Reviews

CD REVIEWS: MESSIAEN - Classical (San Francisco Chronicle)

20 Jul 2008

RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time" (1940-41) remains one of the touchstones of chamber music. It's a demanding score that combines stretches of complexity with passages of luminous simplicity, as well as alternating between...

CD REVIEWS: BECK - Rock (San Francisco Chronicle)

20 Jul 2008

RATING: (ALERT VIEWER) They might be responsible for some of the most dependable party starters of all time ( "Devil's Haircut," "Crazy,"), but when Beck and Gnarls Barkley's Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton come together in the studio, the confetti doesn't...

CD REVIEWS: RY COODER (San Francisco Chronicle)

20 Jul 2008

RATING: (WILD APPLAUSE) Of course, Ry Cooder really is all that. People toss the word "genius" around far too often and too easily, but Cooder has more than earned that distinction with a long and consistently adventurous career. With "I, Flathead," Cooder...