All posts by Hallgeir

October 11: Paul Weller released As Is Now in 2005

October 11, 2014 Hallgeir 3 Comments

as_is_now paul weller

“I wanted to make a record that sounded like a continous piece”
– Paul Weller

This is in my top three of Paul Weller’s solo albums, all tracks are good to great and it has a really appealing urgency. He sounds eager and inspired on this album. It is a great rock record, with a few mellow bits (and a fantastic funk song).

Paul Weller as is now 2

As Is Now is Weller’s eighth studio album. Released in October 2005, it reached number 4 in the UK charts. The album was recorded over a two-week period in March 2005 at Wheeler End Studios, Buckinghamshire. It was then mixed at Studio 150, Amsterdam.

Paul Weller – Blink and you’ll miss it, fantastic version! (live):

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Beatles, John lennon, Music Calendar

October 9: John Lennon was born in 1940 74 years ago

October 9, 2014 Hallgeir

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
― John Lennon

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
― John Lennon

Paul McCartney inducts John Lennon into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a very touching way:

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Music Calendar, R.E.M.

October 6: R.E.M. released Automatic For The People in 1992

October 6, 2014 Hallgeir

Automatic for the People is the eighth album by R.E.M., released in 1992 on Warner Bros. Records. Upon release, it reached number two on the U.S. album charts and yielded six singles. The album has sold 18 million copies worldwide and is widely considered one of the best records released in the 1990s. It was released 10 years after their debut in 1982.

“Turning away from the sweet pop of Out of Time, R.E.M. created a haunting, melancholy masterpiece with Automatic for the People. At its core, the album is a collection of folk songs about aging, death, and loss, but the music has a grand, epic sweep provided by layers of lush strings, interweaving acoustic instruments, and shimmering keyboards. Automatic for the People captures the group at a crossroads, as they moved from cult heroes to elder statesmen, and the album is a graceful transition into their new status.”
– Stephen Thomas Erlewine (Allmusic)

R.E.M. – Find The River (live):

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Blues, Great albums, Music Calendar

October 5: Muddy Waters Electric Mud (1968)

October 5, 2014 Hallgeir 4 Comments

Electric Mud imagines Muddy Waters as a psychedelic musician. Producer Marshall Chess suggested that Muddy Waters record experimental, psychedelic blues tracks with members of Rotary Connection in trying to revive the blues singer’s career.

The album peaked at #127 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. It was controversial for its fusion of electric blues with psychedelic elements, but was influential on psychedelic rock bands of the era.

Allmusic.com doesn’t like it:

” It’s a classically wrongheaded, crass update of the blues for a modern audience.”

I can understand the sceptics then, but I’m not a blues-purist and I really love the record!

She’s allright (audio):

Chuck D(Public Enemy) is a big supporter of the record:
“To me, it’s a brilliant record. I’ve played it a thousand times. It took me a while to warm up to traditional blues, but what struck me right away was the Electric Mud thing.”

And check out the great inlay cover, the man looked great! :

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