Tag Archives: music

Manhattan Skyline

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So I’m hanging around Manhattan for a few days as I’m here to take in the last few games at Yankee Stadium. I love this city and it is always great to be here whatever the circumstance but the closure of the Stadium makes me both excited and annoyed in equal measure. Annoyed because they’re getting rid of all tradition and history and things will never be the same. Excited because at least I get to be a part of the big wind-down and the final game.

After that back to the UK and hopefully take the two Swarf concerts that are happening during the last week in September.

 

Questions…. always questions

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It’s been a good month for getting to talking to some of my favourite musicians. As I have mentioned before I’ve been working hard on an interview project with Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, solo career etc. etc.) We had just about finished this when I mentioned to Richie, it would be nice to get an alternative view on some of the key periods in his life. We came up with the idea of getting Bernie Leadon (Hearts and Flowers, Flying Burrito Brothers, Eagles, Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band, solo career etc. etc.) to comment on rivalry and admiration between Poco and the early Eagles. I was expecting a few words, enough to mould into a paragraph of the article. Bernie went to town and has written an article of his own about his admiration of Poco. Great stuff!
I’m also hoping for a contribution from Al Perkins who played a particularly important role in developing Richie’s musical and spiritual life.

Next up to the plate is Michael Georgiades who was Bernie’s partner-in-crime in the aforementioned Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades band and in the short-lived spin-off, Zoe. I’m going to be speaking to him next Saturday. His album, Natural Progressions, is a particular favourite of mine and interviewing him is the realisation of a long-held ambition.

Looks likely then that the next stage in the on-going project that I have rolling with Mr Leadon will be in August as we talk about his period with Hearts & Flowers.

These articles will appear in Cross Rhythms magazine and Natural Progressions Magazine. The first of these can be located on the web, subscription information on the second can be obtained from me.

What I do……

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I’ve mentioned before that I write about music. In a way the internet has made it much more simple to produce articles. It’s way easier to do research. On the other hand there is something about the tone of pieces on the internet which I find very strange. Too much writing is not about the music anymore. I’m glad that some of the musicians feel the same. This from Donald Fagen of Steely Dan:

“I don’t like to visit the fan sites because there’s something creepy about the whole thing to me. I remember when I was a kid I was a big jazz fan and later on there were a few popular singers and groups I liked but I was always interested in the music; I never made a fetish out of their personal lives. I never really got that, you know? I appreciate whatever they do to keep the interest in the band and all that sort of thing but it’s really not part of my world.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

People are crazy, times are strange…….

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When I’m going through difficult times (like now) I tend to rely on music to get me through. One album that’s carrying me along at the moment is a Bob Dylan cd which has had a limited circulation. Although released as recently as 2001, it was only made for the Japanese market at the time that Dylan was about to tour there. Entitled Bob Dylan Live 1961-2000 – Thirty Nine Years of Great Concert Performances, it culls tracks, many that have not been on cd elsewhere, from all across his career.

 

So what’s on here?

Somebody Touched Me. Country gospel hymn recorded in 2000. His current set list could do with some of this kind of innovation to break it up a little.

Wade in the Water. More traditional gospel but this time recorded in 1961 – a long, long time before anyone was asking about his religious beliefs. Acoustic folk.

Handsome Molly. From 1962. The lyrics have echoes from something from Modern Times. Part of the Gaslight Tapes.

To Ramona. From 1965. Dylan works words like no-one else and this has him at his youthful best.

I Don’t Believe You. 1966. It used to sound like this…….. Dylan has gone electric and one of my favourite songs from the 1964 period is reworked and sent soaring.

Grand Coulee Dam. 1968. Recorded as a tribute to his mentor, Woody Guthrie.

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. 1974. One from an album that has been available forever. It was originally on “Before the Flood”. Along with the version on the “Hard to Handle” video performance this is my favourite of the live recordings of this classic track.

It Ain’t Me, Babe. Recorded during the filming of Renaldo and Clara and filled with all the ramshackle glory and energy that dominated the Rolling Thunder Revue.

Shelter From the Storm. 1976. Again commonly available on Hard Rain but let’s face it that’s an album you’re never going to need all of. This is one of the better moments from that album. I’d have gone for “I Threw it all Away” or “Idiot Wind” but this will do.

Dead Man, Dead Man. 1981. Everybody now realises that for an established artist to go on stage with a setlist made up entirely of new songs virtually never happens. We have realised too late that Dylan live during the Slow Train / Saved period was simply amazing. It’s time for a full release of one of those shows in the Bootleg Series. Until that happens, then a performance of this song from Shot of Love from the following tour will have to do. Very cool indeed.

Slow Train. 1987. Originally released on “Dylan and the Dead”, the live album from his tour with the Grateful Dead. No-one needs that whole album but this proves that if you dig deep enough there are golden nuggets even there.

