Album Review: The Black Keys - Peaches

The Black Keys

Peaches

*** out of *****

The Black Keys have had a roller coaster decade so far. Peaches is their fifth studio release since 2020  and their second collection of covers. Following up quickly on the heels of their disappointing 2025 release No Rain, No Flowers,  Peaches is much more connected to Delta Kream, a cover record based in the blues, but with a few more twists and turns from the Hill Country style showcased on that record. 

New Single/Video from Fast Money Music "There Are No Words"

The East London based Fast Money Music has a new single/video out, "There Are No Words".

Album Review: Nicholas Payton - TRIUNE

Nicholas Payton

TRIUNE

*** out of *****

For his most recent album Nicholas Payton recruited a rhythm section he originally worked with back in 2010, delivering a smooth slice of modern jazz on TRIUNE. The cosmopolitan, tranquil outings contained on the record are easy on the ears, as the players deliver refined tunes. 

Album Review: Corey Ledet Zydeco and Black Magic - Live in Alaska

Corey Ledet Zydeco and Black Magic

Live in Alaska

***and1/2 out of *****

The state of Alaska may be one of the last in the union that you would equate with zydeco music, but Corey Ledet Zydeco and Black Magic decided to capture their new album, Live in Alaska, during their set at the Anchorage Folk Festival in February 2025. The spritely recording showcases a tight band and energetic crowd, both getting down with joyous freedom.

Album Review: Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks #56 Rainbow Theater London 3/20-21/81

Grateful Dead

Dave's Picks #56 Rainbow Theater London 3/20-21/81

***and1/2 out of *****

Standard disclaimer: When reviewing any Grateful Dead release at this point, it needs to be noted that a lot of the truly great shows from the band have already been professionally released. (If you are new to the band, check out RtBE's Beginners Guide to The Grateful Dead Part's one and two.) With their vast back catalog on archive.org and all of their previous releases, the band's selections are running thin when it comes to must own, professionally released concerts.

That said, the band still release shows because rabid fans (RtBE included) will listen to everything they put out. So let's dive in...

Album Review: The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers

The Black Keys

No Rain, No Flowers

** out of *****

On last years, Ohio Players, The Black Keys shifted out of their rinse and repeat blues rock style to make a successfully wide ranging effort that touched on hip hop, Beck collaborations and poppy outings all mixed in with their bread and blues butter. 

It sounded like the band was truly having fun in the studio, unfortunately things fell apart for them almost immediately after releasing the record. They were forced to cancel an upcoming arena tour and fired their management team. Without pausing, the band dove back into the studio as No Rain, No Flowers arrives just a year after all of that. One might assume it would be a retreat to their classic style, that is not the case. 

Year In Review 2025 - Favorite Albums Part 1 (Honorable Mentions & Let Downs)

Another year is finishing up and @RockBodElec wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE presents 2025's Favorite Albums Part 1 (Honorable Mentions and Let Downs):

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album, either on this site or elsewhere, we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, click on the name/title and you can read our full opinion. RtBE also worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20, so you can expect some overlap if you already have seen that list.

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle, Spotify, AI curated playlists, or streaming for us.

These are the albums that just missed out on being included in our top ten favorite for the year (coming soon). After some excellent albums, we have a few releases from artists we dig, which we were let down by. 

Like all of our lists or 'best of'', these are meant to start conversations, not end them...

Live Review: The Last Waltz New Orleans 11/23/25 Civic Theater New Orleans, LA

The Last Waltz New Orleans 

11/23/25 Civic Theater New Orleans, LA

A host of New Orleans musicians came together on the Sunday Night before Thanksgiving to celebrate one of the most legendary concerts of all time, The Last Waltz. The gorgeous Civic Theater in the Central Business District hosted the concert as fans of all ages filtered in to sing, dance, and enjoy the well-loved songs by The Band and beyond.

Live Review: Jack White - Live at Brooklyn Paramount 2/12/25

Jack White

Live at Brooklyn Paramount 2/12/25

Having caught Jack White at the intimate Irving Plaza just two days before, his Wednesday night, sold-out show at the gorgeous Brooklyn Paramount had a lot to live up to. With the way Jack and the band is currently playing though, that shouldn't have even been a worry as the group surpassed Monday's concert and let it all hang out for this gig. 

