Reviews of music
Hello, everyone! As you may or may not be aware, for the past several months I have been running a weekly video game music column on Fridays called ‘Play It By Ear’. The idea has been that each week I … Continue reading ‘Play It By Ear’ Seeks a New Format
This was almost an entirely different review. Quick background: The Beatles 1962-66 and The Beatles 1967-70 were originally released in 1973, two double LPs (vinyl) which served as their Greatest Hits. (For my thoughts on those collections, see this link: … Continue reading How Good It Can Be: The Beatles Red Album, 2023 Edition Review
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #13 – Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #12 – Glover
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #11 – Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #10 – Descent II
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #9 – Potionomics
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #8 – Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #7 – Dynamite Headdy
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #6 – The Mummy Demastered
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #5 – Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!!
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #4 – Lila’s Sky Ark
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list of upcoming games and their corresponding playlists here. I will … Continue reading Play It By Ear #3 – Baten Kaitos
Hello all! Welcome back to Play It By Ear, a weekly column where every Friday I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. (Last week I had initially mentioned that this would be a bi-weekly column, but after … Continue reading Play It By Ear #2 – Chameleon Twist 2
Hello all! Welcome to the first (and hopefully not last) installment of Play It By Ear, a bi-weekly weekly column where every two weeks week I discuss my thoughts on a different video game’s soundtrack. You can see the list … Continue reading Play It By Ear #1 – Dustforce
Pen! started listening to The Zolas in 2019 during a rough and extended emotional slog through not-yet-resolved heartache, his former manager having shared with him one of the songs, Get Dark, off this very record, expressing his bafflement over the … Continue reading Record Reviews with Pen!
The fourth in the remixed and augmented Beatles albums to be released, Revolver almost didn’t happen. There were two reasons. First, so much of the instrumentation had been recorded onto single tracks live, that it was thought to be impossible … Continue reading Did I Tell You I Need You: Revolver Super Deluxe Edition Album Review
Powerage, or: Bon Scott done got a broken heart Powerage occupies a funny spot in AC/DC’s discography. It’s the one before Highway to Hell, the band’s commercial breakthrough(ish) and maximum power, and after Let There Be Rock, and altogether far, … Continue reading Record reviews (with Pen!) rides into the sunset
One of the stranger hits of the Eighties was a song by the band named Stars on 45. 45s, you may remember, were vinyl singles with one tune on each side, Sides A & B. (I did a couple of … Continue reading The Day Thread Celebrates Stars on 45
Flick of the Switch, or: Brian Johnson vs. Women I’m doing this for my own sake, for my own sake in terms of getting AC/DC out of my system. This is Flick of the Switch. AC/DC, riding high off three … Continue reading Record Reviews with Pen! (week three)
Welcome, comrades, to another edition of Record Reviews (with Pen!), a semi-regular column in which I review whatever the hell I’ve been listening to semi-recently. – Fly on the Wall, or: (indiscernible Brian Johnson squealing) The year is 1985, AC/DC … Continue reading Record Reviews (with Pen!) this week
