#stephen thomas erlewine

[mywifeleftme]

46: Bob Seger // Back in '72

Back in '72 Bob Seger 1973, Reprise

Like a lot of musically-inclined people my age (49), AllMusic.com was a critical part of my early ‘00s descent into abject nerdom and permanent homeliness. It was (and I suppose, still is) an unmatched repository of discographic information and professional reviews of the major pop and rock artists of the past half-century, and I spent hours each week on my shitty dial-up internet trawling through reviews of hundreds and eventually thousands of albums that I would try to imagine based on their writing.

The chief, to me, among AllMusic’s stacked bullpen of critics at the time was Stephen Thomas Erlewine. (Though I’ve become more of a Thom Jurek man in my old age.) Erlewine drew the job of reviewing a lot of the entry-level artists I was most taken with (R.E.M., Elvis Costello, the Kinks, Nick Lowe, the Replacements, and so on), and he had a way of writing what was essentially the Supreme Court majority opinion on a de rigueur classic in a voice that still sounded like a seasoned listener giving his own take. Like any good critic, the comparisons and offhand references in his reviews opened a lot of doors for me—and one of those doors led to early Bob Seger.

Growing up across the Canadian border from Detroit, I was raised on dad rock radio with a Motor City slant, which elevated local ham-and-eggers like Mitch Ryder to regular rotation and Michigan’s favourite son Robert Clark Seger to peerage with the Stones and Zeppelin. Starting with 1975’s essential double live ‘Live’ Bullet, Seger was a reliable national hitmaker for a good ten years, and he’s remembered fondly for it—but few critics have historically put Bob on a par with similar working-class hero Bruce Springsteen. That’s why it meant something to me that Erlewine, himself born in Bob’s hometown of Ann Arbor, treated the Seger catalogue with the same reverence he brought to the rest of the established canon.

I’d heard a few of Seger’s pre-Silver Bullet Band singles on Detroit radio, when a DJ like WCSX’s Ken Calvert would throw on a scratchy oldie like “Persecution Smith” or “Heavy Music,” but the album-by-album narrative that unwound through Erlewine’s reviews hooked me. An aspiring rocker since he started his first band in 1961, Seger tried out all sorts of gimmicks, from parodies (“The Ballad of the Yellow Beret”) to novelty songs (“Sock It To Me Santa!”) to a Bob Dylan impression (“Persecution Smith”). But Seger’s first taste of regional success was as a feral garage rocker with combos like The Last Heard and The Bob Seger System.

Like Otis Redding, an obvious vocal influence, Seger reaches his high notes by clenching his vocal cords and pushing hard, producing a plaintive quaver he’d eventually deploy toward the melting of hearts. But in his garage days, Bob was melting faces with a venomous arsenal of snarls and shrieks on stone classics like “Lucifer,” “Death Row,” and “2+2=?” that match the intensity (if not the scuzzy low-end) of anything by the Stooges or MC5. If Seger had put down his guitar and gotten a day job after failing to follow up his 1969 hit “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” (his first top 20 national hit, and his last till 1976’s “Night Moves”) he’d be a staple of collector bait reissue labels. But Seger always believed, “You're nobody if you can't get on the radio,” and he kept grinding away, looking for a sound that would make him a star.

1969’s psych-inflected Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man LP wasn’t it. Neither was 1970’s balls-to-the-wall raver Mongrel. It definitely wasn’t 1971’s acoustic folk venture Brand New Morning. But, on 1973’s goofily-titled Back in ’72, he suddenly sounds like Radio Bob: thick, white man’s R&B that’s part Ike & Tina, part Van Morrison, part southern rock. A lot of it’s down to the musicians he’s working with. First there’s the Borneo Band (credited here as My Band), a combo as capable of working an R&B audience into a lather as anyone in 1973 (as a number of righteous live bootlegs can confirm). And secondly there’s the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Alabama’s answer to session aces like the Wrecking Crew and the Funk Brothers. They’d played on a few hits in their time, and they represented the professionalism and success Seger aspired to. While Seger could only afford to work with them on three songs during the Back in ‘72 sessions, he’d go on using them as often as possible on his future albums (often to the chagrin of his touring musicians).

There are still some growing pains. Back in ’72 opens with its three weakest tracks: a passable cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Midnight Rider”; treacly original “I Wrote You a Song,” in which Bob sheepishly bleats most of the higher notes; and a cover of Free’s “The Stealer,” a song I am incapable of giving a shit about no matter who records it. From there though, things suddenly and dramatically improve.

“Rosalie,” written for Leamington, Ontario’s teenage tastemaker (and my grandma’s high school classmate) Rosalie Trombley, is an immortal pub rocker that would eventually find a second life through Thin Lizzy’s hit cover; diesel-powered travelogue “Back in ‘72” sets the template for (and easily outmuscles any of) his later heavy numbers; a read of Van Morrison’s “I’ve Been Workin’” turns into a true workout that makes clear why it would remain a setlist staple over the next few years. And then there’s “Turn the Page,” perhaps Seger’s signature song. The version here is more subdued than the better-known ‘Live’ Bullet rendition, and if as a vocalist Seger can’t quite inhabit the weary determination of the lyric in the way he soon would, it remains a worthy rendition on its own merits.