Dignity. 1994. From “Unplugged” which is another album that you don’t really need. This song was originally left off “Oh Mercy”. Now for a song to be left off a Dylan album is the recipe for it to be regarded as a work of genius. For someone that his fans call a genius, they sure don’t trust his judgement. Indeed, this is a very good song but I’m not sure it would have added to the album. Great performance here.

Cold Irons Bound. 1997. The studio version was on “Time Out of Mind”. Here, it seems a little rootless but it is still a fine reading of this vital song.

Born in Time. 1998. “Under the Red Sky” is a neglected album which whilst some songs were under-realised,  is still a very worthwhile record which Dylan obviously rates. This is a fine performance of a great song.

Country Pie. 2000. Just proves that Dylan songs don’t have to be profound and mean something. Originally on “Nashville Skyline”, this song just argues for the virtues of country music. You don’t have to agree with him to enjoy hearing the old guy having fun for once.

Things have Changed. 2000. Classic song. Like on the 1979 album, Dylan is waiting on the last train. Like in 1980 he tells us what is going to happen if the Bible is right. But times as well as things have changed by now and so this time we gave him an award. The song deserves it. The live performance shows Dylan working out the truth in his own words.

This Japanese album is difficult to find. You can get all the songs on iTunes but only if you buy all their Dylan collection. I can only say that, even so, they are well worth seeking out.

Reason to Believe

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Music plays a fairly substantial part in my life in all kinds of shapes and forms. I listen to it, I write about it. Amongst the cds on fairly regular rotation over the last few days have been discs by Tom Scott, Danilo Perez, JD Souther, Rubicks and Mark Colby. A fair percentage of jazz mixed in there. All this while doing the final re-writes on my interview project with Richie Furay which has come together really well and about which various editors are proving very enthusiastic.

However, the album which has really been catching my attention today is an obscure disc by a band called Hearts and Flowers who had their moment in the sun in 1967-68 and are best remembered for being the second stopping point for Bernie Leadon. I think this was the second band of his illustrious career. He joined them for their second album “Of Horses, Children and Forgotten Women”. The band couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be The Byrds, early Simon & Garfunkel (think Wednesday Morning Three A.M.) or straight country. Folk-rock, then. Consequently, the albums are eclectic and a lot of fun with great harmonies and bags of energy and youthful enthusiasm. The songs include a cover of the Tim Hardin song I’ve used for the title of this journey entry, and bizarrely a version of “Two Little Boys” which was made famous a few years later here in the UK by wobble-board-playing Australian, Rolf Harris. Eclectic indeed.

Mostly the albums have been making me sit up and listen for all the right reasons but there are a couple of moments which have touched my funny bone. The guitar on the track “Now is the Time for Hearts & Flowers” and the backing vocals on “The View From Ward 3” (both on their first album) put me very much in mind of the vocals and guitar on that other forgotten classic of the ’60s “(Listen to) the Flower People” by the quite wonderful Spinal Tap. It’s hard to keep a straight face. I seem to have that clip from the rockumentary on regular playback in my head.

Seasons of Change

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So I’m in the midst of an interview project with Richie Furay (former vocalist with Buffalo Springfield and Poco). Sections of this will appear here and in Natural Progressions Magazine and Cross Rhythms magazine.

Received the new albums by Al Green and Walter Becker . I’ve done some promotional writing for these so I hope they live up to what I said!

Hanging with the Andronici…

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Still with Titus Andronicus. Whenever I’m trying to really study Shakespeare as opposed to reading for fun (is this boy sane?), I always find that I gravitate towards the Arden version. The individual volumes of the Arden Shakespeare are generally the best informed, best researched with the best grasp of the play’s background. This certainly works with Titus Andronicus, although you’ll need to avoid the 2nd edition which isn’t worth the admission price purely because the editor didn’t like the play. The third edition, however, has many reasons you should acquire it. Not least is the pithy, witty and enthusiastic style of its editor, Jonathan Bate. Another reason is the cover artwork which would be worth purchasing if you didn’t want the play. The artwork is by one Dennis Leigh who seems to have reached peaks in many disciplines. Even if you haven’t heard of him, and don’t know me personally enough to have had your ear bent by my enthusiasm for his work, you may have come across him in his alter-ego of John Foxx. Anyway, here’s a reproduction of the cover:

Close inspection of the image reveals a man’s image, on the forehead, holding a suffering child and a female figure whose image ends before the hand at the point it meets the mouth of the main image. With depictions of torture running up both cheeks, we have an extraordinary image which wordlessly (suitably) covers the main themes of the play. Excellent!

For those who are a little less inclined to the highbrow, it’s worth noting that John Foxx and Louis Gordon will only be playing one UK gig this year. It will be at the Cargo, in North London in October (16th). I’ll see you there. Those who want to aim for the middle ground might want to try Foxx’s solo concert in Leeds where he will accompany sections of his Quiet Man prose on acoustic piano (7th November). I’ll be there too – should be interesting. I’m intrigued.

