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484 items by Will Hermes Will Hermes’ Profile on
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Silver Trembling Hands | SONG REVIEW
A classic Lips freakout with nods to Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd: screams, harp arpeggios and a bass line that bears down like...
August 20, 2009 12:00 PM ET -
Walking On A Wire: 1968-2009 | ALBUM REVIEW
A perennial dark-horse contender for the title of Greatest Living Rock Guitarist, Thompson has been boxed before — 1993's triple-disc Watching the Dark and the five-disc 2006 rarities set, RT. While fanatics will debate omissions ("The End...
August 18, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Wait for Me | ALBUM REVIEW
For a guy who made his name driving party people to ecstasy, Moby has always had a thing for the blues. His unlikely 1999 megahit, Play, used them literally, grafting ancient samples into inviting electronic grooves. His...
June 29, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
No. 1 Record/Radio City | ALBUM REVIEW
This long-available twofer — the debut and follow-up by one of rock's seminal also-rans — ain't news, two (non-essential) bonus tracks and remastering notwithstanding. But classics are classics. #1 Record is a glammy swirl of Beatlesque hooks,...
June 22, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Demos | ALBUM REVIEW
The timing of this golden-era demos set is perfect, as CSN's shadow looms large over a new school of harmony-drunk indie rockers. Unfortunately, the song selection of this set of 1968-71 rarities is a mixed bag, and...
June 1, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Grace Around The World | ALBUM REVIEW
Jeff Buckley's soaring falsetto was a beautiful freak, and force, of nature, its legacy still echoing in singers from Thom Yorke to Antony. Any addition to his tiny catalog is notable. But this live DVD/CD set is...
June 1, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Neil Young Archives Volume 1: 1963-1972 | ALBUM REVIEW
"Archives"? Dude ain't kidding. A decade-plus in the works, this 10-disc ultra-mega-anthology is like Geraldo's trip to Al Capone's vault if the gangsta had the smarts to retain librarians. Containing days' worth of viewing, listening and reading...
May 27, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
The Eternal | ALBUM REVIEW
It's amusing to think that the fiercely freaky Sonic Youth were a major-label act for nearly 20 years. The Eternal marks their literal return to indie rock —and that's no big whoop, since they've always done pretty...
May 26, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1-5 | ALBUM REVIEW
If Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music was the folk revival's bible, these recordings — 139 songs from the Fifties and early Sixties — read like its dictionary, from the obscure (the amusing "My Sweetheart Is...
May 11, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Pablo Honey (Collector's Edition) | ALBUM REVIEW
Some bands are born into greatness, others grow into it. Radiohead fall into the second category, but as these rarity-filled collector's editions show, they grew fast. The grungy, glammy Brit pop of Pablo Honey (1993) was a...
April 30, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
The Bends (Collector's Edition) | ALBUM REVIEW
Some bands are born into greatness, others grow into it. Radiohead fall into the second category, but as these rarity-filled collector's editions show, they grew fast. The grungy, glammy Brit pop of Pablo Honey (1993) was a...
April 30, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Potato Hole | ALBUM REVIEW
It's fitting that Patterson Hood, son of Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood, should record with his dad's Southern-soul peer, 64-year-old Stax-session kingpin Booker T. Jones. Add Neil Young and Hood's bandmates in Drive-By Truckers, and what might've...
April 30, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
OK Computer (Collector's Edition) | ALBUM REVIEW
Some bands are born into greatness, others grow into it. Radiohead fall into the second category, but as these rarity-filled collector's editions show, they grew fast. The grungy, glammy Brit pop of Pablo Honey (1993) was a...
April 30, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
A Positive Rage | ALBUM REVIEW
When Hold Steady shows are great — like the 2007 Halloween gig documented on A Positive Rage — they're so boozy, sweaty, shout-along, ironic—devil—horn—throwing joyous, they sum up everything life-affirming about rock & roll. Long on songs...
April 27, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
A Woman a Man Walked By | ALBUM REVIEW
On 2007's White Chalk, Polly Harvey made some of the quietest and most riveting music of her career. That record's coiled menace returns on this second set with longtime collaborator John Parish. Her latest also finds her...
April 2, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
The Hazards Of Love | ALBUM REVIEW
The Decemberists are devoted anachronists. So with the pop album completing its evolution into iPod shuffle — mix fodder, it's the right time for the Portland, Oregon, band to release an old — fashioned prog concept record....
April 2, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Fork in the Road | ALBUM REVIEW
Neil Young has been car-obsessed forever. His current passion is the LincVolt, a '59 Lincoln that, with some engineering help, he's pimped into an electric hybrid lincvolt.com. Fork in the Road is about the LincVolt....
April 1, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Rachel Fuller Presents: In the Attic with Pete Townshend & Friends | ALBUM REVIEW
This double CD-DVD is culled from some homey 2007 showcases conceived by singer-songwriter Rachel Fuller, Pete Townshend's longtime partner. It's a mixed bag. Ben Harper and Amos Lee are predictably fine; a singing Jimmy Fallon, not so...
March 19, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Rachel Fuller Presents: In the Attic with Pete Townshend and Friends | ALBUM REVIEW
This double CD-DVD is culled from some homey 2007 showcases conceived by singer-songwriter Rachel Fuller, Pete Townshend's longtime partner. It's a mixed bag. Ben Harper and Amos Lee are predictably fine; a singing Jimmy Fallon, not so...
March 19, 2009 12:00 AM ET -
Crack the Skye | ALBUM REVIEW
Mastodon are a bunch of doom—haunted, myth—obsessed, meat—and—potatoes Southern badasses who have become the most important new band in metal. They awed the underground with 2004's massive, Moby Dick—themed Leviathan; then, in 2006, they grabbed the crown...
March 17, 2009 12:00 AM ET
