In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by Abbey Lincoln playing "Mr. Tambourine Man"
Jazzy January has invade Mondays! All this month we will check out various artists covering Dylan with a jazz vibe.
Thoughts on Original:
From the first time we tackled a cover of this song: C'mon...really? Iconic, one of his best known songs. A poetic marvel, beautifully played etc etc...essays are written on this song. I won't say much more, but will note that I read somewhere this is the one song Dylan actually tried to work with again and create another version; a part two so to speak, and it just didn't work. Hard to recreate this gem.
Cover:
Thoughts on artist:
This is RtBE's first time hearing Abbey Lincolnwhich is amazing, and proves to us how little we still know about music.
Thoughts on the cover:
Fantastic, one of the best jazz covers of Dylan we have ever heard and Lincoln and company deliver it on his biggest tune.
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 Bad Plus!
It's Jazzy January again here at RtBE, so get ready to kick off 2024 with some different styled shows every Friday. For this series we skew into new (or more recent) jazz lands. Keeping it current proves there is amazing live jazz still being performed no matter what Ken Burns says.
This week we head to 2006 Newport Jazz Festival for a set with The Bad Plus. Get up with it.
This Paris based outfit Deadjazz does just what it's title states as it Plays The Music of The Grateful Dead with a jazz twist.
The group is comprised of Lionel Belmondo, tenor and soprano saxophone, flutes, arrangements, Stéphane Belmondo, trumpet, flugelhorn, effects, Laurent Fickelson, Farfisa organ, Fender Rhodes, Eric Legnini, Fender Rhodes, Novation Bass Station, Thomas Bramerie, double bass, Dré Pallemaerts, drums, tambourine and the crew get after it.
The opening "China Cat Sunflower" starts out fairly direct, playing to the songs melody and tempo then things shift as a warbling sax solo takes off, electro funky keys get loose and the tune leads to a big climax to finish, starting the album off strong. Less successful is the weepy torch ballad/light jazz delivered on "Stella Blue" and the outfits bright and cheery take on "St Stephan>The Eleven" which never takes hold.
The group twist "Dark Star" into a funky upbeat number that is lead by the crisp drumming as more electro keys and saxophones color the fringes. The slow, easy rolling groove of the bands take on "Fire On The Mountain" is pleasant as is the closing "Rosemary" with it's soft sonic tones. The free jazz finds it's weird way forward on "Blues for Allah" which weaves and wanders ominously before a Dixieland jazz like ending.
The best of the bunch though is the groups take on "Bird Song". The fresh and crisp drumming again stands out, keeping the song moving forward while bras easily flows in and out around more keyboard work. A standout that takes inspiration from the Dead's live take of this song with Branford Marsalis, but also puts it's own spin on it.
A fun twist on the Grateful Dead's catalog, Deadjazz'sPlays The Music of The Grateful Dead allows fans to arrive at these time honored songs from a different, yet still somewhat familiar angle.
The short story is they wanted to do something to give back to the community through music and decided to curate a mixtape that's composed of contemporary post-punk and shoegaze bands. The money raised is donated to The Coalition for the Homeless and Summer Darling are matching every dollar spent on purchase of the cassette.
The Coalition for the Homeless stands as a remarkable not-for-profit advocacy group. They have been at the forefront of groundbreaking litigation, safeguarding the rights of homeless individuals, including the fundamental rights to shelter and to vote. Moreover, they tirelessly champion long-term solutions to address the complex issue of homelessness.
Some tracks have never been released in a physical format and some tracks are specifically for this mixtape.
Never released in a physical format: Heavytrip - Weighed Down Petal Head - Over the Wall Catholic School - Needle in the Storm
Songs specifically for this mixtape:
Topographies - Illusion of Control Vacío Eterno - Creature
Grab a copy to benefit this worth cause or stream it. Check out a tune from the release below:
Once again the current jamband kings set up in their home away from home, Madison Square Garden, to play four nights in a row, closing out 2023 and welcoming 2024 in the world's most famous arena. RtBE attended the first and second nights (12/28 and 12/29) and greatly enjoyed both, with one of them truly standing out.
