Since her landmark ‘Tapestry,’ Carole King has both oversimplified and over elaborated that masterful album’s style until her music has become something more overtly but less effectively personal.

The Rolling Stones have been the best of all possible worlds: they have the lack of pretension and sentimentality associated with the blues, the rawness and toughness of hard rock, and the depth which always...

Ringo Starr may not have much of a voice, but when he sang a song on a Beatle album, it had its own special charm.

James Taylor is the kind of person I always thought the word ‘folksinger’ referred to. He writes and sings songs that are reflections of his own life, and performs in them in his own style....

Barry White seemed so filled with self-parody at first that it was easy to dismiss him. But it is becoming increasingly obvious with every additional release that he is a very talented man.

The Beatles did their best cover work on Little Richard’s ‘Long Tall Sally’ and music influenced by Richard, such as Larry Williams’s ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie.’