Phish Breathes

You can laugh all you want only because people don't expect me to be a Phish fan. I actually think they are pretty damn good. For a four piece band they actually can play pretty good. Trey's guitar playing is spot on at times and Page's keyboard playing is better then most keyboard players out there. Same goes for the rhythm section. Mike Gordon and Jon Fishman are pretty good section on their own. Every once in a while I like their music. I have seen them a total of twenty times and each time was a bit different and was exciting to hear what new world they were going to go into. Their quirky covers were another fun adventures. Some nights they would do Led Zeppelin or the music for 2001. It was music that was exhausting, but fun.

The fun part of Phish is their fans. They are die hard. I have friends who have seen them more then I have, and will tell you each night was a new experience. I would take them over a lot of bands out there and if they went back to smaller shows I would go to see them in a heartbeat. Each adventure they would mix everything in their bag of tricks and make it sound fresh and new to me and countless others. I really think they play each night to someone who just started to be a Phish fan and that is okay by me.




My first Phish concerts started in 1992. I went along with a friend to see them in New York City. The night was magical at Madison Square Garden. They played for about three hours and it was draw dropping on what they would do each night. I went to back to back nights and no song was repeated nor was there a moment of no excitement. Each night that I saw them I noticed they really knew what they had planned out for us. My friend would turn to me excited telling me that it was great to hear this song live or that song live. It was at that moment that I loved what they did. I did not follow them, but I would get a ticket when they played close. I joined their mailing list. I would get a good crack at tickets and send in my money order and hope for the best. I got some good seats at every show. Then another friend would call me and tell me that I should go in with him. This included at one point twelve of us going to a Phish show. It was fun to enjoy the culture of Phish as well as the show. The friends I knew and still know are still into Phish. I still go every once in a while.

What I like about Phish is they make sure their fans are their for them. They do these festivals or even better they do Halloween shows where they play an album in it's entirety. In 1994 I was honored to see them do the Beatles White Album. They studied it very well. It was great to hear a wonderfully gifted set of musicians play the Beatles. Two years later I saw them do the Talking Heads. Each time I saw them I knew they had something there. It was fun to hear them go through song after song. Each moment was great.



When it cam to figure out what album by Phish I liked this is when it became tough. All their albums have something to exciting. They have a great song that is the hook or they have these really great instrumental breaks that are just well done. I decided to pick a Phish album that was part of my early life. I remember when the album came out. I was excited because it was new and because I was going to see them many times during this tour. I was seeing a lot of King Crimson at the time and I needed another band to see too. I was doing a lot of shows then and needed something less Progressive Rock and more like Phish.

The music on the album is not jammy like other Phish albums, The music is got well crafted Phish songs that really show to an average fan that they can make good music. Each song has a great little slice of their great musicianship. If you know Phish and just think another Grateful Dead then you don't have a full picture. Grateful Dead mixed a lot of Blues, Jazz, Folk, Bluegrass and anything they could think of. Phish is fusion and fun. It's wonderful to hear some great music. Enjoy!! I am sure this will convert you!

Beach Pet's

I know I been a little slow on certain artists on this blog. It's not that I don't like them, but It's hard to talk about them with people. They either love them or hate them and if they love them they know so much about them and can actually write a biography about them if you give them time. Their knowledge is great and wish I could retrieve facts such as that about these artists. I also like these artist they like, but I still feel a little apprehensive about talking about them because I know I will get a fact wrong or a story from their past wrong.

The band that always is has a long and interesting history is the Beach Boys. They were my fathers favorite band growing up. He was out of High School by the time they got popular, but he told me he religiously would buy their singles and their albums. He lived in the east all his life, but he loved the fact that the Beach Boys talked about carefree things and loved talking about what the life of a young adult was in California. He liked that the songs had a mini story to each of them and most of he liked that they had a song about his car he drove. "409" is about a a 1962 Impala 409. The car is a marvel. My dad bought this car new and added a few touches and the car would fly down the major and minor roads where he was brought up. This car had the quickness like no other. My father even told me he beat a 57 Chevy with a Corvette motor in it. Those are the stories of legend.



The music of the Beach Boys told those kind of stories too. They talked about the Beach, Surfin, girls and cars. These stories were fun and quite unique but they were wonderful little three minute ditties. I could talk about the friendly little war between Brian Wilson and the Beatles, but that is what the internet and good history is for. I want to talk about my experience with the Beach Boys. My experience was going through my fathers albums. I had no prior knowledge about them for a while. I wanted to hear them, but my dad would only play the hits. I was not sure if I liked it or not. I liked what I heard, but I wanted to hear and know more. I asked my father and he only knew about the albums that were full of the surf sound. He had one from 1967 called Wild Honey and he did not like it at all. It had no focus he said and it was just odd.

I took my chances with that and decided to explore some more. I went after most of that music from that era and really liked it. It was not about their early stuff it was more about the time that they were in. It gave some moments of greatness, but it also showed their maturity as a band. One day I went to my local record store and saw a Beach Boys album neither my father or I had in our collections. It was called Pet Sounds. The story of Pet Sounds was clear and the lore about it was great. The guy at the record store did a great job educating a young and naive kid such as myself about the history of the album. I decided to pick it up. It was a near mint mono mix and I grabbed it without really know much about it. Yea, that my sound odd to you, but I was a 17 year old kid who knew nothing except what his father had in his collection. When I got home I put it on the turntable and was so involved with this album. The music was fresh and wonderful. I loved every song from start to finish. Why was this not talked about before? Why was this album not even in my father's collection?



The music was more then a welcome addition to the growing collection of mine. It showed a few things in my collection. One thing it showed I can listen to just more then King Crimson and the Beatles. It showed that there is great music out there still to be heard. The music was wonderful and really fresh to my ears. After a few listens I put the album away and bought the CD. The CD had great notes on the history of it and helped with great understanding to the learned person such as myself why this album I was holding is one of the best ever.

Massively influential upon its release (although it was a relatively low seller compared to their previous LPs), it immediately vaunted the band into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain, where it was a much bigger hit. (AM) That describes it well. To me it was an album that opened my eyes to so much more. I am glad that I actually got a chance to hear this for myself without someone going totally nuts over it and hounding me how great this album is in the history of Rock and Roll. I know it's great and when I first heard it I can see why. The album is wonderfully fresh and to new ears it will be something they will remember for a long time. The music is timeless and for that it should be in everyone's collection. If you own it, play it again. If you don't, get it and hear why this album is the one. Classic in every sense. Enjoy!!

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong

You know its gonna make it that much better
When we can say goodnight and stay together

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up
In the morning when the day is new
And after having spent the day together
Hold each other close the whole night through

The happy times together we've been spending
I wish that every kiss was never ending
Oh Wouldn't it be nice

Songs For Jack

The first time I heard a Jack Bruce solo album was when I was in college my second time around and I was looking for ideas when a friend of mine handed me a Jack Bruce box set of his music. I knew about his solo albums, but did not actually pay attention to them. I really though honestly the star of Cream was Eric Clapton. It was always Clapton this and Clapton that. I liked Ginger Baker because of his work with Bill Frisell and Fela Kuti. I really did not give Jack Bruce the recognition that he deserved. When I looked at my Cream Box set I realized that Eric was great, but the greater was Jack Bruce. He wrote most of the songs on the Cream albums. He co-wrote their two famous hits "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love." Jack's writing was on most of the Cream albums. His music was wonderfully done and he really is the brains behind one of the best super groups.

The music is really not bluesy like Cream albums but a sound like Jazzy and with Chris Spedding and John Marshall on guitar and drums the album has keeps that Jazzy tone. Both Spedding and Marshall made careers out of not doing the money maker and playing on all kinds of session work in these kinds of settings. Jon Hiseman also provides drums too and his different twist adds also to a well balanced different album. It really shows how great they are on most of the songs. I saw this box set and really regret not getting it then when I really like what I hear now. The horns make the album and it is really so much different from those Cream albums because it shows that Jack Bruce could be different then the rest of the Cream. His lyrics are quite good and you can tell right away that he wants to be heard more then most. Songs like "Never Tell Your Mother She's Out of Tune" and "Theme For An Imaginary Western" are really great. "Theme..." was a minor hit for Mountain.



The history is important because this album is one of the most unique fusions of jazz with pop and contains less emphasis on the blues, a genre so essential to Bruce's career. The music is fresh and different then what you expect from a man who was in Cream. The elements of cello, guitar, bass, horns and drums is uniquely different. Jack Bruce proves too all of us that he was unique to this world. If you hear this now compared to back in 1969 you can tell that it is a bit dated, but it still sounds very fresh and interesting. I did not quite get what he was aiming for, but now I get it. I like it and to me Jack Bruce is wonderfully different to all the heavy Psychedelic that was out then.

Even an old out-take from Cream's Disraeli Gears shows up on this album and it's a quite different interpretation. "Weird of Hermiston" could have been added, but more then likely got outvoted by Clapton and Baker. You can tell his ideas were there even back in 1967. He was brought up well working with Alex Korner and his Bluesy/Jazzy sound. He would continue this trend with a lot of his solo albums. His next one in 1971 was Things We Like was really like jazz with full of Post Bop and Free Jazz and guest John McLaughlin that is where things start to take shape.



Jack Bruce is a unique individual and his music is more then enough to digest. His stuff for the longest time stayed out of my sight, but I am glad that I got acquainted with his music. He should be listened to and show have a voice. People should not remember his for his Cream contributions but other great things as well. A lyric sheet is enclosed and displays the serious nature of this project. It is picture perfect in construction, performance, and presentation. Enjoy this album and I am sure you too will be telling your friends about how great he is with high praise. Enjoy!!!

Roger Keith Syd Barrett Laughing

I really love you and I mean you
the star above you, crystal blue
Well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...
I wouldn't see you and I love to
I fly above you, yes I do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...

Floating, bumping, noses dodge a tooth
the fins a luminous
fangs all 'round the clown
is dark below the boulders hiding all
the sunlight's good for us
'Cause we're the fishes and all we do
the move about is all we do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...

Floating, bumping, noses dodge a tooth
the fins a luminous
fangs all 'round the clown
is dark below the boulders hiding all
the sunlight's good for us
'Cause we're the fishes and all we do
the move about is all we do
well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...

I really love you and I mean you
the star above you, crystal blue
Well, oh baby, my hairs on end about you...



Those lyrics above are from the opening song from Syd's first album Madcap Laughs. The album is quite amazing. My first Pink Floyd listen was from when Syd was in the band. It might be three short years, but those years are the most important years of the band. I would listen to Dark Side of the Moon and tell myself that I need to start from the beginning. When I asked the uneducated question the record store guy what should I start with, I got a person who handed me two CD's the first was Piper At The Gates Of Dawn and Madcap Laughs. He told me the first was Pink Floyd's first album and the other is the former leader of Pink Floyd's first solo album. Each have a great place in the musical lexicon and should be studied and listened to with great study. He sounded like a History professor who told me that If I study this then I will know all I need to understand about the history of the world. I am glad I listened.

