All posts by Hallgeir

Jan 20: The Rolling Stones released Between The Buttons in 1967

between

Jan 20: The Rolling Stones released between The Buttons in 1967

Between the Buttons is the fifth British and seventh American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released on 20 January 1967 in the UK and 11 February in the US as the follow-up to Aftermath. It was the beginning of the Stones’ brief foray into psychedelia.

In 2003, the American version of Between the Buttons, which included “Ruby Tuesday” and “Let’s Spend the Night Together”, was ranked #355 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

The Rolling Stones’ 1967 recordings are a matter of some controversy; many critics felt that they were compromising their raw, rootsy power with trendy emulations of the Beatles, Kinks, Dylan, and psychedelic music. Approach this album with an open mind, though, and you’ll find it to be one of their strongest, most eclectic LPs, with many fine songs that remain unknown to all but Stones devotees.

– Richie Unterberg (allmusic)

Between the Buttons was the last album wholly produced by Oldham, with whom the Stones fell out in mid-1967 during the recording sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request.

This is another great album from the Rolling Stones and the remastered audio sounds great! I prefer the US version to the UK simply because I think that “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and “Ruby Tuesday” are better songs than “Back Street Girl” and “Please Go Home” (both released on the album/collection, Flowers later in 1967).

Ruby Tuesday (live, TV, 1967(?)):

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Jan 19: Dolly Parton was born in 1946 Happy Birthday

Dolly Parton “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
― DollyParton 

“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
― Dolly Parton

 

“I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren’t in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets.”
― Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton was born January 19, 1946 Happy Birthday

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Video of the day: Leonard Cohen Songs from the road

leonard-cohen-songs-from-the-road-dvd

Video of the day: Leonard Cohen Songs from the road

Songs from the Road is a live album/and concert clip collection by  Leonard Cohen. Released on September 14, 2010, it is his twentieth album.This is a great release both on audio formats and video, great sound and nice filming.

The audience is non-intrusive but warm. They are appreciating the music, but they are firmly in the background. Leonard Cohen wraps his warm velvet voice around every syllable. His backing vocalists complement him with angelic beauty. The band is tight and precise.

The songs are taped on different arenas but they flow effortlessly and it’s not a distraction at all. There are just small colour differences on the stage from one song to another, very subtle and classy.

Highlight for me: Hallelujah at sunset at Coachella, pure magic!

Enjoy!

Leonard Cohen Songs From The Road:

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Jan 18: Warren Zevon released Excitable Boy in 1978

Excitable-Boy

Jan 18: Warren Zevon released Excitable Boy in 1978

“The further these songs get from Ronstadtland, the more I like them. The four that exorcise male psychoses by mock celebration are positively addictive, the two uncomplicated rockers do the job, and two of the purely “serious” songs get by. But no one has yet been able to explain to me what “accidentally like a martyr” might mean–answers dependent on the term “Dylanesque” are not acceptable–and I have no doubt that that’s the image Linda will home in on. After all, is she going to cover the one about the headless gunner? A-”
– Robert Christgau

Excitable Boy is the third album by Warren Zevon, released in 1978. It includes the top 40 success “Werewolves of London”. The album brought Warren to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career. A remastered and expanded edition was released during 2007.

This is a video of Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner (Norwegian mercenary!) with the late great Warren Zevon from October 30 2002, his last Letterman performance:

The tracks “Excitable Boy” and “Werewolves of London” were considered macabrely humorous by some critics.[3] The historical “Veracruz” dramatizes the United States occupation of Veracruz, and likewise “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” is a fictionalization of a mercenary in Africa. “Lawyers, Guns and Money” is a tongue-in-cheek take on Cold War paranoia. In addition, there are two ballads about life and relationships (“Accidentally Like a Martyr” and “Tenderness on the Block”), as well as a dance tune (“Nighttime in the Switching Yard”).

It could have been a greatest hit collection!

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Calexico and Jim James Going to Acapulco


calexico-jim-james

Calexico and Jim James – Going To Acapulco

Calexico have some very fine Dylan covers. Sometimes alone and sometimes as a terrific backing band for other great artists. Today we present the collaboration, Going To Acapulco, with Jim James (My Morning jacket) and Calexico from the film, I’m Not There.

I’m Not There is a 2007 biographical musical film directed by Todd Haynes, inspired by the life and music of American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Six actors depict different facets of Dylan’s public personas: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw. At the start of the film, a caption reads: “Inspired by the music and the many lives of Bob Dylan”. Apart from the song credits, this is the only mention of Bob Dylan in the film.

The film tells its story using non-traditional narrative techniques, intercutting the storylines of seven different Dylan-inspired characters. The title of the film is taken from the 1967 Dylan Basement Tape recording of “I’m Not There”, a song that had not been officially released until it appeared on the film’s soundtrack album. The film received a generally favorable response, and appeared on several top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, Salon andThe Boston Globe. Particular praise went to Cate Blanchett for her performance, culminating in a Volpi Cup from the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Calexico has several fine collaborations on the soundtrack.

We will start with a wonderful live version from The Newport Folk Festival in 2008.

Going To Acapulco – Calexico and Jim James (Live, August 3, 2008, Newport Folk Festival):

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