Friday, January 22, 2010

RIP Bobby Charles

Well I am late to the game with this, but it seems fitting for Bobby Charles, a self proclaimed recluse.  He passed away January 14th, he was 71.

My first exposure to Bobby was when I purchased The Last Waltz Box set.  I actually got the 4 disk set before ever having seen the amazing film, strange I know, but I was totally into The Basement Tapes and my good friend Matt recommended that I dive head first into The Band; it is still one of the best pieces of advice I have followed.  The first non-Band song that grabbed me by the ear hole and hooked me for certain was "Down South In New Orleans".

Down south in New Orleans,
The prettiest girls I've ever seen.
Sparkling eyes, lips so sweet,
we make love to the Rumba beat.
Ship's at anchor, my suitcase packed,
Got a one way ticket, ain't comin' back.
Life's a pleasure, love's no dream,
Down south in New Orleans.

My dark eyed baby, I'm on my way,
Back into your arms to stay.
I'm tired of work, I wanna play.
I'll make sweet love to you night and day.

Down south in New Orleans,
The prettiest girls I've ever seen.
Sparkling eyes, lips so sweet,
we make love to the Rumba beat.
Ship's at anchor, my suitcase packed,
Got a one way ticket, ain't comin' back.
Life's a pleasure, love's no dream,
Down south in New Orleans.

I want to get too loose, on Toulose Street,
I wanna kiss all the Creole girls I see.
Drink all day, dance all night.
Do it wrong, 'til I do it right.

Down south in New Orleans,
The prettiest girls I've ever seen.
Sparkling eyes, lips so sweet,
we make love to the Rumba beat.
Ship's at anchor, my suitcase packed,
Got a one way ticket, ain't comin' back.
Life's a pleasure, love's no dream,
Down south in New Orleans.

"Drink All Day, Dance All Night, Do It Wrong, Til I Do it Right!"
Yup that about sum's it up perfectly....

That city has always enchanted me (More about this soon I promise) and when I heard this simply magical song sung with love by Levon, I was hooked on Bobby's song writing.  I got his Chess Masters collection and while it is good, Bobby will forever be known as a GREAT song writer and just an average performer himself.  I gotta hand it to him though, inventing a catch phrase as cool as "See you later, Alligator.  In a while Crocodile" is pure Boosh!

This is a cool article about a newer album of his, which I will be looking to pick up and here is some lost video of him at The Last Waltz:

I will post a few MP3's after the jump...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Bit Different Dead

Since I had an excellent long weekend, getting to see a bunch of old friends, check out a ton of sports and music, and had Monday off, this Tuesday morning is incredibly easy going in my world and the old Grateful Dead 3 hour show isn't really needed to open the eyelids.
(hence the ears ringing, taken from Brooklyn Vegan link below)
Instead with my ears still ringing from the kick ass Dinosaur Jr. Show Saturday night at The Bowery Ballroom that I caught with Jeff and Charelette, I wanted to share something a bit weird:


This week's Grateful Dead pick:
Grateful Dead Live at "Dance Hall"  9-4-1967



This simple 2 song mini selection represents an interesting show for the Dead, as one of the reviewers mentions this show was talked about in Phil Lesh's book Searching for the Sound (which I reviewed for Glide years ago, rightc'Here!)  He mentions that on this night Mickey Hart played with the fellas and was instantly accepted by Jerry, forming the rhythm foundation that would sustain the band (off and on) for decades to come. 


It also is a brief glimpse into the feedback manipulation that they use to do and which I love when bands such as Sonic Youth, Crazy Horse and yes Dino Jr. pull off so rip-roaringly.  Enjoy.







Friday, January 15, 2010

Glide Review - The Duchess and The Duke Live


Got a new review posted on Glide

You can check it out here!!!

It is of The Duchess and The Duke live set from last Friday night at Mercury Lounge in NYC.  Truth be told they were off their game becoming a bit tipsy (Jessie especially) towards the end of the set.  Here is a great tune, "Reservoir Park", from their excellent new album though Sunset/Sunrise.






   

Thursday, January 14, 2010

And now for something completely different....



While I mostly write/cover/listen to 'Rock' it isn't always like that...I just DL'ed 5 Miles Davis early 80's CD's this week and I was shown some new underground hip-hop that I love.  Check out Hip Hop Linguistics track of the week featuring Jake Lefco, IllSpokinn, Ryan-O’Neil, Kats and Domer.


In full confession I am friends with Kats and will be reviewing his newest release "Levitate" in the upcoming days, but friendship aside this is a smoking track.   

You can get a bunch of great underground hip-hop by going right here to Free Ice Cream, it is a booming site run by fine folks, and it is all free! Give it a gander.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Glide Review - Gorvette Lustfully Yours EP


New Glide Review up today.

