As a devotee of from-the-gut tunesmiths, 25-year-old Pete Droge isn’t afraid to write songs in which he wears his heart on his flannel sleeve. But performing them before his musical idols is another story. For example, Droge found it “overwhelming” to appear at last year’s benefit for California’s Bridge School,…

Trenchmouth Trenchmouth vs. the Light of the Sun (East/West) Trenchmouth means to test just how far the millions of freshly minted “alternative” fans are willing to go: Are they drawn to new music simply because it’s fashionable, or are they genuinely committed to searching out innovative sounds? You and I…

Slick Rick Behind Bars (Def Jam) Rick James Bustin’ Out: The Best of Rick James (Motown) With the Snoop Doggy Dogg trial looming and accused multiple murderer O.J. Simpson presently getting more press than he ever did for packing a pigskin, it’s no surprise that jailbirds everywhere have begun to…

In a world seemingly ruled by ego, Boulder-based singer-songwriter John Vecchiarelli is a definite exception. “I don’t know the name of one chord I play,” he confesses. A largely self-taught strummer who picked up the guitar less than two years ago, Vecchiarelli adds that he’s a big jazz fan, but…

You might not expect the author of such sunny-sounding pop near-classics as “Someday, Someway” to have a testy bone in his body. But there’s more angst in Marshall Crenshaw than initially meets the ear. Nursing a heavy head cold in a Dallas hotel room, the singer-songwriter chooses to open this…

Judging by what he’s seen and heard from his local and national contemporaries, Tony Achilles, a 25-year-old singer/guitarist with the Denver folk-rock quartet Sweetwater Well, says, “Everybody’s into being depressed.” But while other Generation Xers appear convinced that pain sells, Achilles and his bandmates–guitarist/vocalist David Jackson, drummer Chris Helvey and…

Various Artists Woodstock ’94 (A&M) Didn’t I read about this on a Pepsi twelve-pack?–Michael Roberts Sade The Best of Sade (Epic) The lukewarm smooch tracks from this babe probably couldn’t even get a rise from the inmates at Denver County Jail.–John Jesitus Collective Soul Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid…

Barbra Streisand The Concert (Columbia) Streisand has dedicated at least the most recent ten years of her career to trumpeting her own greatness, and The Concert–exceedingly portentous title–is no exception. The CD’s jacket is dominated by rave reviews of her recent tour (“The Way Streisand Is–Sensational!” gushed USA Today) and…

Soul Coughing Ruby Vroom (Slash/Warner Bros.) If you had any doubt that lead vocalist M. Doughty used to review music (for the New York Press), check out “Sugar Free Jazz,” in which he needles acid-jazz trendies with the line “Put your fake goatee on” over a beat that probably wouldn’t…

R.E.M. Monster (Warner Bros.) Anyone who assumed, after perusing the ink already spilled over this, that Monster would sound like a less accessible version of Metal Machine Music can be forgiven for being somewhat underwhelmed by the reputed noisiness of the twelve ditties contained herein. “Star 69,” five numbers into…

Boulder poet Benjamin Porter Lewis isn’t your average mountain-town java-joint junkie. If his streetwise delivery and frizzy near-dreads don’t make that point abundantly clear, his sublimely untutored rants against political injustice and racial prejudice tend to do so in a hurry. For example, a piece titled “Censorship” opens with the…

Liz Phair Whip-Smart (Matador) Rock-critic types have treated the release of Whip-Smart with reverence suggestive of the second coming, which in some ways is appropriate–like Exile in Guyville, Phair’s slobbered-over debut, this sophomore offering doesn’t skimp on the orgasms. Unfortunately, I suspect that this songwriter’s focus on the various uses…

There’s nothing ladylike about Veronica. The Boulder-based trio–guitarist/vocalist Ted Thacker, drummer John Call and bassist Vernon “Tom” Sprenkle–delivers punchy, two-minute pop songs with a careening energy fueled by testosterone and/or alcohol. In its brief four-gig history, the tight-knit threesome already has earned positive reactions from clubgoers. This response is understandable,…

For the last couple of years, the Gin Blossoms have seen more of the road than Bob Hope in his prime. Since the 1992 release of the album New Miserable Experience, the Tempe, Arizona-based quintet–vocalist Robin Wilson, guitarist/vocalist Jesse Valenzuela, lead guitarist Scott Johnson, drummer Phillip Rhodes and bassist Bill…

Various Artists The Lion King: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Walt Disney) On the heels of the relatively strong material from Beauty and the Beast and the okay tunes from Aladdin come the generally treacly songs from the faux-Bambi currently monopolizing the screens at your neighborhood multiplex. Elton John wrote…

Just like the lunchroom staple for which he’s named, Meat Loaf is a mixture of many elements. The one he seems to prefer is rebellion: By way of explaining the course of his career to date, the once-rotund retro rocker says, “I’ve always swum upstream.” Born in Texas, the former…

“We’re the most insecure band in Denver,” says Heather Dalton, vocalist for the Shrinking Violets. Adds Alex Slagg, the group’s guitarist: “I think one of our strengths is that we’re our own worst critics as far as stage performance, writing and practicing.” That’s saying something in light of the reviews…

Call the Denver rock scene incestuous and you’ll likely get no argument from the members of Somebody’s Sister. In retelling the group’s history, founders/ spouses Doug and Annette Conlon drop more band names than the autobiography of professional groupie Pamela Des Barres. Doug, in particular, has plenty of experience on…

John Carter has his work cut out for him. In a city where there’s a Sound Warehouse in nearly every strip mall, Carter is trying to carve a niche for himself with Locals’ Music, a store that sells only locally made recordings. And he hasn’t exactly made the job any…

Jonas Tauber, the 26-year-old principal cellist for the Boulder Philharmonic, has some complaints about the marketing of the classics. “I don’t think classical music is heard enough in an informal setting,” he says. “And usually, it’s extremely expensive. I hate that, too.” For these reasons, Tauber doesn’t limit his playing…

Chandelaria, back-up chanteuse for the Boulder-based quintet called the Letches, puts it succinctly: “The Letches are a slap in the face to the music industry.” The group’s gift for overstatement aside, she may be right. While the Letches (Chandelaria, vocalist Zaid Muhammad Aziz, guitarist Diggie Diamond, bassist Danny Kaye and…

David Wilcox–known for his adventurous guitar tunings and sensitive-guy song stylings–seeks to take listeners to a higher plane not just musically, but personally. “I don’t mean to sound presumptuous, but there is some music that just kind of says, `We won’t solve these problems, but we can anesthetize,'” he notes…