James Hunter
James Hunter has written for the New York Times Arts & Leisure section; New York Times Sunday Business; LA Style; LA Weekly; Boston Globe; Boston Phoenix; Village Voice; New York Observer; New York Times Magazine; Louisville Courier-Journal; GQ; Details; Rolling Stone; Mademoiselle; Vibe; US magazine; Mens Journal; TV Guide; The New Yorker and The Atlantic (both purchased pieces not published); The Believer; Request; Record; Mix; Music & Sound Output; Creem (updated, not the original, storied in some quarters publication); Blender; Spin.
65 articles
List of articles in the library
Al Green: In God He Trusts: Al Green reaches higher
Comment by James Hunter, The Boston Phoenix, 12 January 1982
IN THE '70s, in Memphis, Al Green and producer Willie Mitchell made quietly unstoppable soul music the world still hasn't gotten over. If at first ...
Profile by James Hunter, The Boston Phoenix, 20 September 1983
No longer one of the girls ...
Al Green: "There are riders approaching"
Interview by James Hunter, Record, December 1983
THE CONTINUING TRANSFORMATION OF AL GREEN, MAN OF GOD ...
Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick: Dionne Warwick: How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye (Arista)
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 3 January 1984
Dionne's Hot Date ...
Get Right With God: Gospel Truth
Review by James Hunter, The Boston Phoenix, 18 September 1984
A SMOKY, finger-snapping cavalcade of bold quartets, plainspoken guitarists/vocalists, and feverish singing preachers. Get Right with God: Hot Gospel 1947–1953 (Krazy Kat, UK import) is ...
Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. (Reprise)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1986
KENTUCKY-BRED singer and songwriter Dwight Yoakam makes his Los Angeles country music get up and go. As he boasts on the Johnny Horton cover that ...
Rodney Crowell: Street Language (Columbia)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1986
RODNEY CROWELL'S credentials as a first-rate country-pop producer (for his wife, Rosanne Cash, on Seven Year Ache and Rhythm and Romance) and songwriter ('Till I ...
George Jones: Wine Colored Roses (Epic)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 21 May 1987
THIS IS the finest George Jones record in more than five years. Still working with producer-arranger Billy Sherrill, Jones commands a mix of ten songs ...
Aerosmith, The Cult, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Whitesnake: Heavy Metal: The Sound Too Dense to Die
Comment by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 16 October 1987
TWENTY SUMMERS ago, it was love. In 1987 it was metal, pop-metal, ushered in by Bon Jovi's much less musicianly 7-mil play on Van Halen's ...
Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Traveling Wilburys: Jeff Lynne's Guitar Craze
Interview by James Hunter, Musician, August 1989
A Wilbury explains why Tom Petty's solo album sounds the way it does ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 8 February 1990
STARS OF the Gospel Highway traces the exuberant rise of black gospel in America. The third in a series coordinated by Anthony Heilbut, a chronicler ...
Anita Baker: Compositions (Elektra Entertainment)
Review by James Hunter, Musician, August 1990
FOUR YEARS ago, Anita Baker quietly stormed the pop music charts with Rapture, a reclamation of jazz-soul balladry driven by acoustic resonances and Baker's forthright ...
Marion Williams: Surely God Is Able (SpiritFeel/Shanachie)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 20 September 1990
COMMENTATORS OFTEN place the Olympian gospel singer Marion Williams, a thriving veteran who got her start singing with the Ward Sisters during the late Forties, ...
Whitney Houston: I'm Your Baby Tonight (Arista)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 10 January 1991
Whitney Gets Warmer ...
Alexander O'Neal: All True Man (Tabu/Epic)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 4 April 1991
SINGER ALEXANDER O'Neal has been an adult-soul champ since he and his producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, released Alexander O'Neal in 1985. That debut ...
Review by James Hunter, Musician, March 1992
SINCE 1987, Keith Sweat has exhibited the grip and attitude of a classic soul singer, rather than a conventionally powerful voice. He and frequent collaborator ...
Utah Saints: Utah Saints (London/PLG) ; Various Artists: Techno Mancer (Antler Subway/Caroline)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 21 January 1993
TECHNO IS music that gets on people's nerves. Whether pounding like metal or watercoloring like New Age, it strikes many as repetitive and cold, about ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 15 April 1993
The Bliss Album: A New Dawn ...
Sting: Gentleman's Agreement: Sting dreams a world without junk...
Comment by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 2 December 1994
"IN THE POLICE he was a pop star, the best we've had, a potent force delivering blistering reggae-tinged chart-friendly hits apparently to order." ...
Review by James Hunter, Vibe, August 1995
THIS RISKY debut is puzzling. D'Angelo, a 21-year-old Virginia native, is determined to give pre-hip hop forms like blues, soul, gospel, and jazz a mid-'90s ...
