“The Greatest Night In Pop” – an exhilarating chronicle of the story of “We are the world”
“I think that it’s best to remember that the price of life this year is a piece of plastic 7 inches wide with a hole in the middle” - says a surprise guest that had just returned from Ethiopia and had been invited by legendary producer Quincy Jones. This line was...
“Breathing” by Great Good Fine OK is 2024’s first great pop single
The world of pop music, for ages, has revolved around radio-friendly “hit singles” – that catchy slice of 3-4 minute-long sonic bliss that stays lodged in the memories of music aficionados for years, if not decades. These singles also serve as catalysts for generating...
Madonna’s Celebration Tour Concert at Madison Square Garden is a story of a girl making it in New York City
Date: January 29, 2024 Venue: Madison Square Garden ( New York City) Tour: The Celebration Tour The word “queen” is unambiguously appropriate for a female artist whose reign (in pop music years) has been almost Elizabethan. Today, with this frame of reference, the...
Veteran Artists and Bands returning with new music in 2024
I am painfully aware that I am over three weeks late with this article. For that, I sincerely apologize. 2023 was quite the year for veteran artists returning with new music. The biggest surprise (and highly unlikely comeback) was that of acoustic folk duo turned...
Netflix’s Robbie Williams paints a vivid portrait of one pop music’s most potent brands
Music documentaries have become catalysts for re-evaluations of the musical legacies of celebrated and lesser-known musicians – especially if these artists rose to prominence in the pre-internet years of contemporary mass pop culture’s heyday. What the pre-internet...
Kings Of Convenience showcase the seductive purity of sonic minimalism at Webster Hall in New York City
When indulging in commentary around Norwegian folk-pop duo Kings Of Convenience, context around their unlikely rise to prominence and their place in the sphere of pop music is king (please forgive the pun). It is impossible to dive right into the core of a review of...
Duran Duran put on a high-octane performance at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City to celebrate 40
An unwavering tenacity coupled with a spirit of perseverance appears to be the recipe for longevity and survival in the music business. This might be the overarching lesson of New Wave gods Duran Duran’s final concert for their 40th anniversary and Future Past album...
Belinda Carlisle embodies the dreamy-eyed optimism that permeates her music at Sony Hall in New York City
In his video titled “Why Old Music Is Killing New Music” youtuber and former music producer Rick Beato calls to attention the limited cultural relevance of new music. Some of this can be attributed to the slow but steady disappearance of mass pop culture as it applies...
Netflix’s Wham! is a treasure trove of stories chronicling the meteoric ascent of two boys to global megastardom
“The music community took the piss. I mean, how can they look like that and make music like this? How can the country be in love with these two idiots?” – said the late international British popstar George Michael as he assessed the response of UK music critics and...
HANA just might be Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s magnum opus
By guest blogger Kaushik Chakravarthy British singer-songwriter, Sophie Ellis-Bextor has been known to wildly oscillate from one side of the sonic spectrum to another on her albums. Her rich and diverse catalogue spans a wide spectrum encompassing everything from...
Seal enthralls at Beacon Theatre in New York City
It is baffling to think that British popstar and Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Seal, whose signature single is a ballad (i.e. the timeless classic “Kiss from a Rose”) and a modern pop standard, initially rode the coat-tails of the early 90s burgeoning rave...
Peter Cox of Go West showcases swagger and soul on “Seaglass”
In the American musical mainstream of yesteryear, the hits of some bands enjoy far more name recognition than the bands themselves do – especially if these music acts only had two or three singles that cracked the Billboard Top 40 singles chart. One noteworthy example...