Vampire Weekend – White Sky

Paul Simon with a few glasses of wine to loosen him up into a Dadaist mood, White Sky yodels its way into our collective hearts and ears the same way the pre-releases of Horchata and Cousins made us giggle with delight at the pure happiness. It’s easy to see that the college preppies of album one did not want to recreate the past, but I admit to missing the philosophical ironies that made the first cd vital to all music lovers. The good news is their playing this time is not with words, but with pop arrangements that stay short and alive and taste good to our ears. Other shoutouts include Run and Giving Up The Gun. Vampire Weekend

Oct Thru Dec 2009 - Singles Worth Exploring Pt 4

This is the final installment. Enjoy!

Chaise Lounge – I Don’t Want To
Mike Zito - Eyesight To the Blind
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson - Relator
Rory Block - God's Gift To Women
Steve Hackett - Ghost In The Glass
Weezer - I Want You To b/w Get Me Some
Blk Jks - Molalatladi b/w Lakeside & Skeleton
Dawn Landes - Young Girl b/w Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
I Am Your Autopilot - Think Of The Words b/w Empty Heart
Porcupine Tree - Octane Twisted
Mary Chapin–Carpenter – Violets Of Dawn
Chris Hunter – For The Children
Frank Turner - The Road
Brian Setzer Orchestra - Gimme Some Rhythm Daddy
Blick Bassy – Donalina & Sherele – Polka Dot Blues (Putumayo)
Kate Rusby – Here We Come A Wassailing (Putumayo)

Oct Thru Dec 2009 - Singles Worth Exploring Pt 3

Pt 4 coming. . .in the meantime, enjoy!

Boys II Men - Cupid
Nathan James - I Don't Know It
Steve Morse Band - John Deere Letter
Tinsley Ellis - Rockslide
Yngwie Malmsteen - Sorrow
Bowling For Soup – No Hablo Ingles
Gov’t Mule – Any Open Window
Zoi Tiganouria - Lagrimas Negras
First Aid Kit - Heavy Storm b/w Josefin
Jeff Golub – Everybody Wants You b/w Nikki’s Walk

Oct Thru Dec 2009 - Singles Worth Exploring Pt 2

More to come . . . enjoy these in the meantime!

Gov’t Mule – Broke Down On The Brazos b/w Forevermore
Robert Earl Keen - Wireless in Heaven
Guy Clark - Somedays You Write The Song b/w Maybe I Can Paint Over That
Kris Kristofferson – Closer To The Bone b/w From Here To Forever
Roseanne Cash – Sea of Heartbreak
Jimmy Buffet – Rhumba Man b/w A Lot To Drink About
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Good To Be Alive
Los Lobos - Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Rickie Lee Jones – Wild Girl
Maria Teresa - Era uma Vez Um Jardim b/w O Estrangeiro & Lagrima

Eartaste 2009 Albums of the Year

Randy Brecker – Nostalgic Journey
Femi Kuti – Day By Day
Skidmore Fountain - Cloudless Blue
The XX – The XX
Willie Nile – House Of A Thousand Guitars
Sarah Jane Morris
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
Booker T Jones – Potato Hole
Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand
Conor Oberst- Outer South
Band Of Skulls - Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
The Oxygen Ponies – Harmony Handgrenade
Willie Nelson with Asleep at the Wheel
Maria Muldaur – Garden Of Joy

Oct Thru Dec 2009 - Singles Worth Exploring Pt 1

My absence has many reasons, but the music did not stop being listened to. This is the first of several posts to catch up some of the music I wanted to share the past few months.

Bob Dylan - Must Be Santa
Eliza Lynn – Be Thou My Vision
Tori Amos – Candle: Coventry Carol b/w Star Of Wonder
Bertie Blackman - Byrds of Prey
The Eels – Paradise Blues b/w Little Bird
John Wesley Harding - Love Or Nothing b/w Sleepy People & Top Of The Bottom
The XX – VCR b/w Shelter & Stars
Music Is The Weapon - Alla maÌ ste dansa! b/w SlaÌŠpaÌ trumman & En cowboy i Holmsveden
Randy Brecker & Wlodek Pawlik - Magic Seven
Monsters Of Folk – Baby Boomer b/w Man Of Truth

Maria Muldaur – Garden Of Joy (CD)

