The Watt from Pedro Show with Rob Cambre

A pretty cool meetings of the minds as Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehose, The Stooges) hosts his webased radio show and interviews a friend of ours Mr. Rob Cambre (Rough 7, Anxious Sound)  on his Watt from Pedro show which you can stream here.

The Watt from Pedro Show with Rob Cambre

Watt plays a lot of music (setlist is below) and Rob and Mike reminisce on their first meeting, Watt being scared to talk to Richard Hell and how Rob's obsession of overtones/distortion got him into playing guitar.

It is a long show (3 Hours!) with a lot of tunes and chatting. Fair warning if you are unfamiliar with Watt or Cambre, but the music presented here fits both of their styles, all over the map ranging from experimental noise to country hoedowns to rock. To be honest Mike isn't the best interviewer but Watt does do a good job explaining the lesser known artists he plays, lots of variety there from around the world.

For RtBE's money it is really cool to hear a lot of the experimental jazz Rob is playing such as "Kobo". I am pumped for Rob having interviewed him as well for Glide and hung with him in his home town of New Orleans. Congrats! 

Setlist:
hour one:

"naima" (alternate version - take 1, incomplete) john coltrane
"circle bar 3" dry bones trio

"kobo" (temporary title) cambre/miller/nakatani
"kamti beashmoret" barbez
"windshield smasher (longmont potion castle remix)" black moth super rainbow
"soup bones" umpio
"waitin'" banditos
"sakav da se zaljubam" bernay's propaganda
"not enough" the spacepony
"playing football" seb + the rahh dicks
"dead mouse in a fire bucket" howie reeve

hour two:

"circle bar 4" dry bones trio
"nineteen century man" can
"quicksilver" boris
"orion canyon" insect surfers
"thinkers mix" thollem/wimberly/cline
"light & grace" nudity

"preacher by day" rough 7
"grand inquisitor" surfer blood
"I am that I am" ben lee
"chat noir" panorama city
"wrong side" todd congelliere
"hurrying kids to hell" can can heads

hour three:

"circle bar 5" dry bones trio
"quit my job" fredrik kinbom
"alligator suitcase" atomic sherpas
"fairlane swain" murcielago
"dark blue sea" (no horns mix) labor camp
"eye rack" john wilkes booth
"shape shifting" family room

"one man army" gg allin & the jabbers
"smoking unit" revolver flavour
"the long game" no volcano
"I'm not in love" the father figures
"the aliens are trying to save us from ourselves" the peasants
"street light b" round eye
"have love will travel" the portugal japan

 

Dylan Cover #192 Abhishek Mukherjee "Love Sick"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by Abhishek Mukherjee playing "Love Sick" 

Thoughts on Original:
From our first cover take on this song:
The opener on Dylan's 1997 classic Time Out Of Mind, signaled to the world, that the old bard had tons of great songs left in him. Considered by some (not RTBE) his comeback album  Time Out Of Mind showcased stark songs with biting lyrics and most importantly lush sounding production; Dylan ditched modern sound for one he liked better. The result was a true winner, no better seen then on this disk opener. Dylan identified with every human via the lyric, "I'm sick of love/and I'm in the thick of it". Who hasn't been there? A great song that kicks off a great album, it would be nice if he played it live though...  
Cover:

Thoughts On Cover Artist:
I do not know Abhishek Mukherjee but a quick search reveals that he has a few other covers up on his youtube channel. 
Thoughts On Cover:
Abhishek talks us through how he recorded this version: 

I played my Yamaha F310P acoustic guitar through my Cort CM10G amp, and sang along, recording the first take. The guitar was kind of drowning off the vocals, so I had to record another vocal track later and add it to the video. I played a simple guitar solo also, and synced it over the chords in the appropriate place in the video, too. I made a backing track which contained some bass and strings as well, and I mixed all the tracks together finally, threw in some reverb, and this is what I got. The software which helped me were FL Studio 9, Sony Soundforge and Windows Movie Maker. Enjoy!

 It is a solid cover and a great way to start the week.

Full Show Friday: Mastodon 8/15/01 CBGB's, NYC

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's.  These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Mastodon!

 We have a special theme this month as we focus on full live shows from the historic NYC shithole CBGB's. 

We saw many a filthy show there, and while the bathroom was the worst in history, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Our only regret is that we never had a chance to play it. This month we focus on some of the great bands who did, tackling one show from each decade the venue was in operation. 

