We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
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 Pat Nevins playing "Union Sundown"
Thoughts on Original: From what has become an annual tradition here and here: Wanted to pick this one for Labor Day as it is Dylan's take on the lack of US manufacturing jobs as well as the increasing flux of capitalism in society and the death of unions. The idea of greed taking over is nothing new, but this song seems to come from an impulsive Dylan (a lot do) and shows up on Infidel's of which Dylan has commented something along the lines of "Those songs stuck around too long". Ideas seem to be a bit jumbled on this disk, but not on this tune, his lament at no good paying job for American workers is clear, but he isn't passing the buck. It is all of HIS products that are foreign made, this isn't a plea for change as a younger Dylan might have done; it is a simple statement of fact...and a sad one at that. Having grown up in a extremely pro-Labor house hold I just wanted to point this tune out and the fact that Dylan wrote it almost 30 years ago, and things have only gotten worse... Happy Labor Day....
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist:
This is the first time we are hearing Pat Nevins.
Thoughts on Cover: A straight ahead acoustic cover with a bit of Bob impersonation tossed in for effect. Nevins guitar work picks up steam with some excellent soloing as the song progresses.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
Today we highlight: The Lumineers Brightside World Tour from Wrigley Field
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...Chaka Khan!
This week we have Chaka Khan from Montreux back in 1995.
Pro shot, pro sound, full setlist and band info below. Enjoy:
Musicians:
Joerg Reiter - piano + keyboard
Dave King - bass
Peter Tiehuis - guitar
Nippy Noya - percussion
Wolfgang Haffner - drums
Johannes Faber - fluegelhorn
Klaus Graf - saxophone
special guest Howard McCrary - keyboard
Ivonne Stevens - Background singer
Penny Ford - Background singer
Mark Stevens - Background singer
Tracklist:
1. Intro - A night in Tunisia
2. Hissing of Summer Lawns
3. Alfi
4. What's going on
5. Fever
6. My funny Valentine
7. I want
8. Through the fire
9. You can make the story right
10. Ain't nobody
The New Orleans, LA based five piece The Deslondes have returned after a five year hiatus which saw a few members release solo offerings, but now Ways and Means aggregates their collective talents and delivers a solid slice of Americana.
The players Dan Cutler (vocals/stand-up bass), Sam Doores (vocals/guitar), Riley Downing (vocals/guitar), Cameron Snyder (vocals/percussion), and John James Tourville (fiddle/pedal steel) all pitch in with song writing and singing reminiscent of Monsters of Folk and other singer songwriter gatherings like the Traveling Wilburys.
The easy grooving of "Good to Go" opens the album winningly with electric keys, fuzzy fiddle and an easy rolling tone, while the waltzing "Five Year Plan" sashays before the first single, the title track offering. "Ways and Means" plays like an early, less rock inclined, My Morning Jacket tune with buzzy guitars, all hands on deck production, and backing vocal support from Margo Price.
Downing's raspy lead singing stands out on a few numbers, "South Dakota Wild One" uses piano and harmonica support his intoxicating lower register vocals while "Home Again" eases into a comfy porch chair around weepy guitars. "Wild Eden" mixes in a Caribbean lithe to the proceedings with fiddles before the overarching cinematic strings polish up "Bound By Love".
Country rock harmonies and down home grooves color the excellent "Howl at the Moon" while the cosmic country of "Standing Still" (with a New Orleans steamboat calliope to end) and the looping "Dunes" are both roughed up trucker hat wearing, PBR swilling, approved.
Outfits like The Band ("Hero") and The Byrds ("Sweet Release") are clear influences on the quintet, but the group take many country/Americana influences and meld them into their own style throughout the enjoyable Ways and Means.
The wide ranging Action Bronson returns with his first album in two years as Cocodrillo Turbo crawls out of the murky darkness and shambles fourth on a linking motif of roars and bird calls connecting each of the ten tracks here.
