I’d take Live in Europe and Irish Tour. Against the Grain is my go-to Rory studio record. I’m torn by the description of him as a ‘blues guitarist.’ He was that, yes, but SO much more as well.
Listening to the first show of the Phish Summer tour, 6/11/19 St. Louis. This is a really cool “Theme From The Bottom.” And no, it has zero to do with Spinal Tap’s “Big Bottom.” I need to break out the Pizza Tapes CD soon based on above posts. That one is a recent classic.
Frank Zappa - Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt, Orchestral Favorites Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied Henry Cow - Live Box
Saturdy Nght LghtS... let the games begin. A one and a two and a buckle my shooo... all classics in their own right, T Rex is a 5.1, very nice indeed; it is about time for LA Woman, just as the sun is setting into distant storm clouds; Santana's beginning fusion period which would cover at least 3 straight records, plus the live Lotus--outstanding records, Borboletta more than likely my favorite of the Santana (probably because I saw them tour the album); I was a proud youngster the day I came home with the Hendrix record... There he goes there he goes... ``astro man '71
Listen to Stage Struck if you haven’t for live Rory bangers. It sounds like he was shot out of a canon. Earlier today I enjoyed some DKV Trio and Joe McPhee. Slowly working my way through that set, The Fire Each Time is an apt title. Also got in Neil Harvest, Van Astral Weeks and currently spinning Alice Journey In Satchidananda.
Now spinning Maria Muldaur S/T, a who’s who of great “Americana” musicians on this from before that was was a “Thing”!
I’ve been reading A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of The Grateful Dead and listening to music from the Dead and other bands as the timeline moves along. It was interesting to read about how much they were influenced by Coltrane in the early days and how Bobby listened to a lot of McCoy Tyner. I just got to Monterey in ‘67 and what can you say except that Hendrix was the rock star to end all rock stars. The best of all time.
Moved on to another Alice related title, the Jazz Dispensary press of Joe Henderson The Elements. The elements in question are fire, air, water and earth all of which are needed to have a stellar day.
I'm on one of life's little detours, but slumming with the good people at Vanderbilt-Ingram this week has afforded me time to get serious about Bandcamp. I've been wandering the candy store for about a month and filling out a wish list; the site's genre menu has more choices than a Tokyo Mickey Dees and is colour coded like a bag of Skittles. Even so, I am constantly returning to a couple bands, one being Mantra Machine, which - appropriately enough - plays what's often a hypnotic brand of spacey, fuzzy, psychedelic music that contains lysergically softened accents of doom at its hardest. Though one release is available on CD, the site offered a complete e-discography (2 LPs & an EP) for about $12, so I committed to a rare digital purchase because it's hard to imagine leaving even a note behind. Here's the title track off the latest release, which, though prone to exploring established grooves, contains enough changes to remain interesting (at least to me, and I love Swans, so there's that warning): Heliosphere, by Mantra Machine
I got me a copy and after four times through I like it a lot. The songwriting and production is superb. Early 90s pop/rock/alt-country at it's very best! English Bay is wonderful and reminds me of Gordon Lightfoot...
Albert King, King of the Blues Guitar (compilation). Just in case you don't know where Clapton stole all his vocal and guitar phrasing from ... I'm a Clapton fan though. It is what it is.
From the immense 8 CD box set called “A Woman’s Work” - a retrospective of recent music from the best bassist I know of, Lady Joelle Leandre, right now Disc 8 which starts with a duo of Joelle on double bass (as always) with the great drummer/percussionist, Zlatko Kaucic. The other tracks on this disc are duos with Evan Parker & Agusti Fernandez. With all the talk on the Big Thread on what Dead lovers love besides the Dead, I’m still surprised more of you all don’t seek out the “Other Ones” aka the Other greatest improvisors who have ever lived. Good news is many or even most of them are alive and well today. You will find a bunch of them here including Fred Frith, Mat Maneri, Irene Schweizer and especially Joelle herself. Might be hyperbolic but no one has ever bowed a contrabass like Joelle Leandre Beyond Virtuosity plus she sometimes sings when it gets really good. And THAT takes the music to a whole other level. GIANTS WHO WALK THIS EARTH Recorded live at Alchemia Club in Kraków on 10/21/2015 On Not Two records
