Music

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs the new CD by Stan Ridgway.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two new albums: a punk-rock-opera by the group Green Day, American Idiot, and Rubber Factory by the group Black Keys.

Critic Milo Miles reviews the documentary about the influential recording engineer Tom Dowd, who for three decades worked with performers from John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Eric Clapton. The documentary is now on DVD. It's called Tom Dowd & The Language of Music.

Rock 'n' Roll historian Ed Ward reviews Smile, the recently released album Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys began working on after Pet Sounds.

Musician Lenny Kaye is perhaps best known as Patti Smith's guitarist. But he's also a music writer, whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Creem. His new book, You Call it Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, chronicles the male singers of the 1930s known for their suave, sophisticated and romantic interpretations of song: Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and Russ Columbo.

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell reflects on her life and her 30 years in music. She has two new anthologies: Dreamland collects well-known recordings; The Beginning of Survival showcases lesser-known works.

Rock historian Ed Ward comments on the burgeoning rock scene in Austin, Texas during the 1980s.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz profiles German Countertenor Andreas Scholl.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews Beautiful Dreamer: the Songs of Stephen Foster, featuring performances by many contemporary artists, including John Prine, Yo Yo Ma and Mavis Staples.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews End of the Century, a new documentary film about the Ramones. All members except the drummer have passed away; Johnny Ramone, the lead guitarist, died Sept. 15, 2004.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews The Great Divide, the new CD by saxophonist Von Freeman.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new three-CD box set of recordings of composer Paul Hindemith conducting his own works.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews new reissues of Duke Ellington recordings between 1950 and 1961: Blues in Orbit, Masterpieces By Ellington, Piano in the Background, and Piano in the Foreground.

Sorry, the Web audio for this segment is unavailable due to Internet rights issues. Donovan Leitch, known for psychedelic hits such as "Mellow Yellow," is back with his first album in 8 years, Beat Cafe. Known best by his first name alone, Leitch grew up in Glasgow, and was a big part of the San Francisco music scene in the late 1960s.

Music critic Ken Tucker reviews Blueberry Boat, the new album from brother and sister duo Fiery Furnaces.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Travels in the South, the new album from North-Carolina based singer-songwriter Chris Stamey, formerly of the dB’s and the Sneakers.

Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews Expansion, the new CD by pianist Dave Burrell (High Two label).

Bernstein died Wednesday at the age of 82. He was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, but won only one — for his music for the film Thoroughly Modern Millie. His best known film score was for The Magnificent Seven (which was later used for a Marlboro cigarette commercial). His other film scores include The Man With the Golden Arm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Great Escape, Sweet Smell of Success and The Ten Commandments. (Originally broadcast on Jan. 10, 1991.)

McLagan played with the first generation of British rockers, handling keyboards for both the Small Faces and Faces, led by vocalist Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood. McLagan produced a new box set of Faces recordings, Five Guys Walk Into a Bar.

Music critic Milo Miles reviews a new box set by the 1970s band Faces, Five Guys Walk into a Bar.