The mystic of Syd Barrett was the fact that his lyrics and his voice carried the world of Pink Floyd. These wonderful understandings taught me that there was a side of music that was not happy, even though the music from this period was something that was full of Psychedelic roots and even the culture was the same way. The back story of Syd Barrett was a man who escaped any way he could, but his music and words was genius. When we lost him a few years back in 2006 we lost a person who was a man not easy to understand, but a man who if you knew him well enough through his music was someone who was much smarter then the average musician of the time.



I picked up these two recommendations and listened with quite intent. It was a far different sound then the first Pink Floyd album I got introduced to. I knew that I had to really listen hard to this music to understand what was going on. My time with this was great because I realized that the music that was being presented was a bit more on the side of classic. This classic sound was not talked about in great detail in music books I read. They only gave a brief explanation of his music and kind of lumped it into the rest of the Psychedelic genre. It was sad looking back on it, because his music was a bit of that but it was very personal. Syd Barrett was using music and acid to run away from something. It just happened that his music was part of a very interesting time period in pop culture.

In a way his music reached far beyond the simple and got more and more complex. His music was a very close observation of the world. The music I loved his first person thoughts and observations. He was important to me because of his highly creative nature. Syd would be a person who (if I was around then) would be an artist I would follow. There are artist today that think Syd is quite important as well. People like Robyn Hitchcock really praise his music. It's wonderful that we had this genius on this planet. The sad thing is there is so much unreleased material from working with Pink Floyd and his solo work that needs to be put out.



The album featured a rather unorthodox recording process, in which Syd would provide a backing track of his own singing accompanied by acoustic guitar, over which the session musicians would overdub the rest of the arrangement. However, Syd's playing and singing were highly erratic and unpredictable—he skipped or added beats and bars seemingly at random, or otherwise he would strum on a single chord for a long time before unexpectedly reverting back to the main portion of the song. Syd would not allow the musicians to rehearse or re-record their overdubs, insisting that they sounded fine. After several months of intermittent recording, the album was finally deemed complete. (AM)

If anyone who loves the early Pink Floyd like I do, then this is the place to start. His genius is written in every song. The music itself is very good. It has a few guests on it including two Pink Floyd people; Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Three Soft Machine people too, including Hugh Hopper, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt. If you want to have fun with great music then start here. The music of Syd Barrett should be looked a bit closely and this is the best place to start. Enjoy! I hope that this listen will give you more of understanding what early Floyd was all about. Enjoy!

Funny As Shit!!!!

There is an art of being funny. You can be funny, but can you be funny whatever you say or do. Can you look at the news and things around you and make people laugh. My best friend was funny, he was pretty good at making people laugh and he did it for a short while. It's a tough racket trying to be a comedian you have to figure out the energy of the crowd that your trying to entertain and you also have to be lively in discussion and also on what is going on around you. There were nights that he was right on and had the crowd in the palm of his hands and on other nights they would laugh, but would not "kill them with laughter" as he put it.

When I would go with him to shows he would kind of tell me what his routine for the night was, and at the end of the night if the show went well, then we kept the same formula. If the night was good, but not great we would change or add things. He wanted me to be honest and tell the truth about his comic stand up. We would listen to the tapes of his shows and I would get an idea where he went different from the night before where he was good. We also listened to other comedians and figure out how their formula was successful. People like Richard Pryor and George Carlin were the heavy ones we would listen to. One day My best friend and I went to see a stand up show by a friend of his. My best friend was handed a tape by a guy named Bill Hicks. His friend told us that he was "Funny as Shit."



On the way home instead of talking about how the show went and how we can learn from what his friend did, we decided to put the tape in of Bill Hicks. We did not know what to expect and honestly we never heard of him before and did not know what to expect. After the first part of the tape we were in tears we were laughing so hard. The ideas that he told the audience and the stuff he would come up with was really great. We noticed that he took things in his own personal reflection and really make it sound comical. Some of his one-liners were always worth repeating.

Stand up was always tough to do. The stand up today is not as exciting as it was long time ago. A lot of stand up tries to be politically correct or just less sensitive then in years past. Bill just went and attacked. He attacked the first George Bush and he attacked the war on drugs and he attacked non smokers. He had fun at every bodies expense. His quotes on the tape were always worth repeating. We thought really anything he said was funny. Both my best friend and I always looked out for any stand up he put out. Few years after loving his stand up he died. There was an article in GQ that really hit both my best friend and I. We loved the appreciation and looked forward to archival stuff to come out.



Bill Hicks was a genius. His comedy was the stuff that will be talked about for years to come. They recently put out a retrospective that I have not gotten yet and I will soon. It really goes over a comic who was really ahead of his time and who could make me laugh like no other person could. Bill was a man who spoke the truth and will always resonate with me and no matter how dated it might sound, it will always be ahead of it's time. His CD's are always great. I chose his second album because that is where I started, but any of his stuff is fun and tearfully funny. Enjoy!!