The subtitle on this CD is "Good Time Music for Hard Times," and fits perfectly. Jug bands were popular during what is lovingly called by the history books as the ‘great’ depression. I imagine our current days will be known in the history books as the ‘marvelous’ or ‘sweet’ depression. Some rich people are getting very very rich from our future taxes, while members of each of our families lose their houses. At least we have some fun music to make life worthwhile & worth singing about even while we search for a method of being sure food stays on the table. In case you’re wondering, there’s not one turkey on the CD! Total value for your bucks. Maria Muldaur

Wynton Marsalis - Christmas Jazz Jam (CD)

Prepping my Turkey this morning was a great joy with the joyous New Orleans spices added by this great band. Many points of joyous laughter caused by the tremendous virtuosity creates the best holiday CD I’ve heard this year.

Wynton Marsalis - Christmas Jazz Jam

Songs Your Earbuds Will Love

Between the Woodstock parties and the Beatles celebrations, it is very difficult to listen to new music and find very much melodically or poetically interesting. What follows are the exceptions – songs you should be hearing:

Flight of the Conchords - Friends
Mason Jennings - Ain't No Friend Of Mine
Jamie T - Spider's Web
Grant Lee Phillips – Seal It With A Kiss
The Robert Cray Band - Forever Goodbye
John Mayall - That Good Old Rockin' Blues
Lord Newborn and The Magic Skulls – L.I.V.E.
Bon Jovi - We Weren’t Born To Follow
Reverend Horton Heat - Oh By Jingol
Phish – Kill Devil Falls

Neil Diamond: Hot August Night/NYC (DVD)

I’m intrigued by this for a lot of reasons. Sony mailed it so it would arrive here in September. So, it’s obvious they’re not out to exploit the title of the disk, even though it was recorded in August 2008. Plenty of time to prepare it for summer ’09 release. But, no sweat, we’re all about the music here. I learned a lot watching this DVD – it’s hard to even think about being a band member not allowed to explore or get involved in pushing the limits of the music – yet Neil has managed to hang onto his band members for 30 years! That’s saying something. The video was willing to show all the young fans, as well as the hundreds of 50+ aged fans – but my absolute favorite may have been something I dreamed – the little old lady 90+ with white hair boogying her butt off. The music was well performed, but predictable. I imagine that’s what Neil Diamond’s fans are looking for, so he gave it to them. I don’t regret watching the show – after all, once upon a time I was a huge fan. He still sounds good, and managed to put on a two hour show without breaking a sweat. That’s not bad for a hot august night beneath the hot lights where a mere mortal would be able to hear his sweat. Neil Diamond

John Lefebvre – Our Town

A very cool song about how the media warps our view of reality. The school I work at allows us to visualize that warp. Remember how we used to walk about ¼ mile to our neighborhood school? No longer true. Parents will drive as little as a block to drop off and pick up their kids from school for fear of the child stealer. No children have ever been stolen in our small community, but the fear is ever-present. Want more? Well, try walking around a neighborhood between 4 & 6 in the evening. Or try a Saturday morning or afternoon. Kids used to play outside for hours. No longer. Same fear – learned from the TV. The video for this song portrays it with great parodic skill. Shoutouts for Independence Day, Mr. Bully Boy, and Love Comes Around.

John has decided to give away his music. When you get to his site by clicking on his name below,,push on the round white button on the jukebox twice - once to grow the jukebox, and once to open the download screen.

John Lefebvre

Woodbrain - Port Chicago Highway

Rock and roll blues with guitars and harp playing swirling in loving circles wake this week up and end this month with a highway song that blasts the stage into another dimension. The party continues with full-bore power with another rocker called Northbound. These guys have got to be a blast to see live - it’s great that they managed to capture so much energy in the studio.
Woodbrain

Wild Roses On A Sunday Afternoon

Willie Nelson - Superman
Aswad – What Is Love b/w Calling
Cookin on 3 Burners - Push It Up b/w Four N Twenty
Mark Knopfler - You Can't Beat The House
Smokey Robinson - Please Don't Take Your Love b/w Whatcha Gonna Do?
Mi And L'au - Bingo
Magnolia Electric Company - Little Sad Eyes
Olivia Broadfield - Don't Cry
Jessie James – Blue Jeans b/w Psycho Girlfriend
The Black Crowes – What Is Home
Hope Sandoval – Wild Roses

Do Ya Like Good Music?