On Back in ’72 Seger and his band(s) finally sound like they’re capable of reaching an arena-sized audience. While it would take another four years before they’d actually do so outside the Midwest, the LP is an essential part of his journey. Few of Seger’s pre-1975 albums are easy to lay hands on these days—Bob seems to consider them juvenilia, the work of someone who wasn’t yet ready for the big time, and has refused to reissue any of them in recent years or allow them to reach streaming platforms. That’s a shame. After reading Erlewine’s rave reviews of his early catalogue, I was lucky to download them from blogs, and I’m still working on hunting down the best of them on wax. (While I prefer 1970’s Mongrel and 1974’s Seven, Back in ’72 is the only one of his formative records I actually own on LP—ironically, it’s among the rarest.) Despite Seger’s dismissal, this era of his career is a good part of what made him a major artist in his time and place, and deserves to be heard by a wider audience.

46/365

#bob seger #the bob seger system #bob seger & the silver bullet band #michigan #detroit #detroit rock city #classic rock #garage rock #music review #allmusic #stephen thomas erlewine #thom jurek #vinyl record #'70s music

[filosofablogger]

♫ Dancing On The Ceiling ♫ (Redux)

♫ Dancing On The Ceiling ♫ (Redux)

I’ve played this one before, but it’s been a couple of years and tonight I just really needed something upbeat and kind of silly to make me smile, so hopefully Clive will forgive me!  Listening to this did bring a smile, even if only briefly, but I sure wish I knew his secret for defying gravity like that!  I was gonna try it, but the girls both nixed that idea!  I wonder if he had some kind of…

View On WordPress

#Blender magazine #Carlos Rios #Lionel Richie #Mike Frenchik #music trivia #Stephen Thomas Erlewine

[bijouxcarys]

Queen's Hot Space Era: A Deep Dive

Masterlist

I’ve been thinking over this album and era more than usual lately, and decided that I’d write this up. Perhaps as a way to extricate all the Queen knowledge from my head, and the era in question takes up quite a lot of RAM.

The Hot Space album, and era, is very controversial and to this day garners a polarising set of opinions amongst fans and critics alike. So I just thought what the hell, let’s let everyone know what the hell was going on with Queen in the early 80s.

The Hot Space album was the 10th studio album by Queen and was released on the 21st May 1982. It had elements of disco, funk, R&B, dance, and pop, which was very different to what Queen had been doing throughout previous albums. The dance elements of this album was supposedly inspired by the success of Another One Bites The Dust, released in 1980.

Another One Bites The Dust was extremely successful in the US and the UK, the two largest marketing countries in the Western world, at least at the time—and Queen aimed to prolong that success.

The band started recording for Hot Space in June of 1981, and spent a gruelling 10 months on the project before wrapping up the production element in March of 1982. Upon its release, fans and critics found it disappointing. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said “the band that once proudly proclaimed not to use synthesisers on their albums now dramatically reversed course, dedicating the entire first side of the album to robotic, new wave dance pop, all driven by drum machines and coloured by keyboards with Brian May’s guitar coming in as flavour only on occasion.”

The fourth track on Hot Space, Body Language, has been dubbed the worst song in Queen’s discography by fans, and the whole album received no more than a 3-star rating overall.

Rolling Stone gave them a 3-star, whilst the Encyclopedia of Popular Music gave a 1-star… Yikes.

Hot Space is one of the more obscure Queen albums to those who are not currently, or have ever been, active within the fandom. So we’re going to break it down a little bit, and let’s just talk about the background and context of what the hell was going on with them.

So in 1981, Queen recorded Under Pressure with David Bowie, and it’s still considered one of Queen’s staple and most popular songs. It was recorded in Montreux, and was a completely separate project to Hot Space. The band had met up with Bowie and jammed together for a while, just to see if they could come up with something to lay down and master. Of course, as most people know, bassist John Deacon came up with the iconic Under Pressure bass riff, just before they all went out to get some pizza. And by the time they’d returned to the studio, he’d forgotten it! But luckily drummer Roger Taylor remembered it.

Now, this was the first time Queen weren’t working alone; they were used to working only with their producers, never having had anyone else’s input. The two artists merged as one for the song and it pointed in the direction of a potential new road for Queen—it was looking like an exciting one.

But what went wrong during the recording of Hot Space?

Brian May recalls that there was a total change of life for all of them. They travelled to Munich and according to Brian, that’s when things started to go downhill.

Let’s talk a little bit about the studio in which they recorded the album in Munich. It was situated in the basement of a hotel, and it was called Musicland Studios. It closed in the 90s due to some road issues, so it’s no longer open. But Brian remembers this place being grim and depressing.

The band’s mental health started to deteriorate after learning some unsettling details about the place. In Brian’s words:

“A lot of people used to jump off the top of the building and kill themselves off that particular building. We didn’t know that until we got there.”

The urge to finish recording grew, and they spent months at the hotel.

The aim was to create an album that focused more on the dance elements of music due to the success of Another One Bites The Dust, as I mentioned before. They seemed to be in luck, as Freddie Mercury’s entourage at the time was concentrated with dance influences in the form of Paul Prenter.

Now, who was Paul Prenter, you ask? If you’ve seen the film, you’ll kind of already know, but here’s a bit more of an in-depth look at him.

Paul Prenter was Freddie Mercury’s personal manager from 1977 to 1986. Despite their professional relationship, the two also engaged in intimate relations, and Prenter had a huge influence over Freddie’s life during the time he worked for him. He held partial responsibility for Freddie’s excessive involvement in drugs, alcohol, and his growing promiscuity. 

Freddie was known to have fired Prenter in 1986, and shortly after it was plastered all over the news. It turns out Paul Prenter had sold personal stories to the press about Freddie… What a dick.