Marion Brown And A Georgia Faun

There are reasons why I love music. Some of it is pure emotion and some of it is just the great talent that is out there. To me the music of some artist is just a love for whatever they create is just priceless and magical. The first time I hear some of these artist I know for a fact that I will be a fan for life. I listen to Jazz people like Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and I know that these people are quite gifted and are above the par of anyone else. Sometimes I hear them and realize that what they do is very creative and always wonder when is a good time to reflect on how their genius works.

Last week we lost a genius. His name is Marion Brown. Marion was part of a lot of circles. His saxophone reached many different Jazz worlds. Some of it was Post Bop, other times it was Avant-Garde and other times it was Free Jazz. He may not be up there with the people I mentioned above but he was quite revolutionary. To me Marion was a genius just like those Jazz musicians. His music had the heart and soul of anyone out there. He will be missed and his music should and will be talked about forever.



Difficult as it may be for younger listeners to believe, there was a time when ECM released adventurous improvised music. Back near its inception in the early '70s, the label issued a wide variety and decent number of challenging avant-garde recordings that represented some of the most forward-looking musical thinkers of the time. Marion was one of those forward thinkers and this album includes other who thought the same way he did. The group of people on this album are wonderful musicians in there own right and do contribute music that is fresh and the reason ECM gets the recognition that they deserve. ECM was famous for this wonderful and fresh music just like Impulse, ESP or Atlantic. There are reasons why my obsession with ECM is so deep. They made some great stuff.

Marion's album is a benchmark of why ECM is so damn great. There are only two tracks on the CD, but each has it's own identity and meaning. While the first and title track is more percussive, the second is traditional and ahead of it's time. The second does more exploring then the first, but that's where Marion shows his maturity as a musician and that in turn has the people backing him act the same way. The effect is more eerie and spiritually infused than the preceding piece, with keening, bowed cymbals and deep pulses from the lower clarinet family. It gradually builds to something of a frenzy, but in an unforced manner that shows it to be merely another approach to the territory explored earlier.



Marion will be missed, but not his music. The man's genius is in most of the music that is out there. Listen for yourself and you will understand the passion and the gift that Marion had for his music. This music was a gift for us, not only to listen to, but for people to understand how great some of this music really is. The other day I put two of his CD's in my car and really understood how great this music should be talked about and listened with new ears. Take a chance yourself and I am sure you will feel the same. Enjoy!! Marion RIP, thanks!!

Sheryl Crow's Self

Don't laugh, but I think that Sheryl Crow's second album is pretty damn good. The music is so much better then the first and it' a bit experimental too. What she did is keep her root music in the forefront and then added loops, noises, and weird sounds to make it a very interesting album. This mix of all these things created an album that is not mentioned as a popular Sheryl Crow album. I remember it came out and people thought it was a pretty good album, but at the end of that year in 1996 on a best of the year music list NPR called it one the best of the year. I liked the music. At this point I really ignored a lot of popular music by then and to hear something like this really made me want to hear what she had to say and also to see all this oddness work on an album.

By this time I saw her three times and each time was actually pretty good. You could sense improvement from her and from her band. The music was very cool and her vocals very strong. Her lyrics were very smart and well versed. I remember going to see her in 1997 and with the new CD in my hand I could see these songs transform into actually really something great. My female vocal music was lacking, but she got me into more female music at that time then I have ever explored. Songs like "Everyday Is A Winding Road" and "The Book" are wonderful songs and quite addicting. The album is one of the most creative albums to come out of 1996.



The music of Sheryl Crow is simple, but you know sometimes that is great. Throughout the record, Crow spins out wild, nearly incomprehensible stream-of-consciousness lyrics, dropping celebrity names and products every chance she gets ("drinking Falstaff beer/Mercedes Ruehl and a rented Leer"). Often, these litanies don't necessarily add up to anything specific, but they're a perfect match for the mess of rock, blues, alt-rock, country, folk, and lite hip-hop loops that dominate the record.(AM) The fun thing about Sheryl Crow is when you see her live, she takes some of these songs and rearranged them to make them sound very fresh and new. I saw her three times and only one setting was a music for the masses type show. She stuck to her formula and did what she had to do, but the club shows were completely different.



Once I do a rare thing and go for some pop thing and really express that some stuff is actually pretty good. When she was the peak of her popular her music was all over the place. Even stations I did not even listen to were playing her music. I caught on to her by seeing her and hearing the overplayed first album. What was interesting back when she first started she did club dates. Now if you were playing everywhere you be in a big state like an open venue. Her club dates were wonderful and not crowded. She got to be herself and make these sound unique in a rare time. I wish that this kind of idea still worked with the music company where original music is not over hyped.

If you need to fix your "Pop Music" collection then you should start here. Listen to this album, it's got I think three hit songs. It's okay though these songs are not played much. You can still play this album and reflect how much she was a talent. Listen and enjoy. This music still is fresh as when it was put out in 1996. Enjoy!!

Tomato Ketchup and Stereolab!

Who is the band that mixes Neu!, Faust and Classic Krautrock with classic good 60's Pop music? Give up! It's a band called Stereolab. Stereolab either legitimized forms of music that were on the fringe of rock, or brought attention to strands of pop music -- Bossa-Nova, lounge-pop, movie soundtracks -- that were traditionally banished from the rock lineage. The group's trademark sound -- a droning, hypnotic rhythm track overlaid with melodic, mesmerizing singsong vocals, often sung in French and often promoting revolutionary, Marxist politics -- was deceptively simple, providing the basis for a wide array of stylistic experiments over the course of their prolific career. Throughout it all, Stereolab relied heavily on forgotten methods of recording, whether it was analog synthesizers and electronics or a fondness for hi-fi test records, without ever sinking to the level of kitsch.(AM)

I first heard Stereolab on my way home from my community college. You may laugh, but NPR did a feature on them. It was something I did not expect. They talked about them as a band who's mix of so many different styles that anyone should listen to them. It was music that intrigued me because they did not mix one or two different genres, but like a dozen. It was music that sounded fun and quite new to my ears back in 1993. I knew very little, but I wanted to hear more. I wrote them down and put them on my list of things to find at the record stores.



