“I love music, I play every day,” John Lodge says. “I don’t want to let the audience down or myself or the members of my band. They give me 150% every night so I have to be physically and mentally right for them.”
rock
December Short Fuses — Materia Critica
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
CD Review: Have Mercy’s “Make the Best of It” – Best Isn’t Good Enough
Acclaimed emo band Have Mercy doesn’t deliver much that’s new on their latest LP.
Book Feature: The Decibel Diaries — A Journey Through Rock in 50 Concerts
A journal that is part travelogue, part music history, and part meditation on the evolution of our culture through the often-bloodshot eyes of one man.
CD Review: American Football’s “American Football (LP2)”
American Football’s new album would be a fine effort for anyone but American Football.
Book Review: “Anatomy of a Song” — An Oral History of Pop Music
There is no doubt that Marc Myers is doing noble work — if only Anatomy of a Song was more exciting to read.
Fuse Book Review: “Real Life Rock”—Decades of Quick Hits from Greil Marcus
If Real Life Rock‘s page count seems daunting, fear not. There isn’t an entry you’ll want to skip.
Film Interview: Director James D. Cooper on “Lambert & Stamp” — Creating The Who
Lambert & Stamp will resonate with musicians who have experienced the volatile give-and-take that is needed to sustain and nurture a rock and roll band.
DVD/Blu-Ray Review: “A Hard Day’s Night” — Still Fun After Five Decades
A Hard Day’s Night stands as a landmark in rock history because it exemplifies the Beatles’s joyously innocent starting point — today it delivers an irresistible sonic joy that comes from listening to songs that still rock after fifty years.
Album Review: The Black Keys Hold Their Hooks and “Turn Blue”
The Black Keys clearly wanted to write moody, trippy, mostly hookless tracks, and as far as moody, trippy, mostly hookless tracks go, the ones on Turn Blue aren’t so bad.