I’ll say this—while “Crazy” seems to be nearing the Outkast “Hey-Ya” frenzy that swept the country like a “28 Days Later”-virus just a few years ago, the rest of Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse’s collaboration “St. Elsewhere” is more intriguing than that single, a quite frenzied affair in which no song sounds the same and Cee-Lo’s voice leaps high and dives low with epic smoothness. It’s a true fusion of pop, rock, hip-hop and soul—no genre dominates, nothing’s in the forefront and everything’s in the forefront at once. Since Danger Mouse is just about the biggest fucking thing in the world right now, it would’ve really hurt if “St. Elsewhere” ended up being terrible after six long months of, let’s admit it, overkill hype (nobody’s that good), but, thankfully, the record’s nicely solid—and the live show, well, you were at Lollapalooza, weren’t you? (Tom Lynch)
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Can’t-Miss Music Events (Fall Arts Preview 2023) This fall we get new albums and tours from iconic acts like Wilco and Kurt Elling, plus a Corrine Bailey Rae project inspired by Theaster Gates' Stony Island Arts Bank.
