With the passing of Scott today it seems like we moved even further away from the spirit of the 1960s. I know that the summer of love was 45 years ago but on days like today it seems like it was centuries ago.
Current mood – Sad (see above) and Depressed (reference my earlier post about the Republicans)
If you aren’t too depressed, see how many 60s musicians you can pick out in today’s video.
If there was ever any doubt, it is now official…….Republican’s Hate Women!
Here is the latest example from this weekend (the one that inspired this post)….followed by numerous supporting stories from the recent past. (updated 08/21….I think Republicans are trying to clean up their mess by getting videos removed from YouTube. I found another similar video and have updated the post.)
I could go on and on but I think my point is made.
I have said it before and I will say it again and again…these people are out to control every aspect of our lives all while claiming that they are for freedom (wink, wink). They think we are all stupid…..are you??
If you enjoyed the “or The Children’s Crusade” post earlier this week, I have some good news your you. They have posted some new tracks on their bandcamp.com site. Check them out using the following link:
This week our word of the week is Ghost. I don’t know if I believe in Ghosts but I am certainly not willing to rule out the possibility. Whether real or not, Ghosts have certainly inspired a lot of great music over the years. Today I present you with my favorite ghost songs.
After listening to the music, please take the time to read my note after the last song in the post. Have a great weekend!
Ghost – Indigo Girls
Ghosts – Dan Fogelberg
Ghost Riders In The Sky – The Outlaws
Ghost of Cape Horn – Gordon Lightfoot
Ghost On The Canvas – Glen Campbell
Personal Note
In case you have not heard, Glen has Alzheimer’s and this song is from what will be his last album. He meant a lot to me when I was first getting into music and including his last song in this post is my personal tribute to him.
In the late 1960s, as a teenager, I absolutely loved Glen and bought all of his singles: Gentle on My Mind, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, and Galveston. During this time, he had a variety show on TV that I looked forward to watching each week. He featured great musical guest on the show each week and by exposing me to this variety of performers he helped to expand my evolving musical tastes. In addition to his musical guests, Glen sang a couple of songs each week and I never tired of listening to his great voice. I am happy to say that that voice has survived the intervening years as evidenced by this video!
As I have learned more about music history, I have grown to appreciate Glen’s skills as a musician. He was a popular LA session musician in the early 60s, one of a group of players that came to be known as The Wrecking Crew. They played on some of the biggest hits of that time supporting performers and producers as diverse as Rick Nelson, Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Phil Spector. In 1964-1965 Glen actually toured as a member of the Beach Boys replacing Brian Wilson when he quit touring to stay in the studio.
Glen…..we will miss you. Thanks for your wonderful music over the last 50 years!
A while back I watched a DVD titled It Might Get Loud which featured Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White talking about music and jamming. There was a lot of great music but my favorite part was some very early footage of U2 performing before they were famous. I was thinking about that U2 performance today while preparing this post which features a video that I made of a local group named “or The Children’s Crusade’.
Talented new bands like U2 from back in the day, and “or The Children’s Crusade” today, have an energy level and palpable sense of ambition that most established bands seem to lose over time. I don’t know where fate will take the career of “or The Children’s Crusade” but I do know that their sound is refreshing and that they have a lot of potential. Without further ado, I give you “or The Children’s Crusade” performing How Nice.
If you like what you hear, you can follow the band’s career on their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/orthechildrenscrusade
I think their new CD is schedule to drop in the next couple of weeks so be sure to grab one when its available. Think how cool it will be to have that CD twenty years from now if they hit it big.
As promised last Friday, I have another “Monday” song for you as this week’s Long Song Tuesday offering. It’s an amazing performance of Stormy Monday (the T-Bone Walker song) by the Allman Brothers Band at Filmore East in 1971.
The Wikipedia article on the song Stormy Monday provides the following comments on the Allman Brothers version of Stormy Monday. I highly recommend that you read the comments before listening to the song since it let’s you know who is playing the three main solos in the performance..
The Allman Brothers Band instrumentation of the song is typical of the group, consisting of vocals, two guitars, bass guitar, organ, and drums. It demonstrates a different style of music, however, from most Allman Brothers pieces, with a very slow tempo and softer feel, running at only 60 beats per minute. Duane Allman’s virtuosic guitar playing can be heard at this slower tempo, in the first of three solos, with Gregg Allman’s organ solo shifting to a jazz-waltz feel and Dickey Betts’ guitar solo ending it.
This recording is from The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East, the best live album that was ever recorded (in my opinion). Because I love this album so much we will feature it as the album of the week in the next day or so.
Last Friday the word of the week was Weekend in celebration of the one thing that I look forward to all week long.
This week we deal with the fact that weekends never last and we are always faced with their inevitable end which is marked by…….Monday.
