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Great albums, Music Calendar

September 13: Jonathan Wilson released Gentle Spirit in 2011

Jonathan_Wilson-Gentle_Spirit-Frontal

“A hundred blowin’ up in the headlines
We’ve seen it all before
The powers are killing the paupers
For some idea of God,
or whatever”

Gentle Spirit is the first official studio album released by Los Angeles, California artist Jonathan Wilson. It was released in the United Kingdom and Europe on August 8, 2011 and in the United States on September 13, 2011 on Bella Union and received the #4 spot on Mojo Magazine’s 2011 Best of Albums of the Year.  The album was recorded at Wilson’s former studio in Laurel Canyon and mixed at his new studio in Echo Park.

Jonathan Wilson records great music and he is fantastic live, I needed some time to get into his mindset, and I must confess that I didn’t understand all the positive reviews this album got at first. We did not include it in our top 25 albums of 2011, it should have been in the top 5. We got the opportunity to see him live in 2012 and that changed everything I thought I knew about Jonathan Wilson. It was a tremendous concert, and when I got home I started to listen to Gentle Spirit in a completely different way. My stats on LastFM tells me it is my most played album of 2012.

Gentle Spirit (acoustic):

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Bergenfest, Concert Review, Review

Bergenfest: Jonathan Wilson Concert

Thursday – june 21, 19:15  – Magic Mirrors tent

“..So.. is anybody drunk yet?”
–Jonathan Wilson joking with the audience
(the bass player immediately raised his hand)

Jonathan Wilson’s concert at Bergenfest on Thursday evening was a time travel back to 70s California and Wilson and his band turned the hot venue into a cool west-coast breeze.   Jonathan Wilson had an easy going vibe going, he joked with the audience and it was an overall good feeling in the “tent”.

Wilson’s album, Gentle Spirit, have been making huge waves this last year and it was on many best-of-the- year lists in 2011. That said, the evening wasn’t all calm and cool. The band (and what a band, they’re fantastic both individiually and as collectively) frequently manouvered into a heavy rock’n roll groove. Just magnificent.

On the album his music is clearly related to the softer Laurel Canyon sound, cool, melancholic tunes layered in strings and organs, beautiful . In concert, the songs open up  in a more “aggressive” way. It’s like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young with emphasis on Neil Young and I also heard Pink Floyd’s influence on several songs.

It was an absolutely great concert, and we all wanted more when it was over.

Best song: “Can We really party today?”

Rating:  Egil 5/6 , Hallgeir 6/6

Here is his great album:

-Egil & Hallgeir