Is that an extra hand in your pocket? By Leigh E. Rich Is that an extra hand in your pocket or are you just George Winston? The man who makes an empty stage, save for one grand piano, sound like a fine-tuned thunderstorm or a resurrected Jim Morrison dividing night from day tickled and taunted […]

‘Hard Candy’ By Leigh E. Rich Counting Crows Hard Candy Geffen A Similar to the alcoholic who’s hit rock bottom, the musical perfection the Counting Crows achieved with their debut album, August and Everything After, in 1993 left them few places to go. While 1996 and 1999 releases Recovering the Satellites and This Desert Life […]

‘Emerson Drive’ By Leigh E. Rich Emerson Drive Emerson Drive DreamWorks B It had to happen sooner or later: Boy band goes country. There is no other way to describe the debut of the sextet known as Emerson Drive—and with blown-dry coifs adorning its J Crew-esque liner notes, the emphasis is on “sex” … at […]

Selected show By Leigh E. Rich Though you’d be hard-pressed to pronounce its name, the latest deejay soiree brought to you by Cyber Visions is out to make a few friends. Transgressing the cultural boundaries of the many microcosms that make up metro Denver with an evening of house, trance, and Eurotech, Zjednoczeni—Polish for “united”—and […]

Elvis Costello packs poetry into latest project By Leigh E. Rich Elvis Costello When I Was Cruel Island Grade: A Elvis Costello wants to be your spooky girlfriend. Oh, and he is. The barely month-old When I Was Cruel emulates Costello at his best—think My Aim Is True and Blood and Chocolate—and proves yet again […]

‘Be Not Nobody’ By Leigh E. Rich Vanessa Carlton Be Not Nobody A&M B Journalist and novelist Martha Gellhorn hated being referred to as Ernest Hemingway’s third wife—and for good reason. One of the first women to work as a war correspondent, the gutsy and talented Gellhorn began her career in 1937 during the Spanish […]

‘Cake and Pie’ By Leigh E. Rich Lisa Loeb Cake and Pie A&M B+ With her new album, pop star Lisa Loeb has her cake and eats it, too. But unlike the Gen-X “Stay,” made popular by the film Reality Bites, the majority of servings on Cake and Pie have a darker flavor, thanks to […]

‘Fever’ By Leigh E. Rich Kylie Minogue Fever Capitol Records C+ Kylie Minogue’s ninth album Fever is good for what it is: a sugary assortment to be played in discotheques the world over. Australian soap star-turned-pop diva, Minogue has been making musical waves since her “Locomotion” debut in 1987, particularly after having dated INXS lead […]

‘Sometimes a Circle’ By Leigh E. Rich Louise Goffin Sometimes a Circle DreamWorks A- Many likely recognize singer-songwriter Louise Goffin from the 2001 Gap commercials featuring her and mother Carole King, but make no mistake, Goffin is no newcomer to the music scene. The daughter of King and longtime partner in songwriting fame Gerry Goffin […]

‘Lovers Live’ By Leigh E. Rich Sade Lovers Live Sony Music C- Lovers Live, the latest release from Nigerian-born Sade featuring mainstays “No Ordinary Love” and “Smooth Operator” alongside five songs from Lovers Rock (2000), provides the ultimate in study music, as the only thing that’ll disrupt you from the books is the obnoxious screaming […]