Reviews

Author Ralph Ellison once wrote, “...because jazz finds its very life in an endless improvisation upon traditional materials, the jazzman must lose his identity even as he finds it.”

Surf guitar legend Dick Dale once said, “You know, music is sex. It's a sensual driving mode that affects people, if it's played a certain way.” I'm Kelly McCartney and this week's Needle Drop Record is... I think you'll agree, played a certain way.

Lauryn Hill once said, "As artists, we have an opportunity to help the public evolve, raise consciousness and awareness, teach, heal, enlighten, and inspire in ways the democratic process may not be able to touch. So we keep it moving." This week's Needle Drop Record absolutely did all of that.

Stevie Nicks once said, "I'm gonna spend my life writing poems and turning them into music that'll affect people, touch their hearts. I'm going to write the songs that people can't write for themselves." This week's Needle Drop artist definitely writes songs that people can't write for themselves.

Miriam Makeba once said, "African music, though very old, is always being rediscovered in the West." This week's Needle Drop Record by Fatoumata Diawara certainly fits that bill for me. And I'm guessing it will for you, too.

Chrissie Hynde once said, “If you're an artist, you need to work. It doesn't matter how old you are or who you are. If you draw, you draw. I'll make music as long as I can sing and stand up and hold a guitar and I feel like doing this.” And so it is that we arrived at this week's Needle Drop Record.

Conductor Leonard Slatkin once said, "In some ways, I believe music is the more convincing communicator of ideas than words." I'm Kelly McCartney and this week's Needle Drop Record absolutely needs no words.