Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Hope you’ve had a very good birthday my friend.

Iron & Wine: Hen’s Teeth Read Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review of the album.

Over at @pitchfork.com, I review Hen's Teeth, the warm, comforting new album from Iron & Wine.

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YouTube video by Johnny Blue Skies MUTINY AFTER MIDNIGHT

The new Johnny Blue Skies/Sturgill Simpson album Mutiny After Midnight is now up on YouTube, sounding like an LP rip from 78, right down to the runout groove at the end.
(My take after one spin: it's a lot of fun.) www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKHG...

I'm gonna take my time with my Sturgill thoughts, as anyone should, but the amount of folks already missing how sex - in country music, in a world hell bent on controlling women's bodies and honestly what anyone is doing in the bedroom if it ain't for making babies - is a fuckin act of protest

Iron & Wine: Hen’s Teeth Read Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review of the album.

Over at @pitchfork.com, I review Hen's Teeth, the warm, comforting new album from Iron & Wine.

Happy to help! Hope it works out.

I’d say it’s worth a shot then—they look good and feel good, and I do think ours was short lived due to user error.

I liked the one we had for about a month or two then it cracked. Could be the household just had too much traffic for it (and was ill equipped to care for it properly).

I interviewed the great Neil Sedaka 10 yrs ago. He was fun. He said Barry Gibb encouraged him to smoke weed to 'open up my mind creatively and take away my inhibitions'. He gamely gave it go but a joint wasn't Neil's speed. 'I'm a boozer. Give me a vodka and a glass of wine at dinner and I'm fine.'

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been told “my body, my choice” when trying to get the kids into the bath.

Neil Sedaka: 14 Essential Songs

I selected 14 essential Neil Sedaka songs for the New York Times, balancing his effervescent early hits with his lush '70s comeback.

I did have “Little Brother” on my shortlist!

I try not to complain about the exclusion of favorite songs from lists like this, especially when they’re assembled by someone as thoughtful and knowledgeable as Tom. And this is a terrific list, but really: you need to hear “Little Brother” sometime, because that is some sublimely messed-up shit.

It’s an absolute classic.

It’s not one of those lyrics I’ve analyzed too much, but it sometimes plays to me like all the colloquial “little girl” lyrics of the 50s-60s

Neil Sedaka: 14 Essential Songs

I selected 14 essential Neil Sedaka songs for the New York Times, balancing his effervescent early hits with his lush '70s comeback.

Neil Sedaka, songwriter and hitmaker over multiple generations, dies at 86 The chipper melodicist was also known for a catalog of '70s hits hits including "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and "Laughter in the Rain."

Farewell to Neil Sedaka, the consummate pop songwriter and showman responsible for the enduring hits “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” and “Love Will Keep Us Together.” My obit for the LA Times: www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2026 Nominees My thoughts on the 17 acts on this year's ballot

My thoughts on the 17 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.

A new wrinkle this year: voters MUST vote for seven nominees. In previous years, it was fine to stop at, say, three.

And that's funny, because my appreciation of Tom Jones has increased dramatically in the last year. They do share a certain sense of showmanship that's appealing.

I think that's fair, and I do think I was perhaps a bit dismissive (couldn't resist having his entry rhyme with Hill's). There are times where his cartoonishness delights me, then there are times that it drives me batty.

The divide between rock as music and rock as cultural force is a fascinating one.

Great band, I'd happily vote for them if they were on the ballot.

Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2026 Nominees My thoughts on the 17 acts on this year's ballot

My thoughts on the 17 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.

Reviews: The Paranoid Style, U2, Charli xcx, Eric Church Plus Billy Steinberg, Ratboys, Velocity Girl

My latest newsletter: reviews of excellent new LPs from The Paranoid Style and Charli xcx, an admirable one from U2, live Eric Church, Ratboys and a salute to the late Billy Steinberg.

As somebody who always has had a soft spot for record biz exploitation, I have found the streaming era disheartening. There's a world of difference between rip-offs and cash-ins and colorless algorithms.

It's such a wild, messy body of work, probably because the members never could quite agree with what the band should be.

The stretch between The M.I.U. Album and Stars and Stripes is rough.

Bet you can’t remember the Christopher Guest-directed “audio play” of The Coward Brothers tale that accompanied its release, either.