Rolling Stoneの September 21, 2017 の目次

Best of Kendrick BRIAN HIATT’S INTERVIEW with the greatest rapper alive is awesome [“The Humble King,” RS 1294]. I’m a white suburban 46-year-old woman, and when I grow up, I want to be like Kendrick Lamar. Cheri CristRochester, NY KENDRICK IS GREAT, BUT Jay-Z is the greatest rapper alive. And that’s been true for more than 25 years. Nancifvia the Internet DESPITE ALL OF HIS SUCCESS over the past few years, Lamar seems very humble and grounded, and that is such a breath of fresh air. Jeff SwansonEverett, WA Sessions’ Civil War ONLY “ROLLING STONE” could make me feel sorry for a man like Jeff Sessions [“Trump’s Radical Attorney General,” RS 1294]. He may be an intractable ideologue, but I was impressed when he recused himself. I found his commitment…

Bruce Springsteen’s team was cautiously optimistic on August 30th, as the first round of tickets went on sale for “Springsteen on Broadway,” a run of 79 solo acoustic shows in a small theater in New York. Springsteen knew demand for tickets would be enormous, and wanted to make sure they did not go to brokers, many of whom use advanced technology to snatch up 30 to 50 percent of tickets to high-demand shows, then resell them on sites like StubHub. Springsteen decided to try out Verified Fan, a new service that asks fans to sign up before tickets go on sale; after being vetted by the service, they receive a code that places them in a smaller pool, shutting out scalpers in the process. It worked: The next day, only…

It’s been 13 years since the Killers exploded with their debut single, “Mr. Brightside,” and they’re still one of the biggest rock acts in the world; the Las Vegas band just headlined Lollapalooza and has an arena tour kicking off in January. “There’s still a need for what we have to offer, obviously,” says frontman Brandon Flowers. “Our shows keep growing, and the tours just keep getting more fun.” He sees their upcoming album, Wonderful Wonderful (overseen by veteran U2 and R.E.M. producer Jacknife Lee), as an improvement from their last one, 2012’s Battle Born. “We worked on that incrementally with different producers,” Flowers says. “Some of the songs I’m not so enthused about.” Wonderful Wonderful is more upbeat, with danceable tunes about everything from Mike Tyson’s historic 1990 loss…

Gregg Allman Southern Blood Rounder HHH½ The final album by Gregg Allman, who died in May, is a moving farewell statement à la twilight masterworks by Leonard Cohen and David Bowie. “I know I’m not a young man, and it’s time to settle down,” Allman sings on the roadhouse blues “Love Like Kerosene,” his full-moon growl strikingly undiminished. Yet while Southern Blood is rich with intimations of mortality, it’s easygoing too, with a laid-back generosity that recalls Allman’s kindest Seventies work – see his warm take on Lowell George’s Southern-rock salvo “Willin’.” Allman steeped the album in his own history, recording with producer Don Was in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Allman and his brother Duane recorded in the late Sixties. And while the LP is almost entirely covers, they spool…

What’s the best part of success? Not doing a job that you don’t really want to do. You can’t say what I do is a job – it’s a fucking gift from God. You’ve had some bumps in your marriage, including a well-publicized affair, but you and Sharon are still together after 35 years. What’s your secret? Don’t get caught with your mistress [laughs]. OK . . . It’s a rock & roll thing – you rock and you roll. You take the good with the bad. When I was a crazy fucker, I’m lucky she didn’t walk out. Now I’m coming on five years clean and sober, and I’ve realized what a fucking idiot I was. I mean, I’m still nuts, but in control of it a bit more. . . . When I said, “Don’t…

1. Beck “Dear Life” The follow-up to Beck’s 2014 sad-folk masterstroke, Morning Phase, will be out in October, and our latest taste of the LP has us psyched. Over a juicy hip-hop saunter and a rolling piano that recalls the Beatles’ “Martha My Dear,” he gets his hangdog groove on like it’s 1996. 2. Brand New “Can’t Get It Out” Refugees from the early ’00s emo scene are treating the return of these anthemic depressives like the Second Coming, and for good reason: “Can’t Get It Out” makes not knowing how to deal with your feelings seem like punk-rock heaven. 3. Karen and the Sorrows “Take Me for a Ride” A queer country come-on to a dream girl “in a flatbed Ford” that winks at the Eagles’ “Take It Easy.”…

Warren Zevon In late 2015, Granduciel moved from Philly to L.A., where he rediscovered the music of local legend Warren Zevon. On long drives to the studio, Granduciel constantly played 1978’s “Accidentally Like a Martyr,” a diary of post-relationship loneliness. He cites Zevon’s simple but profound lines, like “The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder,” as “something that I’ll try to achieve forever.” Granduciel had that song in mind while writing “You Don’t Have to Go,” also about heartbreak. “I just had to sing and not be too worried about it being too revealing. It felt naked.” Bruce Springsteen Granduciel calls Springsteen a big influence, from his lyrics to his work ethic. Last year, Granduciel went through a Ghost of Tom Joad phase, falling in love with narratives…

The Morning Joe host and aspiring rock singer-guitarist just released his debut EP, Mystified. The Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” This might be the greatest rock song ever written. They retooled their sound and stopped chasing the Beatles. Elvis Costello “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” This has great music, but the lyrics are just so cutting: “I said, ‘I’m so happy I could die.’ She said, ‘Drop dead,’ then left with another guy.” The Beach Boys “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” The popular songs on Pet Sounds are very uplifting, but there’s such a darkness with songs like this. It’s unbelievable. Paul McCartney and Wings “Let Me Roll It” John Lennon was slaughtering him in the press at this point, and this was his answer back. There’s…

In 2014, annie clark’s career could not have been going better. After years of carving out her place as a cult hero, the singer-guitarist – who records as St. Vincent – found a surprising level of success with her fourth LP, St. Vincent, which reached Number 12 on the album charts. Clark toured the world, fronted Nirvana at their live reunion at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and turned in one of the more memorable Saturday Night Live performances in recent years, playing inside a giant box and doing strange choreography between fuzz-guitar outbursts. But if you ask Clark, that period wasn’t a lot of fun. “I was going out of my mind,” she says. “I was on the road constantly and just trying to keep…

VMAs: The Dark Side of the Moon Host Katy Perry bombed, the Weeknd was a no-show and Taylor Swift’s new video caused a mass meltdown. But the 2017 VMAs still featured killer performances from Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus and DNCE with Rod Stewart, who rocked a shiny metallic tuxedo jacket during “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy.”                 Summertime Bruce Before he hunkers down to prepare for his run on Broadway this fall, Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa jetted to Ibiza, off the coast of Spain, where they relaxed on David Geffen’s yacht and chilled at the beach with Calvin Klein, Noel Gallagher and model Poppy Delevingne. Later, the couple headed to Sicily.  …

“You’ve been sleeping for miles. So what did you see? Here the sky’s been falling white flowers, And there’s ice in all the trees.” —THE NATIONAL, “Find a Way” The National Sleep Well Beast 4AD HHHH By will hermes The National’s hauntingly side-eyed 2007 ode to nationalism, “Fake Empire,” has gotten big responses at their recent shows, unsurprisingly. Yet the Ohio-bred indie-rock achievers aren’t a political band per se. Frontman Matt Berninger generally turns his brooding baritone toward the dark end of relationships – with one’s self, a lover, a society – backed by a band that can sometimes suggest Wilco channeling Joy Division. Lyrically and sonically, the National’s seventh LP plumbs anxieties more deeply than ever. The result is a disarmingly potent album, not just emotionally but politically as…