First up was Thursday night 12/28 as the anticipation ran high with the band having done a solid summer run earlier in the year at the same venue. Things would take a few songs to truly get going for the Vermont quartet (Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Page McConnell and Jon Fishman) as they opened with a fairly tame "No Men In No Man's Land" before some crunchy keyboard work from McConnell on "Halley's Comet" that was engaging. After that fine tune though the band played it pretty close to the vest for the first set with short versions of "Sample in a Jar", "Runaway Jim", and "Bouncing Around the Room" before Fishman picked up the slamming pace on "Axilla (Part II)".
The group seemed more energized and dropped an upbeat blues burner on the Son Seals cover "Funky Bitch", but the set, and overall show highlight, arrived next when the group really dug into "Bathtub Gin". The almost eighteen minute outing saw the band open up with jams for the first time mixing warbling spacey playing with metallic crashing and soaring intensity as Gordon and Fishman's interplay kept things exciting throughout while McConnell and Trey added sonic accents.
Unfortunately a bland take on "Ghost" followed (whatever happened to the funk during this song?) while the band brought the set full circle with "No Men In No Man's Land" quotes. After a long break Phish returned with newer crowd favorite "The Howling" before the longest jam of the night "A Wave of Hope" sprawled out. A winding effort that mixed blissful Phish with a few darker moments, sounding a touch like The Allman Brothers at times, the extended playing was fine but never truly revelatory.
Better was a well placed "Rift" and the funky wah-wah work from Anastasio on "Mike's Song" that highlighted the second set with excellent energy. While "Simple" never reached the heights it has in the past, the set ending "Blaze On" showcased an energetic and solid jam to close. Surprisingly, the band had a lot left in the tank, and delivered a long, four song encore that could have ended after each tune. The ballad like "Mercy", the delicate beauty of "Squirming Coil" or the upbeat funk of "Weekapaug Groove" but it was "Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S." that ended what was more of a mini-set than an encore.
While the 28th was OK overall (Phish.net has it rated at 4.03 out of 5 which seems fair, if a touch high) it was a mere warm up for the Friday night show, which instantly had a more pumped up feel from the crowd and the band themselves. Trey was literally hoping around with excitement and acknowledging/waving to each side of the crowd before a note was played.
The music opened with a strong, rocking version of "Free" before moving effortlessly to get the funk flowing for "The Moma Dance" leading to a guitar ripping "Maze" which wrapped up a top notch trio to open the night and kick up the energy levels for all in the sold out house.
While the whole opening set was moving, the highlight just might have been this dynamite version of "Stash" that gracefully traversed through jazzy sections while Fishman dominated on the drums and cymbals. Two personal favorite songs "Get Back On The Train" and "Theme From The Bottom" were well done, while one of the bands better ballads, "Mountains In The Mist", was smooth. The set should have probably ended after a rocking "46 Days" but the outfit tacked on a tame version of "Drift While You're Sleeping" to conclude a stout run of tunes.
The second set found the group truly stretching out, using a mix of darker playing with brilliant peaks, resulting in the best set RtBE has caught from the band since The Baker's Dozen.
"Chalkdust Torture" kicked things off and after a short spin of the song proper, the band blasted off into the unknown with Gordon pushing the bass forward as spacey blissful jamming mixed with freaky passages as the weird, heavy, bizarre fully came out in this jam from the masters of improv. They weren't finished though as the newer jam vehicle "Oblivion" was another excellent extended outing, complete with deep bass, cymbal crashes, stuttering exchanges, and dark/bright juxtapositions while "What's the Use?" was a gorgeous, majestic, mid-set break.
Those three tunes were excellent examples of the band at it's current peak, but they were not done. "My Friend, My Friend" was huge with crazy riffing from Trey and massive drumming around distorted ominous noise/funk slamming, which echoed around MSG. Fans were clearly stoked when the weirdness coalesced directly into the dance party "Sand", yet this interesting version displayed more varied, squirrely jamming from Trey and Page as opposed to the hardcore funky throw down's of yesteryear.