The group certainly hasn't backed away from pop melodies on Emperor Tomato Ketchup, but just as their hooks are becoming catchier, they bring in more avant-garde and experimental influences, as well. Consequently, the album is Stereolab's most complex, multi-layered record. It lacks the raw, amateurish textures of their early singles, but the music is far more ambitious, melding electronic drones and singsong melodies with string sections, slight hip-hop and dub influences, and scores of interweaving counter melodies. Even when Stereolab appears to be creating a one-chord trance, there is a lot going on beneath the surface. Furthermore, the group's love for easy listening and pop melodies means that the music never feels cold or inaccessible.

To me the music was totally new and fresh. I never heard this type of music before in my life. I decided to buy some of their back catalog. It was quite an effort to find their music. It was easy to find their regular albums, but it was hard to find their singles and EP's. They put so much out between four albums at the time that it was next to impossible to catch up. There music was full of heavy synths and wonderful odd electronic sounds. It made me think that this could be done a whole new way. The stuff I heard on NPR was what made me think they were really ahead of their time. If you asked me to take stock of listening to this any earlier in my life I would have quickly dismissed it as crap. This music is better then anything I heard at the time.



I chose Emperor Tomato Ketchup because this was the one that made me finally realize how great they really were. The music on this album is full of great sounds and hooks, and wonderful and lush female vocals by Mary Hansen and Laetitia Sadier. Even better was the use of French in some of the songs. It made it a whole new sound to me. This was becoming a musical obsession to me and every chance I got I really wanted to hear the new music. Like some artists, I would go to the store the day the music was released. Stereolab was one of those bands. Each album made a different leap into the unknown and that unknown was very good stuff. If you like your pop music keyboard heavy and full of these lush vocals you should check out Stereolab. This is a great place to start and a really fine album. Listen and enjoy!!

Look-Ka Meters

I will admit I was a bit naive when I was a kid. I heard a Meters by Primus and really thought that it was their own. The song "Tippi Toes" was a great songs. I was quite impressed with what Primus did with that song. When my friend informed me that it was a cover song I went on to look for something by The Meters. Some of the music was hard to find at first, but after a search I found a used cassette with about twelve songs on it. This cassette was homemade and it gave a good overview on what they did. I kept that tape for a while and when the friend who told me about them came over with a two CD set of their music I quickly made a copy.

I really did not know what I was in for. I thought the music was going to be R&B and sounding like Booker T. and The MG's. From the first song on the tape I knew I was in for something quite different then that. The music was funky and not funky like James Brown, but much more then that. It had me moving and grooving in the car. There was something about the Meters I could not explain, but whatever it was it was great. I asked my friend who bought the two CD set if he had anything else by them. I liked what I heard, but I am sure there was more to be had. It took me forever to find the albums. Even at that time I was introduced to them I heard from other people that the albums were full of even more classic funky stuff.



By the time I realized who they were, I was told that they had four albums that were a must own. I went to my usual record stores and they did not have them. It was not till I went back to college I found their music on CD. These albums were out of print for so long it was hard just to go with that two CD set. I decided to buy the albums. Each one was better then the last and what made it more exciting the songs on the albums that were not on the set were better then the others. I am glad I picked up these CD's because each album had a more impressive set of songs then the previous album. What makes these albums great is the fact that the groove of the bass, drums and organ are setting such a great groove. They know what each is doing. The music speaks for itself.

Every album has a moment that is like no other. I really honestly did not get it the first listen, but after each repeated listen it had more and more character to it. The music is fresh and fun. It explains a lot on how this band got such a huge following. I never saw them live, but if I was around in the mid-70's I sure would see them every chance I got. It's the fact that The Meters are mostly instrumental that baffle me. I love instrumental type music and hearing these great grooves come from four guys who don't need words to tell you, but there musicianship makes it all the more great. The music is even better when your in a great mood. It forces you to have fun grooving.



My problem was picking an album to let you know where to go. I chose Look-Ka Py Py because it was the first one I really loved. The album is full of great bass grooves and heavy on organ as well. It wants you to dance and let yourself go. The music does not sound dated either, it sounds like it was just recorded yesterday and wants you to tell all your friends how cool some of this stuff really is. Song's like "Funky Miracle" are just classic and really make you shake your head and wonder where the hell this came from. It's music that does not come around often so I suggest that you listen closely. The music is the funk you need and for me it just reminds me that there is music out there that just kicks a bit more ass then anything else out there. Enjoy! It might even get you to dance, who knew that music can be so much fun.

Massive Mezzanie!!

If you asked me when this album came out that I actually would listen to them I would more then anything tell you that I don't really listen to that much Trip-Hop and Electronica. I listen to Portishead and some Orb and that's about it. I realized my mistake a year later that I should be listening to more of this genre. I picked up this album from a friend and it was a CD that would not leave my CD player in the car or at home. It's distortion and strong guitars and effects sounded nothing like I ever heard before. When It came out, my friend told me if I never heard them, I should listen to some of their early work to get familiar with the music of Massive Attack.