The low key affair plays to Bronson's strengths as short songs start and stop around verses and very few choruses as if he feels no real need to make major artistic statements, just get high and rhyme. The opening "Hound Dog" has a tough repetitive guitar riff supporting the flow before crashing quickly and dripping into the best effort on the album "Tongpo". A spaghetti western/surf riff around a harmonica and jungle drums straight out of Screaming J Hawkins slow bop along as Bronson admits to not knowing about jail and driving sports cars across the Bellagio lobby. Conway the Machine helps out and delivers some of the strongest rhymes, and by far the funniest line around the ex-governor of New York State.
Bronson rhymes about wrestlers, sports stars, food and more. Everyone from Latino Heat, Mr. Socko, Allen Iverson, John Randell, Magic Johnson, pickles and Vodka slices gets an airing as the talented MC just lets his mind wander. The bass bumps and jazz cymbals arrive on the most polished track, "Subzero" but next to barely song offerings like "Jaws" the tightness level is low here.
The repeating soul samples of "Jaguar" are pleasant while the beeping of "Turkish" becomes distracting. The best beat here shows up for "Zambezi" which also has an opening verse from Roc Marciano as the cool laid back beat flows before Bronson also delivers a powerful verse. The album closing "Storm of The Century" goes more jazzy with beats as Bronson stays raw with rhymes, juxtaposing styles with success.
Stakes are never high and that suits Action Bronson just fine as Cocodrillo Turbo allows the modern day renaissance man (if an incredibly stoned one) pure freedom to let his animal instincts out to positive effect over the quick rolling joint.
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 KneeDeep playing "Meet Me In The Morning"
Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune: A swaggering track that rose out of the ashes of "Call Letter Blues" (which was later released on The Bootleg Series Volume 1-3) "Meet Me In The Morning" is a shot of blues after the blissfully mournful "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" as it kicks off side two of the famous Blood On The Tracks. The song is one of the ones Dylan recorded in NYC for Blood on the Tracks and it pulses with the city's energy. A cool note about this straight ahead song (which is tailored made for covering) is that Jack White is a big fan, playing it at times at his shows and got Dylan to perform it for the only time ever on 9/19/07 in Nashville, TN.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: This is the first time we have heard KneeDeep, who are, Dave Smith - guitar and vocals Rocky Kramm - guitar and vocals Jay Cunningham - bass and vocals.
Thoughts on Cover:
Hearing the bugs clicking and chattering around the porch, with the syrupy slow groove and vocals, make this one so sweet. The perfect late August live cover as KneeDeep do this one justice with their acoustic playing, and vocal harmonies. A really special treat of a listen.
Curious where they go this time, but from the sound of it they are staying in the same vein as Tranquility Base: Hotel + Casino so we shall see. Until then, here are some live tunes from the band:
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...Mozart Gala Concert: 250 Years of Mozart!
This week we have the Mozart Gala Concert: 250 Years of Mozart. Switching it up a bit this week to live classical music for this summer Full Show Friday.
This concert took place in 2006 and some info on it:
Riccardo Muti will lead the Vienna Philharmonic in a concert at the Grosses Festspielhaus featuring baritone Thomas Hampson, pianist Mitsuku Uchida, violinist Gidon Kremer, violist Yuri Bashmet, and mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, a last-minute substitute for soprano Ren_e Fleming. The program includes Piano Concerto No. 25, the Symphony in D major ("Haffner"), concert arias, and excerpts from The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 era. Live shows will need to be flexible and live streaming is a great way to keep music going. Streams have become essential for live music junkies like RtBE. Things are (hopefully) improving on the pandemic front but live streams will be an option for artists during the foreseeable future. We will highlight various shows/streams/virtual events for your viewing and listening pleasure and as a way to help out the artists. You can check out our weekly Full Show Friday series for concerts from the past and as always, please support the artists any which way you can.
The newest offering from the long running Los Angeles based outfit Orgone, titled Lost Knights is a mix of seventies sounds that convey a burning love for raw rockin' and rollin' soulful outings.