The classic rock wailing of "About To Run" was a solid, more direct effort, but the band really let it all hang out for this version of "Harry Hood" which closed the second set. A dynamite rendition from all involved as the band linked up and delivered a classic take on this warhorse tune; the last few times RtBE has caught Hood, it has been just OK, this one makes us remember why it is such a great jam from the band as it grew, soaring to a huge release.
After a brief spin through "Lonely Trip" the band sent the Friday night crowd out on a rocking high with a blasting version of "Carini" to wrap an incredibly strong show from Phish. As always the band put in the effort and lit up MSG like no other touring act currently can, it was a joy to get see these two great nights of music from the group.
The Baltimore, Maryland based outfit The Creachies mix their visual art style with new wave pop and electro beats on their latest single/video "Get Atomic"
The story behind the song from the band themselves:
Earlier this year we received an email from our friends at Atomic Books in Baltimore letting us know how much they enjoyed our latest single Chopping Mall. They went on to ask if we would be interested in creating an original song for them. Well Atomic Books is our favorite place in Baltimore so we responded with “Yes! We’ll make you two songs! And a video! What else do you want??” Everyone was in agreement that these should not be jingles or advertisements, but fully realized songs, able to be enjoyed remote from their connection to Atomic Books. Put simply, the song Get Atomic is about being fed up with the life you’re being pushed into, and finding that thing, or place, or person that allows you to escape, open your eyes, make your own choices, become a superhero, fly to other planets, think critically, get out of bed, and many other wild things you hadn’t believed possible. It might be found in a book, in a song, in a painting, in a friend, it could be hiding anywhere and it’s amazing when you find it. With the help of our incredibly talented animating friend Grace Boyle, we created a video for it in our basement with a budget of 6 dollars for an extra large tub of mayonnaise. We took visual cues from movies like Barbarella and Flash Gordon, retro-futuristic art, Jim Henson, vintage animation, and more, running it all through heavy filters of fun and camp.
Produced & Inspired By: Benn Ray, Rachel Whang & The Atomic Books Family in Hampden, Baltimore, MD Original Music by The Creachies Mixed by Eamonn Aiken Mastered by T.J. Lipple Video by Grace Boyle & The Creachies Introducing Bobby the Puppet Starring The Creachies
The legendary funk/jazz/fusion outfit The Headhunters are still at it, with original members Bill Summers (percussion) and Mike Clark (drums) leading the band on a 50th anniversary world tour in 2023. To commemorate this milestone the group recorded their stop at Brooklyn Bowl in early January, releasing this live album.
While nowhere near essential, Live From Brooklyn Bowl is a testimony to this bands grooving ways. Herbie Hancock is not present but the original members are supported by some of the best doing it today with the legend himself Donald Harrison playing alto sax, the energetic Kyle Roussel (Preservation Hall Jazz Band) on keys, and Chris Severin (Dr. John) holding down the bass. This core, some of New Orleans finest, pumps lively energy into all the tracks presented here.
The funky big bass and percussion opens the live album with "Four String Drive" as Harrison's alto work is magical, shining with majestic power., a mid song break and piano solo to close kicks things off proper. "Rocking In The Mole House" from the band's 2022 release Speakers In The House, starts off with Roussel's soft piano intro and you can hear the bowling balls hitting the pins, a reoccurring theme whenever the band gets quite, pulling attention away from the music, but certainly speaking to the time and place.
After some introductions Harrison again shines with a solo on "Headhunters Jam" while "Butterfly" is smooth jazz that flirts with easy listening before percussion and piano kick up the energy to end. The band's classic "Watermelon Man" is smooth as silk as the group expertly delivers the goods while "Loft Funk" is a solo showcase highlighted by Severin's bass outings and Clark's drumming.
