Byline: Chris Riemenschneider; Staff Writer Complimented on his group's electrifying performance a couple weeks ago on "The Late Show With David Letterman," Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell brushed off the praise with a funny little secret: What we saw on our...

Byline: Chris Riemenschneider; Staff Writer As someone whose record collection started with two concert LPs (Kiss' "Alive II" and Cheap Trick's "At Budokan," of course), I have to wonder where it all went wrong. Live albums used to be standard in...

The bidding for the black pony started at $500, then took a nosedive.There were no takers at $300, $200, even $100. With a high bid of just $75, the auctioneer gave the seller the choice of taking the animal off the auction block. But the...

Two horses nibble on a small tree close to the lone muddy path that winds through mountains strip-mined of their coal years ago. Packs of six to eight horses _ most of them apparently healthy, one a little scruffy _ graze on the patchy, brown...

The first question about "Horses," Patti Smith's debut album, might be called the Janis question—it comes up whenever a particularly exciting performer has fashioned a distinctive style, attracted a fierce public following, and then steps into a studio for the first time. Either the style informs the record, or the process of making a record causes the performer to alter the style, the result being, more often than not, a garish parody that is forced, hysterical, or both. In that...

[If] ever there was an adult record, ["Horses"] is it. It's a fiendishly difficult piece of work, and I suspect that as a result it's going to polarize people like crazy, which is too bad, because for all its overreaching, I can't remember a first album that exhibited such overwhelming potential. What it boils down to is whether or not we are willing to admit that rock means anything more than "it's got a good beat and you can dance to it."…