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Forum di Assago Assago Milan, Italy 14 November 2011 1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat |
Continue reading Bob Dylan & Mark Knopfler: Milan, Italy, 14 November 2011 (20 min video)
All posts by Egil
Today: Johnny Marr is 50 Happy Birthday
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Today: Stevie Wonder released “Talking Book” in 1972 – 41 years ago
The artist breaks through and takes control, though not in that order. Suddenly he’s writing better ballads than he used to choose, and not at any sacrifice of his endearing natural bathos (if you have doubts about “Sunshine of My Life,” try “Blame It on the Sun”). “Maybe Your Baby” and “Big Brother” continue his wild multi-voice experiments but come in out of left field. And “Superstition” translates his way of knowledge into hard-headed, hard-rocking political analysis.
~Robert Christgau
From Wikipedia:
| Released | October 28, 1972 |
|---|---|
| Recorded | 1972 |
| Genre | Soul, funk |
| Length | 43:31 |
| Label | Tamla |
| Producer | Stevie Wonder, Robert Margouleff,Malcolm Cecil |
Talking Book is the fifteenth album by Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972. A signal recording of his “classic period”, in this one he “hit his stride.” The album’s first track, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, earned Wonder his first Grammy Award, for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Superstition live on Sesame Street:
Sandwiched between the release of Music of My Mind and Innervisions, Talking Book saw Wonder enjoying more artistic freedom from Motown. Guest appearances include Jeff Beck, Ray Parker, Jr., David Sanborn, and Buzz Feiten. The sound of the album is sharply defined by Wonder’s keyboard work, especially with the synthesizers he incorporated, giving a funky edge to tracks like “Maybe Your Baby”. His use of the Hohner clavinet model C on “Superstition” is widely regarded as one of the definitive tracks featuring the instrument. His swinging clavinet and harmonica embellishments on “Big Brother”, though, defy categorization.
Reception:
Released after Wonder toured with the Rolling Stones in 1972, Talking Book became an immediate hit. The popular appeal of the recording helped destroy the myth that R&B artists were incapable of creating music that could be appreciated by rock audiences, and marked a unique period for R&B artists (especially Motown artists).
- Talking Book peaked at #3 on the Pop Albums chart, and became the first album for Wonder to top the Top R&B Albums chart where it remained for three weeks.
- Wonder won three awards for Talking Book at the 1974 Grammys: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “You Are the Sunshine of My Life”, and both Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song for “Superstition”.
- Incidentally, at the same ceremony, Wonder’s next album, Innervisions, won Album of the Year and Talking Book’s producers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff won the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical award for their work on that album.
- In 2003, the album was ranked number 90 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
You are The Sunshine of My Life – Rainbow Theatre in London. Feb 1974:
Songs
- “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” 2:58
- “Maybe Your Baby” 6:51
- “You and I (We Can Conquer the World)” 4:38
- “Tuesday Heartbreak” 3:02
- “You’ve Got It Bad Girl” (Wonder, Yvonne Wright) 4:59
- “Superstition” 4:26
- “Big Brother” 3:34
- “Blame It on the Sun” (Wonder, Syreeta Wright) 3:26
- “Looking for Another Pure Love” (Wonder, Syreeta Wright) 4:43
- “I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)” (Wonder, Yvonne Wright)
Album of the day – Talking Book (1972):
From allmusic.com – John Bush:
After releasing two “head” records during 1970-71, Stevie Wonder expanded his compositional palate with 1972’s Talking Book to include societal ills as well as tender love songs, and so recorded the first smash album of his career. What had been hinted at on the intriguing project Music of My Mind was here focused into a laser beam of tight songwriting, warm electronic arrangements, and ebullient performances — altogether the most realistic vision of musical personality ever put to wax, beginning with a disarmingly simple love song, “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” (but of course, it’s only the composition that’s simple). Stevie’s not always singing a tender ballad here — in fact, he flits from contentment to mistrust to promise to heartbreak within the course of the first four songs — but he never fails to render each song in the most vivid colors. In stark contrast to his early songs, which were clever but often relied on the Motown template of romantic metaphor, with Talking Book it became clear Stevie Wonder was beginning to speak his mind and use personal history for material (just as Marvin Gaye had with the social protest of 1971’s What’s Going On). … read more over @ allmusic.com
Other October 28:
Continue reading Today: Stevie Wonder released “Talking Book” in 1972 – 41 years ago
R.I.P. Lou Reed
One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz.
