Newk's Time (Rudy Van Gelder Remaster) - Sonny Rollins

Advantages: Possibly the best tenor saxophonist ever - without a doubt the best still alive!
Disadvantages: None - if you want to see him live, you should try to soon - he's getting on a bit now - 73 yrs old now - still as good as ever though!

...with many jazz greats, having already done so with Babs Gonzalez, J.J. Johnson, Bud Powell and Miles Davis before he turned twenty, and also benefitting from having Thelonius Monk as a mentor. Later in his life, during the mid-sixties, Rollins stopped playing in public and tried to get into religion, and especially eastern religions, spending time in Japan and India, and also spending a lot of time in a monastry. In the 70's however, Sonny resurfaced again and returned to recording and playing again, making his next recording in 1972, and is still going strong. Recently, I had the chance to see Sonny Rollins playing in a rare appearance at the Barbican in London, and I must say that he was absolutely fantastic. Although he may now look slightly older, his playing is still as good as when he was younger and on those classic recordings... Read review

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Advantages: Filled with the best songs, from one of the best ever Punk bands.
Disadvantages: Not really any, except for the odd weak track.

...I think it?s fair to say that Rudi must have been one of the unluckiest bands ever. This is the only album available which signposts the band that time forgot? Let me start off by saying that his album is truly remarkable, definitely one of the best in my collection. After listening to is through I started to wonder what actually happened to this band, and why are there no other albums by such a quality artist. Its true to say that I could fill up a few pages about the history of the ill-fated band, but that would be going off topic as this is a review of the album, but I am going to tell you a little bit about the band as I feel it will give you a better insight into this album, and exactly why it is so essential. Away from contrary believe, Stiff Little Fingers weren?t the only, nor the first, punk band from Northern Ireland... Read review

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Advantages: no real need to finish it in one go
Disadvantages: only for fanatics really

...NOTE - this is a review of the book (although i believe it has been done as spoken word also.) henry rollins was the vocalist in black flag, possibly the most influential LA hardcore band, from 1981 until their dissolution in 1986. totally at odds with his warped stage persona, he was a fairly insular character, and so chose to keep a journal rather than interact with those around him, and what we have here are his collected entries from about 1983 onwards, along with whatever he can recall about the time prior to that. much like kurt cobain's journals, he didn't originally think this would be published, so nothing is held back (which does mean that there are a few passages which can pretty much just be ignored). he pisses and moans about his bandmates, fans, pretty much everyone he meets apart from ian mackaye (of fugazi, who was... Read review

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