In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's artists, Chris Cornell doing a live cover of "I Threw It All Away"
One of the brief sweet gems on Nashville Skyline as Dylan shows off his new vocal style with ease. The lyrics are direct about him screwing up a relationship. Mountains and rivers are blatantly sexual as the track breezes by with Dylan not all that broken up by his mistakes. More of a "Woah is me, oh well, moving on" feel to the country tinged ballad. A personal favorite off of this outlier album in Dylan's catalog.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: Chris Cornell was a major voice in rock, fronting both Soundgarden and Audioslave.
Thoughts on Cover:
Cornell's voice is something else, dramatic and he can over sing at times, but when he gets it right it is special. A very neat cover, happy to have stumbled across this and yet one more reason to keep this Monday series going.
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...Chuck Berry!
Today it is the innovator of rock and roll himself, Chuck Berry. We discussed Chuck in our Masters series and recently read the fantastic biography on him by R.J. Smith, Chuck Berry: An American Life, which is worth buying.
One of RtBE's all-time favorites Ryan Scully is back with a new song, this time from his Ten Gallon Tinfoil Hat project, which dips into a slightly more country/Americana side of things.
The EP will be released at the end of the month and the band will be playing a special EP release show at BJ's Lounge in New Orleans on June 30th. Check out "The Phone Song" below:
Driving guitars, slamming drums, and guttural vocals open "Shot Down" as Scowl set the punk/hardcore tone, but something surprising happens quickly that flips the script; the vocals and groove easily slip into 90's alternative mode with a sweet pop center.
That mixing of 90's arena ready alt-rock with pop flair and sludgy/dirty/heavy punk sounds, fluctuate all throughout the Baltimore bands newest EP, Psychic Dance Routine. The group doesn't seem to mind prettying up a song to get the tune over, and are at home in both genres. The title track could have been a TRL mainstay a few decades back as it is more mainstream than anything bands like Hole or Sonic Youth has put out, sweetly swaying through riffs and easy drums.
"Wired" goes in the harder direction with more screeching vocals and deep drums, dropping in a fun bass run as well. "Opening Night" goes back towards the mainstream with a Joan Jett pop rock chorus and hip shaking groove tagging on vocal screeches at the end for some reason. "Sold Me Out" shifts back, more into the punk lane with galloping drums and a chugging breakdown.
Even when digging deep into the gutter, the band still has a polish and pop feel that should help broaden their appeal as Scowl gets down and spreads their genre wings via their Psychic Dance Routine.
Two 1980's rock and roll icons played to a sold out Madison Square Garden on Friday night June 9th as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts opened up for Bryan Adams on his So Happy It Hurts Tour in the worlds most famous arena.
The predominantly older crowd filed in as the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer returned to her adopted hometown and Jett started the show with a new song "Shooting Into Space" off her surprise new EP Mindsets which was released on June 2nd, and featured throughout the opening set. It says something that new tunes fit snuggly next to old favorites like the chugging "Cherry Bomb" and the crowd singalong "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" as the 'Oh Yeah!' chants bounced around the Garden.
One of the set highlights was a hard rock cover version of Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" as Jett and The Blackhearts took the theme of togetherness and put a leather vest on top of the positive message. The group delivered a quick take on their biggest hit "I Love Rock and Roll" which felt perfunctory, better was the slamming "Bad Reputation" which had a Ramones punk spirit mixed in, while the encore for Jett's set was a new tune, "Whiskey Goes Good" which brought a country twang to the hard rock proceedings.
After a lengthy break, Bryan Adams and his four piece backing band, (Keith Scott – lead guitar, backing vocals Mickey Curry – drums, backing vocals Solomon Walker – bass, backing vocals Gary Breit – keyboards, backing vocals) arrived to a video intro of their song "Kick Ass" which worked well as they dropped right into that straight ahead rocking song live.
The group are well versed and have the stage game down as Adams ran from side to side getting fans worked up with classics "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" and "Somebody". Adams has always walked a fine line between earnest rocker and cheesy overload and some of his tunes on this night like "Please Forgive Me", "When Your Gone" and "One Night Love Affair" dipped into Velveeta land, however an early arrival of "Heaven" pulled all the emotional weight as the song rang out winningly, complete with a huge guitar solo.