Michael Jackson: HIStory: Past, Present And Future, Book I (Epic) ***½
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1995
A DECADE after 'Thriller' and MTV transformed pop, Michael Jackson releases a collection that combines a classic greatest-hits anthology with a jarring and uneven new ...
Take That: 'Back For Good' (Arista)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 2 November 1995
BEAUTIFUL LOSER ...
Profile and Interview by James Hunter, Entertainment Weekly, 10 November 1995
The country star's number one album proves he's here to stay ...
Review by James Hunter, Spin, April 1997
WITH BRITISH soul sage Howie B. dispensing '90s groove advice and a thousand rhythm tracks bulldogging throughout this exhilaratingly complex album, Pop could get slotted as U2's ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 3 April 1997
ASIDE FROM a minor hit three years ago, with the perfect pop single 'Girls and Boys', England's beloved Blur have never quite killed alternative-era America. ...
Review by James Hunter, Spin, October 1997
THE SINGER throws up lyrics about pursuit and desertion. A snare drum lightly skips across a series of bass pinpoints, an organic foundation unthinkable before ...
David Arnold, John Barry, Sheryl Crow: More Fun With Martinis, Girls and Guns on 007 Albums
Report and Interview by James Hunter, New York Observer, 12 January 1998
PUSHING HER voice to surge and sparkle in ways it just doesn't want to, Sheryl Crow tries and tries to manage the choruses of 'Tomorrow ...
Marilyn Manson: The Long Road Out of Hell (ReganBooks)
Book Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1998
MANSON'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK: MARILYN MANSON UNLEASHES THE ULTIMATE TELL-ALL ...
Lucinda Williams Is Ready for Her Close-Up Now
Profile by James Hunter, New York Observer, 29 June 1998
THE COGNOSCENTI are wigging. "How did a 45-year-old 'neurotic diva' with one foot in Faulkner's South and one foot in Garth's make the year's best ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 3 September 1998
PERFECT CHEMISTRY ...
Burt Bacharach: The Look of Love – The Burt Bacharach Collection
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 23 November 1998
Kitschy-Kitschy-Koo: Look of Love Gets Too Cute ...
Interview by James Hunter, Vibe, February 1999
YOUNG, GIFTED, AND MACK, BALTIMORE SOUL SLINGERS DRU HILL SING SONGS THAT MAKE MEN MOODY, BUT MAKE THE LADIES SCREAM. ...
Massive Attack: Singles 90/98 (Virgin)
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 15 February 1999
What Big Ears They Have! Massive Attack's Remix Art ...
Blur, William Orbit: Blur: 13 (Virgin)
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 5 April 1999
Blur's Tender Mercies Shine Through Sheen of 13 ...
Underworld: Warhol Without the Wackos: Underworld's Beaucoup Fish
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 19 April 1999
THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN something different about Underworld, the three cunning Englishmen who in the '90s have had their way with U.K. beat culture, recasting it ...
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 24 May 1999
Backstreet Boys Play Coy, Robbie Williams Is a Joy ...
Faith Hill, Tim McGraw: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill: Love and Industry
Profile by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 25 May 1999
COUNTRY MUSIC Nashville is a town of handlers, of purportedly insightful managers and publicists and producers and record company presidents. In 1993, when Tim McGraw ...
Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze: David Byrne Has Got His Ears Wide Open
Interview by James Hunter, New York Observer, 28 June 1999
FOR THE last 10 years, David Byrne has run Luaka Bop, the Manhattan-based record label that specializes in international pop, with Yale Evelev, formerly of ...
Chet Baker, John Barry: Playing by Heart: John Barry in All His Glory
Review by James Hunter, New York Observer, 17 January 2000
A SUPERNATURAL-LOOKING CD entitled Playing by Heart is billed to John Barry, Chris Botti and, weirdly enough, Chet Baker. On the black-and-white CD cover, in ...
Third Eye Blind's 'Never Let You Go'
Comment by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 4 April 2000
THE KIND OF emotional and formal fire Third Eye Blind build on 'Never Let You Go', their current hit, has rocked producers, radio programmers, and ...
Travis: Luv Hurts: Travis' The Man Who
Review by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 17 May 2000
POP RECORDS can come with some pretty heavy reps. Travis' The Man Who appears in the U.S. after moving two and a half million copies ...
Chain Store Hairdos: Totally Hits 2
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 25 July 2000
THERE'S SOMETHING strange about the idea of Totally Hits 2, the compilation of recent pop smashes by various names, a follow-up to 1999's equally incongruous ...
U2: All That You Can't Leave Behind
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 26 October 2000
U2'S TENTH STUDIO album and third masterpiece, All That You Can't Leave Behind, is all about the simple melding of craft and song. Their first ...
