Doug Sahm and Band

Doug Sahm is one of the great figures in 20th century American music, which isn't quite the same thing as saying he's one of the best-known musicians. Guitarist, composer, arranger, and songwriter Doug Sahm was a knowledgeable music historian and veteran performer equally comfortable in a range of styles, including Texas blues, country, rock & roll, Western swing, and Cajun. That being said, he is one of the most important people I think of when I hear good old fashion Texas Blues. Sure ZZ Top made it widely available to the masses, but Doug made it from his mix of the music that was described.

I think what got me started on liking his music was a neighbor who loved anything that had a Texas musical influence. He would play stuff from artists such as Asleep at the Wheel, Jimmy Vaughn, Willie Nelson, and Los Lobos. All these artists had a deep respect for Doug Sahm and would always put him at the top of any list. He was a prodigy at age five when he made his debut on the radio. He even played with Hank Williams at the age of eleven. He could play guitar, mandolin, and violin. Even Bob Dylan sighted him as an important influence.



One musician stood out when I talked to my neighbor about music and that man was Doug Sahm. I never took much in account on what he was saying half the time because my neighbor was a heavy drinker. He would regale me in how cool San Antonio was for music. I did not doubt him, but every time he talked about the music scene he got bitter that he was not there to enjoy or see it ever again.

Doug Sahm started the Sir Douglas Quartet in 1965. A band that my neighbor mentioned to me. He told me that even though he was to young to know about them he would hear them from his fathers record player. One day my neighbor and I went to some tag sales. I found some Sir Douglas and told him to pick it up. He did and we got it home we put it on the stereo and blast out the speakers. He really enjoyed it, you could see it in his eyes. When my neighbor moved away he handed me the records that we picked up and told me to enjoy and keep Texas music alive. That was the last I ever saw of him.



Unlike the huge popularity of Townes Van Zandt who was also a Texas native, I remember how much great joy Doug Sahm's music brought to my neighbor. Townes will be featured in another blog not because I need to know about him, on the contrary he has a body of work worthy anybody that is awesome, but with Townes he is a wonderful storyteller and trying to find a gem in his stuff is hard, because all his stuff is amazing. Doug's stuff is a small body of work and each is wonderful in it's own way.

With all that being said I recommend the first album after the Sir Douglas Quintet broke up I would suggest this one. The first album simply titled Doug Sahm and Band. It has a virtual who's who on it. There is Bob Dylan like you have never heard him before. Dr. John playing the wonderful keyboards, David "Fathead" Newman on horns, David Bromberg, and Tex Mex king who I am sure Doug was influenced by Flaco Jimenez and a few Douglas Quintet friends and you have a makings of a great album.

If you want to hear something really not really new, but quite influential I suggest this album right here. This group cut a lot of material, which was whittled down to the 12-track album Doug Sahm and Band, released in early 1973. At the time, the record received a push from the label and was generally disparaged because of those very all-stars on whose back it was sold, but the years have been kind indeed to the album, and it stands among Sahm's best . If you look at the photo below there are some famous people here. The man in the sunglasses is Willie Nelson and the man in the cowboy hat is Doug and the other man in the glasses is none other then Jerry Wexler who if you don't know is the man who brought Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Drifters, and Wilson Pickett just to name a few to importance in the fifties and sixties. Let Doug be your guide. Enjoy! If it was not for Doug I am not sure what we would have in this world.

Neutral Milk Is My Aeroplane

I used think Neutral Milk Hotel was a band that was Carnival music with a twist of an acid trip. They were filled with psychedelic roots and sonic sounds that not many people heard of. No other band could pull this off. I love to recommend an album that totally will throw anyone off of what music "should" be. I remember when I worked at the library one of my purchases was In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. The person who was doing the cataloging and I worked one Saturday and she brought up CD's that were going to be put in the system and then eventually put out for the public to take out and listen. It happened that all the CD's she brought up were the ones I chose for the library collection. She wanted to write what genre of music each CD was and any other notes I could put on the record so people could find it. This gave me great joy.

There was about 20 CD's that needed this explanation. We would alternate working on the desk while she was working on other tasks. Each CD had an identity to me and the music was more of an identity. Of course she never heard of the music I had bought so she assumed it was only called "Matt's Music." I tried to give her some association with some of the albums because her daughters were not much older then I. She again had no clue. It was funny telling her stories of these artist or albums and how she should catalog these.



