I have a mixed and conflicted relationship with jazz music. Some, the stuff I have always thought of as swing music, I love deeply. Other jazz, the more free-flowing, less structured music I associate with the years after the swing age, I do not care for. Because I lack a proper understanding of this large …
We should never have allowed disco to become a musical punchline. It was and is a valuable form of musical expression, it is almost always a lot of fun, and is oh-so fun to dance to. There was space in popular culture for it and whatever its detractors were into. But we live on this …
Canadian Gospel Music Association was founded in 1974. Four years later, they released this LP celebrating the nominees for the 1977-78 Covenant Awards in the categories of “male, mixed, and female group.” The Covenant Awards celebrate the best in Canadian Christian music. The association and awards still exist, although it now goes by the Gospel …
Recently I purchased a couple of boxes of shellac records, most of which are 78 RPM. When I found this one, I knew I had to start with it. The rest were made by record companies I still know the names of, and while I know this company’s name, it is for something entirely different. …
I have a lot of cassettes of this sort, and for a while I actively sought them out as much as possible. They are of interest to me because I often know the songs when I hear them, but not by title or artist. They are somewhat less interesting than original releases, but they are …
The majority of my collection comes from what I affectionately call junk stores. Rarely are these the chain thrift stores (although these are where the majority of my hifi components were found), they are too picked over by high foot traffic. Junk stores are smaller, often the ground floor of an old house, or a …
I am not, and have never been, a person of faith. If there is a magic in devotional music beyond pure musicality, I am indifferent to it. Yet, I still find myself drawn. At its best, there is something raw and pure about it. There can be no doubt about the singer’s belief, their love …
November is here and that means that National Novel Writing Month is upon us again. It is my hope that I can publish one review a day for the whole month as my way to participate, and I am only putting it out there because then I will feel pressure to keep it up. The …
I like disco. I like it quite a bit. But my thoughts have not really evolved in the past few days, when I last talked about a disco album, so I do not have a whole lot to say in the front half of the essay. I like it, a lot, and I have been …