Soft Rock

Coldplay closed out the North American leg of its tour with an exclamation point Monday night. Befitting their status as radio kings, thanks to the success of their fourth album "Viva La Vida," the quartet gave a big performance on a big stage with a big audience singing along to the big choruses. (Speed-dial friends U2 would've beamed with older brotherly pride). Whether it was the presence of frontman Chris Martin's famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and mother-in-law, Blythe Danner, with special guests Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld at the TD Banknorth Garden or the hero's...

Corinne Bailey Rae spent a good part of Friday night at the House of Blues singing with her eyes closed. Usually it was on the quiet, more introspective songs, of which there are many on the British soul singer’s latest album, “The Sea.’’ Yet it was easy to see what Rae must have been feeling. “The Sea’’ comes with a sad backstory — it was partly inspired by her husband’s death from an accidental overdose in 2008 — and no matter what the songs were truly about, that tragedy cast a pall over much of her moving performance.

Coldplay closed out the North American leg of its tour with an exclamation point last night. Befitting their status as radio kings, thanks to the success of their fourth album "Viva La Vida," the quartet gave a big performance on a big stage with a big audience singing along to the big choruses. (Speed-dial friends U2 would've beamed with older brotherly pride). Whether it was the presence of front man Chris Martin's famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and mother-in-law, Blythe Danner, with special guests Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld at the TD Banknorth Garden or the hero's welcome the...

So many of the female sketch comedians from "Saturday Night Live" and "Mad TV" deserve good sitcoms. And so very few - Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus - ever get them. It seems unfair that, after years in the trenches inventing characters on the fly, these elastic performers don't automatically graduate to weekly scripted glory. Rachel Dratch, Molly Shannon, Julia Sweeney, Maya Rudolph, Nicole Parker, Amy Poehler, I'm pulling for you. And I'm still pulling for you, Nicole Sullivan, the memorable graduate of six seasons of "Mad TV. " "Rita Rocks" is Sullivan's new sitcom, and, alas, it's barely...

The members of the Fray do not wear eyeliner, write songs about MySpace, or fuse prog-rock with electronica. While there is nothing wrong with any of the above, the Denver four-piece is, refreshingly, a plain old, shtick-free rock band, falling somewhere on the scale between the rootsy Counting Crows and the glossy Coldplay. The band has slowly but steadily made inroads into our fragmented music landscape the old-fashioned way. The Fray has toured extensively -- opening for everyone from Ben Folds to the Rolling Stones, in an upcoming one-off -- and written a radio-ready hit single, "Over My Head...

Corinne Bailey Rae spent a good part of Friday night at the House of Blues singing with her eyes closed. Usually it was on the quiet, more introspective songs, of which there are many on the British soul singer’s latest album, “The Sea.’’ Yet it was easy to see what Rae must have been feeling. “The Sea’’ comes with a sad backstory — it was partly inspired by her husband’s death from an accidental overdose in 2008 — and no matter what the songs were truly about, that tragedy cast a pall over much of her moving performance.

So many of the female sketch comedians from "Saturday Night Live" and "Mad TV" deserve good sitcoms. And so very few - Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus - ever get them. It seems unfair that, after years in the trenches inventing characters on the fly, these elastic performers don't automatically graduate to weekly scripted glory. Rachel Dratch, Molly Shannon, Julia Sweeney, Maya Rudolph, Nicole Parker, Amy Poehler, I'm pulling for you. And I'm still pulling for you, Nicole Sullivan, the memorable graduate of six seasons of "Mad TV. " "Rita Rocks" is Sullivan's new sitcom,...

The story of how it was made was one of the selling points of Bon Iver’s self-released 2007 debut, “For Emma, Forever Ago.’’ It went like this: Justin Vernon retreated to a cabin in Wisconsin one winter and emerged with an album that was so intense, it sounded like he never meant to share it with anyone. “Emma’’ was gorgeous in its austerity, but its follow-up is staggering for its vision. Bon Iver’s self-titled sophomore release will go down as one of this year’s most arresting albums, drunk on its own impressionistic charms and oblivious to...

Dan Ellsey, 33, was sitting in his wheelchair in a soulless room at Tewksbury Hospital, his virtually useless arms and weak torso strapped to the chair for safety. Suddenly, as soon as we were introduced, he arched his back, grinned broadly, and aimed the riveting power of his dark brown eyes at me, as if eye contact were his only means of transcending the prison of his body. But it isn't. In the last few years, Ellsey, who was born with cerebral palsy, has discovered another, almost miraculous, way of expressing himself: music.

NEW YORK - Dan Fogelberg, 56, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" helped define the soft-rock era, died yesterday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. His death was announced yesterday in a statement by Anna Loynes of the Solters & Digney public relations agency, and was also posted on the singer's website. "Dan left us this morning at 6:00 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side," it read.

Coldplay closed out the North American leg of its tour with an exclamation point Monday night. Befitting their status as radio kings, thanks to the success of their fourth album "Viva La Vida," the quartet gave a big performance on a big stage with a big audience singing along to the big choruses. (Speed-dial friends U2 would've beamed with older brotherly pride). Whether it was the presence of frontman Chris Martin's famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and mother-in-law, Blythe Danner, with special guests Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld at the TD Banknorth Garden or the hero's...

Coldplay closed out the North American leg of its tour with an exclamation point last night. Befitting their status as radio kings, thanks to the success of their fourth album "Viva La Vida," the quartet gave a big performance on a big stage with a big audience singing along to the big choruses. (Speed-dial friends U2 would've beamed with older brotherly pride). Whether it was the presence of front man Chris Martin's famous wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and mother-in-law, Blythe Danner, with special guests Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld at the TD Banknorth Garden or...

The members of the Fray do not wear eyeliner, write songs about MySpace, or fuse prog-rock with electronica. While there is nothing wrong with any of the above, the Denver four-piece is, refreshingly, a plain old, shtick-free rock band, falling somewhere on the scale between the rootsy Counting Crows and the glossy Coldplay. The band has slowly but steadily made inroads into our fragmented music landscape the old-fashioned way. The Fray has toured extensively -- opening for everyone from Ben Folds to the Rolling Stones, in an upcoming one-off -- and written a radio-ready...

NASHVILLE-- James Arthur Griffin, who was a founding member of the 1970s pop group Bread and who shared an Oscar for co-writing "For All We Know," died Jan. 11 of complications from cancer at his home in Franklin, Tenn. He was 61. Mr. Griffin sang harmony and played guitar with Bread, whose soft-rock hits included "Make It With You," "Baby I'm-a Want You," and "Everything I Own. " "For All We Know," from the movie "Lovers and Other Strangers," won a 1970 Academy Award and was a hit for The Carpenters.

The last time Tift Merritt released an album of sunny California soft rock (2008’s “Another Country’’), it was low-key and perhaps a little disappointing. This time, there are moments of eye-opening wonder. The result of diminished expectations or an indication that Merritt has worked out the kinks? Maybe both, but the strengths of “See You on the Moon’’ are real and not simply relative to its predecessor. There’s none of the timidity of “Another Country.’’ In its own quiet way, “Engine to Turn,’’ with its gentle, insistent ringing and Merritt’s clear,...