Here's a clip of Canadian math-rock proggists Rush with their 1978 track "Xanadu" as taken from their album A Farewell to Kings. Of any North American band who ever tried to match their European progressive rock counterparts for complexity and lyrical conception, it is Rush. This track is a part of their middle-phase, when their high concept material and intricate playing began to define them. Read Full Story

John Winston (Ono) Lennon was born on this day, October 9 1940 in Liverpool to Freddie and Julia Lennon.  Had he lived, he would have been 68 years old(!).  To celebrate,  I figured we’d do it musically, as opposed to me rattling off his life story, most of which everyone has heard. So, here are 10 [...] Read Full Story

Here's a clip of British chanteuse and out-of-leftfield pop star Kate Bush with 'Bambooshka' the lead track from her 1980 album Never for Ever. This is a love song as told in an olde worlde style - a fairy tale or parable about a woman who tests her husband by writing him letters, pretending she is a mysterious young would-be lover, and ultimately loses her relationship because of her groundless suspicions of him. Read Full Story

Here's a clip of country-pop songwriter Eddie Rabbitt and gospel-soul first lady Mavis Staples with a version of "Suspicious Minds", bringing together at least three disparate elements of music I love - soul, country-without-hats, and Elvis - yet in very strange packaging. This is seemingly taken from an Elvis Presley tribute show, and Rabbitt starts the clip with his song 'Kentucky Rain', a hit song he wrote for Elvis in 1970. And then (oddly) Mavis joins him from the middle-eight of... Read Full Story

Here's a clip of ethereal folk-pop singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan with her 1993 track "Ice" as found originally on her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album. Read Full Story

Here's a clip of soul-funk emperors The Isley Brothers with their 1969 hit "It's Your Thing", surely one of the sweatiest, funkiest floor fillers in the history of sound. Read Full Story

Here’s a clip of Who guitarist/visionary and rock opera guru Pete Townshend with a solo acoustic take on his song “Drowned”, the studio version of which appears on the Who’s 1973 concept album Quadrophenia. The reason the Who is in the upper echelon of British Invasion bands is that they helped to expand the possibilities of [...] Read Full Story

Here’s a clip of integrated Chicago blues collective the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with their take on “Driftin’ Blues” as performed at the 1967 Monterrey Pop Festival. Although by no means the first racially integrated blues group, the Butterfield band was one of the earliest integrated American blues bands to sign to a major label; Elektra [...] Read Full Story

Here's a clip of under-exposed soul man William Bell with his 1968 single "I Forgot To Be Your Lover",which can be found on the recent Stax compilation album The Very Best of William Bell. Read Full Story

Here's a clip of British folk guitar demi-god Richard Thompson with his song "the Sights and Sounds of London Town" as taken from his 1999 album Mock Tudor. He's accompanied here, among others, by ex-Pentangle bassist Danny Thompson (no relation), a frequent collaborator since the 1960s, and mandolinist Pete Zorn. Read Full Story