Neil Nathan - Do Ya
Catie Curtis - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free
Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Stairway to Heaven
Jim Keaveny - Mountain Mama
IntoXication - Wasted Time
Manu Codjia - Jungle Jig Part 2
Jordie Lane - John W. Thistle
Kieran Kane - Don’t Try to Fight It
Florence & The Machine - Kiss With A Fist
Smokey Robinson - Time Flies b/w Don't Know Why

George Strait - Twang

Yep, Friday night, get to the bar & what should ya do? “They got a juke box in the corner full of old country tunes. Eighty-five dollars worth of quarters, it’s the first thing I always do, ‘cause I need a little twang!” About three hours of music picked by one guy? Gotta love this bar. And love the guy who has a big enough johnny paycheck to listen to johnny cash with some johnny rodriguez and some hank and waylon along the way. “Get that foot-stomping honky-tonkin’ feeling flowing through my veins!” That one needs a whoop and a haller, you betcha! Meet me at Triple T’s tonight & we’ll see if that one’s on the karaoke list. They do the single vowel texas style – every single vowel lasts for seven syllables. Can’t sing with Twang? No sweat, just dance. Shoutouts for Same Kind Of Crazy, Hot Grease & Zydeco, and El Rey. George Strait

Loudon Wainwright III - Moving Day

”Landlord said this morning to me, ‘Give me the key, this flat ain’t free. I can’t get any rent outta you, pack up your rags and skidoo.’” Leave it to Loudon to find a 100 year old song that applies to hundreds of thousands of Americans today. As I write this my sister is moving out of a foreclosed house. This topical song is great on its own, it’s just icing on the cake that Loudon has arranged this with a dance beat with some beautiful harmonies.

The title tune, High, Wide & Handsome, includes this philosophy: “Song, wine and women, they’re my three favorites. Beer, gin and whiskey, that’s five, six and four. Saturday night I like eatin’ and dancin’, and I sleep all day Sunday so’s I’m ready for more!” Shoutouts for the honky tonk smiles of Took My Gal Out Walkin’ (“she said she wouldn’t kiss me, so I kissed her instead”) & the country gospel pop of Acres of Diamonds (“you simply must have overlooked what you’ve been looking for”).
Loudon Wainwright III

Reliving 1969 - Steel Mill & Woodstock

I've spent the past few weeks simply enjoying 1969. There are the 5 new Sony releases which I talked about a few weeks back - those are all eye-opening. I've also been enjoying the brand 6 CD Rhino release which includes several never-heard-before cuts, as well as the brand new Arlo Guthrie release called "Tales of '69". The Arlo release is not recorded AT woodstock, but was recorded less than a week before, so it's interesting to compare & exciting to listen to. I had actually never hear Alice Part 3, or even knew of it's existence. Fantastic.

The Ken Bielen Woodstock tapes were also released during the past few weeks. Not exactly easy listening - these are audience recordings made on a dictaphone recorder. It's a wonder this material survived at all. It manages to add 15 unique recordings to our Woodstock collection, which with all the recent "finds" has grown from 22 CDs to 24 CDs. There's still more out there, I'm sure - but it's worth the wait. The best thing about the Ken Bielen tapes is it reminds us that the experience from the ground was not as grand as the 2 hour movie could lead one to believe.

I made many sidetrips, as usual - spent 8 hours lisening to all my Jimi CD's, then turned around and did it again a day later. I pulled out all my Janis CDs and listened to those, as well as Johnny Winter. I took a few side-trips through Delany & Bonnie & Donovan simply because I wanted to hear them.

But, that's not all folks! My personal absolute favorite band from 1969 was Child/Steel Mill - mostly because I saw them live about 15 times during those years. I was a young guitar player and wuld get as close as I could to see their guitar player named Bruce play the most wonderful guitar licks - I learned by watching lots of power chords and lead playing. The band went through changes, with great organ playing by Danny along the way, and a player named Steve added in the mix to play bass. The drummer, Vini, has been busy recently - and this has me grinning from ear to ear, literally. I still pull out my live tapes every summer but Vini has been working with some players to attempt to recreate the era on CD - in the studio. A few years back he released Chronicles, and it's a blessing to hear crisp clean versions of Come On, The Wind And The Rain, Boppin The Blues, KT88 & more. This month he has released a second CD, with All Man The Guns, and a personal favorite, Resurrection. There's much more good news: Sherlock Goes Holmes is fantastic, and I love the full band version of Cowboys by the Sea. The full band version of that one I have on tape is extremely muddy, so this is a revelation - and interesting to compare with the solo demos. There's a few more that were popular in 72 - Down To Mexico, Crow Liquor, Sweet Melinda & Lady Walking. The version of the Train song included here is not as powerful as the demo or the one Robbin Thompson officially released; but it's still great that it's included. I am excited that Vini continues to mine the old tapes for these gems, and it is my prayer they continue to record crisp versions - I'm hoping next time he'll do versions of Jambalaya (Roll Over, Roll Over), Sister Theresa, and a host of others. By my reckoning, there is at least 5 or 6 more CDs of superb material to share with folks who love the power rock blues sound that Bruce and company were famous for before he went on to join a major label and turn to pop.

