Tag Archives: Crazy Horse

Today: The late Robert Johnson was born in 1911 – 102 years ago

“Just look at the picture of him with the acoustic guitar: His fingers are in the weirdest position. If you’re a guitar player looking at that, you know this is a guy who’s not even thinking; he’s just there. … The soul of his creative originality plays a huge part in music making for everyone who’s ever written a song and really known what they’re doing.”
~Neil Young

“You think you’re getting a handle on playing the blues, and then you hear Robert Johnson — some of the rhythms he’s doing and playing and singing at the same time, you think, ‘This guy must have three brains!’ ”
~Keith Richards

Favorite album? I think the Robert Johnson album. I listen to that quite a bit still.
~Bob Dylan (Rockline interview – June 1985)

Cross Road Blues:

From Wikipedia:
Birth name Robert Leroy Johnson
Born May 8, 1911
Hazlehurst, Mississippi
Died August 16, 1938 (aged 27)
Greenwood, Mississippi
Genres Delta blues, Country blues
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals, harmonica
Years active 1929–38

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was an American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936–37 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson’s shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given rise to much legend, including a Faustian myth. As an itinerant performer who played mostly on street corners, in juke joints, and at Saturday night dances, Johnson enjoyed little commercial success or public recognition in his lifetime.

Johnson’s records sold poorly during his lifetime. It was only after the reissue of his recordings in 1961 on the LP King of the Delta Blues Singers that his work reached a wider audience. Johnson is now recognized as a master of the blues, particularly of the Mississippi Delta blues style. He is credited by many rock musicians as an important influence; Eric Clapton has called Johnson “the most important blues singer that ever lived.” Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “Early Influence” in their first induction ceremony in 1986. In 2003, David Fricke ranked Johnson fifth in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Me and the Devil Blues:

…Johnson’s major influence has been on genres of music that weren’t recognized as such until long after his death: rock and roll and rock. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included four of his songs in a set of 500 they deemed to have shaped the genre:

Johnson recorded these songs a decade and a half before the recognized advent of rock and roll, dying a year or two later. The Museum inducted him as an “Early Influence” in their first induction ceremony in 1986, almost a half century after his death. Marc Meyers of the Wall Street Journal wrote that, “His ‘Stop Breakin’ Down Blues’ from 1937 is so far ahead of its time that the song could easily have been a rock demo cut in 1954.

Playlist of the day:

Other May-08:

Continue reading Today: The late Robert Johnson was born in 1911 – 102 years ago

Best albums of 2012: number 6 to 10

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6. Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill

@ first listen this immediately felt like vintage Neil Young… and it still does, especially on the 3 best songs: Ramada Inn, Walk like a Giant and Driftin’ Back. The lenght of these 3 songs combined lands at about 60 min! Long guitar driven songs where Crazy Horse holds the fort while a liberated Neil Young shines in this wonderful noisy landscape. These songs are not as good as the classics Cowgirl In The SandDown By The River, but they are close… Ramada Inn is closest.

The other songs on the album are much weaker, but who cares… we got 60 bloody minutes in Neil Young & Crazy Horse heaven!

-Egil

Highlights:

  • Egil: Ramada Inn, Walk like a giant and Driftin’ Back
  • Hallgeir: Ramada Inn, Walk like a giant and Driftin’ Back

 

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7. Bill Fay – Life is people

“There are miracles in the strangest of places”

I didn’t know who Bill Fay was until I heard Life is people, but I’ve since read myself up on this so called “cult-artist”, his music is wonderful. This album is long overdue and it is a great come-back record. Bill Fay’s first album since 1971!..and it is only his third proper release.

This is spritual music, music full of wisdom and serene honesty. It’s as if Van Morrison and Randy Newman decided to make music together. The album is loaded with strong melodies and meditative lyrics.

…and Jeff Tweedy guests.

Melodic, spiritual and a fantastic come-back

– Hallgeir

Highlights:

  • Egil: Never Ending Happening, There is a Valley, Jesus Etc & The Healing Day
  • Hallgeir: The Healing Day, There is a valley, The Coast no man can tell and Jesus,  Etc.

