HIGH BIAS -- July 15, 2001 -- Richard Thompson, ELO, God Forbid, Porcupine Tree, Scooters, Shaver, Otis Taylor, Mark Eitzel

Album reviews of new music by:

God Forbid: The sort of nonstop, clean, precise metalcore that's intended for the type of folks who think Metallica should be playing retirement homes. (more)
Porcupine Tree: ...as good as anything on the band's brilliant recent albums. (more)
Scooters: They jingle, jangle, crunch and pop with deceptive ease. (more)
Shaver: The latest album by father-and-son duo Shaver turns out to be the last, as guitarist Eddy died of a heroin overdose just before its release. (more)
Otis Taylor: Taylor possesses a gruff moan that sounds engineered by God to sing the blues. (more)

Plus Mark Eitzel in concert!

Stagestruck

RICHARD THOMPSON
@Austin City Limits, Austin, TX; July 2, 2001
Austin City Limits producer Terry Lickona has been trying to get British rock legend Richard Thompson on the show for over a decade. Finally, he succeeded, and it was worth the wait. Magic often happens in studio 6A during tapings, and this night saw the air shimmer with it. Accompanied by longtime bassist Danny Thompson (a fellow 60s British folk vet known better these days for his jazz work) and drummer Michael Jerome, Thompson and his guitars held the capacity crowd in the palm of his callused hand with a set that traversed the last two decades of his fabled career. (more)

Refreshed

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Eldorado (Epic/Legacy)
Discovery (Epic/Legacy)
Time (Epic/Legacy)
Secret Messages (Epic/Legacy)
Electric Light Orchestra is probably one of the biggest but most unrecognized and unacknowledged influences on the current pop underground. Any band that features lush production, soaring melodies and, most importantly, a sense that pop can be popular as well as cool probably has a few ELO albums in its members' closets. (more)

Site design by Georgina Toland