Ken Tucker appears in the following:
Dawes Knows Where It's Been And Where It's Headed
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Dawes has just released its third album, Stories Don't End. The band has cited Neil Young and Crosby, Stills & Nash among its influences, but channels them with good humor and confidence that its own distinctiveness will shine through.
Natalie Maines: A Country-Music Rebel Rocks On Her Own
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
On Mother, Maines' first solo record, the singer moves beyond the music that propelled her to fame as a member of the Dixie Chicks. It features an assortment of pop and rock covers, including a reworking of the Pink Floyd song that lends the album its title.
Caitlin Rose: A Singer Grounded In The Details Of Yearning
Monday, May 06, 2013
Dubbed a country singer by virtue of her Nashville base, Rose sounds more like a pop vocalist on The Stand-In. Drawing inspiration from Roy Orbison, Carlene Carter and countless others, Rose knows it takes an assured performer to sell the notion of vulnerability over the long haul.
Brad Paisley's 'Wheelhouse' Of Good Songs — And Intentions
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
"Accidental Racist" launched an Internet firestorm and threatened to overshadow everything else on the country singer's fine new album, Wheelhouse. Even in that polarizing song, Paisley's biggest sin is that he's well-meaning in a way that topples too easily into sentimentality.
Kacey Musgraves: Country's Blunt And Poetic New Voice
Tuesday, April 02, 2013
The talented young singer-songwriter has as much in common with John Prine as she does with Kenny Chesney. With any luck, Same Trailer, Different Park is the start of a long career that will make both Musgraves' core audience and other open-minded listeners sit up and take notice.
Justin Timberlake Returns To Music With Enthusiasm and 'Experience'
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
On his first album since 2006, The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake explores his range, from soul-man groove to falsetto croon, taking inspiration from neo-soul and the expansiveness of '60s and '70s rock song formats.
Tegan And Sara Reach Out To New Audiences With 'Heartthrob'
Monday, March 11, 2013
The twin sisters from Canada depart from their indie singer-songwriter roots with their latest album. The music on Heartthrob is often loaded with a carefully articulated sense of doubt that Tegan and Sara suggest needs to be shaken off through a triumph of the pop-music will.
David Bowie Awakens To 'The Next Day' Of His Career
Thursday, March 07, 2013
The icon's new album plays like a collection of discreet singles, with each performed in a different style, genre and mood. In this way, the album isn't a return to form, in part because David Bowie never took one form to begin with.
Ashley Monroe Is 'Like A Rose,' Briars And All
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Recruiting the likes of Guy Clark and Vince Gill, the country singer and member of The Pistol Annies works within a tradition that extends back well beyond her twentysomething years. Monroe avoids the pitfalls of cliche, with sentiments on her new album that are nothing if not nicely ambivalent.
Guards: Anthems With Gravitas
Monday, February 25, 2013
The debut album from the New York trio Guards is big on atmospherics, but also features a grandness of intent that connects the group to acts as varied as U2, Arcade Fire and The Beach Boys.
Bob Dylan's Baffling And Sometimes Beautiful 'Tempest'
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Critic Ken Tucker says that some songs on Tempest sound less like concentrated efforts than outpourings of rambling thoughts; others are as precisely crafted as any Bob Dylan has written.
'Barchords': An Intense, Pensive Album About Love
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Bahamas is the stage name used by Canadian singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen, who put out his first album in 2009. His second album, Barchords, is a measured look at the end of a lengthy relationship.
Smackdown Singles Edition: Bohemian Rhapsody
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
It’s a Soundcheck Smackdown singles edition! We’re throwing Queen’s 1975 hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" into the ring for our weekly debate. Emily Rems, managing editor of Bust magazine, and Entertainment Weekly editor-at-large Ken Tucker join us to debate a song that is either ingenious…or just indulgent. And, Queen biographer Mark Blake explains the story behind the song.
Soundcheck Smackdown: Phil Collins
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Last week, drummer-turned-singer Phil Collins once again publicly stated - and restated - his intentions of withdrawing from the music biz. The news leads us to this week’s Soundcheck Smackdown, when music writer Andy Greenwald and Entertainment Weekly editor-at-large Ken Tucker face off about the highs and lows of the former Genesis frontman’s career.
Arrivederci, Sopranos
Friday, June 08, 2007
We say goodbye to The Sopranos with a discussion with Entertainment Weekly critic-at-large Ken Tucker and your predictions about how the show will end. Plus: what TV shows from the past do you miss most?
