In 1977 Jeff Wayne recorded a musical version of the H. G. Wells classic book, War of the Worlds. In a brilliant move he recruited Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues to record Forever Autumn for the album. That song was a huge, world wide, hit for Justin. Let’s listen to a 1978 performance of the song from Top Of The Pops…..
Thirty some years later Justin continues to perform solo and with the might Moody Blues….and still sings like an angel (in my humble opinion). Let’s listen to Justin performing an acoustic version of Forever Autumn at Canterbury Cathedral in 2011……
Yes….that was Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame on the flute!
There’s a really good story behind Justin being asked to record Forever Autumn. Let’s listen to Justin tell it before we end this post.
Today’s post features the mighty Moody Blues, backed by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, playing at the Red Rock Amphitheater. It’s quite an amazing performance………I think you’ll really enjoy it. Here’s the setlist…..
Overture
Late Lament
Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)
For My Lady
New Horizons
Lean on Me (Tonight)
Lovely to See You
Gemini Dream
I Know You’re Out There Somewhere
The Voice
Say It With Love
The Story in Your Eyes
Your Wildest Dreams
Isn’t Life Strange
The Other Side of Life
I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)
Nights in White Satin
Question
Ride My See-Saw
I don’t know about you but I could listen to Justin Hayward sing the phone book…….be sure to stay tuned for a future Yesterday and Today post featuring Justin!
When you have a song catalog with the size and quality of Neil Young’s you have little reason to cover another writer’s songs……and yet at last year’s Farm Aid benefit concert Neil chose do exactly that. The only possible rationale for this act is that Neil has a deep and abiding respect for the song’s writer who was none other than Gordon Lightfoot. Let’s listen to Neil’s cover version of Early Morning Rain………
As it turns out, this was not a one time event….it was the start of a trend. Neil has been performing If You Could Read My Mind, another Gordon Lightfoot classic, during his acoustic tour this year and has included that song on a soon to be released album titled A Letter Home. Deep and abiding respect indeed…….
Let’s listen to the original recording of the song by Gordon that was released on his first album in 1966….
Now for the really amazing fact…..this song has also been recorded by a few other musicians you might have heard of……..
I received the following message from Public Service Broadcasting this week:
Regular readers will know that we released a limited edition 7” Elfstedentocht for Record Store Day 2014. We had a few queries from fans either a) unable to obtain a copy, and / or b) surprised to find that it had no download code. We’ve run some formulae here at PSB Towers and have come up with a + b = x, where x is a free download. It’s partly to say sorry to those who missed out, and partly as a bonus for those who didn’t.
In case you’re interested here’s a little background information about Elfstedentocht from Wikipedia…..
The Elfstedentocht is an almost 200 kilometres (120 mi) long skating tour which is held both as a speed skating match (with 300 contestants) and a leisure tour (with 16,000 skaters). It is held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, leading past all eleven historical cities of the province. The tour is held at most once a year, only when the natural ice along the entire course is at least 15 centimetres (6 in) thick; [1] sometimes on consecutive years, other times with gaps that may exceed 20 years. When the ice is suitable, the tour is announced and starts within 48 hours.
Up first today is a short interview with Gordon Lightfoot. The interview was conducted last year at his church, St. Paul’s United in Orillia, Ont. I think it gives you some great insight into the man behind the music. Enjoy…..
To close out this post here is another interview with Gordon from the same time frame….. More great insight into the man
The song snippet that he played in the last interview is from A Passing Ship. Here’s a performance of the whole song by a younger Gordon followed by the song lyrics.