When it came to Neutral Milk Hotel it was time for my quirky oddness to show through. She looked at me and said what is this odd ball CD. I regaled her and told her it's Neo-Psychedelia with a twinge of carnival music and very eccentric. I also told her it was the #4 album of the 1990's. I also told her I listened to it back in 1998 and thought it was very good, but their was something missing or my maturity had not caught up to it yet. She left it aside and told me that she would take it home and judge for herself. Oh! Boy! I got myself into a pickle with this one. She took it home and called me after the album was finished to tell me that I was crazy and this album would never get checked out of the library. I made a bet that it will be checked out 50 times in six month span. I won, and furthermore it got checked out 63 times in that six month span.

In that time that I was helping her catalog the CD's I told her I got re introduced to that album when I was at college. There were people who actually adored this type of music. It was a group of musicians who made this kind of indie rock and psychedelic stuff that only bands of this magnitude could make. It was somewhat of a cult project. This project even had a following like no other. Even more the best part of this was there was no one band involved in this idea. Some of these bands still make albums and perform live so the concept is still there. The music is addicting, but most of all it has some kind of hook to grab you and not let go.



The uniqueness of this album every song builds on the previous song. Each song is the part of the puzzle that you have to figure out in the forty minutes this album lasts. Every part of this album is a classic. To make it more of a classic, this was the last album Jeff Magnum and Neutral Milk Hotel would make. It's fun to see what kind of reaction when you tell your friends about an album that has a feel like it should have been put out in 1969. Every time I listen to this album it has effected me in a different way that I cannot explain. It does make my mood more positive.

If you are interested in something extremely fresh and original you should take this on for size. It was voted the fourth best album of the 1990's. It's an album that I deeply love. It is always in heavy rotation and is something that should be experienced. It may have a feel of the sixties, but the sound and the music is very original.

Cornshop Good Shit!!!!

In 1995 I was asked by a friend what new music have I been listening to. I gave him the usual answers; Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Beck, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Elliott Smith and PJ Harvey. He told me that was all well and good, but he wanted me to listen to something new and refreshing. I returned by saying to him that I been listening to a lot of Free Jazz and experimental music. He nodded and then handed me a CD by a band called Cornershop. It was called Woman's Gotta Have It. I gave it a listen and kinda liked it. It had a good sound and picked up on just about everything that was around at that time. A mix of Indie rock and Eastern music. It was lo-fi pop that got me interested. It did not have the heavy rocking feel of The Bends nor Washing Machine. It was unique with it's mix. I dug it. It was always in my CD player and it was quite fun.

Then 1997 rolled around. I was overwhelmed by the epic OK Computer. I mean I could not take my mind off of it. By the time my head stopped spinning I was listening to Portishead and Bjork, Spiritualized, Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse and Ben Folds and many others. He handed me the new Cornershop. He told me that this is a must listen. I told him that there is so much music in front of me I am not sure when I can listen to it. He told me to throw it on when you feel you need a breather.



I finally did catch my breath. I grabbed the new Cornershop. The mix of all these genres and styles was even more fun to listen to. It was cool to hear and really fun to hear a new fresh sound that was not even picked up on by the artists I have been listening to. I thought the music was fun and great to explore Indian music with the mix of western music. It was like they took the Beatles introduction to Indian music idea and ran with it. Cornershop's When I Was Born For The 7th Time is fun and exciting.

What makes When I Was Born for the 7th Time such a rich, intoxicating listen is that it balances these melodic tendencies with deceptively complex arrangements, chants, drones, electronic instrumentals, and funky rhythms, resulting in an album that becomes better with each listen. (AM) So, as I state all the time on this blog; If your looking for something new and different. This is the one that should be on top of your list. Enjoy this gem from 1997. By the way listen to the Beatles cover, it's a classic cover.

Setting A Standard

The first time I saw Keith Jarrett was in 1994 with the trio you see above. Backing Keith Jarrett was Gary Peacock on Bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums. If you listen closely you can hear me on one of those great nights he did at the Blue Note in New York City. By the time I saw then they already were a trio for eleven years. They knew each others musical idiosyncratic ways. It was Keith who introduced me to the "Standards." Keith and the band knew each other way before their first meeting in 1983. They played once on a Gary Peacock album in 1977. Keith and Jack played with Miles Davis in the fusion years and Gary is been around basically forever. He played with one of my favorite piano players Bill Evans for a short while.

When these three got together in 1983 something magic happened. I could see that in 1994 when I am watching with all seriousness. I could see that they needed no cues to tell them what to do, they already knew it and that was enough for me. I saw them four years later also in New York at the Panasonic Jazz Festival. This time with a little more understanding of Jazz and what they could do. It was amazing, and a even better treat to the ears. The last time I saw Keith Jarrett was solo at Carnegie Hall in September of 2005. It was a gift of a friend who got me the tickets. My other friend also got tickets and we sat in different areas to see what would both hear and see. We both walked out speechless for quite some time. I was hoping it got recorded and it did and we once in a while recreate that magic that night.