Editing on the album is a bit odd as the group fades into a energetic version of "Chameleon" with the spritely funk kicking around the venue while the fantastic show closing "Hey Pocky A-way" also fades out with Harrison still in full vocals flight. These editing choices and the random crash of pins makes this release feel just a step above a fan recording, but when The Headhunters are in full flight on Live From Brooklyn Bowl the energy is palpable and worth seeking out.
In this ongoing Monday Series we will be exploring various artists versions of Bob Dylan song's. Today's tune is a cover by Gary Burton playing "Just Like A Woman"
Jazzy January has invade Mondays! All this month we will check out various artists covering Dylan with a jazz vibe.
There are a lot of songs about the greatest muse known to man, woman. This one may top the 60's generation when it comes to dealing with Mars and Venus. Respectful in one breath and slightly mocking the next, Dylan can sense the pain, and I think there is a clear honesty in those words. Well maybe "clear" is the wrong term to use, nothing is ever clear with this subject matter. Treating the topic honestly Dylan tackles the differences between the sexes and the difficulties of relationships. Bob nailed this one making it one of his all-time greats.
Cover:
Thoughts on Cover Artist: The great vibraphonist Gary Burton was first heard by RtBE with Stan Getz. A cool cat all around.
Thoughts on Cover:
A very sweet way to kick off our month of Jazz focused Bob Dylan covers. This is a soothing and easy flowing take on the classic track.
Here are our all of our favorite albums of 2023. This is the year end review, all in one place.
Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.
We are now heading into the new normal with live music during the Covid-19 and beyond 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 feature: Bob Weir and The Wolf Brothers December 29th, 30th, 31st @ Broward Center of Performing Arts
The Wolf Brothers are streaming their New Years run on Fans starting tonight, so grab tix now.
To get in the mood here is some live Wolf Brothers from a few weeks back:
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...Wilco!
RtBE ends our Full Show Friday series for 2023 with Wilco - Live From Brooklyn Steel - 10/13/2019 - Brooklyn, NY. Enjoy!
01 - Bright Leaves - 02:0402 - Before Us - 3:3103 - Company In My Back - 7:0204 - War On War - 11:0305 - One and a Half Stars - 14:3506 - Handshake Drugs - 18:4407 - You and I - 25:1808 - Hummingbird - 28:48Comedy act by Jeff - 32:2609 - Someone to Lose - 33:4810 - White Wooden Cross - 37:3811 - Via Chicago - 41:0012 - Laminated Cat - 46:3513 - Random Name Generator - 53:5814 - On and on and On - 58:1915 - We Were Lucky - 1:02:5016 - Love Is Everywhere (Beware) - 1:08:05Comedy act by Jeff - 1:11:4917 - Impossible Germany - 1:12:4218 - Box Full of Letters - 1:22:00Comedy act by Jeff - 1:25:2419 - Everyone Hides - 1:26:2220 - I’m Always in Love - 1:29:4021 - Heavy Metal Drummer - 1:34:0422 - I’m the Man Who Loves You - 1:37:10Comedy act by Jeff - 1:41:3023 - Hold Me Anyway - 1:43:0124 - Misunderstood - 1:47:20Encore25 - En Empty Corner - 1:56:2026 - Red-Eyed and Blue - 2:01:4427 - I Got You (At the End of the Century) - 2:04:0428 - Outta Mind (Outta Sight) - 2:07:5729 - I’m a Wheel - 2:10:49
After a few years of new music, 2023 was a retrospective year for Neil Young who released three albums and toured, yet, there were no new songs. One album was a live release with Crazy Horse from the mid-70's and two albums were reimagining's or sorts. The first, Chrome Dreams, just made official what longtime fans have already bootlegged/owned for years with no changes, while Before and After is an acoustic reworking of some songs from Young's immensebackcatalog.
Played and recorded as an extension of his July solo tour, the album finds Neil playing straight through a few lesser loved numbers with just harmonica, guitar, piano, and pump organ as he ambulates with relaxed energy, singing in that same style. At 78 his voice is a bit distant and a touch shaky, but it was that same way when he was 28.
