Aural Fixations

THE ARROWS
A's & B's & Rarities
(EMI)
VODKA COLLINS
Boys in the Band
(Polystar)
ALAN MERRILL
Aleecat
(MEC)
Do you ever wonder if there's a secret history of rock & roll? A legion of artists toiling away in the shadows, influencing trends, innovating movements or just plain making good music that's as much worth hearing as anything with names like Stones, Springsteen or Spears attached? Well, your suspicions are correct—there's a whole coterie of musicians who helped make history but were then forgotten. But just because the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll doesn't mention them doesn't mean they ain't there. Such an artist is Alan Merrill. (more)

THE BEVIS FROND
Bevis Through the Looking Glass
(Rubric)
Rubric continues its slow trickle of reissues of the Bevis Frond catalog with Bevis Through the Looking Glass, the Frond's first outtakes and rarities record. Originally issued in 1987 in a limited vinyl edition of 500 copies, the album was subsequently reissued by Reckless, the Frond's American record company at the time. The material dates from the period of his first pair of albums Miasma and Inner Marshland, thus, at this time, the Frond still consisted only of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Nick Saloman and his trusty home portastudio. (more)

THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective
(Tee Pee)
After a decade-plus of existence, San Francisco's Brian Jonestown Massacre is finally expanding its audience beyond its devoted cult. Unfortunately, this is due less to its consistency and hard work as a recording act and more due to its appearance in DiG!, a documentary film that reached people not only outside of the BJM's fan club, but also folks who aren't necessarily underground music fans. (more)

MILES DAVIS
A Tribute to Jack Johnson
(Columbia/Legacy)
By 1971, Miles Davis had already pioneered and re-written the rules of fusion, the combination of jazz and rock that can be magic in the hands of a genius like Davis and pure pain in less deft paws. His albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew were groundbreaking works that still resonate today. He had further innovations coming in early 70s work like On the Corner and Pangea, but before he got back to blazing trails, he decided he needed to rock. (more)