I think I started liking Keith Jarrett around the time he put out Standards Vol. 1. I might have not really know about it, but I remember taking that record home and listening to it and wondering what they hell is happening. It was rockin' without being a rock and roll album. It sounded so great and sounded like it was done live in the studio. It actually was come to find out. I became more aware of how a song was crafted and what sets a song apart from songs people will remake or redo. This is what was known as a standard. People who cover a song who's quality is so well done that other artist strive for that perfection of that song.

It's on these recordings that Jarrett reintroduced and reinforced the idea that standards are vehicles for limitless invention. Moreover, it can be done without emptying out the heart of the tune. If you know these songs, you can locate the themes of them in any interpretation made by this group. At the same time, you'll also find that these guys play them in such a way that transends these standards.

How Jarrett got the idea to do this in an era where everyone was writing and playing their own material is easier to understand when you look at his history of being a bit of a rebel. He rebelled against acoustic bop in the early seventies when he joined Miles Davis' electric fusion band and toured with it for about eighteen months. Not long afterwards, he rebelled against electric jazz itself and played unplugged exclusively from that point on. He rebelled against structured jazz and ensemble jazz by holding solo concerts where he made up extended pieces on the spot. And in early 1983, he decided to rebel against the growing notion that in order to be creative, you must play melodies that no one has heard before.



With that said the first album of Standards is amazing. With only five tracks each song is dissected and pulled apart so well that you hear the wonderful melody of the songs and you hear each person give their interpretation of each song very well. Every good jazz musician know this and use it as vehicle for their own musicianship. Keith knows this so well that he can play anything and he will make it sound so perfect that few people copy it.



So when it came to pick a Keith Jarrett album it was extremely tough. I own about 90% of his albums. I stuck with the Standard Vol. 1 because it was the first ever Keith Jarrett album I owned. It was one of two Keith Jarrett albums in the collection at my local library. It was that caught my attention with the simple cover art. The title and the artists playing on the album. It was an album that had a song I recognized with a song called "God Bless The Child" because
of a Blood Sweat and Tears album my dad owned at some point. I was impressed also by the length of the song. It was fifteen and half minutes long and it just seemed great to hear a song stretched out like that. Upon listening to the song I fell in love, the groove was wonderful and they dynamic between all three was wonderful. The whole album is a classic and deserves a worthy of a must listen. It's a good introduction to trio music or just Jazz in general. All three people are some of the best people in the business. I do suggest that you get this as the box set version its called Setting Standard: The New York Sessions. It really is an amazing 3CD set recorded all at the same time, but put on three albums. Listen and enjoy!! This is what music is all about.

Jingo Santana!!!

According to family and friends who went to the first Woodstock, Santana stole the whole show. My Uncle even tells me that he was so impressive that everyone he knew thought his first album was already out and could be bought in that August of 1969. Sadly he had to wait till October of that year to get the album. Santana's mix of fusion and Latin and Afro sounds makes it unique for it's time. The guitar solos and heavy bass line and of course the organ appealed to me. In High School I wanted to recreate the artwork on the front for a t-shirt, but was shot down by the teacher explaining how difficult it was to do.

I did not need to stumble upon Santana by myself, but I had to look around for his stuff through a variety of places. My father picked up the first album way after his early seventies popularity was at it's peak. My uncle had most of his albums and had his CD's as well. He told me to grab most of the records and listen how great he sounds. The ones in his collection were his first three plus he had an album with Santana and John McLaughlin. That album I did not listen for quite some time after I found out about the Mahavishnu Orchestra.




I took these albums home and studied them. I pulled out my 60's book on music and read the short description about Santana. It's all I needed to do. Under both my uncle and the book it told me to listen to the Woodstock stuff first. I did even though it was only one song. The best song on the album actually. The song "Soul Sacrifice" was amazing. This time I focused on a 17 year old drummer by the name of Michael Shrieve. He was extremely talented. He was able to keep pace with the percussionist in the band. It all came together when he did his drum solo. It maybe simple, but this like Tony Williams was one of the youngest great drummers out there.

I went back to the first album and listened all they way through, not once, but twice. I was impressed all the way. I thought this album had those moments of everything that I mentioned and more. I even thought Greg Rolie's vocals were top notch. It was a extremely great album. I love this album what can I say. It did define more then the sixties, it defined a new exploration in music. If you don't own this album then you should, its a classic just on its own.