Well we skipped over some better quality shows to get to Mastodon from their early days because we wanted to reach each decade that CBGB's was open, so we got the 70's 80's 90's and 00's represented now this month and it is fun to see a young and lot less hairy Mastodon do their screeching metal from back in 01. We didn't like their recent album so much, in retrospect that star rating was too high, but this is a good show if the lyrics are almost inaudible. Hope you enjoyed this series, we have and we also found a bunch more shows that will pop up on future Fridays from the LES dive bar so fear not if we missed your favorite.

Enjoy:

Album Review: Neil Young + Promise of The Real- The Monsanto Years

Neil Young + Promise of The Real

The Monsanto Years

** out of *****

Protest has lead to some of the greatest rock and roll ever. Whether rebelling against injustice, or oppression of any shape or form the angst that spews creative music is vital. Neil Young has built a career on this and he has been pretty haphazard at to what gets his goat from album to album.

This time out it is big business on the album titled The Monsanto Years, which finds Uncle Neil plugging in, fronting Promise of the Real whose normal leaders are Micah and Lucas Nelson, sons of Willie, playing the supporting roll here. The album is consumed with the sense that big business in the form of Monsanto (a multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation ) is strangling farmers and with the help of other corporations, hijacking the rights from every individual in this country. 

The songs spread the blame around, linking Starbucks ("Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop") Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ("Workin' Man") grocery chains like Safeway ("Monsanto Years") and all other big box stores ("Big Box") and even the individuals ("People Want To Hear About Love") into the problem. This isn't a clear thematic progression or rock opera though, it is more like a collection of gripes. That is fine and dandy if those issues fuse into more then melodically backed simplistic rants. In order for an album like this to be supremely successful an artist, especially one the caliber of Young, needs to transform an issue into an artistic statement that can't be denied (to borrow a phrase).

Unfortunately this album never rises to those heights or to much more then average electric roots rock with shoehorned lyrics about the big bad Monsanto. It is as if halfway through the project Young took to heart the lyrics of "People Want To Hear About Love" and decided he just didn't have the fire to burn down the evil corporations in these songs.

As for the backing of Promise of the Real, there is a tentative fit. Perhaps in Crazy Horses hands a track like "Rules of Change" would be exploited for that crucial underlying dark feedback rumble but here the players never full mesh. It is to be expected, and for a reference point one only needs to look at Mirror Ball, to see a great band not fit into Young's loose (possibly even tossed off) recording style.

Unlike Mirror Ball that wooly sense of abandon and energy is sacrificed for a loose half baked theme and probably the simple age of Young, also there is no "I'm The Ocean" (a criminally underrated recording/song/experience) to buoy the whole project. The Monsanto Years ends up being the worst thing a protest piece of art can be; dull.        
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Always happy to hear Uncle Neil play electric, but this one felt undercooked in every way.

Support the artist here, buy the album here and peep some video below:  

Album Review: Bully- Feels Like

Bully

Feels Like

*** out of *****

The Nashville quartets Bully's first release Feels Like is a packed bullet train ride with eleven tracks clocking it at just over twenty seven minutes. It is a warm summer album with tight poppy punk/indie rock playing and vocals provided by front woman Alicia Bognanno.

Backing up Bognanno is Stewart Copeland (not that one), Clayton Parker and Reece Lazarus as the young players provide deft work through a mix of feedback, basic rhythms and at the albums best moments dreamie rock."I Remember" starts things on the bands hardest edge with a screechy Bognanno recalling some not so fine moments urgently over poppy punk rock.

The band takes control leading things through various changes on "Reason" and the dream-pop first single "Too Tough". "Six" motors in a danceable rock and roll way, an overall sense of fuzziness is behind the songs but there is a distinct sheen of radio friendly polish buffed over all the tracks. "Trash" slows things down and puts a focus on the bass but even their sludginess and angst  the band still manages to sound pretty.      

The best thing the band accomplishes is keeping the tracks short yet still packing enough of a melodic hook for them to stick. Never do they overstay their welcome and Bognanno's female take on things lyrically, especially on tracks like "Trying", give the band an engaging twist. A solid first effort from the youthful band an enjoyable listen all around for rock lovers of any age.
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Support the band here, buy the album here, peep some video below:

Free Marco Benevento Live Album: Masquerade Ball

The keyboard wizard Marc Benevento is graciously releasing a free live album on Royal Potato Family Records. 

