Rock

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his picks for the best music of 2006. While CD sales figures are down from last year, Tucker says that music is increasingly being distributed in new formats.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews The Black Parade, the third album by the New Jersey quintet My Chemical Romance. Their dark musical approach has gotten them labeled as an "emo" band.

The Beatles' original producer George Martin worked on a Fab Four soundtrack to a Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas show, which remixed and combined various Beatle songs. Now, Martin and his son Giles have released a modified soundtrack of that production, an album called Love.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your A**, the new CD from the band Yo La Tengo.

Manzarek talks how he came up with the famous piano riff from "Light My Fire."

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews The Captain and the Kid, Elton John's new album.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews White Bread Black Beer, the first album in eight years by the post-punk band Scritti Politti — which is now down to its sole founding member, Welshman Green Gartside.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us the story of Wire, a British art-rock band from the late 1970s. Wire has broken up and reformed several times, but Ward focuses on the original. Three albums have been reissued and are available in stores: Pink Flag, Chairs Missing and 154.

Bob Dylan's new album, Modern Times, hit the top of the record charts last week. Now 65, the singer-songwriter continues to explore blues and older pop styles with lyrics that frequently contain contemporary references.

Golden Smog is a side-project for veterans of rock bands such as Wilco, the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, and lesser-known groups.

Elvis Presley confidant Jerry Schilling talks about his new book, Me and a Guy Named Elvis: My Lifelong Friendship with Elvis Presley. When Schilling was 12 years old, he met the teenaged Elvis Presley at a north Memphis pickup football game. As Presley rose to fame, Schilling joined him on the rise, eventually becoming creative affairs director for Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are marking their 30th year in the business with a U.S. tour, and Petty has a new solo album, Highway Companion.

Our rock critic reviews albums by Tom Verlaine of the '70s New York punk band Television: the instrumental album Around, and Songs and Other Things, which includes his compositions and vocals.

Our rock critic reviews Rockford, the new album by the rock band Cheap Trick, who were best known for their late 70's pop-rock hits.

The brother-sister team of Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger has a new album called Bitter Tea, which they describe as "sissy psychedelic Satanism." Their other albums include Rehearsing My Choir, made with the participation of their 82-year-old grandmother.

Our rock critic reviews two new albums: “Death by Sexy” by Eagles of Death Metal, and “Curses” by Rye Coalition.

Few musicians are as identified with Texas as the late Doug Sahm. But Sahm also spent five years in exile in California, where rock historian Ed Ward got to know him. Ed takes a look at this period, in which he says Sahm and his band, the Sir Douglas Quintet, did some of their most lasting work.

Neko Case grew up in Tacoma, Wash., attended art school in Vancouver and performs and records with the Canadian pop-rock band The New Pornographers. As a solo artist, her music has often tended to be more influenced by country and folk music. Her new CD, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, is her fourth studio album. Our music critic says it contains some of her most complex and beautiful music to date.

British guitarist and vocalist Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers talks about the band's music. The other members are his sister Michele, and Sean and Angela Gannon (also siblings). In sound, they've been compared to early Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas.