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 Staple Singers playing " A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"
All April (and the first week of May) RtBE focuses our Monday Dylan Cover Series on artists who are playing this years New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Today is Mavis Staples who plays the festival this Friday April 28th
Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this song: Dylan singing from a position of fear as he poetically discusses the Cuban Missile Crisis and the possibility of Nuclear annihilation. Dylan also mentioned inChronicles that the song was inspired by a feeling he got when reading microfiche newspapers in the New York Public Library: "After a while you become aware of nothing but a culture of feeling, of black days, of schism, evil for evil, the common destiny of the human being getting thrown off course. It’s all one long funeral song." An apt description and a powerful song from a young songwriter.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: Long time favorites of RtBE, Mavis and The Staple Singers are American treasures. We have reviewed multiple albums from Mavis, seen her live a few times and really enjoy her spirit, voice and presence.
Thoughts on Cover: This is obviously cheating a little bit as just Mavis is playing Jazzfest, but she is singing lead here with Pervis. It is a strong song and repetition of the music drives that home, while not a personal favorite it is solid. Unfortunately we will be missing this Friday the 28th at Jazzfest, but if you are there make sure you check out Mavis.
There is a lot of music out there and some artists have massive catalogs which can paralyze new listeners with overwhelming choices. This Beginners Guide series will attempt to give new listeners entry points to some of these artists. Today we will look at: The Grateful Dead.
This post was very long so we are breaking it into two parts. This first offering will discuss the five places RtBE feels are the best entry points to the band. The follow up post will dive into the different eras of the Dead and pull out some well known and underappreciated shows for further listening.
In part oneRtBE discussed live shows and albums which will ease a listener into the band. The group has such a wide range of music/sound/shows that RtBE went through the years they were active and pulled out specific highlights. While this gets long, it is literally the tip of the iceberg. The Internet Archive is a digital gold mine for amazing Grateful Dead shows, but below are are choices throughout the years for highlights and further listening.
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
For October The Masters focuses on Early Rock & Roll
Unlike our previous list this month which was more of a chance to just discuss the legends and their greatest hits, since they never focused on albums during their heydays and were only out for the hits, this list will be official live shows/releases from those artists and others.
Then again, this list is kind of pointless as EVERYTHING was live back then, so the ripping King Curtis saxophone blare, or Lloyd Price bellow or DJ Fontana snare slap was captured as is. Even though almost all of their studio records were recorded live in the studio, some of the classic concerts from that era are worth revisiting.
We cover a few we left off our list of top studio work, but some of them also pop up. Remember these lists are made to start conversations, so without further ado let's go up, down, down up, any way you wanna let it roll, yeah, yeah, yeah...
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
A band that was a force of nature. In their prime The Who were a must catch live act. From the magical timing of the sun coming up at Woodstock as if it was a light show to the story about Monterrey Pop and the rift between Jimi Hendrix and The Who which is a classic...
Townshend says “I’ve heard Roger talk about it as a jam session, but it wasn’t a jam session. It was just Jimi on a chair playing at me. Playing at me like ‘Don’t f—k with me, you little sh-t.’”
The musical quarrel came down to Townshend’s insecurity over The Who playing after Jimi Hendrix at Monterey, a gig that he considered to be a “critical concert.” Attempting to negotiate with Jimi didn’t go well, as Hendrix said “that’s not what you really mean. What you really mean is that you don’t want me to go first. You want to be first up there with the guitar smashing,” to which Townshend replied “Jimi, I swear, that’s not what it’s about.”
In the end, the discussion cooled down and Hendrix suggested a coin toss to determine who would go first and The Who came out on the winning side of that toss.
Watching Hendrix’s performance later from the crowd with Mama Cass, she told Townshend, “he’s stealing your act” and Townshend said “no, he’s not stealing my act – he’s doing my act.” Explaining further, Townshend says “for me, it was an act and for him, it was something else. It was an extension of what he was doing.”
