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: It’s Monks’ Time

Photos courtesy of Eddie Shaw It goes without saying that 1966 proved to be one of the most pivotal years in the history of popular music. Sure, we would get Pet...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Sad-Eyed Sinatra ~ Rickie Lee Jones’ ‘Pirates’ Looks At 40

Select photos courtesy of Michael Halsband When Rickie Lee Jones set about making the follow-up to her smashing success of a debut album, she could have easily coasted with an...

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: The Kings Are (Still!) Here

Photo Courtesy of Deborah Samuel The Kings The Kings Are Here They had the attitudes of punks and the chops to be a Canadian Beatles. The story of how I discovered The Kings...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Don’t Forget Me – Glass Tiger’s Roaring Debut

In less than a decade’s time, the phrase “Take my breath away” made three separate musical acts pop luminaries in the states, albeit for microcosmic moments. In 1979, teen mainstay...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Big Bad Jim

Photo of A.J. and Jim Croce together courtesy of Joshua Black Wilkins and Paul Wilson   September 20, 1973 marked the day the music died a second time. Jim Croce, the tender singer,...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: The Crusaders – Takin’ It To The Street

Photos courtesy of Stix Hooper What makes the late 1970s so unique musically is the fact that multiple genres all managed to secure their own distinct place in time. Sure,...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Singer Of Songs, Teller Of Tales ~ Paul Davis Remembered

Photos Courtesy of Ed Seay His name is somehow synonymous with yacht rock but don’t let this misnomer fool you. The late, great Paul Davis should really be considered a...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Get Out What’s Inside Of You! (“Can You Tell Me...

Photo above courtesy of Armando@kinetic-image.com One word I’ve found to be synonymous with the COVID-19 pandemic is “routine.” Even as lockdowns begin to ease, there’s still not much I can find myself...