Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: Royal Orleans

Photos Courtesy of Lance Hoppen In 1976, the group Orleans came within reach of superstardom. With two tender Top Five singles under its belt — “Dance with Me” and “Still the...

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: 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: Think Of Laura (“G-L-O-R-I-A!”)

Photos Courtesy of Other Half Entertainment Archive One thing our society will never tire of — be it via sports, arts, or other mediums – is Cinderella stories. One of the...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: “And The Gods Made Love” ~ Eloy’s Wave Of Brilliance

Photos courtesy of Frank Bornemann I will admit, there have been many times during this pandemic when my brain has been consumed by more negative thoughts than positive ones. Fear,...

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: The Sweet Green Icing Of Success ~ In Defense Of...

Photo by Henry Diltz "You don’t mean to suggest that someone would criticize ('MacArthur Park')? I mean, my God! (laughter)" – Jimmy Webb, March 2018 Based on its compositional structure alone, “MacArthur Park” should...

Ira Kantor’s Vinyl Confessions: One-Take Wonders – The Knack’s Supposed Sophomore Jinx

Photos courtesy of Prescott Niles  Their journey has been depicted as both a Cinderella story and one of music’s most epic fails. Yet there can be no denying that for (at...

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: 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...