Beck's Bolero

I was a fan of Jeff Beck early in my life. I stumbled upon him listening to Classic Rock radio like I always used to do. I knew I liked him because he was Eric Clapton's replacement in the Yardbirds. I also liked him because some of the solo stuff he played was great. The stuff that would make you boogie. So when it came to buy a tape or record of him at the record store I would leave with out any. I had no idea where to start and even what was his greatest work. I mean all the stuff I used to hear on the radio was from every part of his life. They would play stuff from Wired or Blow by Blow and I would say that's the one I want.

One day all that changed. I should just buy a greatest hits and get it over with. That would be too simple and I did not want to go that route. Smart enough for me there was no greatest hits at the time of my search. Even my uncle told me to go the route of buying the albums and the first one you should go with is Wired or Blow by Blow. The same stuff the radio station said. One morning though on the radio they did not play stuff from that album but an album called simply Truth. This was an album I never heard of. I listened to it closely with my good ears.

It was amazing I could hear the lush sounds of 12 string guitar who I found out later was Jimmy Page and I could hear the wild flaying of drums by Keith Moon. The cool organ sound of none other then John Paul Jones. It started to climb with the solo by Jeff Beck over all of that. I had no idea where it was going to go. I was waiting in anticipation, but not for long. It finally hit it's peak at just the right moment. The scream of Rod Stewart and then like an explosion it just killed. It was amazing the whole band making these heavy blues and hard rock sounds that sounded amazing.



It was that big sound that made make my decision. The announcer told me that it was off his very first solo album called Truth. It maybe hard to find, but well worth the effort. At 15 I set out to find this album. I went to my two record stores. They both did not have it. They would let me know if they did. It was an exhaustive search too. I decided while looking to get it on the album on cassette. Hey at least that was around and it was cheap too. I could put this in my tape player and listen to it. When I got the tape I quickly put it in the tape deck.

The album was quick enough to make me forget the Yardbirds version of "Shapes of Things" with a whole new fresh sound. Everything about the album was wonderful. The guitar playing was borderline Heavy Metal riffs. Adding to the mix was a very young Rod Stewart on vocals. It was quite fun to hear him sound so young, but with the maturity of an experienced voice. You can tell that even the song selection had catered to his voice with songs like "Ol' Man River" and "Morning Dew."



Jeff Beck is still one of my favorite guitar players. I have seen him twice and he puts on a really great show. He keeps his roots on one foot and kicks you in the ass with the other. He is a really great musician and experience as a rock and roll and fusion guitar player show in everything he does. Listen to how this album is compared to other guitar albums from back then. It is a quite impressive argument about his talent. Oh! Yeah! By the way six years after trying to find the album I was about to give up and found the LP at a tag sale for a buck. Enjoy!!

Sweet Masterpiece

How many of you remember that video. I remember it when I was in High School. Back then the videos tried to remain simple, but Matthew Sweet took it a bit further. He decided to use his music with Japanese animation to it. It worked pretty damn good. What was also cool was that signature guitar sound that Matthew Sweet was famous for. Matthew Sweet even had a back up band that was worthy of any band. His guitar players beside him he had Richard Lloyd from Television and Robert Quine who played with Richard Hell, Lou Reed, Brian Eno and John Zorn among others. Fred Maher on drums who also played with Lou Reed and others. The bass playing and rhythm guitar playing was mostly Matthew Sweet. The band is round out by Greg Leisz who is Bill Frisell's go to guy for pedal steel.

Matthew Sweet was a funny story. He was somewhat noncommercial. He bounced from Columbia records and A&M records. Then he landed at Zoo Records. Some how is wonderful mix of Neil Young, Byrds, Big Star, and the Beatles. It begins so classic that you know you have a gem.

They layer of vocals and beautiful guitar and vocals and chunk sound from the guitar and the awesomeness of the stereo sound of how he adds parts on top of each other. Each song has it's own identity. It's Richard Lloyd's finest moment on the first track "Divine Intervention." This signature sound never grows old. Everytime I hear the album I feel like I am in the studio watching Matthew Sweet blow everybody away.



Hearing this for the first time in 1991 was a treat because you could hear every nuance on what he was doing. Every song on this album has some great gem attached to it. It really is amazing to hear. He really does come into his own here. While everyone talks about Girlfriend and how it's guitar pop. I think it's just damn good album. He even pays homage to the record. With the song "Your Sweet Voice," it ends like a record should be turned over. I think that is pretty awesome and it goes right into the next song which I love. My favorite song on the album "Does She Talk." It is full of power chords and his lyrics are awesome. It's about a man's hunting the opposite gender. He conquerors and the rest is history.

If you missed something in 1991 then this is the album for you. It has not grunge feel, but it certainly has the feel of Neil Young and Crazy Horse and other bands I mentioned above. It is fresh and fun and well done. His voice is really cool too. Enjoy an album that has the feel of 1975 all over again. It is fun to hear and most of all new!!!