Monthly Archives: June 2015

Country, folk, Great albums, Lucinda Williams, Singer Songwriter

June 5: Lucinda Williams released Essence in 2001

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Essence,

I envy the wind
That whispers in your ear
That howls through the winter
That freezes your fingers
That moves through your hair
And cracks your lips
And chills you to the bone
I envy the wind

June 5: Lucinda Williams released Essence in 2001

Essence is Lucinda Williams’ sixth album. It was released in 2001. It is a wonderful album, one of the best albums that year, hell, one of the best albums that decade!

Essence was highly anticipated coming after a three-year gap from her lauded Car Wheels on a Gravel Road and the critical reviews reflect that. Although positive, none rate the album as highly as her breakthrough. Robert Christgau, who raved about Car Wheels, called the album “imperfect” but still praised her artistry saying “[she] is too damn good to deny.” Reviewers noted the difference in tone between the two albums with Rolling Stone citing the “willful intimacy” of the music while Spin contrasted its “halting, spare” presentation with Car Wheels “giddy, verbose” one. In a review posted by Salon the album was called “an emotional mess of a masterpiece”.

Q listed Essence as one of the best 50 albums of 2001. 

Personnel on the album include Tony Garnier and Charlie Sexton, best known as part of Bob Dylan’s live backing band then and now. The album also features session drummer Jim Keltner, another Dylan collaborator.

Fantastic album!

Lucinda Williams – Essence (Live):

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Classic Concert, Country, Great albums, Johnny Cash, Music Calendar

June 4: Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin was released in 1969

 

June 4:  Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin was released in 1969

When I was little boy I was very interested in music, the radio and records. My father had a small  but very good record collection. Among the treasures in his collection was this album, Johnny Cash – Live at San Quentin. My father told me the story of the album, and I remember that the Norwegian broadcast company (yes there were only one channel at the time, early 70s) showed the actual concert. It was very late at night but my father woke me and I got to see this legendary show.   It marked me for life.

At San Quentin is the 31st overall album and a recording of a live concert given by Johnny Cash to the inmates of San Quentin State Prison. As well as being released on record the concert was filmed by Granada Television.

Johnny Cash – San Quentin Songs Compilation (with great sound!):

The album was a follow-up to Cash’s previous live album, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful At Folsom Prison.
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Bruce Springsteen, Great albums, Music Calendar

June 4: Bruce Springsteen released Born in the USA in 1984

Bruce Springsteen

June 4: Bruce Springsteen released Born in the USA in 1984

Born down in a dead man’s town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground
You end up like a dog that’s been beat too much
‘Til you spend half your life just covering up

Born in the U.S.A. is the seventh studio album by  Bruce Springsteen, it was released on June 4, 1984. A critical and commercial triumph, it found Springsteen marking a departure in his sound.

born in the usa 2

While the predecessor, the dark and acoustic Nebraska featured songs of pessimism and isolation, Born in the U.S.A.’s lyrics expressed signs of hope in the daily fight of the standard American in following the American Dream, a new feeling complemented by synthesized arrangements and a pop-flavored, radio-oriented sound that helped Springsteen to extend his popularity and appeal to mainstream audiences.

Born in the USA (Live Paris, 1985):

Ronald Reagan, during his 1984 re-election campaign, tried to coast on the rising popularity of Bruce Springsteen and  Born in the U.S.A. :

“America’s future rests in a thousand dreams inside our hearts,” Reagan said at a stump speech in Hammonton, New Jersey. “It rests in the message of hope in the songs of a man so many young Americans admire: New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.”

Has a song ever been so misunderstood? Maybe if he heard the following version he would have hesitated…

Born in the USA (acoustic, slow bluesy):

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Allman Brothers Band, Grateful Dead, Video

A taste from Warren Haynes’ latest album, Ashes & Dust: Spots of Time

warren haynes_ashes_and_dust_cvr_5x52

A taste from Warren Haynes’ latest album, Ashes & Dust: Spots of Time

Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers) has shared a track from his forthcoming album, Ashes and Dust, recorded with the band Railroad Earth as a backing band.  Haynes as we’ve come to know, but maybe leaning a bit more towards his singer songwriter side. That said, this track that is written with The Dead’s Phil Lesh has very much a Grateful Dead flavor.

I’m looking forward to the album, enjoy this fine song!

 

– Hallgeir

Curtis Mayfield, Funk, Music Calendar, Soul

June 3: The late Curtis Mayfield was born in 1942

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Photo: David Reed
Photo: David Reed

June 3: The late Curtis Mayfield was born in 1942

Curtis Mayfield is one of those artists that sounded cool no matter what he sang, he was a master songwriter and a tremendous guitar player.

Freddie’s Dead (live, early 70s?):

Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999)  is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly regarded as a pioneer of funk and of politically conscious African-American music. He was also a multi-instrumentalist who played the guitar, bass, piano, saxophone, and drums.

Curtis Mayfield’s songwriting and his distinct guitar playing have influenced a lot of artists.

Bob Dylan played Mayfield’s People Get Ready , and it is obvious he liked Curtis Mayfield’s work . The Impressions’s Keep On Pushing, the album, is on the Bringing It All Back Home cover.

Paul Weller interviewing his hero, the late Curtis Mayfield, most likely before Mayfield’s gig at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz club in the Soho area of London on 31st July 1988:

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