The recording is personal and fresh, sounding live as he digs into some Buffalo Springfield songs like "Burned" and "On The Way Home" which work well in this fashion as bright acoustic strums mix with vibrating harmonica. "Homefires" is a quick workout while "Birds" loses a touch of it's majesty in this stripped down piano version. The pump organ gets a work out on the deep "If You Got Love" (which sounds like a sturdier Daniel Johnston tune) before "Mother Earth" groans and wobbles while "A Dream That Can Last" sounds bright with nimble piano work.
Bob Rice adds vibraphone to both "My Heart" and "When I Hold You In My Arms" mixing up the sound a touch. "Comes A Time" is simple straight ahead folk like the original, while one of the oldest songs here, "Mr. Soul" starts ominously and never gets the garage rocking heights it has hit in the past, and it almost seems like it was recorded live, as those faint cheers in there, or just a creaking pump organ?
The truth is, fans of Uncle Neil will tell you the originals of these songs are all better, so hopefully these scaled down versions will lead new listeners to those. Opener "I'm The Ocean" is the great underrated rocker in Neil's catalog that needs to be heard more than anything. Jack Irons drums the hell out of the original song and the rest of Pearl Jam give a whole different inspiration to Young than Crazy Horse that is vitally exciting as Young runs with it in this song directly into the unknown; check out the original.
With the release of Before and After there are parallels that can be drawn to Bob Dylan'sShadow Kingdom, but with Dylan the changes/musicality were the draws, here things are scaled back intentionally. There is nothing inherently wrong with this album, yet nothing that needs to be heard either, it is just a pleasant acoustic stroll through some deeper cuts from one of the best to do it.
Time has a funny way of playing tricks on you. When I first started getting into Bob Dylan on a serious level, Live at Budokan was the first album I randomly grabbed from a record store. It was on sale...with reason...it stunk.
The final US show the fantastic Sonic Youth ever played is captured on this special release as the August 12th 2011 Williamsburg, NYC Waterfront set from the noise rock legends is now available on vinyl from Silver Current Records.
Having attended this show, which at the time no one knew would be the bands last, there was a sense of something special in the air. The previous few years found the band revisiting past albums with strong shows, but this career ranging affair was unique and powerfully played. Lovingly captured here, this gorgeous night from the hometown band will now live on.
The setlist was created by drummer Steve Shelley and as he explains it:
“This show was a culmination of a run of really special outdoor summertime shows in New York City for us, starting in ’92 with Summerstage in Central Park when we played with Sun Ra. For the Williamsburg Waterfront show I wrote out the set list to present to the band and it was a lot of material we hadn’t played in a while, a lot of deep cuts, so I wasn’t sure if everybody would feel like doing it. After worrying about which songs the band might say yes or no to, I threw those concerns out the window and I just made a list of songs that I thought would be a great set. We practiced the week of the show at our space in Hoboken and put the set together. First we’d try and make sure we had a guitar in the song’s tuning, then we’d try to remember the arrangement and try and put it together, sometimes re-learning bar by bar. In the end I think the whole song list made it through. Even as early as ’86 and ’87 we stopped playing ‘Death Valley 69’ and ‘Brave Men Run’ with any regularity. We’d just get excited about new material coming into the set and songs would get ‘retired’ and wouldn’t get played again for years. So on this particular night in Brooklyn a lot of those retired songs and deep cuts got dusted off and played for this show. It turned out to be a pretty special event with a really special song list.”
The band (Kim Gordon - voc, gtr Mark Ibold - Bass Thurston Moore - voc, gtr Lee Ranaldo - voc, gtr Steve Shelley - drums) tore into this old material right off the bat with that combo of "Brave Men Run (In My Family) > "Death Valley ’69" deploying scratchy layers of guitars, feedback, rumbling low end, and desperate vocals to recall the groups early noise days with passion and energy.