Another highlight was Adams telling a story of the time he worked with Tina Turner and he became choked up before delivering an impactful version of "It's Only Love" which showcased his strongest vocals all night, and another great guitar solo. The band then shifted gears for a bit of rockabilly complete with stand-up bass work as "I've Been Looking for You" twanged out from the front of the large MSG stage.
Reliving the past is a big theme of Adams' music and while "Summer of '69" was a winner, complete with heavy break down, "18 til I Die" missed the mark completely. Better was the huge hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" and the ovation it received, before Adams started taking requests from those who could yell the loudest.
"She's Only Happy When She's Dancing" was a fun hand clapping, hip swinging number while "Christmas Time" was an odd choice. "Cuts Like A Knife" found the band delivering the best groove of the entire show while "Run To You" was a revved up muscle car that took off an floored it.
The long set oddly ended with a cover of Frankie Vallie's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and then a two song, solo acoustic encore of "Straight From the Heart" and "All For Love" and while the toned down sound was a unique choice to close the show, the huge set that proceeded it delivered the goods for the sold out crowd.
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Support the artists, catch them live on this tour and peep some video below:
Maps is the second collaborative album between New York City based MC billy woods and LA based producer Kenny Segal, following up on 2019's Hiding Places. The smooth grooving, full length affair gives room for woods words to flow over Segal's mellow sounds.
Developed by woods as thematic full length, revolving around a travelogue diary, he records and reminisces on his overstuffed, massive touring schedule after Covid-19 lockdowns; woods has released perhaps the first post-pandemic "over it" album. He isn't looking to go back to quarantining, but he is beat from the travels, as stated on "Bad Dreams Are Only Dreams", he is jetlagged and can't catch the old version of himself, all flowing around late night jazzy horns.
"The Layover" is great and describes just what his title suggest as he has time to kill and just wants to get on with it around skittering jazz piano and standard beats. The most interesting musical wanderings arrive when Segal fully embraces those jazz tendencies, "FaceTime featuring Sam Herring" uses flutes and muted woodwinds expertly while "Blue Smoke" finds woods expertly rhyming over a full on jazz tune, a trend which could be expanded upon in the future.
"Baby Steps" is one of the better efforts as woods directly addresses the modern gig life struggles with a deep bass and weed colored audio swirling as guest EUCLID delivers a verse and Benjamin Booker puts breathy vocals behind the scene. Unlike a lot of hip hop albums, some of the guests detract from the flow and theme, "Sound Check featuring Quelle Chris" and the pairing of "Babylon By Bus featuring ShrapKnel" and "Year Zero featuring Danny Brown" all feel disjointed and angular, interrupting the road weary tales which have been established by woods.
However, like a majority of modern hip-hop, woods and Segal suffer from ADHD when it comes to the tracks, as there are very few full songs here; the emphasis is on brief scene setting verses over slow understated musical surroundings. When the scene seems to be coming into focus, the track usual wraps up, such as the slow and ominous "Hangman".
The laid back flow works, but so does efforts with more urgency like "Waiting Around featuring Aseop Rock" which drives forward with more soul samples and deep beats. Returning on "NYC Tapwater" woods comes back home and lights up as the album wraps up easily, woods and Segal have taken inspiration from efforts like De La Soul is Dead, telling stories and linking the album as whole successfully throughout Maps.
It is the newest release from Jenny Lewis titled Joy'All.
Having seen Lewis live and reviewed a few of her albums, (even ranking one in our decade look back) this one is right on up there with her best stuff. It is breezy, fun and moves with easy grace and light bass bumps. Goodness all around.
In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune comes from Eliza Gilkyson and is a live cover of "Love Minus Zero/No Limit".
Thought's on Original: From the first time we tackled a cover of this song: A personal gateway song, the first Dylan love offering that truly spoke to me was "Love Minus Zero/No Limit". It is an easy song to like, with it's sweet melody and one that gets deeper and deeper the more you contemplate the lyrics. Dylan uses some insane imagery to put true love into words with surreal phrasing that delivers the goods in a way that is tough to describe. In one sense, this is peak Dylan, moving with grace, describing things uniquely and just out of reach.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist:
This is RtBE's first time hearing Eliza Gilkyson who is a Taos, New Mexico-based folk musician.
Thoughts on Cover:
A cool cover that starts simple and acoustic with just Gilkyson, but swells with a southwestern folk flair. Gilkyson's vocals are strong in front of the accomplished musicians.