He handed me Protection and Blue Lines and I was very impressed. The music was not the normal Electronica that I was hearing from other people. This music was smart and edgy and well presented. The dark quality of Massive Attack is shown here with greatness and wonderful non typical music. It was all so fresh to me that I loved it without having notions of what other Electronica was. I grew on this quickly and really wanted to hear the barriers torn down of what I expected to hear. What I heard was music that was fun and for a first time fan of this stuff, this was a wonderful introduction. It was a band that I would like more and more as I got to hear their music.



That same year I got invited by my friend to see them live in New York City. They were playing MSG (Madison Square Garden). I thought on how great music like this would feel at home. I was so right. The flash of the lights, the edge Electronica and heavy dissident guitars and the stark and somewhat scary vocals. It music that if you close your eyes the music is in your face without be to upfront about. I walked out of the show awestruck about how well this music was put in a live context. It gave me the impression that they do things very well. They really put the music you think is Electronica and make sure that they are the ones all the others copied. The blend of earthy with ethereal shouldn't work at all, but Massive Attack pull it off in fine fashion. "Inertia Creeps" could well be the highlight, another feature for just the core threesome. With eerie atmospherics, fuzz-tone guitars, and a wealth of effects, the song could well be the best production from the best team of producers the electronic world had ever seen. Obviously, the rest of the album can't compete.

Thing with Mezzanine is, there are so many levels of sound that every time you listen to it, you hear something new. That in itself is a wonder, but the vocals are simply gorgeous, the beats are hypnotic...bone conductive...and the lyrics are completely incomprehensible. With this album, it's all in the sound, which just wraps you up and takes you away. Massive Attack is a an eclectic mix of genres: jazz, pop, folk, rap, blues, even classical. They take what they need from each and create their own, unique sound. One of the best things about this album is the unique style of each cut: different vocalists, different styles, totally different sounds, but all absolutely Massive. (amazon)



When I went back to school in the fall of 2000. I wanted to do a radio program that showcased the best of the new music that was out there. Not the stuff that was mediocre, but the stuff that had a good look in the critical eye. I really did not have a chance to something like that till my last half of a year left. By then I actually could weed out the stuff that came in the station that was crap and the stuff that really could mean something in the contribution of modern music. Band like Stereolab, Built To Spill, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, and Massive Attack and many others fit that smart new Rock and Roll. This is the music you should listen to. The music is great, fresh and part of modern music. Take a listen and enjoy a band that is very far ahead of their time. Enjoy!!

Spirit!!!!!

The first time I heard Spirit was on Classic Rock Radio. I did not know what to think, but I loved it and wanted to hear it again. It's mix of Psychedelic Rock and Jazz was a completely different way of what music was supposed to be in the late 1960's. The guitar playing was out of this world and the keyboard playing was really great as well. I had to get my hands on some. I looked everywhere for this stuff. I got lucky rather quickly. My co-worker was cleaning out her house and had a bunch of records she did not want. In the collection was the first Deep Purple, a Moody Blues record, and a Spirit record. I had no idea what this was. I looked at and saw the song I heard was not on it, but for the hell of it I would give it a listen. I grabbed the headsets and went to the turntable and gave it a listen. The cover art was interesting with all the band members creating one face. I put it on and was immediately blow away but what I heard. This too was something I could go find at a record store and buy.

I grabbed my 1960's music book and looked them up. They too agreed on what I heard. They said that this music was coming out of no where and should be listened with the greatest of attention. They talked about how it was Randy California that got Hendrix to play guitar. A bold statement, but true. The book gave two must listens. The one I had in my possession at the time and an album called Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. Both albums are really top notch stuff. Even finding more information about them later on proved how great they really were. In the book The Ambient Century by Mark Perendergast the mention of Spirit is clear; "The music of Spirit stood the test of time to be reappraised in the 1990's as 'Classic'." "They even blueprinted the chord sequence for one the most successful songs of all time 'Stairway to Heaven'." It continues to tell the same feeling I get when I listen to them. The great sonic sounds, the twists and turns and sound explosions are great.



Spirit's debut unveiled a band that seemed determine to out-eclecticize everybody else on the California psychedelic scene, with its melange of rock, jazz, blues, folk-rock, and even a bit of classical and Indian music.(AM) If you listen closely to their music their hooks are amazing every album has a great song that will just get you to realize that you might have missed something in picking up your classic rock of The Who, Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and others. I used to listen to think that the music such as this was not my thing, but looking back it really was. It made me broaden my musical spectrum.

Now the problem was took tell what album to get. The first four is a great place to start. Actually, its the only place to go. If you are going to start somewhere, then start where I started. I think the first album is a wonderful masterpiece. Each song has it's only feel and more then likely only Spirit could probably do it too. They made with every song they did. Even when they had Led Zeppelin open for the here in the states, you could see the effects that they had. Led Zeppelin took the musical openings of a simple song like "Taurus" and integrated it into "Stairway to Heaven." I mean if that is not giving some kind of credit then I really don't know what is. A song like "Uncle Jack" is even more classic and gets close to genius.



Well this is another must own for the collection. I used to ruin peoples lives with this stuff, because this is the stuff that should have been talked about in the world of classic rock. Spirit is something that might take a while to grow on you, but it's music is something that is still talked about today. I have friends who tell me all the time that if they could relive the sixties they would make sure they saw Spirit. Have loads of fun with this one and make sure to pass it on to your friends. Enjoy!

Tweedy Rocks!! Live Mandel Hall, Chicago 2006

I have seen Jeff Tweedy or Wilco about a dozen times. Each performance has gotten better then the next. The problem is, after the show you wish there was more or that he did a different or a really obscure tune. Another problem is that there really is no solo Jeff Tweedy albums out there. The only one that is official is the Jeff Tweedy Sunken Treasure: Live in the Northwest. That official is a DVD, but if you put it in the computer you can get the audio files. It's actually really good, but it leaves you wanting more and you don't get his in between song chatter or his after song jokes and quirky Jeff Tweedy like chatter with the crowd. The DVD shows some of it, but not his whole night performance.

One day I went on line to look for some of these heavily circulated bootlegs. I found one that did not fit the normal of Jeff Tweedy shows. These were not the Lounge Ax shows. Those Ax shows there are so many and I have about three that are just interesting. They sound like they were recorded at a small club with lots of restless Wilco fans. They are good because they do get Tweedy in a rare moment just goofing and having fun. I wanted a show that had a very wide range of Wilco and his covers. Then I stumbled upon a show recorded in his home city of Chicago. Upon looking this album up on the internet I found out that this was a solo show for Illinois Public Radio. The quality was so much better then all the others I had. What was even better was the stuff with Nels Cline. The added bonus was the Neil Young Cover. I decided to download it.



After finishing downloading the show I grabbed my headsets to see what I uncovered. I thought I get an incomplete show and get the sound quality that resembles a show I would hear on the car stereo. The opening of the first song proved me wrong. Sunken Treasure is still one of my favorite Wilco songs and Jeff doing it acoustic made it sound totally fresh and so much different and fun. He has a different spin when he plays these songs solo. The arrangements are different and the songs that he chooses are really great. That's what make his solo shows a must to see and hear. I have seen Tweedy solo about four times and each time his banter with the crowd and his musical set list is really impressive.



The show I chose to mentioned was recorded by NPR for some web-cast. As I mentioned above it was a great show to get new people involved in his music or people like myself who love Wilco. The music here is wonderful and fresh. His voice is so stronger then ever. The set list is pretty good. He gets Nels Cline involved which always makes it fun. What is great about these Tweedy shows is his picks of covers. From the Neil Young cover on this one to a cover of Bill Fay on another live show I have. Once in a while Wilco will do one as well, but not as exciting as the what Tweedy picks for his solo shows. The link below gives a place where you can download the show I am talking about. Enjoy! This more then ever and is likely one of the best of his solo recordings. Rock out!!!

http://wpnob.blogspot.com/2006/04/jeff-tweedy-live-in-mandel-hall.html

Nothing But Jane's Addiction

The early 90's for music was one of the most interesting in my life. I listened to a ton of Classic Rock. I also listened to my fair share of bad Heavy Metal and bad Pop music. I tried my hand at other music, but it just was not fun. Then I started hanging around a different crowd. This music listened to modern music. It was music as we call it now College Rock. These bands included The Cure, The Smiths, R.E.M., and Jane's Addiction. I liked most of the music that I heard from this crowd, but I did not know what to get and what to listen to. I started listening to a lot of it and trying to figure it out for myself. I had loads of fun picking the great stuff to the really bad. This music was also featured on MTV in form of a late show called 120 Minutes. It was all the cool cutting edge music. Every Sunday at midnight to 2am they have a show. I was in bed, but I set the VCR to record and the next day when I got home from school I would listen to and see what I liked.

I would come to my new group of friends at ask them about bands I saw on this show. They kinda guided me into the right direction. Most of my musical listening of this stuff was me blindly picking something. Even before the internet you went by descriptions of what the record store guy said. He of course was trying to sell the product. I also went by the little descriptions in the Columbia House catalog. They of course wanted you to buy everything, but they have been accurate before so why not now. I even went to see my friends at the record store. They were pretty good at telling me what to get and what not to. One of them even told me if I follow this list of artist and albums I will not go wrong. I decided to use that approach because it was cut and dry and these are the must listens.



One day with list in hand I was trying to figure out what to get what artist should I focus on I was approached by a friend. I did not talk to this person a lot, but we talked music here and there. She asked me if I would go with her to Jane's Addiction. I did not know much about them, but I figured seeing them live might work. I did not know what to say to her, but I told her if one of her friends could go then give them first dibs. She insisted that I go, because as she told me that I was gutsy enough to check them out compared to her friends. I took the chance and went. I figured I had nothing to lose and hey the ticket was not that expensive compared to high prices today. I went to the show with no expectations nor a cassette or anything by them in my collection. When I got out of the show I was completely blown away with their talent. From Dave Navarro's great guitar playing to Stephen Perkins drumming this band had talent. When Perry Farrall announced to the audience that Jane Addiction are part of a music festival this summer I told the person I was with that I would go. I walked away completely impressed with this band and the show.

When I bought the two albums of Jane's Addiction I was completely impressed with the albums. Even the songs they did not play live were killer. I could not believe how great the music was. Each song was better then the next. I could not believe that this band was so good, yet the people who knew about them kept it a secret how good they were. Both albums were hard to get into the first time around. Hearing these songs live took on a sound that could not be reproduced in the studio. Then after a while I realized how great these songs were live or studio. The music of Jane's Addiction is quite good. Dave Navarro's playing really shines on both albums. My problem was to choose what album to do in the blog.



I chose Nothing's Shocking because it was the first album I listened to when I got them through the record club I chose that one to listen to. It's mix of Progressive Rock, Funk and Punk is wonderful. It's songs like "Summertime Rolls" that makes use of the up and down mood and dynamics that some bands of that time never did. Songs like "Jane Says" and "Mountain Song" are wonderful pieces of Alternative Rock. The influence of Jane's Addiction is pretty damn important. They only really put out two great albums, but this is the one that you should go with first. The music is great and most of this is timeless Hard Rock at it's finest. Vote this for another one to crank up to eleven. Enjoy!!!

My Quartet

When I was going through some old copies of Down Beat in my collection I stumbled upon a great interview with Bill Bruford. It was great because it reflected his musical career and also his upcoming tour with his band Earthworks. It was this same tour that I went to see him four times and each night was better then the next. It was also an interview to talk about the future of music that he was in and the past that he was a part of. He mentioned his tenure with King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and other bands that he was a part of. He was all over the drumming circles in the 70's. At the end of the interview he was asked some serious Jazz questions on what albums he liked to listen to. It was very cool because he did not mention much about the music he was on, but the music that gave him a drummers voice as far as other drummers he liked in the music world.

He talked about growing up hearing the music of Dave Brubeck and other jazz people. He mentioned when he performed he would never get tired of some albums that were so well put together that he put those on the highest plateau. These albums as he put it were classics. He mentioned Keith Jarrett a number of times. He put him in the highest regard because not only was Keith Jarrett a great piano player, but on some albums he played other instruments. I was very familiar with those because I have a few albums where does do double or even triple duty on a lot of stuff.



On his famous European quartet albums he only plays piano. In the 70's he was leading two quartets. The European quartet consisted of Jan Garbarek, Palle Daniellson and Jon Christensen. These four musicians are great in their own right. Each of them really put on a great show on this album. I really wish I could travel back in the 70's to watch this band work with razor sharp accuracy. I am sure there are bands that wish they could play this good. I have seen Keith Jarrett with his trio and solo and each time there is something hypnotic about what he and (with the group) he does. This is a classic case of that. They put themselves at the outer limits of greatness. This album is a straight ahead Jazz album with all the pistons firing. The music does not have that European feel like some albums that ECM put out, but more like an album that was just put out this year.



I know I recommend a lot of things. Most of these post are great starts in whatever genre of music I am grabbing from, but this album is an album that can be held up high and discussed with the best Jazz albums in the world. I chose this Keith Jarrett because most of his piano playing is off the charts great. He makes you want to get on that piano and learn his parts. He really gets the mind thinking on how he can pull it off with such ease. Go for it and enjoy a classic that will have you getting more Keith Jarrett albums. I will admit that I got this album while I already had others of his music so hearing this was still fresh and wonderful. It is a different sound from his trio album I recommended, but that's the fun. Each time you hear a Jarrett album you are curious why his name does not come up more and more. This album is the one that starts the conversation about his band playing. Enjoy!

Petty's Flowers!

I must admit I was never a huge Tom Petty fan, but then again I heard the repetition of his songs on the classic rock radio. They were always the same song from his golden era. Yea, they might have a feel of Byrds and Dylan, but to me Tom Petty's music is the songs that you don't hear on the Classic Rock Radio. One day I took all those albums that they do play and I decided to make a mix of those songs. I did not do a chronological but a random catalog mix. I realized after all the songs I got to about 20 songs. I picked songs like "Strangered In The Night," "Even The Losers," and others like "Insider" and "Yer So Bad." All these songs just had so much better feel and showcase of his songwriting talents.

I wanted to pick a popular record, but then again I wanted also pick an album that was even fresh when it came out. Petty's music is so recognizable that sometimes you have to find the few gems to get the bigger one. When I looked at his albums I wanted something that had a classic feel and at sometimes a real rocker. I could always go to his first album, still considered his best. But that is the one those Classic Rock stations play way to much. I could even go with his tow late 80's and early 90's albums. Both again were commercially great but way overplayed. I decided to go with an album that really saw one song of many overplayed. It was on heavy rotation on the radio and on MTV, but that was not the representation of the album. The rest of the fourteen songs are pretty damn' good. I decided on Wildflowers.



It was his debut for Warner Bros. and an album my guess he wanted to make. He hired an icon Rick Rubin. The rest is history right? Yes, because it's his most laid-back, natural and really fun album. It's stripped down and subtle and has some of the best songs he has ever done. It's an album that really appreciates and the respect of Tom Petty. His songwriting skills are top notch. I only wish I could write like him. When you hear this album you don't get his signature sound, but something that is fresh and great.

Tom Petty has always played great music. It's Classic Rock radio that has overplayed his hits, but if you go beyond the hits and see the real songs you see an artist with a great talent. There are about four great albums that he has put out and those are worth a listen. Even better is the live box set showcase how great his music is. Even better, the box set is a great way to hear the music that he loved as a child. There is covers by Booker T. and the MG's, early Fleetwood Mac, and even the Blues greats. I saw him once and he played for three plus hours. His sprinkling of covers was great and a good change up from hearing his hits.



So for a change of pace I recommend a Tom Petty album. It's something different for my blog. I think that Wildflowers is something different and very mellow. It's not a way to start into his collection, that is great. Enjoy! An album that is wonderful and got some classic sounds and rockers too. The best thing about Tom Petty is that this album is the one that changed his image and Classic Rock percepetion. Enjoy!