Reviewing your parents' music collection
Hit records are a strange thing. I don't know whether it is possible to listen to them objectively. Whether we are able to completely block out any information that pre-exists in our collective cultural canon. Whether we can listen without expectation. Without the anticipation of whether this record will live up to its name. Whether… Continue reading I think, this is what you call a hit record – Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” deserves its fame
"Great, another clichéd Western interpretation of the Chinese music tradition!" I think to myself as I draw the record for this week's review: Vangelis' 1979 album China. "Now I'll have to sit through 40 minutes of pentatonic scales, gongs, bamboo flutes and strings." And yes, that is part of what China offers. But there is… Continue reading A cosmopolitan endeavour ahead of its time – Vangelis’ journey to “China”
Sometimes, you can grasp the entire essence of an album by just listening to one song. Sometimes, there is this that one track that outshines any other on the record. Sometimes, this one song already says it all. And how convenient, when the song in question wears the same title as the album. Al Stewart's… Continue reading Why have an entire album when one song is enough? Al Stewart already says it all with ‘Year of the Cat’
The word 'migration' has gotten a slightly negative connotation in the context of politics in the last couple of years. But in the context of music, Dave Grusin is here to set the record straight as his 1989 album Migration is far from socio-political sorrow, multicultural messes and ideological irritation. Instead, what he brings to… Continue reading Groovin’ with Dave Grusin: The musical journey of ‘Migration’
A banging lead guitar. Song titles that sound like they've sprung directly from Scheherazade's One Thousand and One Nights. Mysterious blue tones framing a sinking orange sun. In case these things don't ring a bell, you might have never listened to Santana's 1972 album Caravanserai before. I never had. My parents own two copies of… Continue reading At the Crossroad: Santana’s ‘Caravanserai’ should leave the vocals behind
The Dad Anthology 