Blogcritics Author: David Bowling

Music Review: Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxter's

David Bowling — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 01:46:06 EST

Jefferson Airplane: Chapter 3.
The Jefferson Airplane’s second release, Surrealistic Pillow was a huge commercial success and catapulted the group to superstar status. So what do you do for an encore? The answer is you take a creative chance and move in a different direction. The folk/rock leanings were left behind, as the group put the guitars out front and embraced a...

Music Review: Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow

David Bowling — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 18:53:23 EST

Jefferson Airplane: Chapter 2.
Vocalist Signe Anderson left the Jefferson Airplane in October of 1966. She was quickly replaced by Grace Slick of the Great Society who had been an opening act for the Airplane, and would solidify the group’s line-up. Slick also possessed one of the great female voices in the history of sixties and seventies rock ‘n’ roll....

Music Review: Jefferson Airplane - Jefferson Airplane Takes Off

David Bowling — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:33:25 EST

Jefferson Airplane: Chapter 1.
Marty Balin met Paul Kantner in 1965 and their resultant musical relationship would lead to the creation of the Jefferson Airplane. This influential and successful American rock ‘n’ roll band would eventually be elected to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. While there would be several personnel changes during the group’s early...

Music Review: Elvis Presley - Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70's Masters

David Bowling — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 10:17:46 EST

Five Discs and 120 tracks present the good and not so good of the 70's Elvis.
The Elvis Presley of the mid 1970s bore little resemblance to the lean rock icon of the 1950s and early 1960s. As the seventies progressed and his addictions and weight spiraled upward, he would increasingly put less effort into his recordings and live performances. By the time of his death in 1977, in many ways, he had become a caricature of...

Music Review: Lou Reed - Berlin

David Bowling — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 08:59:16 EST

More vinyl for your listening pleasure.
Lou Reed’s third solo studio album, Berlin, has been released in its original vinyl form and takes its place along side of a long list of classic albums that have been restored to their original format by Sony/BMG via their Legacy Series.After 1972’s “Walk On The Wild Side” and his Transformer album, Reed had a falling out...

Music DVD Review: Parliament Funkadelic - The Mothership Connection Live 1976

David Bowling — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 08:58:20 EST

Houston gets funked on Halloween night of 1976.
I’m not sure how an aging, balding, Beach Boys fan like me ended up reviewing a Parliament Funkadelic DVD but somehow it magically appeared in my mail box. So here I am, transported to Halloween eve of 1976, watching the mother ship land in Houston, Texas. George Clinton began his musical odyssey as a member of the Parliaments who were...

Music Review: Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (Legacy Edition)

David Bowling — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 04:47:06 EST

Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue returns and it is not alone.
We have just passed the 25th anniversary of the death of Dennis Wilson. He drowned after diving from a boat at Marina Del Rey in California. He was 39 years old.He was the drummer, an underused vocalist, and a founding member of the legendary Beach Boys. He was also the only one of the group members who could actually surf. 1977 found Dennis Wilson...

Music Review: The Who - Endless Wire

David Bowling — Fri, 2 Jan 2009 19:54:32 EST

The Who: Chapter 17.
I have mixed feelings about Endless Wire. I was fine with The Who continuing as a group following Keith Moon’s death in 1978, but John Entwistle’s passing in 2002 hurt my image of the group as an ongoing entity. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, however, have kept The Who alive. They continue to tour and in 2006 released their first...

Music Review: Gary Moore - Bad For You Baby

David Bowling — Thu, 1 Jan 2009 20:04:53 EST

Gary Moore returns with some electric blues for the mind and soul.
Gary Moore plays the blues with a little rock ‘n’ roll mixed in for good measure. His legacy now reaches back to the late 1960’s with his work in the Irish band, Skid Row. He also took a couple of turns as a member of Thin Lizzy plus spent time in Colosseum II, BBM with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, and played in Greg Lake’s...

Music Review: The Who - Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B

David Bowling — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:29:36 EST

The Who: Chapter 16.
Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B is a four disc, five hour, career spanning history of The Who. The musical journey begins in 1964 with tracks released when they were known as the High Numbers and finishes in 1991 with their recording of “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” which was their contribution to the Elton John...