~Lou ReedI think that everything happens for a reason, everything happens when it’s going to happen.
~Lou ReedLou Reed always makes a great record
~Bob Dylan (to Don McLeese, Jan 1986)…he’s often cited as punk’s most important ancestor. It’s often overlooked, though, that he’s equally skilled at celebrating romantic joy, and rock & roll itself, as he is at depicting harrowing urban realities.
~Richie Unterberger
Sad news today: Lou Reed has died.
We’ll honor this great artist with a profile post here at JV.
Patti Smith inducts Velvet Underground Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1996:
Sweet Jane (@ Letterman 1993):
Wikipedia:
| Birth name | Lewis Allan Reed |
|---|---|
| Born | March 2, 1942 (age 71) Brooklyn, New York United States |
| Genres | Rock, experimental rock, art rock, protopunk, noise music, drone music, psychedelic rock, folk rock, glam rock, blue-eyed soul, spoken word |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, producer, photographer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, ostrich guitar, bass, synthesizer, keyboards, piano, harmonica, drums, percussion |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Labels | Matador, MGM, RCA, Sire, Reprise, Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts | The Velvet Underground, John Cale, Nico,David Bowie, The Killers, Mick Ronson, Gorillaz, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gabriel, Metallica, Metric |
| Website | www.loureed.com |
Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed (born March 2, 1942) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which has spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era. As the Velvet Underground’s principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture.
After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with “Walk on the Wild Side”, although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate. Reed’s work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, “No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive.”
A Walk On The Wild Side (Live at Farm Aid 1985):
Album of the day:
New York (1989)
-Egil
Bob Dylan: 10 best songs recorded in 1983
This is an updated & revised post originally published a year ago.
The “Infidels” Birthday inspired me to set up a list of Dylan’s best songs recorded in 1983.
I’ve chosen to include 2 versions of “Blind Willie McTell”. This is by far the best song Dylan recorded in 1983… and the both versions are fantastic.
| 1 | Blind Willie McTell – electric version | not released* |
| 2 | Blind Willie McTell – acoustic version | The Bootleg Series 3 |
| 3 | Jokerman | Infidels |
| 4 | Foot of Pride | The Bootleg Series 3 |
| 5 | Someone’s Got A Hold Of My Heart – alt.version | not released* |
| 6 | License To Kill | Infidels |
| 7 | I & I | Infidels |
| 8 | Lord Protect My Child | The Bootleg Series 3 |
| 9 | Sweetheart Like You | Infidels |
| 10 | Tell Me | The Bootleg Series 3 |
* My source is the “Rough Cuts” bootleg:
Check out bobsboots.com
Now for the goodies..
1. Blind Willie McTell – electric version:
I didn’t think I recorded it right. But I don’t know why that stuff gets out on me. I mean,
it never seems to get out on other people.
~Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder, March 1984)
–
Seen the arrow on the doorpost
Saying, “This land is condemned
All the way from New Orleans
To Jerusalem”
I traveled through East Texas
Where many martyrs fell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTellWell, I heard that hoot owl singing
As they were taking down the tents
The stars above the barren trees
Were his only audience
Them charcoal gypsy maidens
Can strut their feathers well
But nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTellSee them big plantations burning
Hear the cracking of the whips
Smell that sweet magnolia blooming
See the ghosts of slavery ships
I can hear them tribes a-moaning
Hear that undertaker’s bell
Nobody can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTellThere’s a woman by the river
With some fine young handsome man
He’s dressed up like a squire
Bootlegged whiskey in his hand
There’s a chain gang on the highway
I can hear them rebels yell
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTellWell, God is in His heaven
And we all want what’s His
But power and greed and corruptible seed
Seem to be all that there is
I’m gazing out the window
Of the St. James Hotel
And I know no one can sing the blues
Like Blind Willie McTell