Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Austin

Music writer, formerly Allmusic now freelancer for hire. Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Mojo, LA Times, etc. Subscribe to my newsletter: https://t.co/YlG5ysrCb2

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Articles

Bruce Springsteen—Tracks II: The Lost Albums

1 week ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

"I often read about myself in the 1990s as having some 'lost period.' Not really. I was working the whole time."—Bruce Springsteen, in a promotional film touting the release of Tracks II: The Lost AlbumsWho could blame anybody for thinking Bruce Springsteen spent the 1990s quietly? He released precisely three albums during the decade, delivering two of them on the same day in 1992.
In Review: Van Morrison, Metallica Load Super Deluxe, Dierks Bentley

1 week ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

For a Celtic soul poet, Van Morrison sure has been literal in his old age. His drift toward blunt declarations calcified on Latest Record Project, Vol. 1, a double album delivered during the height of the pandemic that teemed with grievances against lockdown. What was once charmingly cranky now seemed foul, saved only by an easy touch that sometimes slid into laziness. Remembering Now almost plays like an apology for all that unpleasantness.
15 Essential Deep Cuts, From Beach Boys To Solo

2 weeks ago | stereogum.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Brian Wilson spent most of his life revered as one of the great songwriters of the rock’n’roll era, a reputation built primarily on the songs he wrote and recorded with the Beach Boys in the 1960s. Wilson emerged during the glory days of the record business, a time when the composition was inseparable from the recording. He played a crucial role in developing the distinction between a record and song.
15 Essential Brian Wilson Deep Cuts

2 weeks ago | flipboard.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

18 hours agoBeach Boys legend Brian Wilson dies at age 82Brian Wilson - who was best known as a founding member of The Beach Boys - has died at the age of 82.
Queens of the Stone Age, Alive in the Catacombs

2 weeks ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Josh Homme lifts himself off a tomb at the start of Queens of the Stone Age's short film Alive in the Catacombs, ascending from his recline as if he was a vampire rising from the grave. Homme seems weary and grizzled, his smirk and swagger a distant memory. Alive in the Catacombs is the realization of a dream Homme harbored when he was a teenager: he wanted to play music within the Catacombs of Paris, an underground cemetery piled high with skulls and skeletons.
Neil Young - Talkin To The Trees Review: Veteran rocker rages against the world

2 weeks ago | mojo4music.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Backed by a new band, Neil rails against the times on 46th studio album. Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts - Talkin To The Trees★★★★REPRISEOld age has galvanised Neil Young, spurring the singer-songwriter into creative overdrive. Talkin To The Trees, his 46th proper studio album, appears amidst a flood of archival releases, films, and tours.
In review: Stereolab, Garbage, Miley Cyrus, Ty Segall

3 weeks ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Time has never mattered to Stereolab the way it has to other groups. Playing with the past with an eye towards the future, Stereolab fill their recordings with references, allusions, and puns, perhaps delivered with a wink but never with nostalgia. It's an aesthetic that's adaptable, allowing the band to dabble in different sounds and styles without losing their distinct identity.
Pulp-More [2025]

3 weeks ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

More is a curiously unassuming, almost perfunctory album title for Pulp, a band that specialized in sweeping manifestos during their '90s prime. It's a verbal shrug, a way for a beloved band to deliberately reset expectations as they return with their first record in nearly a quarter century. The passing of time hangs heavily over More.
Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival

3 weeks ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Summer 2025 kicked off with CNN declaring that the American music festival is on the decline, news that arrives on the heels of the March publication of Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival. Tom Beaujour and Richard Bienstock don't waste much time in their oral history dwelling upon the festival's latter-day incarnation as a destination event in Chicago's Grant Park, and why would they?
In Review: Morgan Wallen, Bruce Springsteen's Country, Dire Straits

1 month ago | sterlewine.substack.com | Stephen Thomas Erlewine

"If I'm the problem, you might be the reason," sings Morgan Wallen on the first of 37 tracks on I'm The Problem, his third successive double album. Wallen's shirking of personal responsibility is what amounts to his star persona: he might act out but only because he was forced to do so, pushed to his limits by a girlfriend or the urban jungle. Wallen didn't have this peevishness four years ago.