On a late December night at the Mercury Cafe, a dozen or so people wander on and off the stage. Some fiddle with various instruments–guitars, horns, hand drums, keyboards. Some chat with those doing the fiddling. And others don’t do much of anything other than soak up the atmosphere or…
Spencer Bohren, Saturday, January 13, at Swallow Hill Music Hall, is a former Fort Collins resident (he now lives in Casper, Wyoming) whose latest album, Present Tense, finds him doing what he’s done for the past quarter-century: paying tribute to American folk music and blues through his intriguing original compositions…
As a result of his late-Sixties recordings and collaborations with onetime Charles Mingus sideman John Handy and vibraphonist Gary Burton, guitarist Jerry Hahn is seen as a springboard for an entire crop of jazz strummers–Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, John Scofield and Bill Frisell among them. But until the release of…
Warren Zevon, Monday, January 15, at the Bluebird Theater, has a sense of humor twisted enough to appreciate the downturn in his commercial fortunes. Appearing on the scene with a self-titled album in 1976, Zevon burned brighter than almost any of his fellow Southern California songwriters: His first four or…
“Everybody in the band has different tastes,” confides Tim Cloherty, singer and chief songwriter for SoHo pop group the Rake’s Progress. “So when we write songs, we just sort of throw all the ingredients together into a big Rake’s Progress casserole and hope for the best.” The final concoction produced…
In the pop-music universe, three years is a long time–but not that long. A megahit album can keep spewing singles for much of that span, and even groups who have achieved more moderate success with their debuts can put off their sophomore efforts for 36 months or so and still…
Bleecker Street, Friday, January 5, at Cheers, is one of those bands that’s easy to overlook; its predominant qualities (reliability, good fellowship, fine musicianship) don’t always grab listeners the way they should. But Ben Stevens, Washboard Chaz and Steve “Porkchop” Sheldon are solid performers, their new CD, Tumblin’ Down (featuring…
Steve Forbert, Tuesday, January 9, at the Little Bear in Evergreen, enjoyed a brief vogue in the late Seventies and early Eighties: He earned ecstatic reviews for his first album (1978’s Alive on Arrival), a hit single, “Romeo’s Tune,” from his second (1979’s Jackrabbit Slim) and enduring respect from listeners,…
If it’s true what they say about nice guys finishing last, the members of Denver-based Carolyn’s Mother won’t be crossing the finish line anytime soon. After musing that they might be too inoffensive to get noticed, vocalist Rhett Lee says, “We’re gonna have to start burning some bridges or something–piss…
part 1 of 2 Far be it from us to contradict Frank Sinatra, but in many ways, it was not a very good year. Commercial music stagnated to a large degree during the past twelve months. While a few new and exciting artists appeared on the national scene, the majority…
Ozzy Osbourne, with Korn, Monday, December 31, at McNichols Arena, has reneged on his retirement, and who can blame him? During his gory days with Black Sabbath, he was routinely pilloried by social watchdog groups, and his music was sneeringly regarded as boneheaded spook-house fodder by mainstream critics. Now, however,…
part 2 of 2 FOLK Arcady, Many Happy Returns A lot of Irish music is dour; its obsession with questions of mortality and faith can constitute too much baggage for the average Joe. But you’ll get none of that from Arcady. This is a dance band, albeit a traditional one,…
Brethren Fast, Saturday, December 30, at Cricket on the Hill, is well named. The threesome is built on the guitar of Don Messina and bass-ic thumping by his brother Mik. Likewise, the tempos they utilize most often are quick, quicker and quickest. Sometimes the sound, like the instrumentalists’ sideburns, recalls…
Musically speaking, Gregory Walker is a hard man to figure out. And he’s not about to make things any simpler by explaining himself. “Well, I’ll start off with this disclaimer,” he says. “For some reason–maybe it’s narcissism–I love to hear people describe me. I mean, I can’t tell you anything…
Foreskin 500, Tuesday, December 26, at the Bluebird Theater, should shake you out of the post-holiday doldrums. The boys, who’ve been known to air out their private parts in public a time or two, are working on their second album for the Basura imprint (it’s due in early 1996), and…
Spell, with Fox Force 5, Friday, December 22, at the Bluebird Theater, hasn’t achieved the national breakthrough for which many locals were hoping: The band’s 1994 bow for Island Records, Mississippi, was first-rate, but it got lost in the avalanche of generic alt-rock released by the music industry over the…
part 2 of 2 Emmylou Harris Wrecking Ball (Elektra) Harris has an exquisite voice that’s especially moving when contrasted with the right male’s: Witness the poignant majesty of her duets with the late Gram Parsons and the coloratura that she contributed to Bob Dylan’s 1975 LP Desire. But solo records…
part 1 of 2 The Beatles Anthology, Volume 1 (Capitol/Apple) Anyone who expects this to be filled with fresh revelations is hereby advised to travel to India, track down the nearest maharishi and meditate until the delusion passes. To put it another way, the Beatles are arguably the most heavily…
Ken Nordine Colors (Asphodel) Of all the discs released during the high-water-mark year of 1967, this is among the most obscure–and the most wonderful. Nordine, a longtime favorite of performers such as Tom Waits, is now in his mid-seventies, but during his prime he was probably America’s most in-demand voiceover…
The Throttlemen, with the Hillbilly Hellcats, Thursday, December 14, at the Bluebird Theater, is the latest vehicle whose pedal Denver rock veteran Rex Moser is mashing into the floorboards. His past efforts, in acts such as the Pi nk and the Flatlanders, have established him as a man who’s plenty…
Sublime, with Guttermouth and Skankin’ Pickle, Friday, December 15, at the Ogden Theatre, created a small cult masterpiece in 1992–the album 40 Oz. to Freedom. Since then, these Southern Californians have continued to produce an u nusual blend of lo-fi, thrash-infused ska and dub tunes. As the recent Robbin’ the…
It’s not easy to make creative holiday music. Writing a seasonal classic is all but impossible; besides, it takes years to know if you’ve succeeded. And while it’s a snap to cover old favorites, the extraordinary familiarity of the material prevents all but the most innovative performers from doing anything…
