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.
C’set La Vie indeed…..
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.
First up in today’s show down is an animated version of The Dum Dum Girls performing their song Rimbaud Eyes. I know, I know I featured this song in a post already but their official video that was just released is so cool I had to give them just a little more exposure.
Challenging The Dum Dum Girls for animation domination today is the Archies, a fictional group that was featured on a Saturday morning cartoon show in the late 60s and early 70s. The Archies actually had huge radio hits with songs like Sugar Sugar (voiced by Ron Dante who I have posted about several times on this blog) so let’s give them a listen….
And the winner is….after a well fought battle of the bands…..The Dum Dum Girls, of course. Why, well it’s been my experience that a real girl always beats a fictional girl…case closed!
Singer/songwriters are able to paint pictures with their words.
My very favorite singer/songwriters manage to paint moving picture, i.e. movies, with their songs.
Mary Chapin Carpenter has consistently managed to do exactly that throughout her career. Let me give you an example via the lyrics for her song I Am A Town.
I’m a town in Carolina, I’m a detour on a ride
For a phone call and a soda, I’m a blur from the driver’s side
I’m the last gas for an hour if you’re going twenty-five
I am Texaco and tobacco, I am dust you leave behind
I am peaches in September, and corn from a roadside stall
I’m the language of the natives, I’m a cadence and a drawl
I’m the pines behind the graveyard, and the cool beneath their shade, where the boys have left their beer cans
I am weeds between the graves.
My porches sag and lean with old black men and children
Their sleep is filled with dreams, I never can fulfill them
I am a town.
I am a church beside the highway where the ditches never drain
I’m a Baptist like my daddy, and Jesus knows my name
I am memory and stillness, I am lonely in old age; I am not your destination
I am clinging to my ways
I am a town.
I’m a town in Carolina, I am billboards in the fields
I’m an old truck up on cinder blocks, missing all my wheels
I am Pabst Blue Ribbon, American, and “Southern Serves the South”
I am tucked behind the Jaycees sign, on the rural route
I am a town
Every time I hear this song it triggers not only a movie….. but a movie of my life….I know the places of which she so eloquently sings.
Based on the above, I really wasn’t surprised when I heard late last year that Mary was going to release a new album, called Songs From the Movie, consisting of some of her best songs re-recorded with full orchestration. After listening to this album for the past couple of months I’m happy to tell you that it’s a thing of great beauty. Although I already have have all of the original versions of these songs in my music collection, the new orchestrated versions compliment Mary’s great cinematic lyrics and make them essential additions to my music library. Here are three great songs from that album to let you experience what I’m trying to describe…..
I’ve waited way to long to discuss Jason Isbell’s, Southeastern, album that was released last year. It has been on heavy rotation in my car over the past several months.
Jason grew up very close to where I live in North Alabama so I feel compelled to support him based on just that but let me tell you……he deserves my support, and yours, based on raw talent. He is, without a doubt, one the favorite new singer/songwriters that I have discovered in years.
Jason may be best known as a member of Drive By Truckers but for the last 6-7 years he has focused on his solo career. His hard work paid off with the release of Southeastern which was, and continues to be, a huge hit. Tonight I have two of my favorite songs from that album for you. First up is Traveling Alone followed by a live performance of Different Days.
Traveling Alone
Different Days – Live
As always, let me know what you think!
My first offering for this Two’fer Tuesday post comes to us from Iceland by way of Sindri Már Sigfússon side project Sin Fang. His album Flowers was released last year and featured Look At The Light which is the song I have for you today. I think you will like…..if you give it a listen……
The bonus is a live Sin Fang performance on Look At The Light……
My second offering for this Two’fer Tuesday post is from indie rocker Kurt Vile (pictured above) who released his fifth album, Walking on a Pretty Daze, last year. This album features much longer songs that his other releases and I have to say I really like the Neil Young kind of extended jam sound. Here’s the title track from that album so you can see what you think.
The bonus is a live Kurt Vile performance of Walkin on a Pretty Day
Al Kooper! Now….here’s the story about how Al Kooper saved the day by sitting in on the recording of Like a Rolling Stone without ever having been invited. I pieced this story together from two key sources;
We will start with the Wikipedia article:
The recording sessions were produced by Tom Wilson on June 15–16, 1965, in Studio A of Columbia Records, 799 Seventh Avenue, in New York City. In addition to Bloomfield, the other musicians enlisted were Paul Griffin on piano, Joe Macho, Jr. on bass, Bobby Gregg on drums, and Bruce Langhorne on tambourine, all booked by Wilson. Gregg and Griffin had previously worked with Dylan and Wilson on Bringing It All Back Home.
On the first day, five takes of the song were recorded in a markedly different style from the eventual release—a 3/4 waltz time, with Dylan on piano. The lack of sheet music meant the song was played by ear. However the essence of the song was discovered in the course of the chaotic session. They did not reach the first chorus until the fourth take, but after the following harmonica fill Dylan interrupted, saying, “My voice is gone, man. You wanna try it again?” This take was subsequently released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.The session ended shortly afterwards.
When the session re-convened the following day, June 16, Al Kooper joined the proceedings as a guest of Tom Wilson. Al picks up the story from this point in the Wall Street Journal interview…….
Question: How did you manage to play on a session you weren’t invited to: “Like A Rolling Stone?”
I was 21 by that time and because I wrote songs I knew a lot of producers. They would hire me to plan on sessions. So I was friends with Dylan’s producer (Tom Wilson). When he found out I was a Dylan fan he invited me to a session, not to play but to sit in the control room and watch. So I thought, I want to play on that record . I was practicing the guitar to be ready and I got there early–I wanted to pull this off before Tom Wilson could stop it. I got there 45 minutes early. But then like five minutes after I got there so did Dylan and he brought Mike Bloomfield. So I heard Bloomfield play and went into the control room where I belonged. I never heard anyone play like that, much less someone who appeared to be my age.
After a couple of rehearsal takes, Wilson moved Griffin from Hammond organ to piano. Al saw his opportunity and jumped at it but he had a couple of challenges to over come. We will let him continue the story from his Wall Street Journal interview:
Question: Then, long story short, you snuck in and played and Wilson didn’t kick you out. Had you played a Hammond organ before?
Yes, but I didn’t know how to turn it on-it’s very complicated. Also I didn’t know how to use all the controls. But (keyboardist Paul Griffin, who had moved to piano for the track) left it turned on and whatever the settings were that’s what I played.
Now let’s go back to the Wikipedia article to finish the story…..
Wilson, surprised to see Kooper at the organ, nevertheless allowed him to play on the track. Upon hearing a playback of the song, Dylan insisted that the organ be turned up in the mix, despite Wilson’s protestations that Kooper was “not an organ player.”
This session saw 15 recorded takes. The song had by now evolved into its familiar form, in 4/4 time with Dylan on electric guitar. After the fourth take—the master take that was released as a single—Wilson happily commented, “That sounds good to me.” Nevertheless, Dylan and the band persisted in recording the song 11 more times.
So, as they say, the rest was history. Al Kooper, an uninvited participant in the recording process, playing an instrument that he really wasn’t very familiar with, managed to improvise an organ riff that became one of the key elements of what is now widely recognized as one of the best songs of all time. That my friends is one of the best stories in rock history in my opinion.
Al went to to have quite a career but we will save most of that story for another day. Let me leave you with just one more tidbit. One of the great things that Al Kooper did later in career was to discover Lynyrd Skynyrd. The signature track of Lynyrd Skynyrd is a little ditty called Free Bird which happens to have a signature organ introduction. Guess who was in the studio playing that organ……yep it was none other that Al. Let’s listen….