After receiving money from multiple press outlets, he moved back to his hometown of Belfast and spent it all—smart. He then asked Freddie for more money! After all that, he went back and asked him for money! But it’s okay, he did succumb to complications from AIDS a few months before Freddie. So… Freddie got the last laugh, it seemed.

You’re probably wondering what Paul Prenter had to do with Hot Space. After all, he wasn’t part of the band, right?

Well, Freddie’s life was ruled by the New York-inspired gay lifestyle of the 80s, particularly engaging in extreme partying and extreme promiscuity. And at the time, Freddie had suggested to the band that the music on their new album should sound like that of which they’d play in a gay bar, but those words had initially come from Paul Prenter.

It’s said that Prenter despised guitars and relentlessly referred to Brian May as old-fashioned. Roger Taylor recalled that Prenter was a “very bad influence” on the band:

“He was a very, very bad influence upon Freddie, and hence on the band. He very much wanted our music to sound like you just walked in a gay club, and I didn’t.”

The strain and tension became inevitable with the four personalities—and we all know that John, Freddie, Brian, and Roger have massive personalities. Whilst they had always experienced bickering, as most bands do, they now with the added tension, the production of the album isn’t going to go as smoothly.

“Arguments would start off as creative, but slowly became personal.”

Brian recalls that less and less time was spent in the studio and more time was spent arguing.

To put it into perspective about what life was like for the 10 months they spent recording Hot Space in Munich…A regular day recording this album went a little bit like the following:

The entourage recall waking up at 3am, working for hours, having dinner, and then roadies would mix up cocktails and other things would pursue. The band got mixed up in cocaine and various other drugs. Random women, and relentless drinking, and as any sane person will tell you, that is not a good thing.

Roger described it as an exhausting cycle day after day. Imagine doing that for 9 whole months.

Brian remembers them getting into “deep trouble emotionally” in Munich, which possibly explains why their mental states deteriorated.

Now, the Hot Space era didn’t just end when the album came out. Obviously, when an album comes out, you have to do interviews to promote your album and after months and months of bad influences and arguments, the band’s relationship had kind of broken down. Things continued in quite a tense fashion. 

In fact, Freddie was left very unhappy and depressed after Hot Space wrapped up—it lasted a while, and he was completely immersed in places and habits that remained detrimental to his fate. Freddie became passive during interviews and defensive on certain questions concerning anything but current projects.

His attitude during the 1982 press conference in Europe was already standoffish and it was extremely obvious that he didn’t want to be there. The body language of the others, especially Brian, speaks volumes. The mood is low and they all seem exhausted.

Another nationwide interview the band gave in promotion for the album presented the group separated; Freddie was notably disinterested as the others spoke. There was even a moment where Freddie responds to the interviewer’s question with “let’s break up tomorrow” as a joke. But, watching it, you can’t help but feel there’s some truth to his words. Nobody laughed, even Roger looked uncomfortable by it!

One of the more well-known interviews from this era was with Brian and Roger, which displayed multiple moments of awkwardness with them both trying to make jokes and seem like they’re happy with what they’d produced, making up amateur excuses as to why they created something with a different sound. In my opinion, they just didn’t seem very happy. Do we even need to mention the “shut up” from Roger, and then the succeeding comment from Brian about Mack having the best drum sound?

Then, we have the iconic 1984 Freddie interview, where he left viewers stunned with his answers:

“I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you,” “I’m not an artist, I’m just a musical prostitute, my dear.”

The long-term effects of what happened behind the scenes of Hot Space were everlasting and turned the group into four completely different people than they were prior to 1982. 

As I’ve already mentioned, Hot Space wasn’t received well upon its release, and there are still very strong opinions about it today. Brian stated in 2014 that it isn’t the band’s worst album, but the timing of its release was just wrong. As time goes on, more people begin to accept the Hot Space album as just another reason why Queen is one of the most versatile groups of all time, with them branching out into very different styles to what they’d done earlier in their career, like Sheer Heart Attack, News Of The World, etc…

80s culture looked down upon disco and funk, so reception for Hot Space was bound to be less than amazing. However, today, all styles of music are simultaneously celebrated, and people enjoy the album more now than they did 40 years ago.

So in conclusion, recording Hot Space was a difficult period for Queen. It’s horrible to think about your idols going through the kind of thing they did in the early-mid 80s, influenced by not very nice people. But focusing on the album itself, it’s truly not a bad album at all. Granted, the timing of the release wasn’t the best for Queen, but it holds up as a fan favourite today.

If you haven’t heard any of the songs from Hot Space, besides Under Pressure, I highly recommend you check it out. It’s very different to what Queen usually did and I think it’s worth a listen.

Anyway, I’ll leave it at that. Let me know if you liked this little… post, whatever the hell it is, and if I should do more posts like this. I enjoy throwing all my useless knowledge onto a page lol.

#80s #1982 #hot space #queen #queen band #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #roger taylor #music #album #80s music #album review #album recommendation #deep dive #classic rock #music history #music deep dive #queen deep dive #biography #article #music article

[projazznet]

Frank Sinatra With Count Basie & The Orchestra Arranged & Conducted By Quincy Jones – Sinatra At The Sands

Sinatra at the Sands is a live album by Frank Sinatra accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra, and conducted and arranged by Quincy Jones, recorded live in the Copa Room of the former Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1966. ” Basie and the orchestra are swinging and dynamic, inspiring a textured, dramatic, and thoroughly enjoyable performance from Sinatra.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine/AllMusic.

#franksinatra #countbasie #quincyjones #jazzlegends

[dendre]

Fucking ridiculous

hogy felháborodok azon, hogy egy kedvenc lemezemről szar, szerintem hozzá nem értő, meg nem értő kritikát közöl egy röhejesen sznob, de sok értéket is felmutató, majd egy jó ideig tényleg meghatározó, majd már jó ideje tévútra került online zenei újság.

Persze azért háborodok fel, mert őszintén azt gondolom, hogy a rajongásomon túl ez egy objektíve jó, fontos lemez, olyan, ami tipikusan utólag kerül a helyére. És azt hittem, hogy végre itt is fog. Whatever.

De!

Hallgassátok már a Diminished - Parakeet - Falls To Climb zárórészt, és mondjátok, hogy nem gigantikus.

#r.e.m. #fucking pitchfork

[allmusic]

AllMusic Staff Pick:Sinéad O'Connor The Lion and the Cobra

Sinéad O'Connor's debut was a sensation upon its 1987 release, and it remains a distinctive record, finding a major talent striving to achieve her own voice. Like many debuts, it's entirely possible to hear her influences, from Peter Gabriel to Prince and contemporary rap, but what's striking about the record is how she synthesizes these into her own sound -- an eerie, expansive sound heavy on atmosphere and tortured passion. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

#allmusic staff picks #sinead o'connor

[sweetdreamsjeff]

An introduction to Jeff Buckley: "I would listen to anything: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Judy Garland, Robert Johnson, Thelonious Monk, Bartk, Mahler. And I asked a lot of questions".

By Neil Crossley published October 17, 2023

From his soaring, unbridled falsetto to his sonic artistry, Jeff Buckley defied conventions and left a catalogue of songs that is timeless and unique

On the night of 29 May, 1997, six weeks shy of his 31st birthday, Jeff Buckley waded fully clothed into a channel of the Mississippi River in Memphis. He was carefully watched from the bank by his roadie, who had warned him repeatedly about the perilous currents. The roadie looked away momentarily to remove a boombox from the water's edge and when he looked back, Buckley had disappeared. Six days later, on 4 June, Buckley's body was discovered floating near the city's famed Beale Street area, by a passenger on a riverboat called the American Queen.

In the days and weeks that followed, all manner of theories were put forward. Had Buckley ignored his roadie's warnings and been drunk or stoned when he went into the water? Had the intense pressure of producing a second album as sublime as his first simply been too much? The coroner concluded it was accidental drowning but the theories continued. Whatever the truth, it was a tragic end for an artist who clearly had a great deal left to give.

Jeffrey Scott Buckley was born in Orange County, California in 1966 and was the result of a short-lived relationship between cult folk singer-songwriter Tim Buckley and Mary Gulbert. From the age of four, Jeff was raised by Gulbert and his stepfather, Ron Moorhead.

"My mum would play piano and cello all the time and my stepdad had great musical taste," recalled Buckley. "I would listen to anything: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Judy Garland, Robert Johnson, Thelonious Monk, Bartk, Mahler. And I asked a lot of questions. Learning about music seemed effortless. I guess I must have had natural abilities. Looking back, it felt like instinct."

At five he picked up his grandmother's guitar and learnt to play it. By 13, he wrote his first song about a break-up with a girl. After graduating from high school, he studied at the Los Angeles Musicians' Institute and played in various rock and reggae bands, including a stint with dancehall reggae artist Shinehead. In 1990, he moved to New York and formed the band Gods And Monsters, a hip yet short-lived outfit.

Buckley began a solo career as a singer-songwriter, playing a borrowed Telecaster, in clubs and coffee houses in New York's East Village and building up a considerable following among audiences, critics and fellow musicians.

He was snapped up by Columbia Records and released the Live At Sin-é EP in November 1993. The EP was well received but the response was nothing compared to the rave reviews bestowed on his full-length debut album Grace, released in 1994. Unlike the EP, Buckley recorded the album with a full band, and collaborated on writing with guitarists Gary Lucas and Michael Tighe, which gave his sound fresh dynamics and textures.

It was a bold and stunning record, full of sweeping choruses and powerful arrangements. Buckley's brand of eclectic folk was distinctive and unique. As Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in a review for AllMusic, "Grace sounds like a Led Zeppelin album written by an ambitious folkie with a fondness for lounge jazz".

In 1998, a collection of unreleased recordings called Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, was released posthumously. Two live albums appeared in 2000 and 2001, and other compilations and live albums were released.

As always when artists die young, speculation is rife about what might have been - the stellar works they may well have gone on to create. But in his short life, Jeff Buckley forged a collection of songs that enshrined him as an astonishingly innovative and unique talent.

1. Grace - Grace (1994)

There's an unbridled feel to this title track, which sets the tone for the album with its soaring vocals, intricate guitar patterns and strident, cathartic feel. At its heart, the song is a celebration of life and Buckley's vocals are emotive and intense as he conveys a sense of wonder for the beauty of the natural world. "There's the moon asking to stay / Long enough for the clouds to fly me away / Oh, it's my time coming / I'm not afraid / Afraid to die".

Vocally and instrumentally, it's reminiscent of Radiohead, which is no great surprise as Buckley was an inspiration for Thom Yorke. As Yorke's friend Dougie Payne of Travis told Far Out magazine: "When [Radiohead] were recording Fake Plastic Trees, they were having trouble with it, and they couldn't get it to work. So, they went out to see Jeff Buckley play on the tour when it was just him and his electric guitar."

The band were bowled over by Buckley's performance. "Radiohead went back to the studio and Thom completely changed the way that he was singing and used that falsetto. You can kind of see the comparisons now. And that says a lot for how inspiring the show was."

Much of the track's strength comes from the live performance in the studio. This is a band at the top of its game, honed by relentless touring and capable of taking the music to real heights. This tight unit includes the formidable talents of co-writer Gary Lucas [a guitarist from Captain Beefheart's band whose instrumental Rise Up To Be formed the basis for Grace], Danish-American bassist Mick Grondahl and drummer Matt Johnson. By the end of the track, Buckley is screaming out the high notes as the whole sonic bombast builds towards a resolution.

2. Lover You Should've Come Over - Grace (1994)

The pain and longing of unrequited love is the focus of this hauntingly beautiful ballad written with Gary Lucas, which is built around Buckley's intricate fingerpicking. There's a dreamy, melancholic feel to the track, which features a sublime string arrangement from Karl Hans Berger.

Buckley's performance here is raw and intimate and the song really showcases the emotive feel of his vocals. It has become one of his most enduring and beloved compositions.

"It's never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder / It's never over, all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her / It's never over, all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter / It's never over, she's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever."

The song runs to almost seven minutes, but it's so entrancing that you barely notice. Every syllable from Buckley sounds heartfelt and true. As ever, the chords and melodies veer to the unexpected. From the mournful organ in the intro through to the squalling jagged guitar and drum flams at the outro, this is perfection.

3. Last Goodbye - Grace (1994)

The second single from the album, after the title track, and a haunting ballad that became a belated hit in 1995. Here, Buckley mourns the death of a relationship and focuses on the pain of letting go. The chorus is soaring and anthemic, while tasteful piano and string parts add depth and texture to the song.

Even from his early solo coffee house gigs, Buckley chose to play an electric rather than an acoustic, a decision that added to his distinctively different style. Buckley mainly played a borrowed 1983 Fender Telecaster and a Rickenbacker 360/12, but also used several other guitars, including a black Gibson Les Paul Custom and a 1967 Guild F-50 acoustic. When on tour with his band, he used Fender amps for a clean sound and Mesa Boogie amps for overdriven tones.

4. Mojo Pin - Grace (1994)

Another song written with Gary Lucas (his instrumental is called And You Will) and dating back to the Live at Sin-é EP, the opening track from Grace and one that showcases his eclectic blend of folk, rock and soul.

High guitar note swells and harmonics enhance the beautifully haunting intro before Buckly's plaintive falsetto enters the mix. Sparse, fingerpicked guitar follows, forming a warm backdrop for the first few vocal lines: "I'm lying in my bed / The blanket is warm / This body will never be safe from harm / Still feel your hair, black ribbons of coal".

The lyrical premise of the song focuses on the 'mojo pin' in question being pulled from his heart, leaving him hurt and exposed. It's a restrained, tasteful arrangement, with smatterings of toms, bass and cyclical guitar picking. The whole ensemble continues to ebb and flow while Buckley's warm vocal falsetto glides and meanders across the whole.

5. Hallelujah - Grace (1994)

Written by Leonard Cohen and released on his 1984 album Various Positions, this track has been covered by artists such as John Cale, Rufus Wainwright, KD Laing, Myles Kennedy (with Jeff's Telecaster) and Regina Spektor. But it was Jeff Buckley's version that has really seared itself into the global consciousness.

It's a hauntingly beautiful cover, impeccably realised by Buckley. In his hands, the song attains a real fluidity, ebbing and flowing, quickening and slowing. Much of its power lies in its minimalism and sparsity. The only accompaniment is Buckley's guitar - his Telecaster - and this really enhances his breathtakingly emotive delivery.

His version has been perceived as sexual and Buckley once said it was "a hallelujah to the orgasm". But at its core the song is a soulful exploration of faith, love and what it means to be human. As April Johnson wrote in Singersroom.com in 2023, "Buckley's voice is both powerful and vulnerable, conveying a sense of longing and spiritual yearning that is both moving and inspirational."

Hallelujah is one of Buckley's most iconic and enduring tracks and has become a classic song in its own right. For many, it is the definitive version of Cohen's bitter lament about love and loss.

* "Chords are depictions of emotions" - 5 Joni Mitchell songs that showcase her guitar and songwriting genius

#jeff buckley #neil crossley #an introduction to jeff buckley #musicradar

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Today in 1959, Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" was released.

* * * *

"Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence. Why does Kind of Blue possess such a mystique? Perhaps because this music never flaunts its genius. It lures listeners in with the slow, luxurious bassline and gentle piano chords of "So What." 

From that moment on, the record never really changes pace -- each tune has a similar relaxed feel, as the music flows easily. Yet Kind of Blue is more than easy listening. It's the pinnacle of modal jazz -- tonality and solos build from the overall key, not chord changes, giving the music a subtly shifting quality. 

All of this doesn't quite explain why seasoned jazz fans return to this record even after they've memorized every nuance. They return because this is an exceptional band -- Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb -- one of the greatest in history, playing at the peak of its power. 

As Evans said in the original liner notes for the record, the band did not play through any of these pieces prior to recording. Davis laid out the themes before the tape rolled, and then the band improvised. The end results were wondrous and still crackle with vitality. Kind of Blue works on many different levels. It can be played as background music, yet it amply rewards close listening. It is advanced music that is extraordinarily enjoyable. It may be a stretch to say that if you don't like Kind of Blue, you don't like jazz -- but it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection."

~Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic

(The World of Jazz)

#The World of Jazz #Kind of Blue #blue #Miles Davis #my favorites

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

ONE OF THOSE ALBUM COVERS THAT IMMEDIATELY CAUGHT MY EYE -- I WAS A BUTTON/BADGE FREAK IN HIGH SCHOOL.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on "Supergrass Is 10: The Best of 1994-2004," a compilation album celebrating the first 10 years of the English indie/Britpop/alternative rock band SUPERGRASS. The compilation was released on CD, DVD and double 10" clear vinyl record in June (UK) and September (US), 2004.

COMPILATION OVERVIEW: "Since they had a lower profile than their peers and came across as a bunch of mates instead of serious musicians, SUPERGRASS tended to be the most overlooked of all the major Britpop bands. They never defined the culture like OASIS or BLUR, never had a following of serious-minded, clever misfits like PULP, they weren't as sexy as ELASTICA, and they surely lacked the grandiose, doomed romanticism of SUEDE. What they were, though, was a bloody brilliant pop band.

Their 1995 debut, "I Should Coco," kicked harder than any record that year, and it had a bigger stylistic sprawl than any album this side of "The Great Escape," which it trumped with a deliriously infectious enthusiasm -- and it was all the more impressive when the fact that Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey were still in their teens when they cut the album.

They matured at a rapid rate, refining their musicality with each of their next three records, but they never had center stage again like they did with "I Should Coco." As they worked outside of the spotlight, they developed into a remarkably consistent singles band, as the generous 24-track 2004 collection "Supergrass Is 10: The Best of 94-04" proves. Even their muddled eponymous third album sounds brilliant when distilled to the sweetly gorgeous "Moving" and the ridiculously intoxicating "Pumping on Your Stereo."

These tunes are thrown together in a nonchronological order that contains all the A-sides apart from the U.S. radio single "Cheapskate" and the movie soundtrack selection "We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give)."

Instead of being infuriating, this nonchronological sequencing reveals just how consistent SUPERGRASS had been over the decade, since it forces the listener to concentrate on each individual song. Like Green Day's hits compilation "International Superhits!," "Supergrass Is 10" is a revelation for anybody who hasn't been paying attention, since it showcases a band that is one of best, most satisfying guitar pop groups of the last 15 years. If you haven't checked them out before, you need to get this immediately."

-- STEPHEN THOMAS ERLEWINE (for Allmusic), "Supergrass Is 10: The Best of 1994-2004" review

Sources: www.allmusic.com/album/supergrass-is-10-the-best-of-1994-2004-mw0000367663, Wikipedia, & Discogs.

#SUPERGRASS #SUPERGRASS band #1990s #CDs #Compact Disc #SUPERGRASS is 10 #CD #Graphic Design #Lasers Not Needles! #Alternative/indie #Alternative/indie rock #Indie #Alternative rock #Britpop #90s #Supergrass Is 10: The Best of 1994-2004 #Supergrass #Supergrass band #Buttons #Badges #Brit pop #Badges/buttons #Buttons/badges #Guitar pop #Sleeve Art

[odk-2]

The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset (1967) (Stereo) Sir Ray Davies from: "Something Else by The Kinks" (LP) "Waterloo Sunset" / "Act Nice and Gentle" (UK|Single) "Waterloo Sunset" / "Two Sisters" (US|Single)

Rock/Pop | British Pop

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Ray Davies: Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar Dave Davies: Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals Pete Quaife: Bass / Backing Vocals Mick Avory: Drums / Percussion

Nicky Hopkins: Keyboards Rasa Davies: Backing Vocals

Produced by Shel Talmy / Ray Davies

Recorded: @ The Pye Records Studios in London, England UK April 3 - 13, 1967

Single Released: May 5, 1967

Album Released: September 15, 1967 Pye Records (UK) Reprise Records (US)

Reaction | Legacy: 1) #42 on "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". 2) Pop music journalist Robert Christgau has called the song "the most beautiful song in the English language". 3) Pete Townshend has called it "divine" and "a masterpiece". 4) AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine cited it as "possibly the most beautiful song of the rock and roll era".

#Sir Ray Davies #The Kinks #Waterloo Sunset #Something Else by The Kinks #1960's #Shel Talmy #Pye Records #Reprise Records #Nicky Hopkins #Rock/Pop #British Pop

[memorableconcerts]

Nick Cave The Bad Seeds - "From Her To Eternity" - Live 1989

Live 1988

Nicholas Edward Cave AO FRSL (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety of influences and lyrical obsessions with death, religion, love and violence.

Born and raised in rural Victoria, Cave studied art in Melbourne before fronting the Birthday Party, one of the city's leading post-punk bands, in the late 1970s. In 1980 they evolved towards a darker and more challenging sound that helped inspire gothic rock, and acquired a reputation as "the most violent live band in the world". Cave became recognised for his confrontational performances, his shock of black hair and pale, emaciated look. The band broke up soon after moving to Berlin in 1982, and Cave formed Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds the year after, later described as one of rock's "most redoubtable, enduring" bands. Much of their early material is set in a mythic American Deep South, drawing on spirituals and Delta blues, while Cave's preoccupation with Old Testament notions of good versus evil culminated in what has been called his signature song, "The Mercy Seat" (1988), and in his debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel (1989). In 1988, he appeared in Ghosts... of the Civil Dead, an Australian prison film which he both co-wrote and scored.

The 1990s saw Cave move between São Paulo and England, and find inspiration in the New Testament. He went on to achieve mainstream success with quieter, piano-driven ballads, notably the Kylie Minogue duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow" (1996), and "Into My Arms" (1997). Turning increasingly to film in the 2000s, Cave wrote the Australian Western The Proposition (2005), also composing its soundtrack with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis. The pair's film score credits include The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Road (2009) and Lawless (2012). Their garage rock side project Grinderman has released two albums since 2006. In 2009, he released his second novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, and starred in the semi-fictional "day in the life" film 20,000 Days on Earth (2014). His more recent musical work features ambient and electronic elements, as well as increasingly abstract lyrics, informed in part by grief over his son Arthur's 2015 death, which is explored in the documentary One More Time with Feeling (2016) and the Bad Seeds' 17th and latest album, Ghosteen (2019).

Cave maintains The Red Hand Files, a newsletter he uses to respond to questions from fans. He has collaborated with the likes of Shane MacGowan and ex-partner PJ Harvey, and his songs have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Cash ("The Mercy Seat"), Metallica ("Loverman") and Snoop Dogg ("Red Right Hand"). He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2007, and named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2017.

Live 1988

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1984–present)

The band with Cave as their leader and frontman has released seventeen studio albums. Pitchfork Media calls the group one of rock's "most enduring, redoubtable" bands, with an accomplished discography. Though their sound tends to change considerably from one album to another, the one constant of the band is an unpolished blending of disparate genres, and song structures which provide a vehicle for Cave's virtuosic, frequently histrionic theatrics. Critics Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Steve Huey wrote: "With the Bad Seeds, Cave continued to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America, and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock, and arty post-punk."

Reviewing 2008's Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! album, NME used the phrase "gothic psycho-sexual apocalypse" to describe the "menace" present in the lyrics of the title track.[23] Their most recent work, Ghosteen, was released in October 2019.

In mid-August 2013, Cave was a 'First Longlist' finalist for the 9th Coopers AMP, alongside artists such as Kevin Mitchell and the Drones. The Australian music prize is worth A$30,000. The prize ultimately went to Big Scary. In a September 2013 interview, Cave explained that he returned to using a typewriter for songwriting after his experience with the Nocturama album, as he "could walk in on a bad day and hit 'delete' and that was the end of it". Cave believes that he lost valuable work due to a "bad day".

Live 1986

#Post-punk #alternative rock #gothic rock #art rock #experimental rock #garage rock #80s music #live music #nick cave

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: May 23, 2011

Lyrics:

Too many voices, too many noises

Invisible wires keeping us apart

So many choices, but they're all disappointments

And they only seal me away from you

Climb into our own private bubble

Let's get into all kinds of trouble

Slide over here let your hands feel the way

There's no better method to communicate

Girl stop your talking words just get in the way

I'll be your man

So baby come over from the end of the sofa

I'll be your man, I'll be your man

So many faces, staring at their shoelaces

When all anyone wants is to be seen

So tonight let's be honest

We only want to be wanted

And darling you got me wanting you

Everything that I'm trying to say

Just sounds like a worn out cliche

Slide over here let your hands feel the way

There's no better method to communicate

Girl stop your talking words just get in the way

I'll be your man

So baby come over from the end of the sofa

I'll be your man, I'll be your man

What are we all looking for?

Someone we just can't ignore it's

Real love dripping from my heart

You've got me tripping

What are we all looking for?

Slide over here let your hands feel the way

There's no better method to communicate

Girl stop your talking words just get in the way

I'll be your man

Songwriter:

Slide over here let your hands feel the way

There's no better method to communicate

(Slide over here)

Girl stop your talking words just get in the way

I'll be your man

So baby come over from the end of the sofa

I'll be your man, I'll be your man

I'll be your man, I'll be your man

I'll be your man, I'll be your man

James Blunt / Kevin Griffin

SongFacts:

"I'll Be Your Man" is a song by British singer-songwriter James Blunt. It was released as the fourth single from his third studio album Some Kind of Trouble. The single was released as a digital download single on May 23, 2011 and as a physical single on September 9, 2011. The song was also released in the United States, where Blunt appeared on The Conan O'Brien Show and Dancing with the Stars. A music video was released on May 26, 2011, which featured footage from Blunt's Some Kind of Trouble tour.

Boston Globe's Marc Hirsh said, "Blunt is happy with these Train tracks: nine songs later (minus the whoas), he pulls the same trick on "I'll Be Your Man." ("So, baby, come over from the end." von.") Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic commented positively: "Blunt's strength lies in his embrace of the soft rock cliché, whether he's happily jumping around." on "I'll Be Your Man". Scotsman's Colin Somerville was positive: "I'll Be Your Man is Blunt getting in touch with his inner teen idol, all acoustic guitar chugging and an excuse to twitch the cymbal." Simon Price of The Independent was negative and said, "If he's trying to be 'seductive' ("I'll Be Your Man"), that's embarrassing." Mike Schiller of PopMatters said, ""I'll Be Your Man" could be John Cougar Mellencamp. "Perhaps such similarities could be seen as an homage to an artist wanting to pay tribute to those who made him such a success, but these songs are prototypical to the point of caricature of their influences," he added.