Click Here to Download

From Benevento himself in regards to this night of music up in Burlington, VT on April 4th 2015:

"This was great night! We'd been touring the record (Swift) for about seven months so the energy was high onstage. Plus, it was Signal Kitchen's Masquerade Ball show, so everyone in the audience was wearing masks and looking freaky,” remembers Benevento. "Our friend even came up on stage and danced for an extended 'Limbs Of A Pine.' Oh, and it was a full moon, oh geez, yes, you can hear it all here. We tested out two new tunes that will be on our upcoming record and we wound up, on a whim, segueing 'RISD' and 'Let's Spend The Night Together' (the Bowie version) at the end of the show. That even surprised us while we were playing through it!"

The last time we talked about MB here we highlighted his duet set with Stanton Moore, the more we hear and see him playing the keys the more we dig him and his easy style. Grab the album and check out the man in some video and album previews below:

Dylan Cover #191 Kris Kristofferson "Quinn The Eskimo"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a live cover by Kris Kristofferson playing "The Mighty Quinn"

Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune:
Not officially released until 1970's audience and critic defying Self-Portrait "Quinn The Eskimo" first found life with Manfred Mann, before a lot of the world heard Dylan sing it himself. It had been on The Basement Tapes though and lots of bootleggers, underground fans and admiring fellow artists got to bask it its rollicking glory. A fun old ride that makes everyone from children to adults smile. A favorite purely because it is one of the plain funnest songs in Dylan's catalog one of my personal highlights regarding the song has nothing to do with the playing, it has to do with what Dylan himself wrote about it in Chronicles:  

"On the way back to the house I passed the local movie theater on Prytania Street, where The Mighty Quinn was showing. Years earlier, I had written a song called 'The Mighty Quinn' which was a hit in England, and I wondered what the movie was about. Eventually, I'd sneak off and go there to see it. It was a mystery, suspense, Jamaican thriller with Denzel Washington as the Mighty Xavier Quinn a detective who solves crimes. Funny, that's just the way I imagined him when I wrote the song 'The Mighty Quinn,' Denzel Washington."

Cover:

Thoughts on Cover Artist:
How can you not love Kris Kristofferson? The man wrote amazing tunes like "Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" is a country music legend a good actor and looks as dashing as ever. The man is pretty much the essence of cool and he worked for it, getting into the game a bit later then most by hustling. Much respect. 
Thoughts on Cover:
I love, love, love that he says "He is gonna kill me when he hears this" at the beginning of this video. Dylan made a ramshackle silly song one of the great sing-a-longs that can make anyone from 4-400 years old happy when they hear it. Kristofferson adds a really unneeded sense of dread and foreboding to it. While far from my favorite cover in this series we do appreciate when artists take wildly different approaches to Bob's tunes...and this is one of the rare cases where a simple acoustic rendering is a 180 from the original.  

Full Show Friday: The Dead Boys CBGB's 1977

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's.  These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...The Dead Boys!

We have a special theme this month as we focus on full live shows from the historic NYC shithole CBGB's. 

We saw many a filthy show there, and while the bathroom was the worst in history, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Our only regret is that we never had a chance to play it. This month we focus on some of the great bands who did, tackling one show from each decade the venue was in operation.

Ah The Dead Boys from Ohio who made CBGB's their NYC home in the late 70's. If you don't get shivers at the start of "Sonic Reducer" you are dead and reading this from the beyond. Not the best quality but this is glammy punk rock from the 70's we are talking about it, quality? Last thing on Stiv and crews mind. A fun quick set, how can you not like a song titled "Flame Thrower Love" and a closing cover of The Stooges? full set-list below:

Enjoy:


01 | 00:46 | Sonic Reducer
02 | 03:37 | All This and More
03 | 06:23 | Not Anymore
04 | 09:44 | I Won't Look Back
05 | 12:24 | Flame Thrower Love
06 | 14:58 | I Need Lunch
07 | 18:33 | Ain't Nothin' to Do
08 | 21:14 | What Love Is
09 | 23:17 | High Tension Wire
10 | 25:21 | Search & Destroy

Album Review: High On Fire- Luminiferous

High On Fire

Luminiferous

***and1/2 out of *****

High on Fire just continue putting out hard as hell albums keeping a level of high quality connected to their headbanging ways. After pairing up with producer Kurt Ballou for 2012's extremely excellent De Vermis Mysteriis, Ballou returns to help the Oakland based group forge Luminiferous, a continuation of kick ass old school heavy metal.

