Jon Brion is certainly best known these days as a producer, having helmed classic albums for the likes of Fiona Apple, and collaborating with Kanye West on Late Registration, providing the sonic direction for just about all the rest of his releases to date. What more casual fans of Brion don’t know is that he’s an artist himself-and has had a recording career since he was a teenager. As a member of The Bats, he released the critically acclaimed How […]
Posts tagged "Albums That Time Forgot"
Albums That Time Forgot: Van Hunt’s “On the Jungle Floor”
It was a stroke of luck that led me to Van Hunt’s On the Jungle Floor album back in 2006. Well, maybe not so much luck, but I was unaware that the singer/songwriter had even released a second album when I saw it on the new release rack in my local Circuit City (R.I.P.). I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hunt’s self-titled debut (I actually remember being disappointed that it wasn’t better), but something told me to pick up Jungle […]
Albums That Time Forgot: Neneh Cherry’s “Homebrew”
I’ll be damned if I can figure it out: the rise and fall of Neneh Cherry is one of the most unexplainable things to happen in the idustry for as long as I’ve been a music fan. Swedish-born Cherry burst onto the scene in the summer of ’89 with her hip-hop/dance stylings on the smash single “Buffalo Stance”. An attractive female with a social conscience who was rappin’ and singin’ on her records (at the same time) four years before […]
Albums That Time Forgot: NKOTB’s “Face the Music”
Judging from what I remember from drunkenly Tweeting on New Year’s Eve (and into New Year’s morning), one of the main topics of discussion was the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys performance on Dick Clark/Ryan Seacrest’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”. It’s pretty safe to say that’s a ticket I’ll stay away from. I have no real inclination towards the Backstreet Boys’ music-it’s well-crafted but mostly forgettable, anonymous pop. When it comes to NKOTB, however, I love them despite my […]
Albums That Time Forgot: Duncan Sheik’s “Daylight”
Until John Mayer blew the scene wide open, times weren’t so good for pop/rock singer-songwriters. Whatever you might think about Mayer, he certainly led the new vanguard of earnest white guitar strummin’ dudes to Top 40 radio. One of the only artists to break through the door in the Nineties was Duncan Sheik. Most folks whose memories get jogged at the mention of Duncan’s name are familiar with his one big hit, 1996’s “Barely Breathing”. That song gained Duncan a […]
Albums That Time Forgot: Dag’s “Righteous”
The live funk band died (at least commercially) back in the mid Eighties, after Prince proved that you could replicate the sound of 8 men with a synthesizer. This coincided with a decline in fortunes for many of the large funk bands that had been popular in the previous decade. Even the funk bands that stuck around, like Cameo, underwent a drastic reduction in personnel. The days of TV variety shows having to build extra stage to fit the members […]
Albums That Time Forgot: “Urban Renewal-An R&B Tribute to Phil Collins”
While I’m trying to figure out whether I want to review Phil Collins’ “Going Back” album, I thought I’d clue you guys in to an album that I bet you never even knew existed. Yes, “Urban Renewal” is a real album. Yes, it includes a sea of contemporary R&B and hip-hop artists remaking Phil Collins songs. Although some of you may wonder whose harebrained idea this was, believe me when I tell you that the idea was sound in theory, […]