...musical history...i doubt this needs an introduction. one of my favourite songs ever, with dancing.
happy weekend, don't slavegrind
richx
Saturday 27 March 2010
Thursday 25 March 2010
Seven Great Live Recordings(Some With Videos)
Lonnie Donegan - Gambling Man
Man, Lonnie rocks hard! Forget "My Old Man's A Dustman" and all that variety crap. The single version of this (recorded live by Joe Meek), is one of the most exciting live performances i've ever heard on record.
Leo Ferre - Thank You Satan
Ferre is little known outside France, where he was one a well known singer/poet in the chansonier tradition(along with Brassens, Brel, & Vian). This song of his, recorded live at The Alhambra in 1960. really beautiful - and i really like the clarinet(?) solos
Cramps - The Way I Walk
In 1978 whilst on tour, The Cramps played a show at The Napa State Mental Hospital for the inmates. This is taken from that show. The show is worth seeing in it's entirety, as its pretty incredible. I wish i looked like Lux Interior, he's the coolest man ever here. I love the bit where he says "somebody said you were all crazy, but you seem alright to me". The video above is their cover version of Jack Scott's 1959 hit.
Elvis Presley - Lawdy Miss Clawdy
This is from the 1968 Comeback Special. I spend half of my life arguing that the sit down show is one of the greatest musical performances EVER. This, in my opinion, is Elvis at his very best - backed by Scott Moore & D J Fontana from his original band. At this point in his career, he's got a bit of a point to prove, but he's determined to not let it get in the way of him having some fun. There's a real disregard Elvis has here to It all that is quite alluring. Nothing can stop him tonight. Here he sings and stamps his heart out to Lloyd Price's classic fifties r n' b hit. It is unbelievably raw, sexy and exciting. What Rock n' roll should be.
Otis Redding - Satisfaction
It is great to hear a black r&b artist slay a song written by a white rock band trying to sound like they are black. And this is as good as you're gonna get. You will be genuinely surprised that he doesn't combust by the end.
Odetta - Gallows Pole
I'm hoping this is the live version i've got - but i can't listen to it at work. Odetta makes something totally new out of that traditional song ole' Leadbelly made famous. It's like soul music. Which it undeniably is.
Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'
I saw this on Dylan's No Direction Home movie, which even if you don't give a toss about Bob, is interesting for the footage of other artists (John Jacob Niles, Odetta, Gene Vincent, Pete La Farge. This is from 1960 and Muddy certainly sounds like his Mojo is perfectly in order. The reprise is particularly ace.
Nina Simone - Four Women
Nina Simone was generally quite hit and miss in the Studio, but when she got it together live she was transcendant. This song was written by Nina herself, and it destroys me every time i hear it.
The Who - A Quick One (While He's Away)
Live from The Rolling Stone's Rock N' Roll Circus, 1968. I'm not a huge Who fan, but it's hard to deny it doesn't get much better than this. It is long rumoured that The Rolling Stones pulled the Rock N' Roll Circus show from the telly because they'd been upstaged. Keith Moon and Pete Townsend totally astound me here.
Peter Brotzmann Trio - Live In Cheltenham
And yes, i was at this! Free-Jazz Colossus Peter Brotzman at The Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2008. That night was most surreal. I'd seen Hans Bennink an amazing set earlier that evening(who famously played with Brotzmann - but they weren't playing together - strange) at Pittville campus and then toddled down to the Everyman to catch Brotzmann play a 15 minute set at about 12.40am! I had to sit through some astonishingly appalling jazz for this - but this was headcleansing to say the least. I came out astonished. The bassist and drummer were almost metal, which is a guilty pleasure. This is only an excerpt, but i hope it loves up to it.
Enough for now. Enjoy x
Man, Lonnie rocks hard! Forget "My Old Man's A Dustman" and all that variety crap. The single version of this (recorded live by Joe Meek), is one of the most exciting live performances i've ever heard on record.
Leo Ferre - Thank You Satan
Ferre is little known outside France, where he was one a well known singer/poet in the chansonier tradition(along with Brassens, Brel, & Vian). This song of his, recorded live at The Alhambra in 1960. really beautiful - and i really like the clarinet(?) solos
Cramps - The Way I Walk
In 1978 whilst on tour, The Cramps played a show at The Napa State Mental Hospital for the inmates. This is taken from that show. The show is worth seeing in it's entirety, as its pretty incredible. I wish i looked like Lux Interior, he's the coolest man ever here. I love the bit where he says "somebody said you were all crazy, but you seem alright to me". The video above is their cover version of Jack Scott's 1959 hit.
