Backtracking: The Complete Series

Backtracking: The box set gift guide

September 30, 2008

BACKTRACKING

Dylan's heartfelt soul-searching

Bob Dylan's latest collection of material from his musical back pages, "Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8," is a rich, revealing look at how this master songwriter put together one of the most dramatic creative renaissances in pop history.

September 17, 2008

BACKTRACKING

Jimmie Rodgers: A voice that carried

Bear Family Records' remarkable new release, "Let Me Be Your Sidetrack: The Influence of Jimmie Rodgers," makes a persuasive argument that Rodgers is one of the most important figures in the history of country music.

July 1, 2008

BACKTRACKING

David Bowie's 1972 Santa Monica concert is being released on CD

When a bootleg album of David Bowie's Santa Monica Civic Auditorium stop on his 1972 Ziggy Stardust tour hit the market several years ago, I didn't even bother to listen to it because I couldn't imagine the music alone living up to my memory of such a spectacular visual presentation.

June 17, 2008

BACKTRACKING

Beach Boys boxed set brings back the fun, fun, fun

There have been so many Beach Boys greatest-hits packages that you wouldn't think Capitol Records had the nerve to release " California Girls" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" all over again.

June 3, 2008

BACKTRACKING

Ronnie Hawkins: Rock legend on both sides of border

If you are a fan of Bob Dylan and the Band, you might have heard the name Ronnie Hawkins quite a bit over the years, though you probably haven't heard much of his actual music -- the Canadian-based rocker has had little sales chart presence in this country.

May 20, 2008

BACKTRACKING

Country crooners vs. honky-tonk: Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, George Jones

If Eddy Arnold really is the most successful country music hit maker of all time, why haven't we heard more about him in recent years?

January 29, 2008

BACKTRACKING

Two groups that keep shining on

Pink Floyd's history and entire body of work aren't as familiar to the average music fan as those of such other 1960s British groups as the Beatles, Rolling Stones or the Who. Even some of Floyd's casual fans may think of it chiefly in terms of two landmark albums from the 1970s: "The Dark Side of the Moon" and "The Wall."

January 1, 2008

BACKTRACKING

The soul of Ike & Tina Turner

The pop world has focused for so long on the remarkably sensual energy and excitement of Ike & Tina Turner's old live show that it is often easy to forget the duo also made some dynamic records. But even if you have wanted to go back and check up on the pair's records from the 1960s and 1970s, it was difficult to know just which "best of" collection to buy because the Turners recorded for so many labels.

December 18, 2007

BACKTRACKING

U2's classic ages to perfection

U2's "The Joshua Tree," one of the most acclaimed albums of the rock era, was released 20 years ago this year, but it just got better.

November 27, 2007

BACKTRACKING

Nirvana 'Unplugged': intimate and revealing

If you didn't "get" Kurt Cobain the first time around -- and don't feel alone, many over-30 rock fans didn't -- Nirvana's "Unplugged in New York" gives you a second chance. This is the first time the band's celebrated acoustic performance on MTV is available on DVD and it's a compelling introduction to the man who was embraced by much of his generation with an almost John Lennon-ish fervor.

November 13, 2007

BACKTRACKING

Parsons release a discovered trove

Amoeba Music in Hollywood is so massive that you can feel overwhelmed. Between the new and used bins in the block-long store, you can find albums by thousands of artists.

BACKTRACKING/BOOKS

This fan of charts is No. 1, with a bullet

October 30, 2007

October 2, 2007

BACKTRACKING

The Queen holds court with new release

Despite distinguished work by Jill Scott, D'Angelo and other neo-soul artists in recent years, no single album captured the heart and intensity of classic soul music as fully as Angie Stone's "Mahogany Soul."

September 18, 2007

BACKTRACKING

Another side of Mercer

Johnny Mercer is one of the most celebrated lyricists in American pop music, and it's no wonder when you consider just a fraction of his more than 1,000 songs: "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," "That Old Black Magic," "Moon River" and "Blues in the Night."

February 6, 2007

BACKTRACKING

Essential Elvis? Here it is

The latest album in RCA's endless Elvis Presley's CD reissue series may have "essential" in the title, but don't believe it. RCA has called nearly a dozen earlier albums or boxed sets "essential," and few have lived up to the claim.

January 24, 2007

BACKTRACKING

There were a lot more of those stray cats than you thought

There's something so immediately appealing about rockabilly music that it's easy to assume the invigorating style has been a bestselling fixture on the pop scene ever since its start in the '50s in Memphis, Tenn.

January 9, 2007

BACKTRACKING

Craft as well as confrontation

The new N.W.A retrospective "The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge" raises an interesting question about when is the best time to measure an album's greatness. Is it the week the album is released or two decades later when you can see how well it holds up?

December 12, 2006

BACKTRACKING

A revealing '56 session with young lions of pop

The first rock 'n' roll summit meeting occurred 50 years ago this month when Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins got together in Memphis' famed Sun Records studio — and we finally can hear the whole thing.

November 15, 2006

BACKTRACKING

Young Dylan, the man of ideas

"Dylan Speaks," a DVD from Eagle Media, lets us revisit a revealing moment in the career of the revolutionary young poet named Bob Dylan — a scene that underscored how difficult it was for the mainstream media to make sense of the most important songwriter of the 20th century.

October 31, 2006

BACKTRACKING

Finally, a lot of Hooker in one place

As one of the most respected figures in the history of the blues, John Lee Hooker should have been an early giant of rock 'n' roll, right? His "Boogie Chillen' " was a smash R&B single in 1949 — just about the time Elvis Presley and the other rock pioneers were starting to turn to R&B to help shape their musical styles.

October 17, 2007

BACKTRACKING

Dylan, Hendrix DVDs show rock 'n' roll history in action

There haven't been that many nights in rock 'n' roll when you could say after a performance that music will probably never be the same again, but two marvelous new DVDs let us revisit two such evenings.

October 3, 2006

BACKTRACKING

Finally, a compilation of R&B that's done right

Bear Family Records' "Blowing the Fuse," a 16-volume series of CDs devoted to the evolution of rhythm and blues, is such a brilliant concept that it's a wonder it took all these years for someone to put it together — or at least put it together right.

September 19, 2006

BACKTRACKING

When Sugar Hill aided rap's climb

The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was the first hip-hop single to break into the national Top 40 pop charts, although anyone listening to it now for the first time probably would have a hard time picking up on what made the 1979 recording such a rap milestone.