Can't think of better set of tunes for a chilly rain-bound earth, late evening December, tall stem glass filled of grape and raised for libatious pursuit of something, anything... Roxy Music! Country Life is probably their most accomplished studio title imho. Playing is the 1999 Virgin remaster, but I purchased Stranded, Siren, and For Your Pleasure in the same format, but I have most of the other catalog and member offshoots in various cd formats as well. What made Roxy so great was the core of loaded talent: Mackay, Thompson and Jobson, and how they integrated that buzzed 50's jet fueled rumble with the artful embellishments of the Manzanera, Ferry and ENO crowd. Prairie Rose still makes me want to rock like fool and is a great closer. Stranded, Diamond Head follow, but not before side one of Larks Tongue in Aspic cuz I saw the cover before cd flipping to the Roxy stuff. I'm cranking the audio components a bit more than usual this evening, which is a positive thing.
Great white way ... on tour, that is. My first attendance of "The King & I" in Knoxville for the matinee show this p.m. Sadly, a quick trip home ahead of Diego; and if you don't know who he is, just check the southeast quadrant on national weather radar. Yikes. We're forecast a foot in the next 12-16 hours. Nevertheless, brilliant show with the magnificent Angela Baumgarden as Anna; I was reduced to a teary state when she sang "Young Lovers" and its reprise. I appreciate the avoidance of historical recast within the parameters of contemporary political correctness versus expanded consciousness of universal human rights; indeed, the play's clear Asian stereotypes merely served to underscore their absurdity, as does Huck Finn, Heart of Darkness, etc. with regard to black people. Anyway, round trip soundtrack comprised Wobbler ("Hinterland"), Phideaux ("Seven"x2), and Riverside ("Out of Myself"); if you'd've told me 3 months ago that I'd be listening to a steady diet of modern Prog, I would've bet a paycheck that Mueller's first official filing wouldn't have indicted 45 for criminal activity - and been wrong on both counts. Great music being made in spades today. Of note: I had a derogatory post regarding Dylan deleted in the Christmas Album thread b/c it was declared a "threadcrap"; well, at least the last 4 letters of that rationale apply to BobbyD's X-mas release. And I feel an unqualified right to say so having purchased the Big Red Album Box and every iteration of the Bootleg Series thus far! Oh those mean, mean, green, Grinchy-mean mods. Edit:
A little snow to cool a Hobbits toes is nothing to be concerned about, so long as you are not driving in same, and your power stays on. And as a member of the legal profession you should have known better than to bet against Bob Mueller, Great American Hero. As for modern Prog, it takes its stylistic cues from the first Styx album and confuses that with the inspiration that classically trained, Art School raised British teens brought to their music making in the wake of the Beatles. Placing bands like Yes, Gong, Genesis, King Crimson, ELP, and Pink Floyd into a lump together because they made use of those new-fangled synthesizers is an artifact of the SHF. Much like psychedelic music, according to most Hoffmanites, consisted solely of music that sounds not-so-vaguely like outtakes from Surrealistic Pillow. There's a thread here about "the most psychedelic band," and many people simply cannot comprehend that the house band for the Acid Tests does not have to compete for the title. But most folks on SHF both: 1) never passed the acid test, and 2) never saw Jerry play live. I hope your experience of Diego is a positive one.
Well, that's an early morning rant. Please remind me not to post before I sit, never mind before I ingest caffeine.
Van Morrison - Into the mystic. One of my favorite songs. Did Jerry ever play it? Seems like it would've fit the Garcia band just perfect
I don't know that Jerry ever performed it. I did see Warren Haynes perform it with the Q, absolutely stunning. The thing with Warren is there is a certain range of material he can perform exquisitely, and when he is in his wheelhouse he's awesome.
According to something I just looked at The Dead played Van's Into the Mystic in 2004 and 2009, but no mention of Jerry Garcia ever covering the song. Thanks for bringing up Van too, I need some meditative center this AM with my cup and morning mode--too many elder's birthday parties going on lately lol. Booker's Space Book fits into the batch nicely, exceptional record, Jaki Byard is such a great pianist too.
A very versatile talent. I must admit, though, that I don't have a single title by her or any of her projects in my collection
Versatile indeed! She does a lot of different styles This is a great song from her latest record. The rhythm section is killing it!
okay, on further listening I'm gonna have to do an addendum & revision to the Glen Campbell portion of this one. First, a historical note: the same guy who did the arrangements for Jimmy Webb's "Galveston" and "Witchita Lineman"- which I criticized as too syrupy- also did the setting for John Hartford's superb "Gentle On My Mind", which I had mentioned as exemplary. Al DeLory of the Wrecking Crew did the scoring for all of those tunes. Anyway, since my last note here, the arrangement of "Witchita Lineman" has grown on me. I still think it's a little overcooked, but does it ever mesh together. And I love Hal Blaine's subtle drum touches on it, especially at the end. The strings and horns on "Galveston" have a nice cinematic sweep, too, but I don't think the mood matches the lyrics. If all you heard was the instrumental, you'd never guess that the song was about an American soldier in Vietnam on the front line, pining for his love 10,000 miles away and hoping that he'll make it through his tour of duty alive and undamaged. But DeLory captures the mood of "Gentle On My Mind" perfectly. There are strings in that arrangement, too, but they're mixed just right, allowing the banjo and guitar to carry most of the weight of the tune. And Campbell's vocal take on all three of those ballads is superlative. Glen's singing on "The Highwayman", by contrast, is not a stellar performance. For most of it, he just sounds like he's reading the lyrics off of the page- only in the last verse does he step up and put some feeling into the words. (The vocal performance by the band The Highwaymen is much, much better. Willie, Waylon, Kris and Johnny Cash each get a verse, and each of them put their storytelling souls into the lyric.) And the drumming on this track might as well be a top-of-the-beat rhythm machine. The best that can be said is that it doesn't impede the overall excellence of the rest of the arrangement too much. But if only Hal Blaine had been on hand, or maybe Jeff Porcaro, to provide some interactive commentary... It's still a great song, and the horns and strings are exemplary, as I mentioned in my previous comment. But overall, I still prefer the zillion-dollar quartet version, with its more supple rhythm section and propulsive guitar solo.
Bought this CD for like four bucks with shipping from a fellow Hoffmanite. It's a short album and I've listened to it three times. Good stuff.
sᴩıʀıᴛ 5013929471948 'It Shall Be : Ode & Epic Recordings 1968-1972' 5CD Remastered Box Set Esoteric Recordings label On disc four at the moment TRACKS 1-11 TAKEN FROM THE MONO ALBUM “SPIRIT” RELEASED IN 1968 ALONG WITH TRACKS 12-15 OUTTAKES RECORDED IN 1968 DURING SESSIONS FOR “SPIRIT”, AND TRACKS 16-19 TAKEN FROM THE 1991 COMPILATION “TIME CIRCLE” WHICH WERE REMIXED AT THE TIME FOR INCLUSION ON THAT COMPILATION. Remastered in 2018.
Jerry jazz. I posted this recently, but again. I gotta say, this one is a quick one hour and six minutes, on account of the teleportation and time travel aspects of the listening experience.
I have pictures from a Fillmore show that look just like this. Hey, what's with that logo? Is it an attempt to fashion a single character that looks like a C, an R and a B simultaneously? Because it sucks. Still looking forward to this Saturday though. This is a mid-December tradition at the Fillmore.
