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Music Reviews

Kanye West Shines

When Chicago's Kanye West released his debut, College Dropout, in 2004, many weren't sure if this hip-hop producer could also pick up the mic and make it as a rapper. Reviewer Oliver Wang says the music shines on West's new CD, Late Registration.

Kanye West Shines

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Giving Less-Known Composers Their Due

Tom Manoff reviews a new CD by the Akademie fuer Alte Musik Berlin that features exciting performances of some less than famous composers. The CD is Ouvertueren (Overtures): Music for the Hamburg Opera is on the Harmonia Mundi label.

Giving Less-Known Composers Their Due

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Jack Nitzsche's 'Hearing Is Believing'

Fresh Air

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at the career of producer and arranger Jack Nitzsche. He worked with a wide variety of artists: Phil Spector, Bobby Darin, Doris Day, Little Stevie Wonder, Neil Young and Marianne Faithful. The new CD Hearing Is Believing collects his work.

Jack Nitzsche's 'Hearing Is Believing'

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Joe Strummer Before The Clash: The 101'ers

Fresh Air

Music critic Milo Miles tells us about Joe Strummer's pre-Clash band, The 101'ers. Strummer went on to fame as the lead singer of the seminal punk band The Clash. Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited is the reissued 101'ers album in stores now.

Joe Strummer Before The Clash: The 101'ers

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Fieldwork: A Jazz Trio's 'Simulated Progress'

Fresh Air

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Simulated Progress, from the co-operative trio Fieldwork. The CD features Vijay Iyer on piano, Steve Lehman on alto and sopranino saxophones and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums and percussion.

Fieldwork: A Jazz Trio's 'Simulated Progress'

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Arts & Life

Sounds of Philadelphia: Cameo and Parkway Records

Fresh Air

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about Philadelphia's Cameo and Parkway record labels. From the late 1950s to the late-'60s, their hits included "The Twist," "South Street" and "Bristol Stomp." ABKCO Records has just released a Cameo-Parkway four-CD retrospective.

Sounds of Philadelphia: Cameo and Parkway Records

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Music

New Applause for British Bar Band's Lone Effort

Fans of the band The Clash have long rooted around in record bins for the one album of a similar but obscure British bar band from the 1970s called The 101ers. John Brady reviews Elgin Avenue Breakdown, which has been re-released by Astralwerks.

New Applause for British Bar Band's Lone Effort

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