The design is simple, but memorable: four panels against a black background. It’s reminiscent of the cover art for Let It Be—but instead of the Beatles, we’re looking at cartoon characters, illustrated in varying hues and degrees of suspicion. In…
5 Songs for a Night at Gatsby’s
From decade to decade and dusk till dawn, the last name Gatsby is passed down between generations like a bottomless flute champagne glass. I invite you inside the mansion to get a closer look, or rather listen, to the empty…
From the Record Crate: Lou Reed – “Transformer” (1972)
After his self-titled debut, released just seven months prior, had all but slipped under the radar, Lou Reed was ready to make his grand statement, demonstrating to the world what he had already proven to so many of his fellow…
From the Record Crate – Lou Reed: The Blue Mask (1982)
With The Velvet Underground, singer-songwriter Lou Reed latched onto a level of consistency and innovation that resulted in four incredible albums and enough leftover material that, in 2015, The Complete Matrix Tapes somehow revealed new layers to the band’s genius. But after…
10 Other Times Artists Pissed Everyone Off
A few days ago, my colleague Matt Rice wrote an article on the 10 Times Bob Dylan Pissed Everyone Off. Dylan’s career is full of left turns that bewildered fans, but other artists have thrown similar curveballs in their career.…