Search Results for "Bill Wyman"

You’ve heard of the country music outlaw? Lyle Lovett is the music’s reigning white-collar criminal — and, like many of his counterparts in the real world, he’s enjoyed little of the social ostracism his profession deserves. Instead, he’s living in luxury, his victims not even aware they’ve been had. The Texan’s first record produced three…

How it was exactly that country became uncool is a subject for another time — suffice it to say that by the early 1990s, the utter banality of contemporary country music and the grunge era’s distrust of nearly all things rootsy combined to marginalize just about any artist who possessed both a brain and a…

Fans of Uncle Tupelo liked Jeff Tweedy but considered Jay Farrar the band’s real talent. In that context, the debut by Wilco is a surprisingly substantive exposition of smart songcraft, the work of a determined and confident creative force. Backed on A.M. by remnants of Tupelo (drummer Ken Coomer, bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Max…

May all your wishes be granted, goes the ominous blessing. And how can Speech complain? The leader of Atlanta’s Arrested Development saw every would-be rock-star dream come true. He made the record he wanted, sold millions and had his shot at reforming the face of pop music. It hardly seems fair that the now-defunct band’s…

England’s Polly Jean Harvey — distinct from the group PJ Harvey — came to public attention in 1992 with Dry, a startlingly scabrous and extremely dramatic portrait of a woman on the verge of total emotional collapse. While Harvey would later downplay its trenchancy and focus, it’s important to note how explicit and abject Dry‘s…

Tripl3fastaction formed from the remains of the late-’80s Chicago punk foursome Rights of the Accused. Matured a bit from ROTA’s indelicate assault and solidly grounded in good old midwestern power pop, singer/guitarist/songwriter Wes Kidd and drummer Brian St. Clair fashioned the aptly named Tripl3fastaction and — along with pals Loud Lucy and Veruca Salt —…

Johnny Marr discovered Morrissey in 1982, sometime after, one assumes, Steven Morrissey invented himself. Wags asserted that not since the Who had so formidable a talent been married to such an embarrassing, nay pitiful, lead singer. With the demise of the Smiths five years later, hastened by Marr’s inability to cope with the stardom his…