You can check it out here!!

It is The Lustfully Yours EP from Detroit Female Pop Punkers Gorevette.

Check out Nikki Corvette and Amy Gore's Newest project:


Couple of more videos, including their cover of The Stooges, after the jump...

Monday, January 11, 2010

Monday Morning Dead

Back this Monday with a dose of The Dead to ease your work week into gear.  Hitting the summer of 1985 for this one, back in a time when Merriweather Post Pavilion had nothing to do with Animal Collective.

Here is your show for this morning: June 30th 1985.

'85 is an interesting year for the Dead as they rolled out their 20th Anniversary tour, Jerry's playing was crisp and clear but there is no denying what my friends P-Style and Mark call his "Kermit The Frog" singing from this tour.
(Someday I'll find it, the tye-dye connection)
Also I may be wrong with this, but I believe Spring/Summer '85 was the first time that the group broke out their MIDI system (which I just found out stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface).  Love or hate the Dead, you need to admit they were constantly on the cutting edge of music technology, and the MIDI usage was another link in that chain (one that long time fans still argue over it's success with the band).  You can hear it come into play in the first sets CC Rider with the guitars sounding like a Saxophone/Trumpet mix...a cool version.  This Oade Brothers recording seems to have a bit of hiss too it, the cymbals are bit high and Jerry sounds even more distant vocally, but it does convey the crowds rambunctious energy...and is flat out fun coming on the heels of a mighty SPAC show (that I am sure I will get to eventually).

The opening set is crisp and quick ("Big Railroad Blues" is pure speed) and contains the first reason why I picked this one; "Keep On Growing".  Brent and Phil are my two favorite Dead members and to hear them try out this Derek and the Dominoes tune is a joy...too bad they could never really get it right and they slaughter the lyrics, oh well...I wish they kept trying with this song, though I think they only played it live a handful of times. 















 

The second reason for posting this show is that I am feeling really good this Monday so I wanted something funky.  "Shakedown Street" along with "Miss You"

and the new Black Crowes song "I Ain't Hiding"

are the holy trinity of disco rock and this version of Shakedown which opens the second set is arguably the best representation of disco/funk Dead.  

Brent kills it on keys, the guitars cook, the crowd eats it up with a spoon...these 15 minutes are ecstasy for the eardrums. At 10 minutes they drop in some riff-y goodness that just makes your ass shake and your head bob and then they blow off the roof around the 13 minute mark, kinda makes you wish they kept this jam going even longer..but they still had a monster set to get too.  A scorching Samson and Delilah is up next before the bust out of the summer of 85.... Cryptical Envelopment starts a segue fest that triggers Drums> Space> Other One> Stella Blue, looming large and moving everything home to the Sugar Magnolia> Sunshine Daydream closer.  Hell of a show, Hell of a show...  (Full setlist and more links after the jump)

Merriweather Post Pavilion 6-30-1985
Dead.net (personal reviews are here as well)

Mississippi Half-Step
C.C. Rider
Brown Eyed Women
Mama Tried
Mexicali Blues
Keep on Growing
Big Railroad Blues
Looks Like Rain
Don't Ease Me In

Shakedown Street
Samson and Delilah
Gimme Some Lovin'
He's Gone
Cryptical Envelopment>
drums>
The Other One>
Stella Blue
Around and Around
Sugar Magnolia

U.S. Blues









Monday, January 4, 2010

Kicking off those Monday Blues

Well now, no one likes Monday's and when they come after a holiday break they are even more brutal.
One of the things that eases the Sunday Scaries out of my body is a little morning friendly Grateful Dead
(So happy I got Jerry and Nathan Explosion in the same post)

For 2010 I will try to post these every Monday when I have time, but The Archive is a treasure chest of fine tuned booty if you want to explore them yourselves.  This Monday's Show kicking around the old ear drums is from 11-14-1973 San Diego, California and I am sure it was warmer then and there then it is here and now.  Oh well at least the smoking China>Rider and the rollicking Truckin warm the heart.  The jam in Here Comes Sunshine is a must here, some of the bands best interwoven playing and, if anything, it ends too soon for my taste; they were hitting on all acid warped cylinders with this one.

A free flowing Other One that highlights Godchaux's piano runs and goes every which way is huge.  Eyes of the World from 1973 is always appreciated with it's bad ass breakdown, I particularly love Phil's playing here, the bass sounds so alive.  This is really one of the best 2nd sets of the bands career, give it a go.... 

Enjoy and I will try to post a different show each Monday that I can, Full Setlist is after the jump, Comments are always welcome.