Dan Kening

Sarah McLachlan Fumbling Towards Ecstasy (Arista) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR)(STAR) This a terrific album from a gifted 26-year-old Canadian who is mature beyond her years. Lyrically, McLachlan's themes include betrayal without bitterness ("Plenty"),...

The Samples, out of Boulder, Colo., are one of the more interesting stories in rock music of late. Signed to major label Arista Records in 1990, the group, whose brilliant...

Pat McLaughlin Unglued (Dos) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2 Despite a well-regarded previous solo album for Capitol Records, singer-songwriter Pat McLaughlin remains something of a well-guarded secret in Nashville. He may spend his...

Kiss has made a career out of confounding their many critics. The group, which has sold some 70 million albums to date, has had the last laugh on those who...

Subdudes Annunciation (High Street) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2 The Subdudes may have left their native New Orleans for Colorado six years ago, but the Big Easy has never left their music. On...

You might not expect a band that calls itself Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine-and whose two principal members answer to the names "Fruitbat" and "Jim Bob"-to take its music very...

Urban WGCI-FM has replaced contemporary-hit WBBM-FM as Chicago's top radio station, according to figures released Thursday for the winter ratings quarter by AccuRatings. AccuRatings' top 10 stations and audience shares...

Tori Amos is the current darling of the music media, her girlish visage peering out from the covers of virtually every other music magazine currently on the newsstands. If you...

To put it simply, there's nothing even remotely like Us3's "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" currently in the Top 40. Built around samples taken from jazzman Herbie Hancock's classic "Cantalope Island," the...

Matraca Berg The Speed of Grace (RCA) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2 Country radio greeted Matraca Berg's solid 1991 album "Lying To the Moon" with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Although she's penned...