An Anniversary Edition of the Dead’s Second Live Album Like the Beatles’ so-called White Album, the Grateful Dead’s eponymous second concert LP (following 1969’s well-named Live/Dead) has come to be known by a description of its cover art: Skull & Roses. The record, which appeared in October 1971, contains performances from March and April of that year at seven New York and...
DVD Review: Rugrats: The Complete Series – 26-Disc Set
Oh, to be a kid in the ’90s again. Well, I wasn’t—not quite—but a younger sibling and cousins were. And Rugrats was all the rage. I don’t know what today’s youth will make of this hand-drawn animated show, if they even bother with it. But for anyone looking to revel in a little bit of ’90s-era nostalgia, this Rugrats: The...
Music Review: Paul McCartney – McCartney III
Arriving right around the mid-point of Paul McCartney’s third completely DIY album, McCartney III, is an extended song called “Deep Deep Feeling.” An elemental drumbeat kicks it off, followed by McCartney’s otherwise unaccompanied vocal. He’s singing about the duality of love and devotion (“The deep, deep pain of feeling”). Slowly other elements are layered in. Haunted lead guitar, jazz-inflected piano...
Matt Rowe
Matt Rowe began his life with an AM radio, listening to anything that was considered music. Since, he has labored intently to build a collection of music, paring it down, rebuilding, and refining as he sees fit. His decided goal is to keep up with new music by panning for the nuggets among literal mountains of music (he LOVES Heartless...
Andy Baldwin
U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Andrew Baldwin, M.D. is a physician, humanitarian, U.S. Navy diver and media personality currently serving as a family medicine resident at the Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton in Southern California. Prior to his current position, Dr. Baldwin served at the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in Washington, D.C. as a spokesman and advocate for Navy medicine....
Music Reviews: A 1989 Rolling Stones Concert, Plus Rudy De Anda, Darlingside, and Radio Receiver
Steel Wheels Live, the latest in a series of CD/video concert releases from the Rolling Stones, is better and more wide-ranging than its title would suggest: the moniker evokes a recording that simply delivers stage versions of the named album’s tracks. In fact, though, this set features only five of Steel Wheels’ 12 numbers (“Can’t Be Seen,” “Mixed Emotions,” “Rock and a...
Music Review: Paul McCartney – Flaming Pie – The Archive Collection
The newly-issued Flaming Pie: Archive Collection makes it a baker’s dozen entries for the slow-but-steady series. Since 2010, McCartney has taken his time curating the Collection. Universally acknowledged solo career high points like Band on the Run (1973) and RAM (1971) sit right next to extravagant re-packaging of far less-loved albums like Wild Life (1971) and Pipes of Peace (1983)....
Music Reviews: Pretenders’ ‘Hate for Sale,’ Plus Sylvie Simmons, the Five Keys, and Nocona
Hate for Sale is just the fourth album to be credited to the Pretenders in this century, but that’s misleading: Pretender-in-chief Chrissie Hynde has also released a couple of CDs under her own name in recent years as well as a collaborative project with Welsh singer JP Jones, and it’s often difficult to see why some albums bear the band name and others...
Music Reviews: John McCutcheon’s ‘Cabin Fever,’ Plus the Staples, LeRoux, the Wildmans, and Anthony Geraci
John McCutcheon, Cabin Fever: Songs from the Quarantine. If you have fond memories of the days when variously funny and poignant topical songs from artists like Tom Paxton and Phil Ochs occupied the limelight, you’ll probably appreciate this digital-only release from John McCutcheon. The veteran singer/songwriter—who sounds a bit like fellow folkie Richard Shindell—recorded the album in three weeks, starting in mid-March, in...
Gadget Review: Globe Electric smart home products
Near the end of 2019 this column included a review of a white-light smart bulb by Canadian technology company Globe Electric. After seeing the review, Globe sent the Gadget Inspector some of their other smart home products for review. Here are our thoughts. Multicolor Changing RGB Dimmable LED Strip Light Globe offers multicolored strip lights in lengths of 2.0 m...