The band touches on different sub labels in the genre but High on Fire are simply a metal band at heart and one of the best in the business. The trio of drummer Des Kensel, bassist Jeff Matz and guitar virtuoso/frontman Matt Pike pummel and soar with a well worn snarl and stomp.

"The Black Pot" opens with a six minute run through their styles, putting Pike's vocals a bit to the back letting the instruments scream and charge ahead. "Carcosa" thuds along as the drums push things before a riff (oddly reminiscent of Frank Zappa's "Stevie's Spanking") dominates.

There are big, heavy grooving tunes that are custom made for slow head banging with "The Sunless Years" and "The Dark Side Of The Compass", the first complete with muddy guitars/chem trail lyrics and the second dominated by a rhythmic intro. The trio also know how to slam into speed metal with abandon as they do on the title cut and the kick ass "Slave The Hive" which is our favorite track thrashing around in glorious chaos.  

HoF make their biggest gear shift dip into a slower, more blues/ballad territory with "The Cave" which leaves Pike's obsession with sci-fi conspiracy and deals plainly with his addiction. An excellent shift in tone and emotion for the band, reminiscent of Black Sabbath giving the band a deeper dimension and the album a more nuanced feel. This twist and the groups more arena ready numbers like "The Falconist" with its slow hard rock style and big guitar solo, show that the group are not afraid to bring in even more ears to their heavy rocking sound.

The bands continued success is a joy especially in a genre that is prone to dulling, fading or eviscerating itself. While not as ferocious as De Vermis Mysteriis, Luminiferous proves the band can expand things (even if just slightly) for a more polished (again, slightly) offering, producing one of the best metal records of the year.
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We loved De Vermis Mysteriis and even ranked it in our top 10 for 2012. While this is a good-to-great metal album we do feel it is a slim notch below that one. Even so there is a good chance it will end up on our year end review...High On Fire are one of the best bands out there playing hard.

Support the band here, buy the album here and peep some video below:

New Galactic Song with Macy Gray, Album Due July 17th

Galactic, the NOLA funksters, are coming out with their newest disk titled Into the Deep on July 17th but recently released a track with Macy Gray.

We have dug on Galactic in the past, and wrote about them as a NOLA staple for NYPL but it took us that album (Ya-Ka-May) for RtBE to really get into them. We are certainly awaiting the new one so lets not wait any longer and listen to the first track here:


Pretty anthemic straight ahead stuff from the group. This seems like a departure for the band and we are curious to hear the full new disk in a few weeks.

Album Review: Jim O'Rourke- Simple Songs

Hey all got a new review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here!!!

It is of Jim O'Rourke's newest release Simple Songs. These songs aren't simple in the least, sure they are songs in the verse chorus verse way with lyrics and singing which might make them more of the "norm" for O'Rourke, but they are never simple.

It needs to be said that this is turning out to be a banner year of production, it seems digital and analog are mixing wonderfully and O'Rourke's Simple Songs is just another in a long line of great sounding disks. 

Support the artist here, buy the album here and peep some video below:

Album Review: Billy Shaddox- I Melt, I Howl

Billy Shaddox

I Melt, I Howl

*** out of *****

Billy Shaddox plays "Cosmic American Music" and that is a pretty apt description of his latest offering I Melt, I Howl. His comfort zone seems to be more in the Americana side of things but producer Sam Kassirer has come in to help expand things on this solo release. The album, as well at the art containing it, conjures up nature, rolling rivers, climbing up and down mountains in physical and emotional forms.

The title track rolls at an easy pace with up beat rhythm and sunshiny guitars. The banjo lead "Feels Like Home" contains the strongest lyrics Shaddox presents with lines like "The heart is a simple beating muscle/a simple beating tool/and it's part of all that complicates us/make us be the fool" marking it as a highlight track when the organ and drums bubble up and support it.

Another winner is "Golden Coast" with its upbeat charm and rollicking bounce and texture. The disk closing "Not Easy Anymore" has a Tom Petty "You Don't Know How it Feels" vibe with the harmonica and big kick drum to end the disk.

It isn't Petty though who is the easy analogy for Shaddox, that comes in the form of Wilco. That groups style seems to be everywhere as Shaddox and Kassirer tap Tweedy and companies formula of mid-tempo pop with warm rhythms and the occasional odd addition. Tracks like "My Hands Don't Lie", "Telescope", "Story Of You And I" and "Leaves In Autumn" all feel extremely close to that acts style, fans of Wilco will find a lot to love on I Melt, I Howl.
   
