All posts by Hallgeir

Great albums, List, Live, MC5, Rock

30 Best live albums countdown: 22 – Kick out the Jams by MC5

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MC5-1969-Kick-Out-The-Jams

“And right now, right now, right now it’s time to… kick out the jams, motherfuckers!”

 Let’s continue with my countdown of 30 the best live albums ever, at 22 I have MC5‘s ferocious Kick Out The Jams.

I was into punk when I grew up, and not metal. There were two camps in our little town when I grew up. When us punk fans listened to Detroit music, we listened to The Stooges. When the metal kids listened to Detroit music, they listened to Kiss. MC5 were something in the middle, to me they are the ancestors of both punk-and metal music. Their attitude was punk and their riffs were the inspiration of many metal bands. Together with Detroit sparring partners The Stooges, The Motor City Five were truly an anomaly in the peace-and-love hippy climate of 1967.

Kick out the Jams (1970):

And they looked great!
MC5 bare chested

…and the borders between the genres have blurred since my childhood, I now like good music no matter what genre or where it comes from.

On new years eve in 1968, MC5 recorded this earthquake , this thunderstorm, Kick Out The Jams. Not everyone’s new year, but the followers of Zenta, The religion of MC5. To us who have no religin or who has other beliefs and follows the ordinary calendar, it was recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit on the Halloween weekend, 30. and 31. October. It was released in February 1969, through Elektra Records.

I know, they were a special group of people…
MC5 Concert Poster

MC5 was formed by their time, the Vietnam War and the social changes, this was garage rock with a rage not known to anybody before (and very rarely since). The guitars acted as assault weapons in their war against conformity.

John Sinclair (poet) was instrumental in leading the MC5 into creating the soundtrack for the new party The White Panther Party, which had the fitting slogan: “Rock’n Roll, dope and fucking in the streets”.

Video where John Sinclair is reading the liner notes from the album:

This was danger caught on vinyl!
Continue reading 30 Best live albums countdown: 22 – Kick out the Jams by MC5 →

Cover versions

Norah Jones sings Bob Dylan, Happy Birthday Norah

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Norah Jones 1

Happy birthday Norah Jones!

Wikipedia:

 Norah Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar and Sue Jones. She is also Anoushka Shankar’s half-sister.

In 2002, she launched her solo music career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album Come Away with Me, a fusion of jazz, pop, and country music, which was certified diamond album, selling over 26 million copies. The record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including theAlbum of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Her subsequent studio albums, Feels Like Home, released in 2004, Not Too Late, released in 2007, the same year she made her film debut in My Blueberry Nights, and her 2009 release The Fall all gained Platinum status, selling over a million copies and were generally well received by critics. Jones’ fifth studio album, Little Broken Hearts, was released on April 27, 2012.

Jones has won nine Grammy Awards and was 60th on Billboard magazine’s artists of the 2000–2009 decade chart. Throughout her career, Jones has won numerous awards and has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000–2009 decade.

We really like Norah Jones, we especially like it when she does Country music and of course when she sing the songs of our hero Bob Dylan. We have trawled the web to find some of her great cover versions.

Lets start with a duet, here she sings I Shall Be Released with the man himself, Bob Dylan:

Forever Young at a celebration of Steve Jobs
Live Apple Event, October 19, 2011:

“I know he really liked Bob Dylan”

I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight done very well by the birthday woman, Norah Jones:

Norah Jones covers Just Like a Woman at Dylanfest. May 28, 2010 at the Bowery Ballroom:

Every Grain Of Sand at Dylanfest 2011:

Heart of Mine (Spotify):

– Hallgeir

Elvis Presley, Music Calendar, The Best Songs

Today: Elvis Presley recorded Always on my Mind in 1972

elvis-presley-separate-ways-rca-victor-3

Always on my Mind is seldom considered among the best of Elvis’ 70’s output, but if you ask me it’s at the top of the list. The recording sessions was great, it included Burnin Love and For the good times. I almost cry when I listen to it, it embodies everything, everything I love about Elvis, heartbreak, slow ballads, emphathy and true feelings. What a voice!

Peter Guralnick writes in his book Careless Love:

The trouble was, he (Elvis) wasn’t interested in cutting a hit record. “He was trying to get something out of his system.”

…

On the second night Felton finally got his way, but he was under no illusion that Elvis was doing it for any other reason than to indulge his producer. With encouragement from Joe Esposito and Jerry Schilling, and with Charlie pounding away on acoustic guitar, they got a good, energetic version of “Burning love”, the song Felton had brought to the session, but it was tossed off in six quick takes, in almost throwaway style, and everyone could see that Elvis’ heart wasn’t really in it. They kept working till four in the morning but got only one more song that night and two the following night, including “Always on my mind”…

Elvis seems very wore down after his divorce from Pricilla and in no mood for Rock’n Roll, but he really let it all out in this great ballad.

Maybe I didn’t love you
Quite as often as I could have
Maybe I didn’t treat you
Quite as good as I should have
If I made you feel second best
Girl I’m sorry I was blind

Always on my mind recorded by Elvis:

The feeling embodied in that song is tremendous, how a man can put this much feeling into a song is hard to conceive!

Here’s another version recorded by Elvis on the  29th of March in 1972:

From Wikipedia:

“Always on My Mind” is an American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson.

Elvis Presley recorded his version of “Always on My Mind” on March 29, 1972, a few weeks after his February separation from wifePriscilla. The song was released as the B-side of the “Separate Ways” single, which reached Gold status in the U.S for sales of over half a million copies. It was listed as a double sided hit reaching number 16 on Billboard magazine’s Hot Country Singles chart in November 1972. In the UK “Always on My Mind” was the hit song and “Separate Ways” was the B-side.

Other Mar-29:

Continue reading Today: Elvis Presley recorded Always on my Mind in 1972 →

Funk, Soul, Video

Video Premiere: Charles Bradley – Strictly Reserved for You

charles bradley

“The Black Swan” of Soul is back with a fine new video for his new single, Strictly Reserved For You. It has a retro but fresh feel, great horns, fantastic fuzz guitar and a wonderful funky bass.

Enjoy!

Charles Bradley – Strictly Reserved for You:

From the upcoming album, Victim of Love, out April 2nd, 2013.
(Directed by Homer Steinweiss)

– Hallgeir

Bob Dylan, Country, Cover versions, Jazz, List, Soul

Bob Dylan cover version lists at alldylan

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Dylan

This is a collection of some published Bob Dylan Cover Version posts @ alldylan.