Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Highly Strung ~ Hackett Revisited
Photos by Tina Korhonen
Steve Hackett’s fingers should be in the Smithsonian — given all they’ve created since the opening lines of “The Musical Box” came wafting in to introduce Genesis’...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Magic Is Afoot; Magic Never Died
Photos courtesy of Eric Alper
“Illuminations by Buffy Sainte-Marie is one of my favorite albums. When she sings at her best, it’s the soul laid bare.” – Steve Hackett (2020)
“I...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Billy Cobham’s Vital Transformation ~ Billy Cobham’s ‘Spectrum’
Photo Courtesy of Billy Cobham
Billy Cobham
Spectrum
Billy Cobham became a legend well before releasing his debut solo album. Prior to 1973, the Panamanian drummer by way of New York cut...
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: 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: “AHORA!” (Carmen’s Celestial Masterwork)
Photo Courtesy of David Randall-Goddard
Carmen
Fandangos In Space
A few years back, Rolling Stone published its list of the Top 50 prog rock albums of all-time, spanning multiple regions, degrees of...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Oh Doctors!
Photos courtesy of Jeff Severson
For a brief shining moment within the new wave era, one group hailing out of Washington, D.C. came, saw, conquered, and went completely overlooked.
Yet a listen...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Belew’s Bear Necessities
Photo above courtesy of Rob Fetters
Take a second and think about some of the music legends you admire. Chances are, you could easily play a game called “Six Degrees...
Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: The Sweetest Victory (“No Pain!”)
“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” – Rocky Balboa
I don’t want to be a statistic. That’s...