Live Review: Joe Russo's Almost Dead @ The Capitol Theater 1/17/25

Joe Russo's Almost Dead

The Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY 1/17/24 

Opening up their three night stand over Martin Luther King Weekend, Joe Russo's Almost Dead welcomed the sold out crowd to the majestic Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY. The band, Joe Russo on drums, bassist Dave Dreiwitz, keyboardist Marco Benevento, Scott Metzger and Tom Hamilton Jr. guitars have a rabid following in the NYC area as people lined up hours ahead of time to get into the venue. 

Year In Review 2024 - Favorite Albums of 2024

Here are our all of our favorite albums of 2024. This is the year end review, all in one place.

Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.

We also took some time to discuss our favorite album artwork, our favorite archive/live album releases and favorite live shows from the year if you are interested.   

Thanks for reading. Until next year....

Year In Review 2024 - Favorite Albums Part 1 (Honorable Mentions & Let Downs)

Another year is finishing up and @RockBodElec wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE presents 2024's Favorite Albums Part 1 (Honorable Mentions and Let Downs):

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album, either on this site or elsewhere, we will link to that review and just give a quick summation; click on the name/title and you can read our full opinion. RtBE also worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20 so you can expect some overlap if you already have seen that list.

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle, Spotify, AI curated playlists, or streaming for us.

These are the albums that just missed out on being included in our top ten favorite for the year (coming soon). After some very excellent albums, we have a few releases from artists we dig, which we were let down by. 

Like all of our lists or 'best of'', these are meant to start conversations, not end them...

Year In Review 2024 - Favorite Album Art

We kick off our Year in Review section of 2024 with the first feature in the Best of... wrap up: Album Art. 

Just like in years past, we will be choosing our favorite albums of the year, a few that were underwhelming, our favorite live shows, and highlight some fantastic archive releases, all of which will be posted over the next few days. 

Today we are starting out by judging books (records) by their covers (vinyl sleeves, jackets, digital pics, etc) with the Best Album Art Work of 2024.

The biggest gripe RtBE has with digital music is not the quality (that has been massively improved) nor the disposal nature of it (still a problem, but whatever), it is the lack of amazing album covers and art work.

Sure there may be great album art out there but seeing it on a screen, on Spotify or elsewhere is nothing compared to holding an LP or even a CD booklet with pages of lyrics, pictures etc. 

Thankfully the rise of vinyl is helping this dilemma but it is still not enough. The hours we spent staring, actually holding, examining tons of covers while listening to music can't be adequately recorded, it added new dimensions to the sounds. You are connected to album in a more physical way; things were deeper, more evocative...Anyways...

Here comes RtBE's Favorite Album Art of 2024. 

Album Review: Zombina and the Skeletones - The Call of Zombina

Zombina and the Skeletones

The Call of Zombina 

*** out of *****

Of course the first album in over a decade from the Liverpool based Zombina and the Skeletones arrives just in time for Halloween as The Call of Zombina finds the outfit rising from the grave to howl at the moon on All Hallows Eve. 

Happy 20th Anniversary to The Black Keys Rubber Factory

Happy 20th Anniversary to The Black Keys Rubber Factory. 

The breakthrough album from the Akron, OH duo was released 20 years ago today, and RtBE celebrate it with thoughts and tunes below.

Live Review: The Doobie Brothers and Steve Winwood @ MSG, NYC 8/7/24

The Doobie Brothers and Steve Winwood

MSG, NYC 8/7/24

Two rock and roll hall of fame acts pulled into Madison Square Garden on Wednesday August 7th as The Doobie Brothers continued their extended 50th anniversary tour with Steve Winwood providing opening support. 

Full Show Friday: Gillian Welch 2007-06-15 Bonnaroo - Great Stage Park - Manchester, TN

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Gillian Welch!

Some months our Full Show Friday's will focus on specific artists, years, venues, tv shows, festivals or some combo of it all. 

This months Full Show Friday Series focuses on Female Artists at the Bonnaroo Festival.