They have memorable live moments, both good and bad and as a band continue to tour with two of the original members. While their hey day is clearly behind them, their recent past gets some love on our live albums list below. RtBE was not alive to catch the group as a four piece but we have caught them a few times as well as variations of their work and love every minute of it.
So let's get to their top five live albums below. As a reminder this list is meant to start conversations, not end them....
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
For August The Masters focuses on The Grateful Dead.
While the other months of The Masters series has allowed RtBE to focus on artists we love but haven't had the opportunity to highlight, this month is a bit different. Before the Monday Dylan Cover Series began, we used to focus on Grateful Dead shows every Monday for the first year or so of the site. Here is one example from the past as we have written a good deal about them for the site, but really wanted to include them in this new series.
It is no coincidence we are focusing on the Dead during July, they are this sites vote as America's best band and they were the ultimate summer attraction with their touring hoards of Dothrak...err Dead Heads. While in the past we have spent time on individual shows (which may come up when we get to the live album post) today we are going to tackle studio albums which according to every fan of the bands (except the sites friend Lindsay) agree is not their strongest work.
The truth is, even from their earliest days the Grateful Dead always over did things in the studio, whether from the producers idea (#5 on our list) or by their own choice (#4 and #3 on our list) the band just couldn't control themselves. Some would argue they couldn't control themselves out of the studio either, but that is a different post.
That said, the band had a long and winding career with many musical phases and it was fun to go back and listen to their studio albums to put this list together. So let's start "Truckin'"....As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.
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...Grateful Dead!
For June The Masters Focuses on TheGrateful Dead
July finds RtBE mining familiar ground when it comes to our Masters Series, but there is just no better summer band, so enjoy The Grateful Dead in the sunshine to end the work week. This month we have four shows from the band and we will be using the four decades they were active for each week. This week the 60's get some love, 1968 in particular.
This amazing footage from the band sneaking onto the Columbia campus and playing is fantastic. VoodooNola has so many great videos and he even syncs this one with the vocals almost on point. A piece of history here.
Amazing video, with soundboard music, that is different to start but syncs perfectly post vocals. Enjoy (and don't sleep on the bonus below):
And since that is not the full show, obviously....here is a killer soundboard from a bit later in 1968 minus the video, but def worth a listen as the band gets waaaay out there, some prime '68 Dead, even without Pigpen to add to the cosmic madness. This is a tight ass band who explore the cosmos, great soundboard, full info below:
Grateful Dead October 12, 1968 Avalon Ballroom San Francisco, CA
Recording Info: SBD ... Master Reel ... Dat (48k)
All Transfers and Mastering By Charlie Miller August 12, 2011
Notes: -- Pigpen was absent -- First notes of 2nd Set missing --
Thanks to Joe B. Jones for his help with the pitch correction
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...Jimi Hendrix!
For June, The Masters Focuses on Jimi Hendrix
Jimi was a whirlwind of sight and sound when he took to the stage in the second half of the 1960's. There was literally no one like him before and many imitators since. Today we go to Queens New York in the year 1968.
This is a quick little recording taken from The Singer Bowl in Flushing Meadows Park back in 1968 of the the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It isn't pro shot, but it is an amazing capture of a a few of the songs from a set of sonic feedback, banging, chaos and rhythm.
Levels are all over the place but it has a DIY feel that is pretty rad. While not complete, the playing makes up for it, just check out that scorching solo to close
It is a pretty cool way to wrap up this month Masters focus with an NYC rocking set, Enjoy:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
New York Rock Festival, Singer Bowl, Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, New York City, NY
1968-08-23
(15:49)
01 Are You Experienced?
02 Fire
03 Hey Joe
04 Wild Thing
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
While The Beatles were always around growing up and the foundation to so much popular music, Jimi Hendrix was the first artist who really broke through my ear drums to my brain. As a kid you flounder around with a weird mix of music and then at some point there is a gateway band, and Jimi was that when it came to rock and roll (Public Enemy & The Beastie Boys did that for hip hop around the exact same time). He was the first major musical artist who truly amazed me and was someone we had to write about in RtBE's Masters collection.
