Remembering Mark Hollis of Talk Talk By Tom Maxwell Feature The singer of “It’s My Life” left us a brilliant solo album, then chose to be a family man.
Shelved: Brian Wilson’s Adult/Child By Tom Maxwell Feature Music from the time after the good vibrations ended.
Remembering Ken Nordine By Tom Maxwell Feature The ambitious radio personality created his own form of expression, called “word jazz,” to properly accomodate his musical voice and artistic ambitions.
Shelved: Sonny Rollins Live at Carnegie Hall By Tom Maxwell Feature The saxophone colossus recorded two concerts at the same venue fifty years apart. Only one recording emerged from the vault.
Remembering James Ingram By Tom Maxwell Commentary The R&B singer and songwriter made it look easy, even when it wasn’t.
Shelved: Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine By Tom Maxwell Feature How the songwriter’s abandoned third album became two albums.
A History of American Protest Music: Come By Here By Tom Maxwell Feature How cultural appropriation and erasure turned an African American spiritual into a white campfire sing-along.
Remembering Singer Nancy Wilson By Tom Maxwell Feature The influential singer’s voice cut across genres and decades, and it will continue to.
Shelved: The Lady of Rage’s Eargasm By Tom Maxwell Feature Rapper Robin Allen’s hit song bypassed the hip-hop boys club that held her debut solo album back.
Remembering Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks By Tom Maxwell Feature The Buzzcocks’ enduring influence might have surprised punk frontman Pete Shelley, but not his fans.
Shelved: Jimmy Scott’s Falling In Love Is Wonderful By Tom Maxwell Feature Greed and contractual disputes kept one beloved jazz singer’s masterpiece off the shelf for 40 years, and sent him into retirement.
Shelved: The Sound of Big Star’s Self-Destruction By Tom Maxwell Feature As the band dissolved, they managed to capture their destruction in some dark, powerful music.
Shelved: Bill Evans’ Loose Blues By Tom Maxwell Feature An album that took five months to record sat in the vault for 20 years before finally getting pressed to vinyl.
Remembering Pioneering Studio Engineer Geoff Emerick By Tom Maxwell Feature Emerick engineered more than The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. He helped re-engineer the way music got made.
Shelved: The Velvet Underground’s Fourth Album By Tom Maxwell Feature The story of the Velvet Underground’s fourth album that almost never was.
A History of American Protest Music: Which Side Are You On? By Tom Maxwell Feature Just as we were in the 1930s and ’60s, America is suffering a moral crisis. We have to decide which side we are on: hate and exclusion, or justice, inclusion, and democracy?
The Story of ‘Ella and Louis,’ 60 Years Later By Tom Maxwell Feature A century-defining album’s improbable genesis.
