Blogcritics

The Rockologist Buys Himself An MP3 MP5 Player For Christmas

Glen Boyd — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:16:35 EST

Any port in a storm, right?
So I finally went and did it. I bought myself an MP3 player for Christmas. Actually, make that an MP5 player.For those who read this column fairly regularly, this may come as bit of a surprise as I've been known to rave on a bit about things like the poor sound quality of MP3s. I've also been known to rail away about how today's...

The Rockologist Makes An Urgent Plea To Steven Wilson

Glen Boyd — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:33:22 EST

Please don't make me steal your new solo album.
Steven Wilson, for the uninitiated, is best known as the creative brain-trust behind the British progressive rock group, Porcupine Tree. I can already hear a lot of you scratching your heads and asking "who?" right about now, and in America at least, you'd hardly be alone there.Porcupine Tree doesn't sell that many records on this side of the pond,...

The Rockologist: Got My Cheap Trick Records Out!

Glen Boyd — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 09:20:49 EST

For a brief time, Cheap Trick were not only one of the biggest bands in the world, they were also arguably the best.
I have to be honest and say that when I heard Sony/Legacy was doing yet another commemorative repackaging of Cheap Trick's legendary 1978 live At Budokan album, I was a bit skeptical.How much more mileage can you get from a single concert, I thought to myself? The original single disc album only featured about half of the concert, and they already...

The Rockologist: Why Its Okay To Like AC/DC Again

Glen Boyd — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:51:01 EDT

AC/DC. It's whats for dinner.
Have you noticed all of the classic rock acts from the seventies and eighties coming out of the woodwork the past couple of weeks?If 2007 was the year of the big-deal reunion tour with everyone from The Police to Genesis to Van Halen jumping on the big bucks bandwagon, then 2008 is rapidly shaping up as the year of the classic-rock revival....

The Rockologist: Reconnecting With My Inner Creedence

Glen Boyd — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:03:31 EDT

This Tuesday Fantasy Records is reissuing the first six of Creedence's original albums in new remastered editions with bonus unreleased tracks.
Growing up as a kid in the sixties -- with so much great music being produced in the golden age of rock and roll experimentation that it was -- there are still just a handful of bands that I can say directly impacted me in the sort of way that would have a profound effect on who I eventually became as an adult.The Beatles would almost certainly top...

The Rockologist: The Invincible And The Inevitable

Glen Boyd — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 07:44:49 EDT

A Thriller And A Killer.
Michael Jackson turned 50 this weekend, and I can't help but feel a certain irony there. You see, as much as the Michael Jackson of 1983 symbolized everything about a music industry riding the crest of a perfect wave way back then, the arrogance of the way he called the last album he put out Invincible (despite circumstances proving otherwise...

The Rockologist: Giving Bootlegs Some Love

Glen Boyd — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:19:30 EDT

As a music fan, you've gotta do what ya' gotta do.
So here's the thing. If you are a diehard music fanatic as I am, bootlegs are a fact of life.I mean how else are you going to get your hands on that rare Dylan song, or that even rarer soundboard recording from the current Radiohead tour? As a music fan, you've gotta do what ya' gotta do.My own lifelong love affair with bootlegs began...

The Rockologist: Remembering Early U2 On Those Deluxe Reissues (Boy, October, and War)

Glen Boyd — Fri, 1 Aug 2008 23:27:05 EDT

Rediscovering when U2 was, above all else, a great rock band.
I think the thing that most immediately struck me the first time I heard U2 was the sound. The drums were huge, leaping out of the speakers and into your face right out of the gate on "I Will Follow," the opening track of their 1980 debut album Boy. The jangling yet edgy guitars likewise cut across the big boom of the drums like a...

The Rockologist: The Beach, The Sea, and The Who

Glen Boyd — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:51:37 EDT

Check your local listings for VH1's Rock Honors: The Who. But if you love rock and roll, don't miss it.
When I was growing up in the seventies, I can honestly say that there were few artists that affected me in quite the same way that the Who did. On the surface, you had the fact that these four guys made one hell of a big noise. Yet in spite of the unhinged chaos that characterized their live performances, there was something lying underneath all of...

The Rockologist Puts Together A 4th Of July 2008 Mixtape

Glen Boyd — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:03:24 EDT

In porn terms, Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" is what you would call the "money shot" of a July 4th mixtape.
By the time most of you read this, I'll be on my way to spend the 4th of July holiday with my buddy Dave, at his cabin up on The Lake. Dave and I are best friends dating back to our high school days, and 4th of Julys spent at The Lake are a tradition dating back at least that far.Over the years, the stories from our summers at The Lake are both...