Elvis Presley - Lawdy Miss Clawdy
This is from the 1968 Comeback Special. I spend half of my life arguing that the sit down show is one of the greatest musical performances EVER. This, in my opinion, is Elvis at his very best - backed by Scott Moore & D J Fontana from his original band. At this point in his career, he's got a bit of a point to prove, but he's determined to not let it get in the way of him having some fun. There's a real disregard Elvis has here to It all that is quite alluring. Nothing can stop him tonight. Here he sings and stamps his heart out to Lloyd Price's classic fifties r n' b hit. It is unbelievably raw, sexy and exciting. What Rock n' roll should be.
Otis Redding - Satisfaction
It is great to hear a black r&b artist slay a song written by a white rock band trying to sound like they are black. And this is as good as you're gonna get. You will be genuinely surprised that he doesn't combust by the end.
Odetta - Gallows Pole
I'm hoping this is the live version i've got - but i can't listen to it at work. Odetta makes something totally new out of that traditional song ole' Leadbelly made famous. It's like soul music. Which it undeniably is.
Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Workin'
I saw this on Dylan's No Direction Home movie, which even if you don't give a toss about Bob, is interesting for the footage of other artists (John Jacob Niles, Odetta, Gene Vincent, Pete La Farge. This is from 1960 and Muddy certainly sounds like his Mojo is perfectly in order. The reprise is particularly ace.
Nina Simone - Four Women
Nina Simone was generally quite hit and miss in the Studio, but when she got it together live she was transcendant. This song was written by Nina herself, and it destroys me every time i hear it.
The Who - A Quick One (While He's Away)
Live from The Rolling Stone's Rock N' Roll Circus, 1968. I'm not a huge Who fan, but it's hard to deny it doesn't get much better than this. It is long rumoured that The Rolling Stones pulled the Rock N' Roll Circus show from the telly because they'd been upstaged. Keith Moon and Pete Townsend totally astound me here.
Peter Brotzmann Trio - Live In Cheltenham
And yes, i was at this! Free-Jazz Colossus Peter Brotzman at The Cheltenham Jazz Festival in 2008. That night was most surreal. I'd seen Hans Bennink an amazing set earlier that evening(who famously played with Brotzmann - but they weren't playing together - strange) at Pittville campus and then toddled down to the Everyman to catch Brotzmann play a 15 minute set at about 12.40am! I had to sit through some astonishingly appalling jazz for this - but this was headcleansing to say the least. I came out astonished. The bassist and drummer were almost metal, which is a guilty pleasure. This is only an excerpt, but i hope it loves up to it.
Enough for now. Enjoy x
Alex Chilton RIP
I cried a tear or two for when Alex Chilton died last week. I think i may have been crying over the fact that I'd never be able to see the reconstituted Big Star live. Chilton wasn't at all times a likeable fellow by most accounts, which fits well with his music - he was unpredictable, unapologetic and held little love for the music industry, his own records or his fans. But incidentally, these are the things that make his late Big Star and early solo career so interesting. If you don't already know about Big Star, you are missing a child. Big Star lives up to that cliche "they could've been as big as the Beatles". To learn more about Chilton's legacy, read this from the BBC.
Here's some highlights & personal faves from Chilton's Career. I'll keep it to twelve.
DON'T WATCH THE VIDEOS. Ugh.
The Box Tops - The Letter
Although Big Star never met with fame and success, Chilton already had with Memphis blue-eyed soul group The Box Tops by the time he was sixteen. Produced by Dan Penn at the famous American Sound Studios (also used by Elvis, Joe Tex, Dusty Springfield), it became an American chart topper in 1967. I'm not a huge fan of this track, and it doesn't really sound much like Alex Chilton's later work, i thought i'd but this here for perspective. I feel like a college lecturer, Jesus.
Big Star - Thirteen
I bet you've heard one somewhere - it's a bit like Big Star's "Yesterday". Although this song is credited to Alex Chilton and Chris Bell on the release (the band was going for that Lennon/McCartney thing), it's Chilton's song. Recorded at Memphis' Ardent Studios, this appeared on Big Star's Debut "No 1 Record", which never troubled the Charts. Funny title, then.
