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Great albums, Music Calendar, The Who

Dec 3: The Who released “My Generation” in 1965

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The Who My-Generation--2

 An explosive debut, and the hardest mod pop recorded by anyone. At the time of its release, it also had the most ferociously powerful guitars and drums yet captured on a rock record. Pete Townshend’s exhilarating chord crunches and guitar distortions threaten to leap off the grooves on “My Generation” and “Out in the Street”; Keith Moon attacks the drums with a lightning, ruthless finesse throughout.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

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August 14 in music history

August 14: The Who released “Who’s Next” in 1971 (read more)

With its acoustic guitars and drumless bits, this triumph of hard rock is no more a pure hard rock album than Tommy. … And… it uses the synthesizer to vary the power trio format, not to art things up.
~Robert Christgau

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On Who’s Next, the band crossed that line with power and grace. The album spawned the concert classics “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”; the great Daltrey vocal vehicles “Bargain” and “Song Is Over”; Entwistle’s scorching, anxiety-ridden “My Wife”; and Townshend’s most delicate song on record, “Behind Blue Eyes.” On Who’s Next, Townshend unleashed the power of the synthesizer as a rock & roll instrument, to be used like guitar or bass rather than as a special-effects novelty.
~The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (rollingstone.com)

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 August 14: David Crosby is 73 Happy Birthday – top 11 songs (read more)David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941)
American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN, who are sometimes joined by Neil Young as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young [CSNY]); and CPR.		  David Crosby-2
 20 years ago: Bob Dylan: Woodstock ‘94, Saugerties, New York (Videos) (read more)

The whole performance, with the sound so well mixed and the band so good that night, argues that the mid-1990s Bob Dylan can stand in the same room with the Dylans of the past. He is alive, alert, fully into his jazz-improvisational vocals and making some wonderful noises: and not imitating himself but singing—phrasing—afresh. Woodstock II is a real performance.
-Michael Gray (The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia)
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For once, Dylan responds to the importance of the event by delivering a tight, powerful set.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)

  bob dylan woodstock 1994
 Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music artist. Active since 1964, Smith is widely considered to be one of the genre’s best female vocalists. She has earned 11 Grammy awardnominations, 20 top ten Billboard country singles, and 31 charting albums, three of which have hit number one. On October 21, 2012, Smith became the 12th solo female vocalist and 19th woman to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  connie smith
 Roy Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound, Buchanan was a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career, and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still considered a highly influential guitar player. Guitar Player praised him as having one of the “50 Greatest Tones of all Time.”  RoyBuchananPerforming_flip

Spotify Playlist – August 14
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August 1 in music history

August 1: The late Jerry Garcia was born in 1942 (read more)

There’s no way to measure his greatness or magnitude as a person or as a player. I don’t think eulogizing will do him justice. He was that great – much more than a superb musician with an uncanny ear and dexterity. He is the very spirit personified of whatever is Muddy River Country at its core and screams up into the spheres. He really had no equal. To me he wasn’t only a musician and friend, he was more like a big brother who taught and showed me more than he’ll ever know. There are a lot of spaces and advances between the Carter Family, Buddy Holly and, say, Ornette Coleman, a lot of universes, but he filled them all without being a member of any school. His playing was moody, awesome, sophisticated, hypnotic and subtle. There’s no way to convey the loss. It just digs down really deep.
~Bob Dylan (Jerry Garcia’s Obituary – 10 August 1995)

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 August 1: Bob Dylan & George Harrison: New York City, New York, 1971 (Videos) – post update (read more)

This was Dylan’s first live performance in two years. Harrison had to twist his arm to get him to take part in the benefit concert, and we can be very glad he did: it’s a stunning performance (both shows), modest, confident, richly textured, with Dylan feeling and communicating genuine love for the music he’s playing (in the case of” Blowin’ in the Wind” this was his first public performance of the song in seven years). Most of all, Dylan’s voice on this midsummer afternoon and evening has a rare, penetrating beauty that is immediately noticeable to almost anyone who hears it. This is, in a very real sense, the Dylan a large part of his audience dreams of hearing; this is the voice to fit the stereotyped or mythic image of Bob Dylan, guitar strumming poet laureate of the 1960s.
~Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)

  Bob Dylan & George Harrison 1971
 Ramblin’ Jack Elliott (born Elliot Charles Adnopoz, August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer and performer.