Shaddox songs like the tender acoustic "Who You Were" are easy and drift by. In the end few stick around very long in your mind or ears, but like a quite stream another one rolls up and takes it place in a pleasant, if not world changing way.  
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Support the artist here, buy the album here, stream the album here and peep some video below.

Dylan Cover #190 My Chemical Romance "Desolation Row"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by My Chemical Romance of the Dylan tune "Desolation Row"

Thoughts on Original:
A magnum opus of early Dylan. A song that is mystical and heated, politically charged while never explicit. One of the more expansive songs he has written and an early indicator that Dylan was on another level lyrically. From Ezra Pound to Bette Davis there are literary references, pop culture bits and a complete fabled world that comes alive in the ears. A true high point when it comes to Bob Dylan songs. 
Cover: 


Thoughts on Cover Artist:
We are not fans of My Chemical Romance. That doesn't mean we won't check out their cover though...
Thoughts on Cover:
Ok, first things first this is not an easy song to cover on any level. Most covers are straight ahead folk retelling's of the long tale. The fact that this band decided to try to encapsulate the winding "Desolation Row" into a 3 minute pop/punk/rock number is audacious. We really love when bands try to twist the bards words into new styles. This one though didn't really do it for us, but we always love checking out novel cover choices, and this one was recommended to us. Until next week.     

Full Show Friday: Social Distortion 2/24/92 CBGB's NYC

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's.  These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Social Distortion!

We have a special theme this month as we focus on full live shows from the historic NYC shithole CBGB's. 

We saw many a filthy show there, and while the bathroom was the worst in history, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Our only regret is that we never had a chance to play it. This month we focus on some of the great bands who did, tackling one show from each decade the venue was in operation. 

Social Distortion gets the nod this week as they play the Bowery venue back in 1992. They were touring in support of their new (at the time) album Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell. Mike Ness is a bit muffled and mumbles on the mic but the video is as high quality as you can hope for. We were never a big fan of the band, but we did catch them a few years back at Voodoo Fest. Enjoy the straight ahead hard core honky tonk riffs, their covers of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and of course the fantastic "Ball and Chain", full set list below:
 


0:00:53 01. Bye Bye Baby
0:04:00 02. Hour Of Darkness
0:07:00 03. Let It Be Me
0:11:55 04. Prison Bound
0:18:20 05. So Far Away
0:22:11 06. Ring Of Fire
0:26:55 07. 99 To Life
0:32:18 08. Cold Feelings
0:37:00 09. 1945
0:40:40 10. Bad Luck
0:46:14 11. Making Believe
0:51:17 12. Ball & Chain
0:58:35 13. Sick Girl
1:03:07 14. Born To Lose
1:08:10 15. Shame On Me
1:11:05 16. When She Begins 

Album Review: The Deslondes- The Deslondes

The Deslondes

The Deslondes

*** out of *****

This New Orleans based five piece takes their country music to heart, staying clear out of modern day Nashville and moving to the plains, train tracks and saw dust covered barrooms where the genre started and solidified. Fronted by singer-songwriters Sam Doores and Riley Downing the feeling of Woody Guthrie and George Jones flows freely through these 12 tracks.

The directness with which the opener "Fought the Blues and Won" rolls out is a bit shocking. it is tough to tell if Downing is happy, scarred or is in shock having just made it out the other side of the blues. The more upbeat shuffling of "Those Were (Could've Been) The Days" kicks up the skirts while "Louise" is a a rare country lost-love song that doesn't sound like it is crying into it's draft beer.

Behind Doores and Downing are Cameron Snyder, Dan Cutler and John James Tourville who expertly move things down the dusty trail whether with via the excellent drum and piano interplay of "The Real Deal" or the shimmying country blues displayed during "Less Honkin' More Tonkin'".

Other highlights are the harmonica laced/Rawhide tinged "Time To Believe In" and the soulful crooning of "Low Down Soul". There are a few stumbling blocks on the bands first release, "Heavenly Home" struggles with tempo changes (even with a stellar slide guitar) and a few tracks of the twelve feel slight and tossed away like "Simple and True".