Comment by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 30 January 2001
DJ Music Builds Its Way Out of the Velvet-Rope Underground ...
Dido: Boots and Beats Beneath the Bed: Dido's No Angel
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 6 March 2001
WHEN HIP-HOPPERS go anywhere from Spandau Ballet to Annie to Diana Ross and David Bowie to Kenny Rogers for music – as Prince Be, Jay-Z, ...
Elvis Presley: From Elvis In Memphis
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 10 July 2001
IN THE Elvis Presley mythology, 1968 marks the year of the TV Renaissance, when Presley delivered a mesmerizing, passionate performance on NBC, which regenerated his ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 13 November 2001
STING WAS IN Tuscany when he gave this concert in a courtyard there, beginning at nine in the evening, Italian time, September 11th. ...
Gary Allan: Scumbag in the Dark: Gary Allan's Alright Guy
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 19 February 2002
"THIS ALBUM," the booklet inside Gary Allan's current Alright Guy reads, "is dedicated to Willie, Waylon, Johnny, George, Buck & Merle," which is a way ...
George Strait: A Conversation With George Strait
Interview by James Hunter, Entertainment Weekly, 19 April 2002
Press-shy trad-country giant goes On The Record for a no-bull Q&A ...
The Chemical Brothers, Matthew Herbert, Stephane Pompougnac, Rinôçérôse: Lifestyles of the Rhythm
Overview by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 2 July 2002
Dance music accesses an unseparatist pop sensibility ...
Jackson Browne: The Naked Ride Home
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 17 October 2002
FROM THE COOL romanticism of 1993's I'm Alive to the textured ruminations of 1996's Looking East, Jackson Browne has explored, with a sense of flash ...
Faith Hill: Redrawing Country's Borders
Interview by James Hunter, The New York Times, 24 November 2002
IN 1999, THE Mississippi-born country singer Faith Hill released 'Breathe', and it sold more than eight million copies. Country music purists were put off by ...
Burt Bacharach: Little Big Things: Burt Bacharach's What the World Needs Now
Review by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 28 April 2003
IN THE LATE '80s, I sat with the great Japanese pop artist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto on a hotel rooftop in L.A. talking about Burt ...
Robbie Williams: Fly Like an Ego: Robbie Williams' Escapology
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 13 May 2003
WHEN LONDON'S Robbie Williams released his 1999 U.S. debut, he warned Americans. The Ego Has Landed, he called the thing, a shrewd compilation of even ...
N.E.R.D., Pharrell Williams: N.E.R.D.: Recombinators
Profile and Interview by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 22 April 2004
PHARRELL WILLIAMS doesn't shout. Today, the co-producer of Jay-Z and Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake and No Doubt (and others) is sort of urgently whispering ...
Review by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 20 May 2004
VAN LEAR ROSE is an album of 13 songs explosively written and sung by Loretta Lynn. Jack White, of the White Stripes, produced it. Eric ...
The Cure: Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities – 1978–2001: The Fiction Years
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 25 May 2004
THE CURE'S Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities: 1978–2001: The Fiction Years is titled with the exhaustiveness that can, in every sense, characterize box sets. ...
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 21 December 2004
THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS ago on a huge #1, Nancy Sinatra made her suede-toned warning that 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.' For the piano finale of ...
Susie Suh: Anti-Diva: Susie Suh
Profile by James Hunter, The Believer, 1 June 2005
SUSIE SUH'S eponymous collection is the debut of a twenty-five-year-old who grew up performing Korean folk songs on local TV with a children's choir in ...
Donald Fagen: Morph the Cat (Reprise) — Catdown to Ecstasy
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 16 March 2006
Steely Dan's unfashionable co-founder catches a New York where things changed forever ...
Tracey Thorn: Sublimely nonchalant electro-pop majesty: Tracey Thorn's Out of the Woods
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 20 March 2007
TRACEY THORN, of the now-on-hiatus duo Everything But the Girl, sings with the transparency of country air and the significance of Louis XIV furniture. Alone ...
Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 25 September 2007
ON HER RECENT Out of the Woods, Tracey Thorn, singing about artists who awed her early on, mentions "Bobby D in '63". But she also ...
Kylie Minogue, Robyn: Robyn: Robyn/Kylie Minogue: X
Live Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 29 April 2008
MOST OF Robyn recasts the teenage hitmaker of a decade ago as a formidable 26-year-old Stockholm chick. ...
Jackson Browne: Time The Conqueror
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 2 October 2008
AFTER SPENDING the late part of last year stumping for John Edwards, Jackson Browne continues to address the frustration, outrage and heartbreak over the Bush ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 22 September 2012
IN THE 1970s, ZZ Top broke through with a regional sound – simmering Texas blues – and then, in the next decade, reimagined their sound ...
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