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Allmusic (Craig Harris):
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is one of folk music’s most enduring characters. Since he first came on the scene in the late ’50s, Elliott influenced everyone from Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger to the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. The son of a New York doctor and a onetime traveling companion of Woody Guthrie, Elliott used his self-made cowboy image to bring his love of folk music to one generation after another. Despite the countless miles that Elliott traveled, his nickname is derived from his unique verbiage: an innocent question often led to a mosaic of stories before he got to the answer. According to folk songstress Odetta, it was her mother who gave Elliott the name when she remarked, “Oh, that Jack Elliott, he sure can ramble.”

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 Robert Cray (born August 1, 1953, Columbus, Georgia, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.  robert_cray.box
 “I’m a Boy” (Recorded 31 July – 1 August 1966 – IBC Studios in London, UK) is a 1966 rock song written by Pete Townshend for his band The Who. The song, like other early recordings by the band, such as “I Can’t Explain”, “The Kids Are Alright” and “Happy Jack”, centers around the early power pop genre. The song was originally intended to be a part of a rock opera called ‘Quads’ which was to be set in the future where parents can choose the sex of their children. The idea was later scrapped, but this song survived and was later released as a single.  I'm_a_Boy_single

Spotify Playlist – August 1
Muddy Waters, Music Calendar

June 27 in music history

Muddy Waters released – Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection in 2000 (read more)

Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection is a compilation album collecting the first 50 master recordings of blues singer Muddy Waters for Chess Records. The collection spans Muddy’s debut with then named Aristocrat Records circa 1947, and traces his evolution as a songwriter and musician up to September 17th, 1952 on what became Chess Records after the company changed ownership. It is the first in a series of releases chronicling Muddy Waters’ complete recording career at Chess. 

 Muddy Waters - Rollin' Stone - The Golden Anniversary Collection

The late John Entwistle passed away in 2002 – 12 years ago

John Alec Entwistle (9 October 1944 – 27 June 2002) was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Who in 1990.

  OBIT John Entwistle
Jerome Solon Felder, better known as Doc Pomus (June 27, 1925 – March 14, 1991),American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lyricist of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category of non-performer in 1992. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. and the Blues Hall of Fame.  doc pomus
Neil Young & Paul McCartney A Day In The Life Live From Hyde Park 27th June 2009:
 neil and paul

Bob Dylan & Van Morrison: Philopappos (The Hill Of The Muses), Athens, Greece 27 June 1989 (Videos)

 bob dylan van morrison greece 1989

Chuck Berry: Anthology (released June 27, 2000) (read more)

 Chuck_Berry-The_Anthology-Frontal

Spotify Playlist – June 27
Music Calendar

June 12 in music history

77 years ago: Chips Moman was born in 1937 (read more)

One of the most important characters in the Memphis music scene in the 60′s. Chips Moman helped start Stax Records, then American Sound Studios, which cut 122 chart hits from 1967 to 1972 — an unparalleled achievement.

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Lincoln Wayne “Chips” Moman (born, June 12, 1937 La Grange, Georgia, United States) is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s. As a songwriter, he is responsible for standards associated with Aretha Franklin, James Carr, Waylon Jennings, and B. J. Thomas. He has been a session guitarist for Franklin and other musicians.

 chips
Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea (born June 12, 1941) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis’ band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett, he has been described as one of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the post-John Coltrane era.His career has been driven by his will to operate as a free agent and compulsively explore different avenues of music making. This hunger has positioned him as an important catalyst in the world of serious, mainstream acoustic jazz, and he is one of the most influential and widely studied figures in the last 40 years. Chick_Corea

The Who played Swansea, City Football Ground, 12 June 1976 (read more)

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 Charles Arthur “Charlie” Feathers (June 12, 1932 – August 29, 1998) was an American country music and rockabilly musician.  charlie_feathers_1

Spotify Playlist – june 12