A throwback to the straight ahead country ways of years gone by that fans of old-timey Americana, folk and country will gravitate too with ease. There isn't an immensely catchy hit or knockout songwriting to raise them above the genre but for a first effort The Deslondes deliver for their core audience.
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Support the band here, buy the album here and peep some video below:

J Mascis & Kim Gordon Combine Forces on "Slow Boy"

Our second new song today comes from two of RtBE's favorites, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and Kim Gordon previously of Sonic Youth.

The duo teamed up for Converse EP series CONS EP Vol 3. The track is an angsty lo-fi jam called "Slow Boy" that has a punk sneer and a fuzz drenched foundation punctuated by Mascis classic runs.


That is some noiserock goodness right there. Hopefully the two long time friends will continue to make music together. 

New Dan Auerbach Fronted Group The Arcs Release Song

The frontman of The Black Keys is everywhere these days. On top of being in one of the more popular rock bands in the world, he produces tons of amazing records and now has started a new group, The Arcs.

You can find out more info from NPR here, but the group also contains Richard Swift, Leon Michels, Homer Steinweiss, Nick Movshon, Kenny Vaughan and the women of Mariachi Flor De Toloache.

The first offering "Stay in My Corner" (inspired by the lame as fuck Mayweather v Pacquiao fight) is below. It continues Auerbach's recent love of smoother soul and warm bass sounds. Not earth shattering but a pleasant ride none the less. The album will be out September 4th on Nonesuch Records. Listen below:
 

Live Review: Jason Isbell/Craig Finn 5/20/15

Hey all got a new review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here!!!

It is of the amazing Jason Isbell/Craig Finn show from the beautiful Capital Theater in Port Chester NY. It was RtBE's first time at the Capital and it will not be our last, a short train ride and a quick stroll leads to gorgeous setting for music.

If you have followed this site at all you know the immense love we have for both of the performers on this evening. Finn and Isbell are both in our personal top 5 for living song writers and if you cut out the old legends they would probably be the top 2 on the list. Both are song writers for people who love passionate lyrics with their music and both played wonderfully tonight.

It was clear Finn was still working out the new songs, while Isbell was so tight it was crazy. Each set was immensely enjoyable and the only downside was sitting in a bar pre show, seeing Jason walk by solo through the window and not getting outside fast enough to chat with him. 

Oh well, next time. Read the review here and enjoy a few pictures of Finn and videos of Isbell:

"Flying Over Water"

"Decoration Day"

"Like A Hurricane"
 

Full Show Friday: Bad Brains 1982 CBGB's, NYC

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's.  These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Bad Brains!

We have a special theme this month as we focus on full live shows from the historic NYC shithole CBGB's. 

We saw many a filthy show there, and while the bathroom was the worst in history, the sound was absolutely fantastic. Our only regret is that we never had a chance to play it. This month RtBE will focus on some of the great bands who did, tackling one show from each decade the venue was in operation. 

The stone cold legends of hardcore/punk grace our Full Show Friday stage today as the Bad Brains live set from CBGB's in 1982 gets our love. Along with Minor Threat, Bad Brains are a staggering godfather to the scene of hardcore punk that we grew up with. They weren't the first band we got into, that was a more personal local act, but after starting close to home we quickly expanded into the NYHC scene and then south to the DC legends. This is what makes hardcore so special, starts local and grows global.

The Bad Brains are towering figures whose legacy still looms large, as proof two of their members and all of their songs headlined the biggest Hardcore show of the year last month. The blitzkrieg that is their set from 1982 is something to behold...
 Enjoy:


[Intro 0:00]
0:40 - Big Takeover 3:32 - Attitude 4:49 - I 6:51 - I and I Rasta 10:14 - Supertouch/Shitfit 12:53 - King of Glory 17:05 - Right Brigade 19:18 - F.V.K. 20:20 - Don't Need It 20:57 - Banned in D.C. 23:09 - How Low Can a Punk Get? 25:16 - The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth 29:07 - Riot Squad 31:25 F.V.K. 32:28 - We Will Not 34:49 - Big Takeover 37:45 - Coptic Times 40:17 - I 42:15 - At the Movies 44:28 - Right Brigade 47:10 - Rally Round Jah Throne 52:08 - Redbone in the City 53:43 - Riot Squad 55:59 - Pay to Cum [Credits 57:18]

Greg Cartwright Streaming DJ Set

We went through the archives of WFMU's Ichiban Rock and Soul and found this great DJ Set from one of favorites, Greg Cartwright the main man behind that sweet Reigning Sound.

