Where have I been? Jess Harvel RULES, especially love his piece on Zep, where he dubs Robert Plant "a praying mantis in a fright wig." … [Read more...]

¶ Some critics have a weird prejudice against box sets. I know because my NPR producer, Virginia Prescott, invited Robert Christgau onto a year-end box set roundup discussion, and he declined saying he "doesn't cover boxes." His readers "don't have the bucks it takes to keep up with them," or some … [Read more...]

Before the year goes out I want to mention one of my favorite reads of recent months, even though it's copyright 2001 (now in Da Capo paper). James Harvey's MOVIE LOVE IN THE FIFTIES (Knopf) had me hankering for the nightly pre-sleep read, and it's added a score of flicks to my rental list. Harvey … [Read more...]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: The Hitler Diaries (Beatle edition). … [Read more...]

I've been listening to Dave Holland Quintet's EXTENDED PLAY, a magnificent twofer on ECM, recently nominated for a Grammy. It's heading straight for my list. The recording alone is masterful: each instrument beautifully placed in the spectrum, and the drumming is beyond crisp. Even in slower … [Read more...]

After listening to UNEARTHED for a couple weeks, I'm convinced it's not only all the stuff that Rubin should have released originally, it's one of the best box set concept/executions yet, and if you come anywhere near adoring Cash, make sure it's under your tree. Greil Marcus is tough on the whole … [Read more...]

Yeesh, once again I disagree with everybody, even the redoubtable Jan Herman. The reason ANGELS IN AMERICA never worked for me, in ANY medium, was simply because it's a) too long and b) unfocused. I'll give any show SIX HOURS, but Kushner's original EIGHT were anything but poetically structured, … [Read more...]

¶ Double Dipping: yesterday on HERE AND NOW discussing Remastered Rock, tonight on ON POINT, discussing box sets with NPR's Tom Moon. ¶ If I'm lyin' I'm cryin': I just heard this Starbucks longhair sincerely proclaim Tom Petty one of the "great singers" of his era. ¶ The Hours and The … [Read more...]

They don't sell classical music like they used to. Back in the day, if piano titans such as Rudolf Serkin or Artur Rubinstein hit a rough note in the middle of a concerto, engineers would simply patch it up to make it sound perfect. It's called "sweetening," and the practice has become such a … [Read more...]

Here's a shamelessly immodest excerpt from Ron Rosenbaum's current OBSERVER column, which also wins LEAD OF THE MONTH: ...Anyway, all of this was running through my mind before the delayed murder charges. (The death occurred last February; Spector later told an Esquire writer, Scott Raab, that … [Read more...]

MYSTIC RIVER intimidates even the most admirable of critics (Fallen World, by Geoffrey O'Brien in the NY Review of Books). It's hard for him to justify how "Victims will become victimizers, and victimizers themselves come to be seen as the helpless agents of a destiny just beyond their control," … [Read more...]

My sister Annie sent me this mash-up, which you can find on this guy's page. It's more than obvious, sure, but could anything out-creap Jacko's mug shot? How about THE PLAY IT'S GETTING? As Mark Geragos enters the lexicon, it's time to rent DEVIL'S ADVOCATE again. … [Read more...]

Why don’t editors push writers harder, especially for special “theme” issues (does the TIMES mag do any “regular” issues anymore)? Rob Walker’s iPod story last week quoted Steve Jobs as saying "People think it's this veneer -- that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' … [Read more...]

¶ After two episodes of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, we’re ready to give Liza Minelli the rebound award for “Best Save: Marriage and Career in Flames.” And she shouldn’t thank wardrobe, which hopefully is part of her character. ¶ Prison conversation between Spector and Jacko: “What are you in for?” … [Read more...]

¶ My kids totally loved CAT IN THE HAT, and there are two gags that tip it into the plus column for me: the infomercial (“Anything…?”), and the petition dude who says “Okay, I have trouble with the term ‘dog’…” ¶ So here’s the Beatles story WBUR’s HERE AND NOW ran yesterday, I’m already getting mail … [Read more...]