Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: I Want Candi!
Photos courtesy of Bill Carpenter and Mario Casselli
It goes without question that one of music’s most seminal anthems depicting necessary assertion and cathartic independence is Gloria Gaynor’s 1979 classic “I...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Still Alive ~ Baby, Just Take Another Look (At Clover)
Photos courtesy of Alex Call
In 1977, right before punk becomes the zeitgeist musical movement in the UK and the states, a Bay Area-based six-piece band took one last mighty...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Bird On A Desire Wire
There’s a notable omission from the acclaimed documentary 20 Feet from Stardom.
Cidny Bullens should qualify for cast inclusion simply based on the fact he launched his career backing up...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: The Jon Butcher Axis – Bold As Hell
Photos courtesy of Jon Butcher
When I’m not in full-blown public relations mode at my day job, I’m usually conferring with colleagues throughout the country about the bands and artists...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: A Place For My Stuff Albums
Photos courtesy of Chris Parker
Often throughout music history, we herald bands that showcase an enigmatic or dynamic frontman (or frontwoman) or put flash and pomp before substance. While this,...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: As I Sit In My Four Cornered Room…
Fifty years ago, one of music’s greatest melting pot collectives released their masterpiece.
The World Is A Ghetto by War is a seminal six-track work that told it like it...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Call It ‘Misbehaviour’ (Call It What You Like)
On their sixth album in seven years, Canadian powerhouse Saga reached an artistic crossroads.
After scoring major American success with their seminal Top 40, 1981 track “On the Loose,” and...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Discovering Japan
Late in 2021, revered Japanese label Nippon Columbia released a compilation album entitled TOKYO GLOW, which explores city pop, funk, and soul from Japanese artists recorded in the late...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: I, Carly
Photos courtesy of Lennie Petze
Before Carly Simon formally “let the river run,” she first got her groove back.
Fifteen years into an already landmark career, the songsmith behind such beloved radio...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: When Pride First Mattered
Photos courtesy of Charles Valentino and Chris Spierer
It took four individuals to propel the first — and, to date, most impactful — gay anthem into public consciousness.
Direct in its...