There are only a few frontman we would love to hear DJ and honestly Cartwright tops the list. Not only does he have a great ear for a cool tune, he also acts as music historian, playing tracks, artists and record labels we have never heard ever. It opens up new worlds of sound leading to endless crate digging and youtube searching for the scratchy vinyl gems.
 
Click here for the Greg's playing of tunes that focuses on some rockabilly this go around, making things ease by with grace a soulful style. This is the 7th time Greg has DJ'ed for the site, we will probably go back and focus on a few more of these, but this one is a great way to kick off a sleepy hump day. Enjoy. 

Setlist:
Mello-Tones - Twistin' Guitar
Mel Street - Moonshine Man
Elmer Lush - Tavern Song
Marvin Rainwater - Gamblin' Man
Buck Jones - Box Of Grass
Charlie Starr - Solitary Woman
Red West - My Babe
Wild Bill Cooksy - Mississippi Hippie
Ray Griff - Sugar From My Candy
Mel Tillis - Loco Weed
Rose Maddox - What Good Will It Do
Eddie Noack - Shotgun House
Ilene Rushing - Shake It Baby
Dean Greer - Who Can That Fool Be
Freddy McDuff - Jack Daddy
Red West - Bossa Nova Mommza
Les Waldroop - Watergate Bugs
George Darro - Eye'n You Up
Jerry McGill - I Wanna Make Sweet Love
Betty Foley - Old Moon
Ricky Wilkins - Hang Loose
Loyd Howell - Truck Driving Jack
Zookie & The Potentates - Bachelors Got It Made
Ray Smith - Let Yourself Go
Jerry Reed - Twist-A-Roo
Mello-Tones - Walkin' Charlie
Dennis Wheeler - Rock Bottom 

Cover Art History: Swordfishtrombones

We love when we get the background info to some of our favorite records especially when delving into the Cover Art History behind some iconic albums. Today we learn about Tom Waits 1983 album Swordfishtrombones. 

Upon finding this fantastic site we learned that Waits commissioned Michael A. Russ to photograph him and the actors Lee Kolima and Angelo Rossitto for his cover. The album was big for Waits being his first self produced effort and Tom, being a very visual artist, needed the cover to represent the music within correctly. The picture shows off an aloof, almost defiant, Waits but in a setting that seems natural to the characters who populate his songs.
   
The cover shot is a TinTone photo taken by Russ, but that is not where Russ's input ended, you can see more from the photo shoot here and he was also the associate director and choreographer for the music video of "In The Neighborhood" off the disk:


Swordfishtrombones was a clear breakthrough for Waits, noted by Robert Christgau, but we have never considered it one of his best in retrospect. That is the interesting thing about not growing up with an artist, going back and checking out his catalog gives a completely different view.

Our favorites are Rain Dogs and Small Change (as well as Orphans or our Album of the Year for 2011 Bad As Me). In fact we almost focused on Small Change's cover, after all it has one of our all time favorites on that one, Elvira:

 

Live Review: Black N' Blue Bowl 5/16/15

Hey all got a new review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here!!!

It was great to check out the NYHC scene again for the Black N' Blue Bowl 2015 @ Webster Hall in NYC. Thanks to Katelyn from Black N' Blue Productions and Glide for the opportunity to cover this event. We know we have been female singer songwriter heavy lately on the site, but that is because we will actually have more hardcore and metal for you throughout June on RtBE, stay tuned.

Until then check out the review and peep some video below:

Everybody Gets Hurt:


Candiria:


The Regulators:

Dylan Cover #189 Joni MItchell "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"

In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by the Joni Mitchell of the Dylan tune "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"

Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune:
It is still stunning that there are songs as great as this in the Bard's catalog that we haven't even touched on in the first 100 we have talked about...wild. Baby Blue is magical all around, from the pure asshole way he sung it to Donovan to put him in his place in Don't Look Back to the heart breaking recent live versions on the never ending tour. The song has a lot of what makes Dylan who he is; mystery but a sense of understanding somehow. Dominated by the amazing lyrics the song is a hard one not to like.
Cover:

Thoughts on Cover Artist:
Never been big Joni Mitchell fans here at RtBE but she was in the best music movie ever. So that is a plus. 
Thoughts on Cover:
As stated we don't particularly care for Mitchell's voice or style, but she is in poor health currently so we wanted to share some positive vibes with her and this cover does a good job of mixing her singing style with great lyrics and an intriguing organ/keyboard whirling. Get better Miss Mitchell.