I'm not sure my nostalgic journey is over - you'll know when the blog returns daily that I'm refreshed and ready to start sharing new finds with you. In the meantime, "Hail Hail Resurrection!"

Notes: Arlo's CD is not yet available on Amazon, but a quick google search for "Tales of '69" will help you discover it. Vini's website for the new versions of Steel Mill/ BSB Band songs is http://www.steelmillretro.com - Long live Dr Zoom & The Sonic Boom!

Listen to "Dead Sea Chronicles" online!

Buy Dead Sea Chronicles by Steel Mill.

Buy All Man The Guns by Steel Mill.

Watch Steel Mill from 3 weeks ago:



The original line-up in San Francisco playing America Under Fire:



The "muddy version" of Cowboys of the Sea is on You Tube!

Elvis Presley = The Ed Sullivan Performances (DVD)

I’ve seen clips of these on documentaries through the years, but it’s quite a joy to see all three Elvis appearances in one sitting. First thing I notices was that Ed Sullivan was not even there for the first appearance – and later in one of the additional features I learned that Sullivan had been in a pretty bad car wreck. The second thing I noticed was that all those stories about Elvis being filmed from the waist up were only true about his final performance. So, some folk tales squashed, and some really fine show business moments in these appearances. It’s obvious these guys are singing live and not lip-syncing because of a few flubs on live TV. The music, of course, is great. And, maybe not so important to some, but people like me are interested in the range Elvis has, and how in the close-ups you can actually see his adam apple going through the tremendous range Elvis had as a vocalist. Great fun to watch. Elvis

Roger Klug - About Time

”Enough to drive you crackers!” The late 70’s introduced us to “New Wave”, and Roger has captured the spirit of the era with this tune. While the spirit is not original, the energy exuded by the cut makes for a great listening experience. The silly guitar solo makes for a bopping summer radio smash. Add to that the fun oddio track Witch From Hell, which delivers the vindictive it promises, and My Life Is Sweet, which really says nothing more, but is arranged in a queenbeachboy fashion that makes it a joy to hear occasionally. Roger Klug

The Drive-By Truckers - Mama Bake A Pie

The guys dug this beautiful song off a Tom T Hall album from 1970. I remember crying then as I do now 40 years later. Fine job at re-creating the song for our current crop of buddies facing the same headlines when they come home. PS – the original song is available, with 100 children, on Tom’s exquisite anthology.




Mama bake a pie (daddy kill a chicken) Tom T. Hall 1970

People starin' at me as they wheel me down the ramp toward my plane
The war is over for me I've forgotten everything except the pain
Thank you sir and yes sir it was worth it for the old red-white-and-blue
And since I won't be walking I suppose I'll save some money buying shoes

The bottle hidden underneath the blanket over my two battered legs
I can see the stewardess make over me and ask were you afraid
I say why no I'm Superman and couldn't find a phone booth quite in time
A GI gets a lotta laughs if he remembers all the funny lines

Mama bake a pie daddy kill a chicken
Your son is comin' home 11:35 Wednesday night

Mama will be crying and daddy's gonna say son did they treat you good
My uncle he'll be drunk and he'll say boy they do some real great things with wood
The letter that she wrote me said goodbye she couldn't wait and lots of luck
The bottle underneath the blanket feels just like an old friend to my touch

I know she'll come and see me but I bet she never once looks at my legs
No she'll talk about the weather and the dress she wore the July 4th Parade
Lord I love her and I don't believe this bottle's gonna get her off my mind
I see here in the paper where they say the war is just a waste of time

Mama bake a pie daddy kill a chicken
Your son is comin' home 11:35 Wednesday night

The Drive-By Truckers

An anonymous guy with heart: