This is the one that made them a household name. Well, dorm room name. Prior to 1971 the Dead were San Francisco hipsters, with a small presence at the Fillmore East, where they most famously played at midnight. But despite not appearing in the Woodstock movie, in the spring of 1970 the Dead made inroads […]

Peter Frampton was not the only unheralded rock star to break through with a live album in 1976. But unlike “Frampton Comes Alive,” Bob Marley and the Wailers’ live LP was a single disc and it had little initial impact, it was not the end of the band’s career, but only the beginning. You’ve got […]

I gotta know tonight If you’re alone tonight I wanted to hear “Hysteria” in hi-def. So I fired up my Wimp app and searched, but didn’t find it, other than in its live iteration. That’s right, Def Leppard is at war with Universal. Can’t stop this feeling Can’t stop this fire The album is twenty […]

HOME SWEET HOME Somehow I missed this one. Then again, I’d equate listening to the Crue with the title of the album the original emanates from, “Theatre Of Pain.” Yup, Motley Crue was a product of the Sunset Strip metal/glam renaissance, loved by pubescent girls, but hated by the cognoscenti, until nascent A&R man Tom […]