All posts by Hallgeir

Country

New album: Olav Larsen and The Alabama Rodeo Stars – Memory Lane

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Memory Lane (and other songs of love and hope) by Olav Larsen & The Alabama Rodeo Stars (OL&TARS) has been five years in the making. Why? “Personal issues” are stated as being the reason for this long-awaited release. I really like the band’s two first albums, and they received some well deserved praise upon their release.

Perhaps it takes someone from such a great distance to authentically come to grips with the true breadth of Americana.”  – Dallas Observer

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I have been eagerly waiting on a new record from Olav Larsen and his companions. Is it as good as I’ve hoped for?

I’ll come to that, first a bit of history.

Olav Larsen was raised in the Norwegian town of Sandnes and introduced to his father’s music collection of blues greats including Blind Willie McTell and Robert Johnson which again led to Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. As Olav began to fine-tune his own tastes it was a healthy diet of Guy Clark, John Prine, Steve Goodman and Townes Van Zandt that he first feasted on, before turning his attentions more recently to Bright Eyes, Will Oldham and Howe Gelb among others. (press release)

Ol Band pic

Allmusic (introduction to the review of their first album):

You’ve got to love the back story of Olav Larsen & the Alabama Rodeo Stars. Larsen’s all-American alt-country, it seems, is made by an African-Norwegian who found his way there via records by Gram Parsons, Hank Williams, Neil Young, Uncle Tupelo, John Prine and the like. The Alabama Rodeo Stars? Never seen Alabama. Scandinavians all. But no gimmick, this.

Ok, that was the history lesson, so how is the new album?

It is a better sounding record that’s for sure. The sound is fuller and it has a distinct sound, the sound on the songs are more a part of  a “whole album”, a more complete experience. The production sounds more professional. I do not know who has produced and mixed the album, but it sounds really good!

Apart from the production, what strikes me the most is the musicianship. The players are at the top of their game and they clearly have a genuine love for the music. It sounds like they are having fun. They have a great band dynamic and it often feels like it was recorded live in the studio. This is hard to pull off, but this band does it!

Foto: Tor Olav Rydlende

When Olav Larsen sent me the songs, he said, “I hope it’s not too country for you.” I replied, “Can it ever be too country?” He laughed.

There are songs on the album that are really honky-tonk, but there are elements of blues, gospel and rock’n roll all through the record. This isn’t slick Nashville or pure Bakersfield, it is a stew. It is a mix of all the good things in country music. This is real roots music.

Let’s take a  look at the songs. 11 song about love in all it’s glory, and in all it’s misery. Songs you can only sing after you’ve lived some.

Let’s listen to the fine title track, Memory Lane (live acoustic):

Memory Lane (Studio version):

Great song!
Continue reading New album: Olav Larsen and The Alabama Rodeo Stars – Memory Lane →

Live, Rock'n Roll, video of the day

Video of the day: Satan – Stephen Ackles

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Stephen Ackles (15 february 1966), a son of Norwegian mother (Bergliot Kittilsen) and American father (Allan Dale Ackles), he is a singer, pianist and songwriter. He is mainly a rock’n roll/boogie artist and his main inspirations are Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. 

He recently did a version of the song Satan on Norwegian television, it blew my mind. Ackles have always been a good craftsman but his choice of material has been , eeh… questionable. He has lived a hard live, gone bankrupt and found Jesus, he has toured a lot! Ackles has released thirteen  albums and has worked with giants such as Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Jerry Lee Lewis. His fourteenth album will be released as I write this, and will of course include his interpretation of Satan.

And finally the song he was born to sing came along. Satan. Stephen Ackles tears his soul out, the agony and pain of a hard life is personified in this great performance. His face twists as he spits out his rage and sorrow.

Satan (aka Killing For Satan) is a relatively obscure song by Paul Wibier. From the 1969 film Satan’s Sadists.

Paul Wibier’ original – Satan (Audio):

WIBIER

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A fantastic trailer for the very entertaining biker movie, Satan’s Sadists:

Director Al Adamson’s Satan’s Sadists is the jewel in the trashploitation king’s crown, mixing hippie hopheads, choppers, whacked-out violence, LSD trips and groovy music. Russ Tamblyn sheds his “boy next door” screen image as the kill-crazy gang leader Anchor, supported by one of drive-in cinema’s all-time great casts: John “Bud” Cardos (with Mohawk), Robert Dix (with eye patch), Greydon Clark and Regina Carrol (the future Mrs. Adamson) as “The Freak-Out Girl.” Buckle up and brace yourself for “probably the grossest biker movie of them all.” (The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film)

– Hallgeir

Sources: NRK, Wikipedia, Psychotronic Encyclopedia  of Film by Michael Weldon, stephenackles.com

Rock, Rock'n Roll, Rolling Stones, The Best Songs

Brown Sugar by Rolling Stones was released 16 April in 1971

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“The lyric was all to do with the dual combination of drugs and girls. This song was a very instant thing, a definite high point.”
– Mick Jagger

“I’ve got a new one myself. No words yet, but a few words in my head – called Brown Sugar – about a woman who screws one of her black servants. I started to call it Black Pussy but I decided that was too direct, too nitty-gritty.” – Mick Jagger (1969, The True Adventures of Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth)

Brown Sugar is the opening track and lead single from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #495 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and at #5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

The group sings the lyric with all the enthusiasm of tongue-wagging dogs swooping onto a prime rib, leading up to one of the band’s strongest shout-along choruses. As on other Stones classics of the period like “Honky Tonk Women” and “Bitch,” beefy horns start to duel with the buzzing electric guitars in the instrumental break; few if any other groups have used guitars and horns as deftly in unison. The crowning embellishment is the final choruses, which vary the melody and tempo so that the group sings and make a high-pitched exclamation in a rhythm that very much resembles that of a sexual climax.

– Richie Unterberger (allmusic)

It is credited, like most of their songs, to  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but the song was primarily the work of Jagger, who wrote it sometime during the filming of Ned Kelly in 1969.

Brown Sugar from the fantastic concert film Ladies and Gentlemen (1972):

This version of the song features Mick Jagger on vocals, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor on guitar, Charlie Watts on drums, Bill Wyman on bass, Nick Hopkins on piano, Bobby Keys on saxophone, and Jim Price on horns.

Brown Sugar, Lyrics:

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in new orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he’s doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should
A-huh.

Drums beating, cold english blood runs hot,
Lady of the house wondrin where it’s gonna stop.
House boy knows that he’s doin alright.
You should a heard him just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a black girl should
A-huh.

I bet your mama was a tent show queen, and all her boy
Friends were sweet sixteen.
Im no schoolboy but I know what I like,
You should have heard me just around midnight.

Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should.

I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, I said
Oh just like a, just like a black girl should.

Continue reading Brown Sugar by Rolling Stones was released 16 April in 1971 →

Blues, Film, video of the day

Video of the day: St. Louis Blues by Bessie Smith

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I hate to see that evening sun go down
I hate to see that evening sun go down
‘Cause, my baby, he’s gone left this town

Released in 1929, St. Louis Blues is a short film featuring blues legend Bessie Smith and an all-African-American cast.  Songwriter W.C. Handy was the musical director of the film.  To my knowledge it is Bessie Smith’s only known film appearance.

Bessie Smith – St. Louis Blues (Smith’s performance):

The power and pure feeling  in her singing voice as she belts out the title track  of the movie St. Louis Blues is incredible.

Wikipedia:

“Saint Louis Blues” is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style. It remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians’ repertoire. It was also one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. It has been performed by numerous musicians of all styles from Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith to Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. It has been called “the jazzman’s Hamlet“.  Published in September 1914 by Handy’s own company, it later gained such popularity that it inspired the dance step the “Foxtrot”.

The version with Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong on cornet was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993.

The Movie, St. Louis Blues  (it’s a two-reel short).

Bessie Smith finds her gambler lover Jimmy messin’ with a pretty, younger woman.  He leaves and this makes Bessie to pour herself a drink and sing the title song.  It is a small but entertaining movie. Well worth your time.
Continue reading Video of the day: St. Louis Blues by Bessie Smith →

Country, folk, Singer Songwriter, Steve Earle

Videos of the day: Steve Earle sings songs from The Low Highway

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It has been a long time since Mr. Earle has played with The Dukes on record, and this time he has also included The Duchesses. It is sooo nice to hear him with a band again. We’re going to experience them live in a couple of months, things are looking bright!

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The new album is fantastic (the songs I’ve heard).

I’ve searched the web for some live previews, they are not many and they’re hard to find. Here are 5 samples, most of them solo performances, but all of them are unbelievably good. This must be his best album in  years, even if he has a very high standard.

 

Burnin’ it down:

Low Highway:

Invicible:

That All You Got:

After Mardi Gras (Treme clip):

– Hallgeir