All posts by Hallgeir

Great albums, List, Live, Rolling Stones

30 best live albums countdown: 16 – Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert by The Rolling Stones

rolling-stones-get-yer-ya-yas-out

#16: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert – The Rolling Stones

“I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.”
~Lester Bangs

“Recorded during their American tour in late 1969, and centered around live versions of material from the Beggars Banquet-Let It Bleed era. Often acclaimed as one of the top live rock albums of all time, its appeal has dimmed a little today…  it’s certainly the Stones’ best official live recording.”
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Carol – 27 Nov 1969:

Continue reading 30 best live albums countdown: 16 – Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert by The Rolling Stones →

Concert films, Great albums, List, Live, Talking Heads

30 best live albums countdown: 17 – Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads

talking-heads-stop-making-sense

#17: Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads (1984)

Stop Making Sense is a live 1984 album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Stop Making Sense spanned three live shows at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles (Dec 1983).

“Stop Making Sense the album” cannot be separated from “Stop Making Sense the movie”, this is a two for one deal. When I write Stop Making Sense I mean them both. I’ve seen Stop Making Sense 4 times in the cinema and countless times on video/dvd/blu-ray. I have the album on vinyl, cd and digital files. When I hear the music I see the movie in my head.

And it’s a great movie!

The beginning is iconic. David Byrne comes shuffling out on an empty stage, starts a cassette-player with a rhythm track and play along with an acoustic guitar as he sings Psycho Killer.

Continue reading 30 best live albums countdown: 17 – Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads →

Great albums, Music Calendar, Neil Young

August 19: Neil Young and Crazy Horse released Greendale in 2003

greendale_cover

Greendale is the name of an album, movie and graphic novel by Neil Young. As the twenty-seventh album by Neil Young, Young and Crazy Horse’s Greendale, a 10-song rock opera, is set in a fictional California seaside town. Based on the saga of the Green family, the “audio novel” has been compared to the literary classics of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio for its complexity and emotional depth in exploring a small town in America.

Greendale combines many themes on corruption, environmentalism and mass media consolidation. The album, concert, film and DVDs have produced a vast divergence of critical opinion ranging from being called “amateur” to being voted as one of the best albums of 2003 by Rolling Stone magazine music critics.

Falling from above:

The CD was originally released with a DVD of live “Neil-only” acoustic performance of the Greendale material from Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland. In 2004, the CD was released with a new DVD containing a live performance of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. A DVD-Audio version was also released, with both Advanced Resolution Stereo and 5.1 Surround sound mixes, and a video of “Devil’s Sidewalk” from the film. In late 2004, the feature-length DVD with actors lip-synching the material was released.

Continue reading August 19: Neil Young and Crazy Horse released Greendale in 2003 →

Great albums, Music Calendar

August 13: Eels released beautiful freak in 1996

Eels-Beautiful_Freak-Frontal

Eels released their debut album, “beautiful freak” on this date in 1996. For me it was the soundtrack of fall 1996, a perfect sad pop-album, for sad Norwegian weather.

“Eccentric and quirky are the best ways to describe the Eels’ debut effort, Beautiful Freak. Concise pop tunes form the backbone of the album, yet tinges of despair and downright meanness surface just when you’ve been lulled into thinking this is another pop group, as titles like “My Beloved Monster,” “Your Lucky Day in Hell” and “Novocaine for the Soul” indicate.”
– Review by James Chrispell (allmusic)

Eels is a rock band, formed in California in 1995 by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett (son of famous physicist Hugh Everett III). Band members have changed across the years, both in the studio and on stage, making Everett the only official member for the most of the band’s work. Often filled with themes about family, death and lost love, Eels’ music straddles a range of genres, which is shown by the distinct musical style of every album. Since 1996, Eels has made eleven major studio releases, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett (2014) being their most recent release. 

Eels – Novocaine for the soul (live, Pinkpop 1997):

Continue reading August 13: Eels released beautiful freak in 1996 →

Music Calendar

August 10 in music history

Bob Dylan released Shot of Love August 10 1981 (read more)

Shot of Love is Bob Dylan’s 21st studio album, it was released by Columbia Records in August 1981.

It is generally considered to be Dylan’s last of a trilogy of overtly religious, Christian albums. Also, it was his first since becoming born-again to focus on secular themes, from straight-ahead love songs to an ode to the deceased comedian Lenny Bruce. Arrangements are rooted more in rock’n’roll, less in gospel than on Dylan’s previous two albums. So maybe it is more of a new start than a gospel-tinged end?

 shot of love

Ian Anderson was born in 1947 Happy Birthday (read more)

Ian Scott Anderson, MBE (born 10 August 1947) is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the leader and flautist of British rock band Jethro Tull.

Anderson plays several other musical instruments, including keyboards, bass guitar, bouzouki, balalaika, saxophone, harmonica, and a variety of whistles. 

 ia

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008)

was an American songwriter, musician, singer, actor, and voice actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes, Porter, Bill Withers, the Sherman Brothers, Steve Cropper, and John Fogerty were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of notable songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others.

 Hayes.Isaac.081008

Ronnie Spector (born Veronica Yvette Bennett, August 10, 1943) is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist. She was lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, the Ronettes. She has been called the original “bad girl of rock and roll”

 250px-Ronnie_Spector_(1971)

Billy Joe Shaver released Tramp on our street in 1993 (read more)

Billy Joe Shaver’s first recording in six years is a stunner. Partnering with his guitar-slinging son,Eddy, Tramp on Your Street is a rollicking yet intimate ride through the world Billy Joe-style. There are smoking country rockers that are brazen, raw, and in-your-face, such as the sizzling remake of “Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” (which is now the definitive version), “The Hottest Thing in Town,” “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal,” and the blues-rock of “I Want Some More/TennTex Tear Down.” There is the restless Bob Wills swing of “Good Old U.S.A.” and the shuffling Texas stroll of “If I Give My Soul.” And of course, in the title track, “When Fallen Angels Fly,” and the Louvin Brothers-inspired “I’m Gonna Live Forever,” there are the searing, completely naked lyrics of repentance, deliverance, and doubt that have been a part of Shaver’s music form the beginning. Without them, the center would be missing. The big question for most is: Can Billy Joe rock at his age? The answer is that with Eddy beside him turning it up, he can not only rock, he can roll too. This is a partnership based on respect, tough love, and iconoclastic musical ideals. It’s deep in the roots of the sill and even deeper in the Shavers’ blood.Tramp on Your Street is a monumental return to recording for Billy Joe Shaver and a triumph ofEddy’s musical direction and six-string skill.
~Thom Jurek (allmusic.com)

 billy joe shaver tramp on your street

Spotify Playlist – August 10