This is a pretty great idea – Hank Williams left behind notebooks filled with lyrics and various artists who have been inspired by Hank finish them into songs and perform them. What caught my eye was the Bob Dylan connection. Bob was the first to try his hand at this and he used his vanity label (Egyptian Records) and his real label (Columbia) to bring this to this concept to the masses.
As you can see by the cover it includes a nice mix of conventional country artist and roots influenced pop artists. Everyone takes a pretty straight forward Hank approach – no one is trying to be too cute here – and that is a good thing.
Not a bad cut on here. If you are not familiar with Hank this will be an easy way to get your feet wet, but don’t stop here – immediately go out and get a Hank’s greatest hits album and enjoy the greatest country music writer/performer of all time.
It is rare that I am moved by a public figure’s death, let alone a CEO. But Steve Jobs was a very special guy. He was neither a programer or an engineer, yet his vision has had a huge (if not the most significant) effect on how we all use and view technology. He was a marketing guy who lived primarily on his instincts. I have few heroes, but Steve Jobs was on my short list. RIP Steve Jobs may we all be inspired by your work. To paraphrase Seth Godin – Jobs gave you the gift of the technology you are using to read this blog, do something useful with it.
I quit caring about George Benson after Breezin’ (1976) and Weekend in LA (1978). But recently I have been falling in love with George again based on his CTI era releases that I have been picking up in vinyl (late 60s to mid 70s).
This past weekend I saw this new release in the Best Buy Sunday circular and it caught my eye. With only 2 to 3 new releases earning the right to be in the Best Buy ad and the fact that this was a special Best Buy edition caught my eye – what is George and his label (Concord – which appears to be the place where old stars resurrect their careers these days) up too?
Well this is a very nice release. George plays pop-jazz along the lines of Breezin’. He does not try to be hip, but instead acts his age and plays delightful mid-70s pop jazz. Lots of clever covers, my favorite being the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” which is almost unrecognizable – until you figure it out – you get to see how inventive George can be with a simple pop melody.
If you loved Breezin’ and like me got bored with George trying to be hip for the last 30 years you will like this release.
I stumbled across this album sometime in the last year and I don’t know how. I had an MP3 that I got from who knows where and have been looking for a vinyl copy ever since. This past weekend I found one at one of my new favorite record stores: Discland in Bloomington Minnesota.
What I love about this LP is that it has a real soul feel. This was when Willie was on Atlantic Records and it was produced by Arif Mardin, Jerry Wexler and David Briggs (Neil Young).
The most famous song on the LP is Whiskey River. But I absolutely love the first cut: Shotgun Willie – it is a bit of typical country Willie, but added with some Memphis spice courtesy of the Memphis Horns (Stax Records).
I don’t think I have ever met a Willie record that I did not like, but this is a first among equals (AKA a masterpiece).
One of my great pleasures is the bi-monthly Minnesota Record Show. This past weekend I went and found a few pleasures.
I was not familiar with this album at all, but it had several tell-tale signs I was going to like it: it was on CTI records, it starred Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, and John McLaughlin, and it was dated from 1970. Clearly this was going to be under the influence of Miles and Bitches Brew. An added bonus is that this was recorded at Van Gelder Studios and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder (naturally produced by Creed Taylor).
First off I got lucky and this was one pristine piece of vinyl. Second the music is mighty fine. Farrell and Corea are the most prominent.
This is not easy listening jazz. It is not a fusion album. This is pretty straight forward jazz bordering on avant-garde, but a touch mellower. This is not under the influence of Miles and Bitches Brew – but that is not a disappointment.
There is great horn playing by Farrell – we are treated to soprano and tenor sax, flute and oboe. Very progressive stuff and timeless too.
When this project was first announced I was very excited. I am a huge Stones fan and have generally been disappointed by Mick Jagger’s solo work. This sounded like it had more possibilities for greatness. Mick is messing in the studio with his buddy Dave Stewart (frequent collaborator and former Eurythmic). Dave had been working with Joss Stone so she enters the picture. Damian Marley is in neighboring studio – so he joins the mix. Somehow Indian film composer A.R. Rahman (Slum Dog Millionaire) joins the party.
This sounded like it was going to be some spicy stew.
Well I am pleased to report this album is a hoot. This mix of improbable collaborators actually works. It is fun to hear Jagger having fun for a change. He is even willing to make a bit of fool of himself by toasting a verse Damian Marley style – but mostly he plays Mick Jagger.
Everyone gets a chance to shine here, but Jagger and Marley stand out the most. Joss Stone is more of a backup singer and occasional spice added to the mix. A.R. Rahman add lots of nice and subtle Indian pop atmospherics.
Highly recommended to the open minded Stones fan.
I have no idea how I missed this 1978 release back in the day. It was produced by Becker and Fagen (Steely Dan) at the height of their Aja success. I was an emerging jazz head at the time – a regular reader of Downbeat. This is a great jazz record. A couple of tenor players I have never heard of blowing their brains out.
This is not jazz rock, this is not jazz lite, this is high quality post bop jazz. I am just getting into it, but after a couple of plays I really like it. Stay tuned as I learn more about this. I discovered this in one of emusic’s 6 degree articles (Six Degrees of Steely Dan’s Aja).
See All About Jazz for a a more informed review: Pete Christlieb/Warne Marsh Quintet: Apogee (2004)
I think every music-head (AKA music snob) has at least one genre of music they are a bit embarrassed by – for me that is pop metal (e.g. Def Leppard, Van Halen, Poison, Guns n’ Roses, etc.). This style of music seems crass compared to my alleged erudite taste.
But let’s face it there is time for a fine Itailian meal with good wine and there is time for White Castles and cheap (but cold) beer.
So along comes Chickenfoot’s second album. Unlike most sophomore albums this one is actually better than the debut.
For those of you not familar with Chickenfoot they are a “super group” made up of mega-guitarist Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Sammy Hager from Van Halen and Chad Smith of the Chili Peppers.
They make wonderfully mindless white bread pop metal. If you regularly listen to a classic rock station you should like this. I like classic rock, but I am so bored with the same tunes I have heard for the last 40 years. So I am grateful when dinosaur rockers bring some new quality material to the table.
This is a pretty diverse album – a couple of tunes would not sound out of place on a late 80’s Van Halen album and a couple would not sound out of place on a late 80’s John Mellencamp album. So put on you sunglasses, roll down the windows, rev the engine, turn up the stereo and rock out to the latest Chickenfoot.
Wow – what a return to form. This is like a greatest hits package. Styles from across Wilco’s varied career – songs that would not sound out of place on any of their past albums, but this is not a discombobulated mess – it ties together. Now granted I am reflecting on just one listen (see http://www.npr.org/2011/09/19/140476897/first-listen-wilco-the-whole-love for a free stream). But my first pass is true love. I have to admit the last couple of Wilco albums have kind of bored me, but this one is exciting me.
A more complete review is forth coming based on a more serious listen.
I am a sucker for baseball movies and my wife is a sucker for Brad Pitt. The weekend we went to see Moneyball and we were both pleased. This is a really good movie made out of a not so easy story to tell: how some guys used statistics as their tool to renovate a MLB team. The acting is great and the story telling is wonderful.
What I found most interesting was the bravery of taking something that was only slightly broken and fixing it with a completely new approach. The A’s that Billy Beane messed with were not complete failures – they had won the division the year before. But Beane realized that his business model could not successfully compete with the Yankees and he was going to have to take a whole new approach.
This movie is fun to watch, but also very thought provoking. Highly recommended.
Axl's Catch Groove 