The Gardner

Still my favorite song of 2008.

The Five Most Pleasant Surprises of 2008

Part 5 of The Hurst Review’s eight-part end-of-the-year musical wrap-up, which will continue off and on through the first half of December, culminating in the Top 15 Albums of 2008.
I didn’t expect much from any of these albums. Based on the recent track records of the below artists, I’m not even sure why I listened [...]

Film Break: “Four Christmases”

My review of Four Christmases– the new comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon– is posted at CT Movies. Don’t let the trailer for this one throw you off; I thought it looked lousy, but it’s actually a very funny, very cute movie.

The Killers: “Day & Age”

If Day & Age had been released as The Killers’ second album, there’s a pretty good chance that the band would be much bigger today than they already are. Listening to the album now, at the time of its November 2008 release, it’s not difficult to imagine it as the sequel to their 2004 debut, [...]

What’s the greatest single of all time?

For my money, it’s “Common People,” by Pulp. And now’s as good a time as any to revisit it: Pitchfork Media, in celebration of their new book that chronicles the 500 greatest songs of the past thirty years or so, is hosting a free stream of the song.

Rivers Cuomo: “Alone II: The Home Recordings”

Rivers Cuomo is known for his goofy sense of humor and his self-conscious geekiness– and yet, for all of that, he comes across as a pretty serious guy sometimes.  The by-now infamous narrative about the Weezer frontman is that, ever since the release of the band’s odd, unconventional sophomore album, Pinkerton– an album that defied [...]

The Fireman: “Electric Arguments”

It probably wasn’t planned, but it’s fitting just the same that Paul McCartney is releasing his third Fireman album– along with collaborator/producer Youth– just a couple of days after The White Album turned forty. The Beatles’ seminal double album arrived at a time when fans and critics were beginning to think they had Paul all [...]

Buddy Miller: “The Best of the Hightone Years”

Buddy Miller has been making high-quality, rock-inflected country music for quite a while now, but he’s never had much in the way of radio play or commercial success, which has led many of his faithful fans to conclude that Buddy is simply too country– too gritty, too real– for Nashville. That’s not entirely true, of [...]

Overhyped, Overrated, and Underwhelming: Ten Disappointments from 2008

Part 4 of The Hurst Review’s eight-part end-of-the-year musical wrap-up, which will continue off and on through the first half of December, culminating in the Top 15 Albums of 2008.

There are a handful of them every year. Albums by beloved artists that fall a bit short of the mark. Much-hyped and over-blogged debuts that don’t [...]

Susan Tedeschi: “Back to the River”

By titling her new album Back to the River, Susan Tedeschi hints at some sort of retreat, a back to basics approach that her record label gleefully plays up by placing a sticker on the front cover that heralds the album as a “return to her signature sound.” And it’s a fair enough statement, on [...]