Greg Sandow

Pardoning the National Security State

Pardoning the National Security State January 12, 1993 As an ex-CIA officer who has twice battled the CIA all the way to the Supreme Court, I’ve learned some bitter lessons about how accountability does and doesn’t work in the national security…

Sinatra at 80: The Ultimate in Theater

Sinatra at 80: The Ultimate in Theater Voice Jazz Special, June 20, 1995 Frank Sinatra will be 80 this year, on December 12, an event telegraphed by several commemorations, notably a three-concert salute at Carnegie Hall in July and a complete…

White Line Fever

White Line Fever August 26, 1986 I. PROLOGUE Miami is one of those cities with its own peculiar odor and you smell it most distinctly during the hours before dawn. There is salt in the air, of course, a nod to the abiding presence of the southern…

Vampirical Evidence

Vampirical Evidence VLS, June, 1982 Vampires don’t know what they look like. Dracula says so himself, speaking through Fred Saberhagen in The Dracula Tape. They don’t show in mirrors, you see, so unless they ask someone they have no way of knowing…

Blowin’ in the Wind: A Folk-Music Revolt

Blowin’ in the Wind: A Folk-Music Revolt January 14, 1965 On the frontier of every art form guerilla bands of prophets and crackpots are nourishing the orthodoxies and fashions of tomorrow. A decade ago the frontier outlaws were men like Miles Davis,…

Why Did Rudy Giuliani Submarine a BCCI Probe?

The Ties That Blind: Why Did Rudy’s Office Submarine a BCCI Probe? October 19, 1993 A specter that haunted Rudy Giuliani’s first run for mayor in 1989 — the association of his then law firm, White & Case, with the notorious international drug…

Compositions

Rapt, jazz-tinged explorations of a single smoky mood. Episode Recaps

Stereo MCs

These white British guys have invented a fresh variation on black American rap. Their rhymes are crisp, their beats taut and intriguing. Episode Recaps

Call Me D-Nice

Member of star rap group Boogie Down Productions goes solo, with some richly amiable music and lyrics.

Stray

Pensive fourth album by an upredictable band. This time its songs range all the way from dark alternative rock to a gentle love song Roberta Flack would be proud to sing.

Lucifuge

Second album, far stronger than the first, by a unique hard-rock band that thinks evil dominates the world-and seriously examines the consequences.

The Hard Way

A country boy with a battered voice sings epic rock & roll. Episode Recaps

Episode Recaps

Passionate heavy metal from a German woman with a strong spiritual bent.

Seven Turns

First album in nine years from a classic Southern boogie band-and it’s a winner. Episode Recaps

La Raza

He’s a Chicano rapper from L.A., and at his best-in the moody title track-he conveys the flavor of an urban Latino culture not heard from often enough in mainstream pop. Episode Recaps

Smooth Noodle Maps

Survivors of the ’70s write lyrics that examine what the future holds. Their dance music is as technological as ever, but surprisingly solid and sane.

Tradewinds

Elegant R&B in close harmony, from four sisters best known up to now as Anita Baker’s backup group. Episode Recaps

James Brown: Live at the Apollo

Reissue of a scorching live performance, unavailable for years.

The Best of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks

Reduced by many historians to a footnote reference as the Band’s pre-Dylan employer, Ronnie Hawkins was, in fact, an estimable rock & roll and rockabilly singer who cut some fine records in the late ’50s and early ’60s. Whether doing justice to…

Warm Sound in a Gray Field

Cultured New Age music, peaceful and alert, from a guitarist in Arsenio Hall’s band.