Chris Morris

“Roadhouse Blues,” from the Doors’ 1970 album Morrison Hotel, was a tune covered with unique conviction by Top Jimmy, who died in Las Vegas on May 17, age 46, or maybe 106. Jimmy sang that fatalistic song hundreds of times with his band the Rhythm Pigs; once, at the Whisky......

Photo by Gary Leonard “Roadhouse Blues,” from the Doors’ 1970 album Morrison Hotel, was a tune covered with unique conviction by Top Jimmy, who died in Las Vegas on May 17, age 46, or maybe 106. Jimmy sang that fatalistic song hundreds of times with his band the Rhythm Pigs;......

Lorette Velvette, who‘s fond of unusual covers, should maybe consider adding “Que Sera Sera” to her songbag. Given her point of view, it’s certainly more appropriate for her repertoire than for Doris Day‘s -- or Sly Stone’s, for that matter. Four years ago, over a plate of fried chicken in......

Illustration by Gina Triplett In the 25 years since it was first released, Metal Machine Music has manifested itself more frequently as a form of critical epithet than it has as a musical work. Lou Reed’s two-LP, 64-minute noise suite in four movements has come to represent, in the view......

”Two sides to every story,“ John Lydon wailed on the October 1978 debut single by Public Image Ltd. The song, also called ”Public Image,“ was Lydon‘s attempt to claim his own identity, and a denial of the ”Johnny Rotten“ persona he had taken in the Sex Pistols, the group he’d......

Little Willie G.: New perspectives ”It‘s just in our DNA,“ says Guillermo Garcia, better known as Little Willie G., of his new solo album. ”We just tried to capture the passion of the music that influenced us growing up.“ The sounds on Make Up for the Lost Time are as......

I was in an Atlanta record store this spring when a CD displayed on a listening post caught my eye. Its striking booklet art depicted four sullen Japanese men clad in Hollywood-movie gangster togs -- black suits, black shirts, white ties. A promotional version of the same album (prepared for......

"I'M THE OBEAH MAN," CAPTAIN BEEFHEART proclaims on the 1966 demo that leads off the massive new compilation Grow Fins. And 'tis true: The powerful juju exerted by his aptly named Magic Band's dizzying music led the L.A.-bred musician to be esteemed as -- to quote another of his songs,......