 

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8. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

I’ve got no future, I know my days are few
(from “Darkness”)

Mortality, Death & loss mixed with Warm Humor….

I love to speak with Leonard
He’s a sportsman and a shepherd
He’s a lazy bastard
Living in a suit….
(from “Going Home”)

Yearning, spirituality, love, lust, and this heavenly voice (He was 77 when recording the album) that still makes me shiver, his brilliant live-band helps out, this is a Leonard Cohen in top form.

-Egil

Highlights:

  • Egil: Darkness, Going Home & Show Me The Place
  • Hallgeir: Going Home, Anyhow and Darkness

 

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9. Iris Dement – Sings the Delta

“I stopped in the church to pray
it was the middle of the day
and I don’t even know if I believe in God”
– The Kingdom has already come (Iris Dement)

“Iris’s songs talk about isolated memories of life, love and living.”
– John Prine

What a return after 16 years! It is the same theme, love, family, religion, hard life and memories, but Iris Dement it at the top of her game. And her game is at the highest level. The songs are often dark and about death, but at the same time they are achingly beautiful.

Dark traditional country, beautifully sung.

– Hallgeir

Highlights:

  • Egil: The Night I learned how not to pray, Sing the Delta & Before The Colors Fade
  • Hallgeir: The Night I learned how not to pray, Sing the Delta and Morning Glory

 

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10. Calexico – Algiers

Don’t wanna be alone for long
I don’t wanna be on this dark road alone

I read somewhere that Calexico’s music was labeled Tex-Mex Noir, that captures my view on their music to the point. I think Calexico is having a very good period as a band, all albums from 2003’s Feast of Wire have been great. Calexico has relocated to New Orleans for this record, but the band still deftly mixes Americana, mariachi, country, jazz and indie rock to create something instantly recognisable. Thankfully, it sounds like Calexico.

Algiers’ sonic landscape is fascinating, they still manage to evoke a distint feeling of space and place, I get transported to that little bar on the Mexican border, I can still taste the tequila.

Music with a stong sense of place, and they get better and better.

– Hallgeir

Highlights:

  • Egil: Fortune Teller, Epic, Sinner In The Sea
  • Hallgeir: Epic, Fortune Teller and Para

Link to the complete LIST

Today: Danny Whitten died in 1972, 40 years ago

“I am not a preacher, but drugs killed a lot of great men.”
– Neil Young (liner notes Decade)

Danny Whitten died 18 November 1972, 40 years ago

Daniel Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American musician and songwriter best known for his work with Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and for the song “I Don’t Want To Talk About It“, a hit for Rita Coolidge, Rod Stewart and Everything but the Girl.

Songwriter Neil Young, fresh from departing the Buffalo Springfield, with one album of his own under his belt, began jamming with the Rockets and expressed interest in recording with Whitten, Molina and Talbot. The trio agreed, so long as they were allowed to simultaneously continue on with The Rockets: Young acquiesced initially, but imposed a rehearsal schedule that made that an impossibility. At first dubbed “War Babies” by Young, they soon became known as Crazy Horse.

Nils Lofgren – Beggar’s Day (Eulogy for Danny Whitten):

Recording sessions led to Young’s second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, credited as Neil Young with Crazy Horse, with Whitten on second guitar and vocals. Although his role was that of support, Whitten sang the album’s opening track “Cinnamon Girl” along with Young, and Whitten and Young played guitar on “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.” These tracks would influence the grunge movement of the 1990s, and all three songs would be counted among Young’s most memorable work, continuing to hold a place in his performance repertoire to this day.


As did so many other rock musicians in the late 1960s, Whitten began using heroin and quickly became addicted. Although he participated in the early stages of Young’s next solo effort, After the Gold Rush, Whitten and the rest of Crazy Horse were dismissed about halfway through the recording sessions, in part because of Whitten’s heavy drug use. Whitten performs on “Oh, Lonesome Me”, “I Believe in You”, and “When You Dance I Can Really Love”. Young wrote and recorded “The Needle and the Damage Done” during this time, with direct references to Whitten’s addiction and its role in the destruction of his talent.

Continue reading Today: Danny Whitten died in 1972, 40 years ago