I hope you enjoy these songs…once again I think there is something for everyone in this post! I focused on collecting mostly live videos which I think are a lot more entertaining.
Have a great weekend!
Monday Monday – The Mamas and Papas
Rainy Days and Mondays – The Carpenters
Manic Monday – The Bangles
Is It Really Monday – David Crosby
Blue Monday – Fats Domino
Be sure to come back and visit the blog on Tuesday! The Long Song Tuesday post will be my favorite Monday song of all time.
Fun Fact: On the Bangles album, Different Light, the song Manic Monday was credited to Christopher. Do you know who really wrote it?
Answer: Prince
As promised, this week’s album of the week is the best live rock album ever recorded – At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers band. The band formed in 1969 after the breakup of Hour Glass which had featured Duane and Greg Allman (use the search feature to find my earlier post that featured some Hour Glass songs). They released The Allman Brothers Band in 1969 and Idlewild South in 1970, both of which were great but it was their live shows with extended blues and jazz jams that really started to expand their fan base. In 1971 they recorded the live album featured in today’s post and it successfully captured the magic of their live performances. The Allman Brothers place in rock history was firmly established by this album.
Rolling Stone magazine named At Fillmore East the 49th greatest album of all time stating the following about the album:
“Rock’s greatest live double LP is an unbeatable testimony to the Allman Brothers’ improvisational skills, as well as evidence of how they connected with audiences to make jamming feel communal. “The audience would kind of play along with us,” singerorganist Gregg Allman said of the March 1971 shows documented here. “They were right on top of every single vibration coming from the stage.” The dazzling guitar team of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts was at its peak, seamlessly fusing blues and jazz in “Whipping Post” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”
Our long song Tuesday post this week featured Stormy Monday from this album but you really can’t appreciate its true greatness without listening to it end to end. So let’s listen to the whole album…..
This is a band that was at the peak of its power and we are incredibly lucky to have this live album masterpiece to remember how great they were were. Unfortunately this version of the band would never record again. Two members of the band were lost in motorcycle accidents in the eighteen months that followed the recording of At Fillmore East. We will save that sad story for another day.
On a personal note I am forever sad that I did not get to see the Allman Brothers in their original lineup. Having said that, in a strange way I was reminded of the band at every concert that I attended to in the 70s. No matter what show I was at, someone from the audience would call out a request for Whipping Post. Maybe it was just a southern thing but it made me smile each and every time it happened. If you haven’t listened to the album yet be sure to listen for the iconic original shouted request that triggered all of the copycat requests that I heard throughout the 70s.
As promised yesterday here is my favorite cover version of Urge For Going………
By the way you are going to want to watch the pictures displayed with this song, there’s some great ones!
There is a great rock story associated with this version of the song. Here’s it is as told by Joel Bernstein in the liner notes for the CSN box set.
After the break up of CSN following the 1970 tour, David and Graham began a project on their own. They were both tremendous admirers of Joni Mitchell’s songwriting, and of course David had produced her first album. Together they decided to cover “Urge For Going” a song Joni had written in Canada in the Spring of 1966 (incidentally one of only two songs she ever wrote in standard tuning). It was intended for the pop singles market, the idea being to record two songs and release a 45. Graham’s vocals hark back to his English sixties pop style, and David is playing very clear twelve string reminiscent of the Byrds. I came to the studio with Graham just in time to witness a heated argument, as a result of which the song was never completed. The next day David went back to the studio and added vocals of his own to present Graham with a semi-finished version of the song as a peace offering. That tape is the only thing that exists of the song and that’s what you are listening to now.
Thanks to Joel for sharing such a great story!
Today we celebrate Tom Rush’s 1968 album, the Circle Game. Tom, although an accomplished songwriter himself, is maybe better know as an interpreter of songs by other 60’s singer/songwriters. In many cases he recorded these songs before they were released by their original authors. With the Circle Game, we highlight both Tom’s interpretive and writing skills. .
First up is the album (or at least most of it) with mostly covers and some originals!
Tin Angel (written by Joni Mitchell)
Urge For Going (written by Joni Mitchell)
Circle Game (written by Joni Mitchell)
Sunshine Sunshine (written by James Taylor)
Something In The Way She Moves (written by James Taylor)
No Regrets (written by Tom Rush)
Rockport Sunday (written by Tom Rush)
And Now……Some Of The Originals
Something In The Way She Moves (Apple Records Promo For James First Album)
Urge For Going (Joni Mitchell version)
STAY TUNED! I have a related post prepared for tomorrow…..my favorite cover version of the song Urge For Going which happens to have a really interesting back story.
One final note. The cover photograph of Tom and his girlfriend on the cover of the Circle Game album was taken by Linda Eastman who would go on to marry Paul McCartney and perform with him in Wings. Linda passed away in 1998. RIP
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 