product review
Product reviews and how-to's of rising music merchandise, CDs, albums, concerts, and more.
What Are You Listening To?
Music has the power to lift our spirits when we are feeling down. If you are looking for something to make your hips move and your feet groove, or you want to boost your mood, look no further. I have found music to be very therapeutic, when it comes to helping with stress management. I have compiled a playlist, of my personal favorites for coping with a serious case of the blues.
By Nicole (Nikki) M.9 years ago in Beat
Review of Bryson Tiller's 'True to Self'
I’m randomly listening to Bryson Tiller’s debut album TRAPSOUL, thinking, "Damn, just one more month.” Then with a simple tweet notification, my wishes were granted. We’ve been waiting for this for what seems like forever, and I have a few things to say about True to Self.
By Sadé Sanchez9 years ago in Beat
Fender Toronado: Not to Be Confused With Grandma's GM Oldsmobile
This is not to be confused with your Grandma’s old boat of a car, the GM Oldsmobile Toronado! This is a guitar folks. This is one breed of guitar that has both confused and interested me at the same time. When it first came out a few years ago, it caught my eye because it, at first glance, looked like an alternate version of the Jazz Master. But let me say straight up that a Jazz Master it is not... and to be fair, nor was it intended to be.
By Mark Darnell9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 6 of X
Rob Sheffield makes the case for Ringo in the next chapter of his stellar Dreaming the Beatles, putting the question regarding Ringo as whether he was an all-time genius drummer who made the Beatles possible, or "a clod who got lucky, the biggest fool who ever hit the big time". Sheffield puts his chips on the genius.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
The Worst Song to Ever be Created
Sometimes, bad music happens to good bands. Elvis Presley infamously sang "Confidence" as part of a children's movie he filmed in the late 60s. Chuck Berry's song, "My Ding-A-Ling," was his only solo hit - and also happened to be a several minute long joke about his ding-a-ling. Even Paul Simon had a gaffe or two under his belt.
By Skunk Uzeki9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 5 of X
Rob Sheffield's short chapter in his Dreaming the Beatles (actually, they're all short, which is good) is about "It Won't Be Long," and is about as fine a piece of music journalism, or rock 'n' roll analysis, or whatever you want to call it, as you can find. It's a holographic sample of why the book as a whole is so enjoyable and important.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 4 of X
I don't want to get too far into Rob Sheffield's addictive book without posting another review, so I thought I'd check in here after finishing a chapter on George, which comes after discussions of Ringo (which I talk about in my last review) and Paul and John, which are of course a part of every chapter.
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 3 of X
In the next chapter of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles -- I just realized that the chapters are not numbered, which means that each chapter is a piece of a hologram, a snapshot of the whole, like a verse in many a song -- we get a deconstruction of "Dear Prudence," which Sheffield holds to be one of The Beatles' best, and I agree (though they have so many bests the term hasn't the usual meaning for me).
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper Celebrates 50 Years of Veneration with Exquisite Box Set
It was 50 years ago today when the Beatles unleashed what would become the band’s seminal masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The album was a sonic work of art in 1967, forever changing the landscape of what could be achieved in the recording studio. It’s hard to imagine now, but back then, no one had heard anything remotely close to the conceptual revelation that was encapsulated on the fab four’s eighth studio effort.
By Eric Allen9 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 2 of X
Among Rob Sheffield's many talents as a Beatles journalist -- not historian, because, as Sheffield convincingly demonstrates, the Beatles are far more important today than when they were writing and recording as a band, which back then was extraordinarily important indeed -- but among the delightful ways Sheffield makes his case is by fashioning his arguments from the Beatles' lyrics, so deftly that you don't even want a quote. Talking about John Lennon's unquenchable need to make a girl care, to make her "feel something," Sheffield concludes "Because if he doesn't reach her, the song is worthless and so is he. It's a love that lasts forever, it's a love that has no past".
By Paul Levinson9 years ago in Beat
In Depth Review of Logic’s ‘Everybody’
The production of the project is top notch. Executive produced by his partner in crime 6ix, the album also includes production from Logic himself, No ID, and a couple others. Features include the likes of Killer Mike, Khalid, Alessia Cara, Black Thought, Chuck D and more. Everybody did great in its first week in sales, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. And although it didn’t do so good in its second week, who cares? Logic is one talented guy, and this is a super elaborate concept album.
By Sadé Sanchez9 years ago in Beat