Another old warhorse noise number "Kotton Krown" found Moore singing the prophetic words for this night, "New York City is forever, kitty I'm wasted in time and you're never ready Fading, fading, celebrating". Shelley puts his powerful drums to work with the head banging "Kill Yr. Idols" while Ranaldo gets the crowd revved up to go on "Eric's Trip". The muscle car guitars and motoring sounds continue for "Sacred Trickster", the cataclysmic "Calming The Snake", and the grooving "What We Know" all off of the bands final album (the underrated The Eternal), these were the newest song played on this evening, yet all fit in with the deep cuts/classics wonderfully.
Speaking of deep cuts, "Starfield Road" is up next with crushing bass from Ibold, while the free jazz gets rolled out for the extended screeching and pounding of old school tunes "I Love Her All The Time" and "Ghost Bitch" from the early days of SY. The slow burn of "Tom Violence" builds with sexy power while the unhinged screaming guitars and Gordon's strong vocals slam on "Drunken Butterfly" ending the main set of tunes.
The encores on this night were special as the group continued to delve into their past with feminist force of "Flower" and a rare "Psychic Heart" from Moore's solo career. Both were nice, but it was a gorgeous rendition of the band's "Sugar Kane" that really hit the sold out summer crowd squarely in the chest, the highlight of the whole night.
Feeling extra giving the band returned for a second encore that saw them dig deep and unleash the chugging, noise rock blast of "Inhuman", ending the night, and basically their whole career, on loud clanging feedback, just the way these legends should.
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On a personal note, Sonic Youth are one of our all-time favorite acts, and RtBE has owned an audience taped copy of this show since it happened, so the music is well loved to these ears. It is nice to now own a soundboard recording on vinyl, but it is also bitter sweet as the band was still kicking ass at such a high artistic level when they broke up. It is another reminder, like with the recently broken up Screaming Females, enjoy this amazing music live while you can.
The debut solo album from Duane Betts, Wild & Precious Life is his throwback to the bygone days of rock, with obvious (and not so obvious) influences along the way.
Depicted as a tribute album to the Florida sound he remembers in his youth, Betts and his touring band (Johnny Stachela Guitars, Berry Duane Oakley Bass Guitar, Background Vocals, John Ginty Hammond B-3 Organ, Piano, Tyler Greenwell Drums, Percussion) set up shop in Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks Swamp Raga Studio in Jacksonville, recording everything live in studio and keeping the best takes.
Even if you missed Betts' name, it would be impossible to miss The Allman Brothers Band's influence on these songs as Betts guitar playing, tone, and songwriting all recall the classic outfit. Betts' strength is his guitar playing, but he is never showy on Wild & Precious Life, wanting the songs to take center stage. It is a noble effort but Betts lives for the live stage and the jam, which is hard to capture on record.
The best efforts have that vital spark, starting with the opener "Evergreen" an upbeat southern rocker with great organ work from Ginty, that works well before an electric trumpet enters the scene from John Reid, pushing the song up to new levels; when it fades out it leaves you wanting more in this vein. The other album focal point is the extended "Saints To Sinners" which contains Betts best lyrics as well as some killer extended guitar takes.
Those guitar excursions get some extra strength on the back of a few choice guests as Trucks helps out on "Stare at the Sun", which is also excellently pushed along by drums and bass, while Marcus King adds some roadhouse riffs to the bluesy rocker "Cold Dark World". Betts guitar highlights the easy rolling "Colors Fade" while the motoring "Waiting On A Song" pushes upbeat piano work and southern rock in very familiar fashion.
The group delivers a few solid slices of songs in this style, but things can seem a bit redundant as "Forrest Lane" is fine, just not very exciting, while "Sacred Ground" never reaches the heights it is searching for. However, one of the more interesting shifts arrives on "Under The Bali Moon" which uses a different drum sound, in almost a drum machine/hip-hop fashion, around some very jazz inspired playing that clearly takes the Allmans inspiration and melds it in a new and interesting way.
The album wraps with a shift in styles as acoustic guitars, weepy pedal steel, and more excellent piano work eases the record to close and showcases a lighter side of Betts and the band. Forging his own route with a clear foot in the sounds that shaped him, Duane Betts' Wild & Precious Life is a solid solo debut.
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