The band Sergio Rios (guitar) Adryon de León (vocals) Dan Hastie (keyboards) Sam Halterman (drums) Dale Jennings (bass) open the album with "Working For Love". The track combines most of the things that make for a Orgone tune this go around; heavy bass, rock focused guitar, sweet singing, funky drumming and a solid solo tossed in to wrap it up. The following instrumental "Samson" harkens back to the early days of the band and could easily be sampled (or used in whole really) as a backing track for an MC.
The mixing of 70's classic rock and funky rhythms hit their peak on "Burn" which sounds like a smoky, more metallic, Funkadelic excursion from 1978. The band keeps the soulful grooving rock with strong vocals from de León on both "Lay Down Your Life" and album closer "Hazel" also reminiscent of P-funk, but again more on the rock vibe as opposed to the funk side of things.
That rock love is thoroughly explored on the Iron Butterfly sounding "Going Going Gone" which is fuzzy but not all that engaging, same could be said for the more rock based instrumental "Crusader". The band works best when all of their loves and styles combine, like on the distorted guitar soul of "Stand By Your Brother" and particularly "Wicked Karma".
The best track here, "Wicked Karma" fuses upbeat almost punkish drums, distorted bass rumbles and backing vocals all around a psychedelic soul base. Jamming keyboard work and potent lyrics also add to the overall success; this standout offering is a pumping jam that pushes all the right buttons.
While not all the tracks on Lost Knights are up to that high level, there are solid offerings throughout which show Orgone's amalgamation of 70's influences still have the power to move.
The newest offering from the Joe Marcinek Band is a genre ranging collection of instrumentals as the guitarist fronts a slippery outfit who morph and slide behind him throughout JMB5, the not so subtlety titled fifth offering from the outfit, released on Vintage League Music.
The core group are fronted by Marcinek on guitar, with Robert Walter on Hammond organ and Pete Koopmans on drums. They are supported throughout by Greg Spero – Piano, Jason Hann – Percussion, Alex Wasily – Trombone, Sean Erick – Trumpet, Jordan Donald – Sax each popping in and out to round out the sound.
Opener "Dog" is a funky stroll with polished guitar lines leading into a jamming middle section as the instruments all speak to each other in warm fashion, if only for a little too long. The group deliver some Caribbean flair with the calypso tinged "Reciprocity" which also delivers jazzy guitar runs before the light samba on album closer "Bella" which is a showcase for all the excellent percussion work of Hann and Koopmans.
That organ work from Walter is dynamite and especially forefront on "Vitalizing" dominating the brief punchy highlight number. The two most complete offerings incorporate all Marcinek's influences into instrumental amalgamations as "Cool Down" is rooted in the blues but expands like a chrysalis out of a cocoon primed to fly while "Bulldog" is wide ranging offering built around skittering drums and bright psychedelic sounds from Marcinek's soaring guitar.
The eight originals, written by Marcinek, easily glide through sweet sounds and smooth pastures as the players on JMB5 combine blissfully, delivering an easy-going, joyful, instrumental journey.
Big mid-90's power/pop/punk influence on this and Weezer kept jumping to mind when reviewing, but Weezer hasn't written songs this good in literal decades.
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 Marc Maza playing "Million Miles"
Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this tune:
From the barren blues of Time Out Of Mind comes "Million Miles". While not a standout on that album, the song was prophetic, hinting at the fantastic twelve bar blues variations that would dominate Dylan's next two releases. When first heard though it doesn't jump out, just feels like yet ANOTHER solid track from the bard.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: This is the first time RtBE has heard Marc Maza who is a French musician.
Thoughts on Cover:
Maza puts in a lot of work on guitar, adding a sweet into, and random fills and runs but never takes away from the song. Maza is super talented and plays the blues on the acoustic with a flair for the dramatic. Definitely a cover worth hearing.
Kongress (Otto von Ruggins) has released a new song "Summer Days" which uses footage from over thirty years of Coney Islands Mermaid Festivals to craft a unique musical/visual experience.
Check out the very experimental/David Bowie inspired tune and historic video below:
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...Shaggy!
This week we have Shaggy LIVE Woodstock Festival Poland 2015.