Since we are in the teeth of summer, it gets RtBE thinking of Festivals, so let's revisit great sets from Bonnaroo's past. This isn't the first time we will be looking back at Bonnaroo, but there are tons of full sets to choose from. This month we focus on Female artists who played the festival in the past.

This week it is back to 2007 with Gillian Welch. Check it out below:

Orphan Girl Elvis Presley Blues Rock of Ages Throw Me a Rope I Want to Sing That Rock and Roll Black Star (Radiohead cover) Look at Miss Ohio (with John Paul Jones) Wayside/Back in Time (with John Paul Jones) Keys to the Kingdom Everything Is Free Knuckleball Catcher My First Lover No One Knows My Name One Little Song Revelator To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High) (Ryan Adams cover) Caleb Meyer Encore: I'll Fly Away (Albert E. Brumley cover) Jackson (Billy Edd Wheeler cover) (with John Paul Jones)

Album Review: The Black Keys - Ohio Players

Hey all, got a review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here:

It is of The Black Keys newest album titled Ohio Players. This one is a big surprise. When I am scheduled to review albums for Glide, I rarely listen to singles before the full album gets sent to me. I had no idea how prominent Beck would be on this record, it is almost a duet between him and the BK's and it succeeds.

Very poppy and different than The Black Keys last few albums (Let's Rock, Delta Kream, Dropout Boogie) and to these ears that is a good thing. Dan and Patrick can always go back to their stripped down blues/rawk, but this is a step in a new, solid direction. I have always liked them more when they expanded, especially on their career highlight, Brothers, which was one of our favorite albums of the 2010's.    

Support the band, buy the album, read the review, peep some video below:

2024 New Orleans Jazzfest Artist Predictions

The lineup for the 2024 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will be announced tomorrow but RtBE got the early scoop...

Album Review: Christone "Kingfish" Ingram - Live In London

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram

Live In London

***and1/2 out of *****

RtBE had the privilege of recently catching Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and his band live, but if you live somewhere he is not playing, you should instantly purchase Live In London.  Even for someone who has seen him recently, this capturing of a live show at The Garage in London is a staggering reminder of this artists talent, as Kingfish deploys all of the skills that make him one of the most exciting young bluesmen in the business.

The live album kicks off in killer fashion with the clean electric blues in a Robert Cray influenced style as Ingram's understated singing and mind blowing playing starts the show via "She Calls Me Kingfish". "Fresh Out" let's Kingfish's touring band get in on the act as Paul Rogers plays bass, Chris Black is on drums, and DeShawn Alexander plays keys, and it is the keyboard break on this tune that is the star, along with Kingfish's fierce guitar work. 

An early album highlight is "Empty Promises" which sports a massive solo from Ingram to start and never looks back; a dynamite showcase of his talents. When the instrumental workout "Mississippi Night" rolls around things are going on fifty plus minutes and the one clear detriment starts to show up, there is just too much presented on the album. Live in London is a long running double album that loads up on songs when perhaps more editing would have been prudent.    

Less songs presented would put a better focus on his talents, yet it is hard to argue when the solo acoustic duo of "Been Here Before" and "Something In The Dirt" arrive and add a new dimension to the blues man's style. However, songs like "You're Already Gone" and "Listen" don't add a ton to the album. It is also odd that "Not Gonna Lie" gets faded out as the band seems to still be jamming, if that was the case, why include it at all? 

Outside of song selection or length, it is hard to argue with much else from Live in London. "Rock and Roll" uses a clean piano intro and soft singing to build to a mega solo, and "Outside Of This Town" has an "Higher Ground" influenced bass and drum foundation to extendedly jam off of. Two mega tunes later on the album are "Midnight Heat" which is loaded with heavy funk and a healthy dose of the blues while set closer "662" boogie-woogies with abandon, injecting some '50's rock and roll swagger into the bands performance, wrapping up a huge live album on a high note.      

Overall, Live In London shows off all of the aspects of what makes Christone "Kingfish" Ingram such a blues must see live. While a more streamlined, single live album would pack a more effective punch, the sheer talent of Kingfish shines through elevating this slightly overloaded live album. 

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Support the artist, but buy the album, and peep some video below: