Today: Bob Dylan is 73 years old – top 25 Bob Dylan songs (read more)Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan’s early songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”, became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his first base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan’s six-minute single “Like a Rolling Stone” radically altered the parameters of popular music in 1965. His recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement. |
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| Rosanne Cash (born May 24, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country music icon Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin. |  |
| Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991) was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds. |  |
| Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as “the King of the Slide Guitar” and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice. |  |
| Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions. In the opinion of Bob Blumenthal of The Boston Globe “In the century since his birth, there has been no greater composer, American or otherwise, than Edward Kennedy Ellington.” A major figure in the history of jazz, Ellington’s music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, composing stage musicals, and world tours. |  |
Spotify Playlist – May 24 |
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Today: Bob Dylan is 73 years old – top 25 Bob Dylan songs
Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan!
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan’s early songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'”, became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his first base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan’s six-minute single “Like a Rolling Stone” radically altered the parameters of popular music in 1965. His recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.
Continue reading Today: Bob Dylan is 73 years old – top 25 Bob Dylan songs
Cher sings Bob Dylan Happy Birthday Cher
Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) Recognized for having brought the sense of female autonomy and self-actualization into the entertainment industry, she is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in various areas of entertainment, as well as continuously reinventing both her music and image, which has led to her being nicknamed the Goddess of Pop.
Cher has covered many Bob Dylan songs throughout her career:
All I Really Wanna Do, Blowin’ In The Wind, Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right, I Threw It All Away, Like A Rolling Stone, Masters Of War, The Times, They Are A-Changin’, Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You, Lay, Baby, Lay (yes, really!) and I Want You (Please tell us if there are more).
Like a Rolling Stone (audio):
Tonight I’ll be staying here with you (audio):
Continue reading Cher sings Bob Dylan Happy Birthday Cher
May 18 in music history
Today: The late Big Joe Turner was born in 1911 – 103 years ago (read More)Big Joe Turner (born Joseph Vernon Turner Jr., May 18, 1911 – November 24, 1985) was an American “blues shouter” (a blues-music singer capable of singing unamplified with a band) from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, “Rock and roll would have never happened without him.” Although he had his greatest fame during the 1950s with his rock and roll recordings, particularly “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, Turner’s career as a performer endured from the 1920s into the 1980s. Turner was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. |
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| George Strait is 62 Happy Birthday!. George Harvey Strait (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the “King of Country,” and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional Country music. George Strait holds the world record for more number-one hit singles than any other artist in the history of music on any chart or in any genre, having recorded 59 number-one hit singles as of 2012. |
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| Lodger is the thirteenth studio album by David Bowie, released May 18 in 1979.
The last of the ‘Berlin Trilogy‘ recorded in collaboration with Brian Eno, it was produced in Switzerland and New York City, and was more accessible than its immediate predecessors Lowand “Heroes”, having no instrumentals and being somewhat lighter and more pop-oriented. It was still an experimental record in many ways and was not, by Bowie’s standards, a major commercial success. Indifferently received by critics on its initial release, it is now widely considered, along with Diamond Dogs, to be one of Bowie’s most underrated albums |
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| Warren Zevon is an album by Warren Zevon. This album was recorded in 1975 and released May 18 in 1976.
A remastered version of the album with special bonus tracks was released in 2008 by Rhino Records.I am suspicious of singer-songwriters who draw attention to phrases like “hasten down the wind,” and I would suggest a moratorium on songs about the James Brothers that don’t also rhyme “pollution” and “solution.” But I like the way Zevon resists pigeonholes like “country-rock” while avoiding both the banal and the mystagogical, and I like quatrains like: “And if California slides into the ocean/Like the mystics and statistics say it will/I predict this motel will be standing/Until I pay my bill.” |
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| Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English musician, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division.Joy Division released their debut album,
Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up, Closer, in 1980. Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy and depression, committed suicide on 18 May 1980, on the eve of Joy Division’s first North American tour, resulting in the band’s dissolution and the subsequent formation of New Order. |
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| Richard Christopher “Rick” Wakeman (born 18 May 1949)
English keyboard player and composer best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes. He is also known for his solo albums, contributing to the BBC comedy series Grumpy Old Menand for Rick’s Place, his former radio show on Planet Rock that aired until December 2010. |
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Spotify Playlist – |
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The South …The Further Out You Get a review with interview
Johannasvisions: What would you say is the biggest difference from the previous album?
Alexander Pettersen: I guess you could call it “the evil twin”…
The follow-up to The South’s 2013 album “The Further Inside You Go…” is a more demanding affair, but also an even more rewarding one. It opens with the 11 minute song, No Escape/Don’t Let Go, a track that is quite a departure for the band.
We’re no longer in the southern parts of the USA (well, not all the time anyway) it sounds like an Alan Parsons produced english band from around 1973. It swirls and changes its course as we listen, and this is something that we will encounter on the following songs as well. It starts off with gentle guitar and vocal, the sound is very delicate. The vocals are repeated and doubled, we get a subtle choir. The mood gets darker, but at about 2:40 into the song the drums and electric guitar lifts us up. The Keyboard echoes the melody. The pedal steel comes in, but it has no country-twang, it is airy and elegant. What a great start!
JV: The country-sound is all but gone, is this a conscious choice or did it “just happen”?
AP: It is not something we decided, it is a natural progression for us, I think.I write the songs I do, the only decision-making concerns choosing songs for the record, and the way we put them together to form a complete album.
This time I wanted to do something new, something else than before. And we did, we managed to pull off something special, something “more” than we’ve done before. I think we have succeeded in this, especially on the tracks, 1,2/3,5 and 6.
Desert Sounds takes us into more familiar territory, to the breezy Californian coast line. It starts off with a strumming acoustic guitar and then a beautiful melody hovers over the acoustic. The guitar is doubled and the keyboard fills in. It is a very finely arranged intro to the track, Glimpse of what we had. The South is in no hurry, they take their time and it builds up wonderfully. I see it as one song.
The second part of the track has a more up-beat melody, but the lyrics are filled with longing for past times and are bittersweet in tone. The electric guitar in the song is an Allman Brothers/Grateful Dead mix, but new and fresh and not retro in feel at all. The bass is subtly restrained and incredibly well played.
Glimpse of what we had (Spotify):
Now, The South takes us for a ride into, well, “The South” as in the musical landscape of the Southern US. They give us a superb Muscle Shoals sounding song, We Got Lucky. A lover reassure his girlfriend that all will be all right and we believe him. The track has some very fine horn arrangements (by Bendik Brænne) and both The Band and Little Feat would have been proud to include it in their catalogue.
Then we’re back on the road, we get a rousing boogie/Texas shuffle in the raw, Psb6u-blues. A steady “motor rhythm” of an accord on el-guitar lays the foundation, and we get a playful guitar that’s just “all over the place” above the steady beat. And then more guitar and keyboard. It reminds me of driving or taking the train, traveling. The vocal starts at 3:35(!) and it is no sweet blues, it is aggressive and insisting. It ends in a wild crescendo and I long to see it in a live setting. It is just fabulous, so far this is my favorite song on the record along with the last track, …The Further Out You Get.
The South – Psb6u-blues (audio with pictures from the recording of the album):
Continue reading The South …The Further Out You Get a review with interview