A passing ship I have found the open ocean Give me no lip The waves roll by as I pass on A sunlit sea On the first day of April How fresh the wind Will you miss me when I’m gone How many words How many songs still unwritten How many ships Of the line have come and gone In the good old days May they never be forgotten They had heavy wind Or they had no wind at all
A passing ship It is midnight on the ocean Had a real long trip I have been at sea all winter When my ship came in I was givin’ up the ghost I think I should be Leavin’ those passing ships alone
When the sea runs high The sea runs wild and I’m unsteady And I think of you In the warmth of your home and family When love is true There is no truer occupation And may this gale Blow us to the ones we love
Another day Another ocean Give me no lip But stand aside as I pass on A sunlit sea On the last day of October How fresh the wind Will you miss me from now on I guess I should be Leavin’ passing ships alone
Some of the words to this song give me chills: Give me no lip but stand aside when I pass on…..will you miss me from now on? My answer to this lyrically posed question is…..Gordon I will miss you forever when you pass on!
I first told you about NO in a post on February 9 of last year. Since then the group has released their debut LP, El Prado,…..very much worth picking up if you like their sound. In case you missed last year’s post and don’t know about the group, here’s a great NO live performance at KEXP. Really good stuff…….
As readers of this blog know, Gordon Lightfoot is a honored member of my holy trinity of Canadian Music (Neil and Joni are the other members) so it was an easy choice to feature him in my second Yesterday and Today post.
My favorite Gordon song is probably Canadian Railroad Trilogy, an epic song that he wrote in just three days. It tells the story of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and was performed for the very first time on New Year’s Day in 1967 as part of Canada’s centennial celebration. To me this song is Canada!
Each of the three parts of the song has it’s own tempo. The first and third parts have a faster tempo and focus on the progress of the railroad across the continent. The middle part of the song slows to focus on the railroad workers (navies) that did the back breaking manual labor required to lay the tracks. I’ve always heard something else in the tempo changes. If you’ve ever ridden on a steam train, it’s doesn’t take too much imagination to hear the steam train in the tempo.
To kick things off tonight, here’s a great live performance of the song from 1972………
Over forty years after the 1972 performance, Gordon is still singing this great song. He’s older, the voice has changed over time, but the performance is no less amazing. Join with me in celebrating Gordon’s continuing ability to amaze and entertain us at the age of 75.
I don’t know about you but I just can’t have too much Greg Lake so……….this week I’m resurrecting the Thursday Interview post. Here’s a recent two part interview with Greg which happens to include a couple of great performances woven into the interview. The first part of the interview also has a great story about Lucky Man that you absolutely don’t want to miss.
Before this interview I had never heard Greg speak. I have to say I’m very impressed with his eloquence. If I wasn’t already a huge fan, this interview would have made me one. The second part is just as good….enjoy!
Today we introduce a new recurring post called Yesterday and Today where we celebrate rock heroes from the 60s and 70s that managed to survive fame and fortune and are still entertaining us today. To kick off these posts I’m featuring a singer that I like to refer to as “The Voice”…..Mr Greg Lake (pictured above at an Emerson, Lake and Palmer concert from the 70s). Let’s listen Greg performing C’est La Vie at a concert in Montreal in 1977…..
Greg is still with us today and still performing. Like the rest of us he doesn’t look the same as he did forty years ago but… if you listen closely… the voice is still there.
My friend Gerard gave me a tip this weekend about a group from the Netherlands, Vander and Bloom. He and his daughter attended one of their concerts in Ultrecht last week and really enjoyed the show. After listening to a couple of their songs I can understand why….they have a really nice nice folk sound and have written some great songs. It doesn’t hut that they are also quite attractive :-).
As you can tell from the pictures above the group has been paying their dues by traveling around the Netherlands in a van and playing small concerts. You have to appreciate that kind of commitment! They have released two albums, as best I can tell. You can find them on Amazon. Let’s listen to a song from each…..
Brilliance Of You from Simple Peace Of Mind (released 20010)
Not Like You from Shouldn’t Say This (released 2012)
I think Vonder and Bloom has a shot at hitting it big. What about you?
If you aren’t convinced yet….look for them on YouTube and listen to a few more songs. I think you will change your mind.
Hopefully we can convince Gerard to comment on this post and share a little more information about the concert he attended.
thebestmusicyouhaveneverheard 