carole king
The Reissue Section: Fall 2021
Vinyl sales have gone up 94% this year, according to a report by the RIAA. That helps the massive flux of reissues that dotted the fall. But that’s not the good news. What really makes this column hum remains the variety of choice titles that are released on CD, and sales of that sturdy little plastic silver disc went up 44% in the first half of 2021 as well. And with the slew of choice archival titles that dropped like so many acorns across the autumn landscape, both formats will certainly be seeing a significant bump in those numbers as the holiday season closes in. Now let’s get into it. Here are the best reissues of Fall 2021. Violent FemmesWhy Do Birds Sing? Expanded Edition (Craft Recordings) For a lot of kids who came of age in the 1980s, the first real taste of college rock came co...
Why the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Was the Best in Years
After skipping a year due to the pandemic, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its 2021 class with a wild, surprise-guest-filled party held in the town many argue is the ceremony’s only rightful home: Cleveland, Ohio. What a homecoming it was. Paul McCartney became a seventh Foo Fighter. LL Cool J, Eminem, and J. Lo blew up the night like old-school hip-hop Avengers. And later, LL was the only person on the arena floor to stand and clap for the late, great Biz Markie. Both Carli(s)les — Brandi and Belinda — were in the house. Drew Barrymore did Ponds performance art. [embedded content][embedded content] The Go-Go’s swore to use their induction to get more female bands into the painfully male-dominated institution. And, randomly, Survivor host Jeff Probst was there — the sol...
The 50 Best Live Albums of the 1970s
The concert industry exploded in the 1970s, and the live album, a stopgap project once reserved for only the biggest artists, became a compulsory ritual and a pivotal moment for many artists. Live albums captured legendarily loud bands like The Who and The Ramones in their natural element. Once obscure regional acts like Bob Seger, KISS and Cheap Trick exploded into the mainstream with live albums. The Band, The Stooges, and Velvet Underground put their final gigs on vinyl. Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young (as his ongoing archive series shows), and Jackson Browne recorded entire sets of new songs onstage. The Grateful Dead released several official live albums (and continue to do so) that only made fans want to bootleg shows on their own more. With the 50th anniversary of a landmark live album, Th...
Foo Fighters, Jay Z, The Go-Go’s, Carole King, Todd Rundgren and Tina Turner Inducted Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
And they’re in. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their inductees for 2021, and it’s a doozy. Foo Fighters, Jay Z, The Go-Go’s, Carole King, Todd Rundgren and Tina Turner will round out the performer category. Additionally, in the Musical Excellence category, LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads get the call to the hall while Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton were tapped in the Early Influences category. Clarence Avant will be inducted as the recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award which honors non-performing individuals. The Foos, Jay Z and The Go-Go’s were first-time nominees. Late last year, we wrote about why the Go-Go’s should be inducted into the Rock Hall and spoke with the band’s Jane Wiedlin earlier this year about their new documentary and her thoughts o...
Fall Out Boy, James Taylor, Carole King and Ben Harper Highlight Biden Pre-Inauguration Concert
Joe Biden’s inauguration — which, despite everything, is happening — will be celebrated with some virtual music on Sunday, Jan. 17 at 8pm ET. The lineup includes Carole King, will.i.am, James Taylor, Fall Out Boy, Michael Bivins, Ben Harper and AJR with Keegan-Michael Key and Debra Messing as hosts. The invitations — which circulated today — say there will also be appearances from Connie Britton, Kal Penn, Sophia Bush and Jamie Camil. Fall Out Boy is somewhat of an obvious choice for this, considering Pete Wentz’s personal connection to Biden: “My parents met working for Joe Biden in the Senate in the 70s. To me he is a beacon of empathy, compassion and kindness. The times we live in call for a leader with these specific traits. Proud to call Joe Biden my president,” he said in an In...
