Rock

Record producer Joe Boyd has worked with Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, Richard and Linda Thompson, R.E.M. and many other musical acts. He has a new memoir, called White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s.

Ramos is considered a pioneer of Tejano music, the sound known for its traditional Mexican roots infused with the big-band sound of the 1940s, and heavily influenced by blues and rock. He is the bandleader of Ruben and the Texas Revolution. Their most recent recording is –El Gato Negro: A Class Act—. Hes also part of the all-star band Los Super Seven which has a new CD –Canto—

Cantilever is the new solo album from Jeff Murphy, formerly of the 1970s band Shoes.

LCD Soundsystem is a band that exists primarily in the recording studio, with singer-writer-producer James Murphy playing most of the instruments.

When LCD Soundsystem performs live, he usually assembles a four-piece band that can reproduce the kind of dance-punk-electronica mixture that won the band's previous album a Grammy nomination in 2005.

LCD Soundsystem's new album, called Sound of Silver, broadens the project's sound to make Murphy's rhythms even more accessible.

The Stooges rock band, led by singer Iggy Pop, have just released their first album in almost 35 years. It's called The Weirdness.

These days, Iggy Pop's best known piece of music may be the riff for his song "Lust for Life," which was used prominently in the movie Trainspotting and, more recently, in a TV commercial for a cruise ship line.

But when he was with the Stooges in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Iggy Pop helped define the path that punk and metal music would follow in the years to come.

Singer Mary Weiss first found fame as a member of the Shangri-Las, with hits like "Leader of the Pack," "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" and "Give Him a Great Big Kiss." Now she's recorded her first album of new material since 1965. It's called Dangerous Game.

Four women musicians from Bellingham, Wash., who call themselves "The Trucks" have released a debut album of the same name, with language and attitude that is not going to get them much airplay on mainstream radio.

The Trucks are another entry in a long line of female rock bands that know and find their audience.

Lead singer/guitarist Pat DiNizio and drummer Dennis Diken from the band The Smithereens. Their new album, Meet the Smithereens, is a track-by-track homage to the Beatles' Meet the Beatles.

A review of the debut album Alright Still, by the 21-year-old British singer Lily Allen.

Jerry Lee Lewis is one of the founders of rock 'n' roll. He has kept a low profile since his last album was released in 1996. His new studio album, Last Man Standing, was recorded over the last five years with an impressive cast. Collaborators included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, B.B. King, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springsteen, among others.

The new season of TV's American Idol starts on Tuesday, but four previous Idol stars — Taylor Hicks, Fantasia Barrino, Kellie Pickler and Chris Daughtry — have all put out albums within weeks of each other. Rock critic Ken Tucker says their styles vary widely, but that quality-control is a common problem.

Singer, guitarist, and author Alex Kapranos is the frontman for the Glasgow-based indie rock quartet Franz Ferdinand. The band, best known for its single "Take Me Out," has produced two hit CDs. Kapranos has a new book about eating on tour, called Sound Bites. The book is compiled partly from his column in London's Guardian newspaper about his gastronomic adventures.

Never Hear the End of It is the new double album by Sloan. The quartet from Nova Scotia was formed in 1991, and has spent most of the time since then as one of Canada's most popular rock bands. Their new album consists of 30 songs, which is an unusually large amount of new material.

Not many countries saw their traditional music gain popularity and vitality in the late 20th century, but Ireland did. Starting in the late 1960s with the Chieftains, and continuing with more rock-oriented groups like Planxty and Horslips, Irish music had a renaissance. Then came punk rock, and with it the Pogues, whose first five albums have just been reissued by Rhino. The releases are Red Roses for Me, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, If I Should Fall from Grace with God, Peace & Love and Hell's Ditch.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his picks for the best music of 2006. While CD sales figures are down from last year, Tucker says that music is increasingly being distributed in new formats.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews The Black Parade, the third album by the New Jersey quintet My Chemical Romance. Their dark musical approach has gotten them labeled as an "emo" band.

The Beatles' original producer George Martin worked on a Fab Four soundtrack to a Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas show, which remixed and combined various Beatle songs. Now, Martin and his son Giles have released a modified soundtrack of that production, an album called Love.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your A**, the new CD from the band Yo La Tengo.

Manzarek talks how he came up with the famous piano riff from "Light My Fire."