation ever! OK, Rascal Flatts make “Dancing on the Ceiling” feel strained,...
March 27, 2012 12:05 AM ET -
Giant Anthology: The Profile Records Rap Anthology | ALBUM REVIEW
This menagerie of thrilling, mostly overlooked jams begins in rap’s naive era, when “I’m on the cover of TV Guide” passed as a big-time boast. New York-based Profile Recordsstruck gold with Run-DMC, whose success funded a bonanzaof...
February 2, 2012 10:35 AM ET -
Sacred Fire EP | ALBUM REVIEW
Jimmy Cliff is reggae’s second-most-famous singer, tied with about 20 other people who aren’t Bob Marley, but his stature is mostly based on music he made 40 years ago. Tim Armstrong, who mixed punk and reggae...
January 2, 2012 9:00 AM ET -
Back to Love | ALBUM REVIEW
It isn't just metal singers who can tell you about Satan; it's also R&B men who spent time in church choirs. On "Woo," a highlight of his fourth LP, Anthony Hamilton admits cheating and blames the devil...
December 22, 2011 9:05 AM ET -
King Krule | ALBUM REVIEW
If you've ever slowly blinked back to consciousness in a dentist's chair, unable to distinguish dream from fact, you already know what King Krule sounds like. Archy Marshall, the 17-year-old who wrote and sing- mumbles this five-song...
December 15, 2011 8:00 AM ET -
We Are Amused | ALBUM REVIEW
Former Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn has been relentlessly making noise since 1978. His cleverly named project takes inspiration from electronic-music star Skrillex’s cartoonishly paced machinery eruptions but also honors Ginn's punk-rock youth. These nine long instrumentals...
November 22, 2011 12:00 AM ET -
Graceland | ALBUM REVIEW
In his typically understated way, Paul Simon has been an ardent musical explorer since he went solo in 1972. His songs have incorporated almost every style of American music, including doo-wop, gospel, blues and jazz, as well...
January 21, 1997 12:00 AM ET -
Emotions | ALBUM REVIEW
A rookie success as spectacular as Mariah Carey's tends to spark a backlash, and Carey was derided by skeptics who saw that Columbia Records had spared no expense in accessorizing her with the most dependable collaborators money...
November 14, 1991 12:00 AM ET -
Mariah Carey: Building the Perfect Diva | ARTICLE
In a rehearsal studio in midtown New York, Mariah Carey is singing "Vision of Love" – over and over. Her left hand moving...
August 23, 1990 10:25 AM ET -
Product | ALBUM REVIEW
What kind of punk-rock band is this? The booklet to Product, a terrific box-set retrospective, tells of the Buzzcocks taking LSD in the recording studio, and some of the songs clock in at six and seven minutes....
March 8, 1990 12:00 AM ET -
Springsteen Goes It Alone | ARTICLE
Bruce Springsteen Has reached a musical crossroads. After sixteen years with the E Street Band, he has served notice to the band members...
January 11, 1990 2:55 PM ET -
Up Your Alley | ALBUM REVIEW
Though coarse stomps like "Bad Reputation" and "Cherry Bomb" have established Joan Jett as an eternal teen rebel who loves rock & roll for its simple beat and insolent stance, she has grown into a multidimensional songwriter....
August 11, 1988 12:00 AM ET -
Whiplash Smile | ALBUM REVIEW
It's easy to sneer right back at Billy Idol. He shakes his fist a lot. He wears leather underwear. He shampoos with glue. The appearance of snarling Idol replicas in David Lee Roth and Talking Heads videos...
December 4, 1986 12:00 AM ET -
Blood And Chocolate | ALBUM REVIEW
With the release of Blood & Chocolate, Eivis Costello's credibility problem matches that of Neil Young. Earlier this year, Elvis announced that he was returning to his given name of Declan MacManus to "divorce myself" from the...
November 6, 1986 12:00 AM ET -
Bring on The Night | ALBUM REVIEW
As a high-profile plan for musical and racial integration, The Dream of the Blue Turtles was one of last year's most significant projects. Unfortunately, the band Sting so carefully assembled was dominated by his earnest verbiage and...
September 25, 1986 12:00 AM ET -
Dog Eat Dog | ALBUM REVIEW
In the title song of 1976's Hejira, Joni Mitchell sang about "the petty wars that shell shock love away." Her view of romance as war made her a great diarist, detailing each volley of each battle with...
January 16, 1986 12:00 AM ET -
White City: A Novel | ALBUM REVIEW
According to legend, Roger Daltrey once predicted that Pete Townshend would be a great songwriter only as long as the guitarist had hellhounds on his trail. At age forty, Townshend has left behind his two biggest traumas...
January 16, 1986 12:00 AM ET -
Flip Your Wig | ALBUM REVIEW
Hüsker Dü is what Tears For Fears pretends to be — the real heir to John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band, the musical equivalent of the primal scream. If most pop songs consist of passion recollected in the...
November 7, 1985 12:00 AM ET -
Little Creatures | ALBUM REVIEW
Because Talking Heads have spoiled us with the richness of their music for nine years, we have come to expect a bold advance with each new album. So what is it here? Gregorian disco? Or perhaps electro-shakuhachi,...
August 15, 1985 12:00 AM ET
