Mike also presents capsule reviews of releases by Jeremy, The Ordinary Boys, Nick Pipitone, Githead, The Arcade Fire, The Black Watch, Robert Gordon, Pukka, Moonbabies, a Jam compilation and Gigantic.

Mike also has his CD-R of the Month.

Gary Glauber reviews the latest from The Churchills, Loggins & Messina, Jim Boggia, Brandon Schott and Bob Sharkey Quartet.

Michael Lynch contributes a review of the latest from mod band Headquarters.

Kurt Sampsel is back with a review of a reissue from The Raik's Progress.

If you are a first time visitor, visit our About Us page. Click here for back issues.


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An Interview With Dominic Priore: Good Things Come To Those Who SMiLE: Gary Pig Gold climbs into the Virtual Sandbox

by Gary Pig Gold

As hard as it was for me to be a high school Beach Boys fan landlocked in the Toronto suburbs of the early Seventies, equally frustrating was trying to glean full, not to mention fully reliable, Brian Wilson information - that of the non-authorized, whitewashed B. Boys Inc. variety - in the lost decade following 1976's despicable "Brian Is Back" campaign. That's why books such as David Leaf's The Beach Boys and The California Myth provided absolutely essential glimpses into the unknown world of the elder brother Wilson, while his musical brethren were instead already preparing to spend their remaining endless summers way down in Kokomo...

...SMiLE: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece is nothing less than the definitive literary companion to all those wondrous sounds of Brian's we have been chasing these past thirty-eight years, and my interview with Domenic will only begin to hint at the special nature of both the author and his subject matter. so Listen, Learn, Read On ...and Don't Forget to SMiLE.....

One fascinating subject you touch upon early in the book is how Brian Wilson, at the very beginnings of his career as a Beach Boy, was already busy writing, performing on, and/or producing sessions for many other local singers and musicians "on the side." Why do you believe these stellar recordings - many of which sport a near-Spector level of sophistication YEARS before "Pet Sounds" - were never chart successes?

Well, that statement is not really true, because...

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So Much Music, So Little Time

by Kevin Mathews

It's that time of the year when I dedicate my column inches to worthy indie labels and this August we return once again to Jeremy Morris' Jam Records and welcome Double Dragon Music from the Old Blighty!

The man behind Double Dragon Music is Stephen Taverner (aka Tav). Tav had in early 1994, come across ''Garage Girl,'' Irish band Ash's demo tape. Suitably impressed Tav put up the money so that Ash could press 2000 7" copies of "Jack Names the Planets" on Tav's own LaLaLand record label. The rest, as they say, is history and Tav became the band's manager. Tav would...

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Further Observations From a Jangly Musical Fan

by Eric Sorensen

I had the pleasure of enjoying an evening of terrific live music at the Birchmere in mid-July. The tandem of Pure Prairie League and Poco played for three hours before a sold-out audience. Pure Prairie League opened with Gene Clark's "Kansas City Southern" and then showcased some new material (that reminded me of Restless Heart and Blackhawk) as well as their chart hits. Craig Fuller did a superb job on "Falling In And Out Of Love/Amie" and the other songs that he performed lead vocals on. Bass player Michael Reilly had the lead vocals on "Kansas City Southern" and "Two Lane Highway;" lead guitarist Curtis Wright (who sounds a lot like Vince Gill - the then obscure singer who replaced Craig Fuller in the PPL lineup in 1978) had the lead vocals on several new songs and "Let Me Love You Tonight." The Fuller/Wright/Reilly three-part harmonies were spot-on! The five-member band included a talented pedal steel guitarist who also played fiddle and mandolin.

Poco's first three songs were...

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From Leftovers to Rightovers: the Richard X. Heyman Interview

by Robert Pally

"Rightovers" is a collection of superb leftovers from the sessions to "Basic Glee" (2002), the last album by Richard X. Heyman. The originally fans-only CD will finally be made available for the public, but only as downloads. In the interview Richard talks about his work with artists like Brian Wilson, his ingredients for a good pop song, the perfect crime and the internet.

Robert Pally: "Rightovers" is stylistically a pretty mixed affair. How come?

Richard X. Heyman: I've always written R&B-tinged songs along with the melodic pop and folk rock. All those songs were originally recorded for "Basic Glee", but I had to whittle down the selections for an album's length. The only song that was a bit different from the norm was "August", in which I wrote the lyrics first and the production leaned toward the psychedelic.

Robert Pally: What made...

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