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...Warren Zevon!
A shorter show today after Billy Strings double set bluegrass throw down last week. We are staying acoustic though as Warren Zevon plays Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1993.
Young joins for "Splendid Isolation" here and Zevon is in fine form. Pro shot, Pro Sound, full set list below. Enjoy!
Warren Zevon - Full Concert
Recorded Live: 11/6/1993 - Shoreline Amphitheatre (Mountain View, CA)
More Warren Zevon at Music Vault: http://www.musicvault.com
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Setlist:
0:00:00 - Lakes of Pontchartrain
0:04:44 - Searching for a Heart
0:08:13 - Splendid Isolation
0:13:24 - Tenderness On The Block
0:16:44 - Frank and Jesse James
0:20:36 - Werewolves Of London
I mentioned back last year when the first single came out, but decades ago a friend from Zambia burned RtBE We Intend To Cause Havoc's first two albums and I absolutely dug them. This new record is really good, better than I would have hoped, and it keeps getting better with each spin.
The album collects his best performances spanning the years of 1986 to 2012 at the famous festival. A great collection for longtime fans and newbies alike.
In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by Blood on the Tracks Live playing "Workingman's Blues #2"
Thoughts on Original: One of Dylan's late career highlights, "Workingman's Blues #2" first appeared on Modern Times and was a stunning reminder of how Dylan can just completely nail it sometimes. The ease with which the piano and song flows out reminds of Dylan's best work, as if the song has always been there and he is just breathing it into existence at this time and place. It owes a debt to Merle Haggard, the Civil War, poet Henry Timrod and thousands of others, but is perfectly Dylan when it comes to the lyrics which bounce all over. A folk song, mistitled a blues song, for the workingman that feels aloof, pure Dylan
I may have been a bit down on the music of Modern Times in my original review (I have softened my stance a bit), but I was right about "Workingman's Blues #2", it stands with the greatest songs he has ever produced.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: RtBE has never heard of Blood on the Tracks Live before and can't find much about them out online. If you have any info on the group feel free to comment below and we will update this post.
Thoughts on Cover:
A really dynamite cover, the pristine backing vocals and small touches like mandolin add to the already great tone set by the emotive vocals and ebb and flow of the band. Not an easy song to tackle at all and Blood on the Tracks Live do a damn good job of it.
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...Billy Strings!
Here is Billy Strings Nassau Coliseum show this past November. A full show, fan shot, but pro sound.
The Toronto indie-rock outfit Jane's Party have released a new tune "Ships On An Ocean".
From Tom Ionescu of Jane’s Party:
“Ships On An Ocean” was inspired by a best friends’ breakup with a long-time girlfriend. I’d gotten home after meeting him for coffee and pretty much wrote the song in one sitting. I didn’t plan to write it, but the imagery and mood of his experience I think seeped into my subconscious.
The Tuscon, AZ based outfit Class have been busy lately (this is their third release in eighteen months) as the group blast out six tunes to make up the But Who's Reading Me? EP. Two of the tracks are re-recordings of songs from their previous full length, Epoca de Los Vaqueros, while four are new bangers.
The direct comparison for this outfit is The Buzzcocks as Class deploy catchy hooks, choruses and polished tracks with a razorblade-under-the-surface style of puffed up power pop/punk rock. Using multiple lead singers also helps with that comparison but each track feels sonically to be crafted from that bands heyday.
Right from the opener, the angst of lyrical outputs decrying all the bad news, sung by lead guitarist Andy, mixes with infectious riffs and hooks for "No News Could Please". That feeling boils over into "Inspect The Receipt" as capitalistic and fatalistic ways gets married around more arena ready guitars.
Other guitarist Ricky takes over lead vocals for the rawer sounding "Burning Cash" which ups the angst levels while bassist Jim switches up styles for the more elongated "Grid Stress". The band re-imagined two recent tracks to close out the EP as the new direction of "Left In The Sink" reminds of Graveyard Lovers"Nameless" while album closer "Cockney Rebel Versus The Cult" picks up the driving bass and tempo this go around with a cleaner (and better) sound.
Class deliver that power pop infected punk styling with, well, class, as they delve in and pump up that late seventies British punk sound with expertise on their newest offering But Who's Reading Me?
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