Big Star - Ballad Of El Goodo
Another from "No 1 Record". The vocal harmonies are beautiful.
Big Star - O My Soul
The opener from the second Big Star record "Radio City" A perfectly executed power-pop opera. Chris Bell had left by this point, and went on to record the stupendous "I am The Cosmos" which i'll tackle some other day on the blog.
Big Star - September Gurls
Also from Radio City - this is three minutes odd of classic pop that Teenage Fanclub wished they wrote (i gotta admit though, they got as good with Grand Prix - horrible cover art, mind). I am without words.
Big Star - Third / Sisters Lovers
In 1974 - after the commercial failure of "Radio City", Big Star were slimmed down to a two piece(just Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens) and recorded the magnificent mess that is known as "Third / "Sister Lovers". It wasn't released until 1978, and since then has been released with various different versions - as there was no name or tracklist ascribed to the project. I've never been satisfied by any of these, but then again, it's like a puzzle, and perhaps it's best to work through a sequence for yourself - you get Velvet Underground covers, "Christian" Power-Pop, harrowing piano ballads, songs with baseballs as bass drums, and the odd ole' rocknroll standard to play with. I could write (no, TRY to write) a book about this heartbreaking work of genius, but it would be a bore. You should just go and buy the thing now. Here's four choice cuts(an almost impossible task on the best of days).
Kanga Roo
Night Time
Take Care
Holocaust
SOLO CHILTON
Alex Chilton - Free Again
This is an old Chilton song that he recorded for first post-Big Star album, Bach's Bottom in 1975(unreleased until the 80s). I love this song. But it is slightly unrepresentative of the album in the fact it is concise and coherent. Songs start, fall apart and start up again. The Big Star numbers (unreleased when this was recorded) are delivered without enthusiasm but their own kind of defiance. At some point, Chilton decided he wasn't going to play anybody's game but his own -his gospel became that music was best caught when spectacularly raw, unrehearsed and on the verge of collapsing completely. The fact that he was sick of the music industry and a little whacked out from substance abuse probably also played a part. Here was a man was not content on being anybody's hero. But doesn't that just make less people love you a bit more?
Alex Chilton - No More The Moon Shines On Lorena
(starts at 2.11 in the clip)
Chilton's new production ethic really "comes together" for his next album, Like Flies On Sherbert(1979). You couldn't get more removed from the polished power-pop of the first two Big Star albums. It is an epochal mess - the production is all over the place, instruments are sunk into the mix at random, Chilton sounds completely wasted and the band are a shambles. It is also more than a little disturbing. I love it.
"No More The Moon Shines On Lorena" is apparently a Carter Family number. I bet A.P. would be spinning in his grave if he could hear this.
Alex Chilton - No Sex
From The 1986 "No Sex" EP. This sounds like Grease with AIDS. Which i think was the idea.
As I look at this list, and I now ask myself, "Where is Bangkok? In The Street?".
Rest in peace, Alex.
Rx
Wednesday 24 March 2010
ROY HARPER - STORMCOCK
My blog was essentially set up to bring light to people i thought deserve more exposure. Roy Harper fits the bill perfectly. Everyone raves about the Nick Drake, Jon Martyn & Bert Jansch, but rarely about Roy. Perhaps it's because he was too mercurial, spontaneous, or not always too pretty. This album from 1971 however, is perfect, and i don't think anyone could sit through her without being emotionally reconstructed. There's only four songs here, averaging at around 10 minutes each - and if you think that sounds like a Joanna Newsom record you'll wouldn't be surprised to know she is a big fan of this album. Jimmy Page pops up on "The Same Old Rock" The orchestral arrangements on this album by David Bedford are some of my favourites ever, neither sentimentalising the music or overpowering it.
The closing track, "Me And My Woman" can be listened to below, in two parts(it's over 13 minutes long). Masterpiece.
If you like this - buy the album from here. If you'd like to hear more of Roy, his output is quite uneven, but i heartily recommend Valentine from 1974(some of which was written at the same time as "Stormcock" or the live album "Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion. Do not let the covers put you off. There's also an 2 CD anthology that looks alright - covering most of Harper's career, and not editing the two numbers from Stormcock, thank God.
Monday 1 March 2010
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