Unlike others in this series, Hendrix was a comet and left only a small recorded legacy. With only three studio albums fully recorded and released while he was alive, Hendrix was just beginning to scratch the surface of his studio mastery. All original releases are vital to own as they sound so fresh and cosmic now it is no wonder they were revolutionary at the time.
With the legal wrangling after his death, many albums were released and some of which were pure money grabs and some are truly revealing collections. Audio quality varies, re-mastering will be a thing til the end of time with Hendrix and every single take will eventually see a professional release, but these are the studio releases and collections of outtakes RtBE likes the best.
More then anyone else in rock history it is a shame Hendrix died when he did, because his music still sounds as fresh today (not matter what year you read this) as it did while he was alive. He was a magician, the best electric guitarist ever, a sonic poet, a soulful singer, an emotional songwriter who was only finding his voice...one of the true Masters. So let's tackle this topic, below we rank Hendrix best studio albums...
As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
The Godfather himself, James Brown. He is the visionary artist who helped invent funk and hip-hop as he floated through the amazingly influential waters of time and his mind. Mr. Please Please Me is iconic and moved from The Famous Flames to Soul Brother #1 to the Godfather with ease as he aged.
He however joins the likes of Miles when RtBE is conflicted about the art and the artist. Longform collected just a few pieces on him, but it is safe to say we are confused with our love for the mans music and thoughts on his personal life. That said, we wrote about our feelings on the man when he passed away for Glide as he had a huge influence on our musical ears.
Today we focus on his live albums, and while we ranked his studio recordings already this month, this is where he really butters the biscuits. When RtBE goes to the James Brown collection nine times out of ten it is for one of these records. That said there is always a bit of controversy with Brown, were all of these actually recorded live? Hmmm...
Any which way let's get to it, below we rank the top five James Brown live records. As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.
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...James Brown!
Our focus this month in our ongoing Masters series is James Brown.
Here we go, the Godfather of Soul where he belongs, live and on stage. This week we proudly present one of the most historic sets of his career, the Boston Garden show after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
The show begins with a comedy set from none other than Maceo Parker, before the Soul Brother #1 takes the stage. Historical, funky, amazing, Enjoy:
RtBE loves listening to new music and prides itself on keeping tabs on up and coming artists but in 2019 we are also going to have a monthly spotlight on legendary artists who we really love. We are calling this series The Masters. It will focus on the best albums, live records, transcendent shows and other odd ways we appreciate the artists and their contribution to music, culture and our formation.
A few months ago we focused onThe Beatles and when you think of best rock and roll bands of all time, they and the Stones are usually somewhere near the top of the list. What is truly amazing is that the Rolling Stones are STILL getting after it. You can buy tickets to see them in 2019 and RtBE will be catching them twice, once in Jersey and once at NOLA Jazzfest in just over a month! (Update: With Mick Jagger's Health Issues, the Stones have canceled their tour with the hopes to reschedule). With the Stones set to tour we figured April would be a good time to focus on them for The Masters series.
Unlike The Beatles, who I loved upon first listen, I was a late bloomer to The Stones. I knew the hits (they were impossible to miss) but never dove into any of their records with much passion. During the early 00's when I was downloading a lot of live recordings from bands like Phish, Gov't Mule and The Grateful Dead, I stumbled upon a bootleg called A Few Hearts Broken, A Few Strings Busted, I downloaded, burned it and put it in the case with other live shows.
