Anne E. Johnson

February 2023 Rock/Pop Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Jim Austin, Robert Baird, Phil Brett, Tom Fine, Anne E. Johnson  |  Feb 09, 2023  |  0 comments
Peggy Lee: Norma Deloris Egstrom from Jamestown, North Dakota (Expanded Edition); Blancmange: Private View; Weyes Blood: And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow; Pit Pony: World to Me; Various Artists: Live Forever: A Tribute to Billy Joe Shaver
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January 2023 Rock/Pop Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Robert Baird, Phil Brett, Anne E. Johnson  |  Jan 13, 2023  |  0 comments
David Bowie: Divine Symmetry (An Alternative Journey Through Hunky Dory), Björk: Fossora and Emily Scott Robinson: Built on Bones.
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October 2022 Pop/Rock Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Anne E. Johnson  |  Oct 07, 2022  |  0 comments
Angel Olsen: Big Time and Bananarama: Masquerade.
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Recording of October 2022: Dialogue
Recording of the Month
Anne E. Johnson  |  Sep 14, 2022  |  0 comments
Howard Jones: Dialogue
D-Tox Records (Multiple formats; auditioned as 16/44.1 stream). 2022. Howard Jones, prod.; Robbie Bronnimann, eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½

Howard Jones has always come across as an endearing blend of mad scientist and hopeless romantic. Since his 1983 debut single, "New Song," he has blended obsessive technical detail with extreme emotionality. His newest album, Dialogue, is the latest example of this approach, in which intricate structures of synthesized sound grow into musical mountains supporting impassioned lyrics.

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September 2022 Pop/Rock Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Kurt Gottschalk, Anne E. Johnson, Tony Scherman  |  Sep 09, 2022  |  0 comments
Madison Cunningham: Revealer, Black Midi: Hellfire and Porridge Radio: Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky.
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July 2022 Pop/Rock Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Larry Birnbaum, Anne E. Johnson, Tony Scherman  |  Jul 15, 2022  |  0 comments
Camp Cope: Running with the Hurricane, Oumou Sangaré: Timbuktu, Old Crow Medicine Show: Paint This Town and Spiritualized: Everything Was Beautiful.
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Recording of July 2022: Growing Up
Recording of the Month
Anne E. Johnson  |  Jun 23, 2022  |  14 comments
The Linda Lindas: Growing Up
Epitaph (16/44.1 stream, Qobuz). 2022. Produced, engineered, and mixed by Carlos de la Garza.
Performance *****
Sonics ****½

When your uncle is an award-winning producer and engineer, a band formed by you and your cousins has a higher-than-average shot at going somewhere. But even that family advantage can't explain the immediate success of the Los Angeles–based Linda Lindas; they've earned their accolades through talent, hard work, and ingenuity. Their first album, Growing Up, offers proof of their worth and the promise of a stellar musical future.

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June 2022 Rock/Pop Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Tom Fine, Anne E. Johnson  |  Jun 10, 2022  |  0 comments
Cosmic American Derelicts: The Twain Shall Meet and Destroyer: Labyrinthitis.
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May 2022 Pop/Rock Record Reviews
Music and Recording Reviews
Phil Brett, Anne E. Johnson, Tony Scherman  |  May 13, 2022  |  1 comments
Son House: Forever On My Mind, Superchunk: Wild Loneliness and Yard Act: The Overload.
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Recording of May 2022: Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
Recording of the Month
Anne E. Johnson  |  Apr 20, 2022  |  4 comments
John Mellencamp: Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
Republic (16/44.1 stream, EMI/Qobuz). 2022. John Mellencamp, prod.; David Leonard, eng.
Performance ****
Sonics ****

You might think an artist with 22 Top-40 hits would identify his winning formula and stick with it. Instead, John Mellencamp's long career has been a tale of determined development and often improvement. On his latest album, the 70-year-old Indiana native has nestled deeper into his rural Midwestern roots, eschewing rock defiance for folk philosophy. The result is a powerful baring of the soul, which, to many Americans, will also be a glance in the mirror.

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