Rock critic Ken Tucker says that, with the rise of bad boys and neo-traditionalists in country music, fans and critics have overlooked several accomplished women artists. He reviews new albums by four singers worth checking out.
Ken Tucker reviews the home video release of I Wanna Hold Your Hand, about a group of teenage Beatles fans in New Jersey. The film, directed by Robert Zemeckis, was a commercial fop, but Tucker, who says it's insightful without indulging in cliches, hopes it will find a new audience on tape.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new Smithsonian box set of American musicals from throughout the twentieth century. His only complaint is that, with such a wealth of archival material, he wonders why more serious and contemporary music was included.
Drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth are a married couple who comprise the Talking Heads' rhythm section. Despite the band's success, they found it hard to support their two children. To make ends meet, Frantz and Weymouth started a new band called Tom-Tom Club. Their new album is called Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom.
Small Faces were contemporaries of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but never reached the same level of fame, in part because they failed to break onto U.S. charts. Rock historian Ed Ward says it's a shame -- they broke up soon after hitting their stride in 1968 -- but the members later found success with Humble Pie and Rod Stewart.
Christa Wolf's new autobiographical novel juxtaposes the protagonist's worries over her brother's forthcoming brain surgery with the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Book critic John Leonard says, despite the book's emotional darkness, Wolf's book is a flicker of light.
The veteran sports journalist has a new book called The Heart of the Order, which collects his baseball columns from the past five years. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the respectful way he interviews and writes about athletes, managers, and owners -- and how this approach has enriched his reporting.
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, once on NBC, has found new life on the Lifetime network. TV critic David Bianculli says the performance of star Blair Brown is reason enough to tune in.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews neo-bop drummer Ralph Peterson's first album as a bandleader. Whitehead praises Peterson's dynamic and energetic approach, particularly in how he backs soloists -- all of whom shine.
Schell rose to prominence for his 1982 book Fate of the Earth, about nuclear disarmament. A former staffer at the New Yorker, he has a new book called Observing the Nixon Years, about the precarious position the United States was in during the Vietnam War.
26-year-old Daniel Waters wrote the new black comedy Heathers, about high school cliques and teenage suicide. He joins Fresh Air to discuss the thinking behind his macabre satire.
The drag artist, also known as Lipsynka, has a new one-person show in which he mimes the lyrics to women pop stars and fame-obsessed divas. Critic-at-large Laurie Stone calls the performance lovely and purposefully crude.
In 1934, twenty-one-year old Philby became a spy for the Soviet Union. British journalist Phillip Knightley conducted several interview with him, which became the basis for his biography, called The Master Spy.
Rock critic Ken Tucker says the music coming out of Los Angeles today has come a long way from the soft rock sound of the 1970s. But no one style dominates the city -- there's some good pop and rock, but Tucker is most excited by rap artists from Compton.
Stahl hosts the CBS show Face the Nation. She joins Fresh Air to discuss President Reagan's tightly-controlled engagement with the media, the sometimes vindictive nature of past administrations, and how she conducts effective interviews.
Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart was overshadowed by the string of exceptional movies also released in 1971. The film is shocking in its sexuality and subtlety.
Cellist Janet Horvath suffered from tendinitis, which was caused by overzealous practicing. Now fully recovered, she works to call attention to the numerous playing-related ailments and injuries professional musicians of all kinds are subject to.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new collection of recordings by the African American singer Marian Anderson, a contralto known for her masterful rendition of art songs and spirituals.