When I listened to it a few weeks later I was blown away by the power of the group. This was the high point of the Stones to these ears (and continues to be years later). The band officially released parts of these shows as Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones on DVD. When I next saw my Uncle who is a massive Stones fan, and played him this bootleg he turned to me and said this is the best Stones he had ever heard. I was hooked and dove in, hard. In fact, when it came time to personally play and write music in my own band, Angels & Vagabonds, The Stones were our collective rallying point, covering their songs live and writing a bit in their style.
The group has had many eras and a few lineup changes, but the core and their overall sound has remained pretty solidly intact. They are a great bar band who just happened to become one of the biggest and best bands in the world. Today lets go to what RtBE considers their top five studio albums.
As always, these lists are designed to start conversations, not end them.
Released on July 1st, 1968 it proved how dynamic The Hawks/The Crackers/Bob Dylan's Back-Up Band, truly were. It was also a glimpse of the stunning Basement Tapes which would not be officially released for a few more years but bootlegged everywhere.
Truth be told, Music From Big Pink is not one of RtBE's iconic, must-hear albums; it sounded stilted, soft and dull to these ears. That very well may be because it wasn't the first album of the groups we heard, it was the second. We got into The Band through Dylan (which should be obvious for readers) and first fell in love with their style through those mystical Basement Tapes which still manage to sound alive today. In retrospect, Music From Big Pink's tracks are all dwarfed by other versions, but that is revisionist history, not being exposed to this effort back in 1968.
After hearing and not really digging Music From Big Pink, RtBE became enamored with their second release, simply titled The Band, (known as the Brown Album) now that record really spoke to us as it brought the group back to more of their rock roots, and had the musicality that connected with their timeless lyrics. That album would be their studio recording high point to these ears, while we still always love their live offerings of The Last Waltz and Rock of Agesmore, as they truly show the group in their element; both are must own.
All that said, Music From Big Pink (semi) started it all, and had a huge impact. Let's celebrate those recordings today, starting with our favorite from the record...which happens to be the only cover:
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.. Muddy Waters!
This is a short and sweet set of the blues from Muddy Waters and his band captured 1968 at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. It is some pristine video and excellent sound. The group is bubbling and this piece of history is a perfect way to kick off December, a month when RtBE will look back at the 2017, which wasn't nearly as cool as 1968.
Pro sound, Pro video, setlist and players below...Enjoy:
Setlist:
01. "Back At The Chicken Shack"
02. "Train Fare Home Blues"
03. "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man"
04. "Long Distance Call"
05. "Nobody Knows My Trouble"
06. "Cold Cold Feeling"
07. "Got My Mojo Working"
08. "Tiger In Your Tank"
Lineup: Muddy Waters - guitar & vocals 'Pee Wee' Madison Рguitar Luther "Snakeboy" Johnson - guitar Otis Spann Рpiano Paul Oscher Рharm̫nica Sonny Wimberley Рbass S.P. Leary - drums
This was a great weekend for me on many levels, caught an amazing concert and got to hang out with old good friends on Friday. Also had a magical day by all accounts on Saturday with more friends and a bunch of horses. So since this years Breeders Cup was so good to me, I figured why not look for some Kentucky magic from the fellas today, and I found a goodie.
Not quite sure what made the fellas stop by Bellarmine College, now Bellarmine University, but Knight's Hall was jumping back in 68 with a great night of tunes from the California kids. The band had played the recently closed Spectrum in Philly a couple of nights before and were heading back west when they dipped into Louisville to treat the kiddies. The night is captured with grade A sound for 1968...at this point should we expect anything less from Charlie Miller?!? If there is a complaint it is that there are a couple of cuts in the songs, but as I have mentioned before we shouldn't complain about what we don't have and just enjoy what we do...and what we have is a group cooking.
Want to start off a show with a bang? Here you go..."Darkstar". Not as massive as they would eventually become but mellowed and cosmic for 68, showing talent and restraint to go along with the trippiness before it drips into the blasting of "St. Stephen". While a week ago I posted the last Stephen played and talked about it's merits, this one has all the energy that the last version lacked complete with William Tell's kick out. The first cut of the night hurts a bit as the band is fired up and jamming out of Stephen into the 11 when the tapes gave out and I am sure the music kept soaring.
Who know who soared pretty dam high? Zenyatta. I will admit I never gave this Philly a ton of respect as she was very obviously a West Coast horse that loved to run on a synthetic track, a combo that never inspires much love/respect in my eyes, but after these last 2 Breeders Cup Classic races I have to say she was a pretty special horse. I still think the majority of hype surrounding her was just that, man made hype, but the way she closes is rarely seen in horse racing, for those who missed the race, give it a peep and see just how far back she comes from:
Only to lose by a nose to Blame. Had the race been one more furlong she would have been an amazing 20-0 for a career. As it is she will be regarded as one of the greatest horses in this new modern era of racing, and deservedly so. It was a race that will be remembered for a long time, and it was so exciting that my crew hadn't even realized we had hit our second trifecta in as many races. When they replayed the race we noticed that Doug's pick Fly Down swooped into third giving us the big money hit...as I said I did well and I had Blame to upset Zenyatta and managed to come away golden on that front too. Don insisted we put the big lady in our triple and he was right to do so, it is not every day you hit back to back group picks, but when it is Breeders cup it makes it even more special. Nice work fellas...and we should also give props to Dangerous Midge, Champ Pegasus and Bekhabad who came in 1-2-3 for us in The Breeders Cup Turf the race before...good looking fellas way to bring home the Kentucky green backs.
Back to the Kentucky tunes...After the cut and some tech problems, we get a louder Dead for our worries and the group gets spooky with it's always killer rendition of "Death Don't Have No Mercy". The energy keeps rambling as the group plows into an adventurous version of "That's It For The Other One". While the intro Cryptical section isn't here, Phil's thundering bass line and the fantastic feedback sustains from Jerry and Bobby are dynamite. The drums bang all around the gym as the group really lets loose here. The "Cryptical Reprise" pops up early, but it doesn't signal the end of this great jam, the group then dips back into "The Other One" and are off racing again, a really great version of this old song pairing; I wished they weaved them together like this more often. The ending of the tune just gets weird with everyone doing their own thing yet still managing to keep it together...the Dead at their best.
The oddness keeps flowing into the long jammed out "New Potato Caboose" which is conducted admirably by Phil, and escapes out into the black holes of space. A rollicking journey that just screams 68 Dead and should be taken by all with open ears. The band then breaks and the volume drops noticeably in our recording when it comes back for the once and only live version known of "Rosemary". Here is the original recording of the tune that never again saw the hot lights of the stage:
A shame as it has a really distorted vibe and probably would have sounded great dropped in the middle of some of the groups longer excursions. Another extreme rarity was laid out next with "He Was A Friend Of Mine" which I discussed a few weeks back, this is a tight version that unfortunately ends is cut off right in the chorus but this tune foreshadows the groups upcoming move to harmonies in the studio.
Pigpen gets in the mix next with the ballad work of the pain soaked, "It Hurts Me Too". Garcia's guitar has a rich tone here and cuts deep working with Pig's vocals and harmonica dissecting the tune right down to the bone. Post song you can check out the free wheeling feeling the band was putting out on this night with Jerry going so far as to start taking requests, he mentions they can't do "Alligator" but they can do "Morning Dew".
The Dew crashes to life and the band wiggles upwards towards the massive crescendos that the tune calls for. Garcia strums for all he is worth as Phil again bumps the bass just behind him, this is a great early version of this classic from the fellas. The group ends the night with a quick version of "And We Bid You Goodnight" before Garcia states:
"You've just been victimized by the Grateful Dead!"
Indeed Kentucky, and thanks for the love this weekend.
.png/800px-Grateful_Dead_(1970).png)
.png/1024px-Grateful_Dead_(1970).png)
.png/1024px-The_Band_(1969).png)