#new #new music #my chaos radio #James Blunt #I'll be your man #music #spotify #youtube #music video #youtube video #good music #hit of the day #video of the day #2010s #2010s music #2010s video #2010s charts #2011 #pop #rock #soft rock #pop rock #singer songwriter #lyrics #songfacts #1241

[radiomaxmusic]

Saturday, December 23, 2023 4pm ET: Feature LP: Van Halen - Woman and Children First (1980)

Women and Children First is the third studio album by American rock band Van Halen, released on March 26, 1980, on Warner Bros. Records. Produced by Ted Templeman and engineered by Donn Landee, it was the first Van Halen album not to feature any cover songs, and is described by critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine as “[the] record where the group started to get heavier, both sonically and, to a lesser…

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#1980 #Feature LP #RadioMax #Rock #Van Halen #Wikipedia

[kristinzervos]

[projazznet]

Donald Byrd – Places and Spaces

Places and Spaces is an album by American trumpeter Donald Byrd, that was released on Blue Note in 1975. Allmusic awarded the album four stars and reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that there isn’t much of interest on Places and Spaces for jazz purists, but the album would appeal to most fans of Philly soul, lite funk, and proto-disco.

#soul #phillysoul #funk #jazzfunk #donaldbyrd #projazznet #trumpet

[almahiphop]

Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever (03/06/1997)

"Wu-Tang Forever" es el segundo álbum de estudio del influyente grupo de hip-hop Wu-Tang Clan, lanzado hoy 3 de junio de 1997. Fue uno de los lanzamientos más esperados del año y se convirtió en un éxito comercial y crítico, debutando en el número uno en las listas de álbumes de Billboard.

El álbum cuenta con una extensa lista de artistas y productores invitados que complementan el estilo característico del grupo. Los miembros del Wu-Tang Clan, que incluyen a RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa y Ol' Dirty Bastard, están presentes en todo el álbum.Además de los miembros del grupo, "Wu-Tang Forever" presenta colaboraciones notables de otros artistas del hip-hop, como Cappadonna, quien se convirtió en un miembro afiliado al Wu-Tang Clan después de su aparición en este álbum. También aparecen otros artistas como Streetlife y RZA bajo el seudónimo Bobby Digital, además de Popa Wu, Uncle Pete, Roxanne, 4th Disciple, Tekitha.En cuanto a los productores, RZA, miembro del grupo, fue el principal responsable de la producción del álbum.

Su estilo distintivo de producción, que se caracteriza por los samples de soul y kung-fu, es una parte integral de la estética del Wu-Tang Clan. Además de RZA, también participaron productores invitados como True Master, 4th Disciple, Inspectah Deck y Carlos Bess ingeniero en ese entonces de Wu-Tang Clan.

En 1997 el rap de la costa este tuvo un período significativo en la historia. Durante esta época, el rap estaba experimentando una transición y una evolución en términos de sonido y estilo. Si bien el sonido de la costa este había dominado en la década de 1990 con artistas como el mismo Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Notorious B.I.G., Mobb Deep y Jay-Z, el año 1997 fue testigo de nuevos talentos emergentes y un cambio en el panorama musical. Artistas como Big Mike, MC Lyte, Frankie Cutlass, Jurassic 5, Artifacts, Gravediggaz, Ice Cube, Capone-N-Noreaga, The Lost Boyz, Boot Camp Click, KRS-One, Mood, EPMD, The Beatnuts y una lista casi extensa de artistas y grupos lanzaron proyectos destacados ese año, continuando con el legado del rap de la costa este. Además, también hubo una influencia creciente del rap underground y alternativo en la escena de la costa este, con artistas como Company Flow, Tha Alkaholiks y Jeru the Damaja que aportaron un sonido más crudo y experimental.

Tras su lanzamiento, Wu-Tang Forever recibió críticas positivas de los críticos musicales, quienes elogiaron el trabajo de producción de RZA y el lirismo de los miembros del grupo. Matt Diehl de Entertainment Weekly comentó: "Forever continúa el Grand Slam artístico del grupo. Al igual que sus antepasados en Public Enemy, Wu-Tang son revolucionarios musicales, sin miedo a traer el ruido junto con su baúl de funk. RZA permite que algunos productores externos apoyen, pero son sus muestras arenosas y sus ritmos los que hacen que la fiesta se mueva". Sasha Frere-Jones de Spin declaro: "Wu-Tang Forever es un album suave y limpio, con solo unos pocos descartes en el segundo CD. Wu-Tang Clan ofrece algo para cada tipo de fanático del rap. Más importante aún, después de cuatro años de espera, en Wu-Tang Forever, el Clan conserva su manto como los abanderados del rap". Melody Maker también le dio a Wu-Tang Forever una crítica favorable, afirmando: "Tenía que ser así de grande. No tenía que ser tan bueno... Cada tema es una detonación... Forever es uno de los mejores LP de hip hop de todos los tiempos". Stephen Thomas Erlewine de AllMusic declaró: Donde contemporáneos como 2Pac y The Notorious B.I.G. discos dobles repletos de material de relleno, Wu-Tang Forever tiene un propósito y es sorprendentemente esbelto, lo que ilustra la inmensa profundidad del productor RZA y todo el equipo de nueve miembros. El resultado es una muestra embriagadora de virtuosismo musical y lírico, que revela cuán desprovistos de imaginación están los contemporáneos de Wu-Tang.

Alcanzo el puesto número 1 en las listas semanales de: UK Albums, US Billboard 200, US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard), New Zealand Albums, Canadian Albums (Billboard) y al finalizar el año los puesto: 30 en la lista US Billboard 200 y el puesto 9 en US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard).

Wu-Tang Clan - Reunited

Wu-Tang Clan - It's Yourz

#1997Rap #2ndAlbum #GhostfaceKillah #GZA #InspectahDeck #LoudRecords #MastaKilla #MethodMan #StatenIslandRap #NewYorkRap #OlDirtyBastard #Raekwon #RCARecords #RZA #UGod #WuTangClan #WuTangFamily #WuTang #WuTangForever #Spotify #Youtube