‘Til We Gather

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Jay Farrar had been in Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt. In 2001, he launched out on a solo career which effectively lasted from 2001-2004. I think the experience taught him one thing – people were more interested in records with the name Son Volt on the cover than those bearing the name Jay Farrar. Shortly after that he wrested control of the name “Son Volt” and it became a canny cover for his continuing solo recordings albeit ones with a slightly more electric feel than the ones he recorded in the four years that he left the band name to one side.

If you like Son Volt, you really shouldn’t neglect his solo albums. If you like albums in the singer / songwriter or Americana traditions, you really shouldn’t miss those albums either. A good place to start might be the live album “Live in Seattle” which was recorded in 2003 and captures many of the best songs from his solo tenure with Farrar on guitar and harmonica sparsely accompanied by Mark Spencer (from Blood Oranges) alternating on guitar and bass and Eric Heywood on pedal steel.

This live set has 15 tracks. All but one – the encore “White Freightliner Blues” which is a Townes Van Zandt cover – are culled from the four studio discs that made up Farrar’s solo tenure to date.

The 2001 album was Sebastopol. From that we have “Make it Alright”, “Feel Free”, “Barstow”, “Damn Shame”, “Vitamins”, “Feed Kill Chain” and “Voodoo Candle”.

The 2002 album was a film soundtrack, The Slaughter Rule. A song called “Gather” is included on the live album.

The 2002 EP, ThirdShiftGrottoSlack, had a different version of “Damn Shame”

The 2003 album, “Terroir Blues” is also handsomely represented. “California”, “Heart on the Ground”, “No Rolling Back”, “All of Your Might”, “Cahokian” and “Fool King’s Crown” can all be found on the Seattle live album.

If you didn’t pick up on them initially then why not start with the live disc which is available from jayfarrar.net and then if you find its as strong as I think you will, you could collect them all.

Living with the past

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Going to concerts is a strange game. I’ve been listening to music seriously now for thirty years and more and taking in live shows for more than twenty five. My problem is that I never seem to outgrow the music I once enjoyed and I never tire of finding new bands and sounds to enjoy. It makes for a wide-ranging taste and a smorgasbord of shows to choose from. Having said that last week (this was before the dreaded ‘flu) saw more grey hair on a stage than I’m used to. Ian Anderson and Martin Barre have had this little band called Jethro Tull going now for a few years and occasionally I’ll stop to see them and consider whether they can still cut the mustard. May 2008 in Lancashire suggest they still can though Ian’s voice is not what it once was and he has to over-rely on that flute just a little too much. They played for well over two hours and interestingly drew material mostly from their first three album although for me the highlights (Thick as a Brick, Heavy Horses, Aqualung, New Day Yesterday) were mostly drawn from a little later in their career. Tull, these days, are mainly a live band and seem to have little time devoted to developing new material. It would seem sensible to reverse that trend – rest Ian’s voice, see what this current bunch of musicians can develop in the twenty-first century – before they inevitably call it a day.

Set list (I think this is right but I’m older than I used to be):

My Sunday Feeling,
Living In The Past,
One For John Gee,
So Much Trouble,
A Song For Jeffrey,
Nursie,
Griminelli’s Lament,
Sossity: You’re A Woman/Reasons For Waiting,
Fat Man,
Serenade To A Cuckoo,
A New Day Yesterday
Bourée

For A Thousand Mothers,
We Used To Know/With You There To Help Me,
Dharma For One
Heavy Horses,
Farm On The Freeway,
Thick As A Brick,
Aqualung,
Locomotive Breath

Jethro Tull, Live May 2008

 

……. and a pair of Ian Andersons

If there was a downside to this concert, it was the drum solo. Why do must rock drummers persist in believing that there is any rhythm or motif to their efforts in hitting as many parts of their kit as often as they can. Please leave it to your infinitely more capable jazz brethren.

What becomes of the broken………

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I met my baby in a shopping mall.
In a shopping mall.
I asked my baby for her number,
In case I called her up, in case I called her up.
I called my baby on the telephone,
I said, “Hello” on the telephone.
I took my baby to the movies,
Sat in the front row.
Got her some popcorn, bought her some bon bons.
We sat in the front row.
I took my baby out to dinner,
A table just for two, a table just for two.
I took my baby to Las Vegas,
Chartered a private plane.
We took some naps, we shot some crap,
Chartered a private plane.
I took her shopping, next thing I know,
I took my baby to Aspen,
I broke my leg, she fell in love.
I broke my leg,
I got a letter from my ex-baby today, nice.

Well, actually, I damaged 3 metatarsals in my foot but Joe Walsh didn’t have a song about that……