Category Archives: Great albums

Great albums, Lucinda Williams

June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998

car-wheels-on-a-gravel-road-52dbdac51580e

June 30: Lucinda Williams released Car Wheels On A Gravel Road in 1998

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is the fifth studio album by Lucinda Williams, released on June 30, 1998, by Mercury Records. It was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee and Canoga Park, California. The album features guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris.

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

“Intentionally or not, the album’s common thread seems to be its strongly grounded sense of place — specifically, the Deep South, conveyed through images and numerous references to specific towns. Many songs are set, in some way, in the middle or aftermath of not-quite-resolved love affairs, as Williams meditates on the complexities of human passion. Even her simplest songs have more going on under the surface than their poetic structures might indicate. In the end, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is Williams’ third straight winner; although she might not be the most prolific songwriter of the ’90s, she’s certainly one of the most brilliant.”
– Steve Huey (Allmusic)

The Title track, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Live 2009):

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Great albums, Music Calendar

June 28: Gillian Welch released The Harrow & The Harvest in 2011


gillian welch harrow harvest

June 28: Gillian Welch released The Harrow & The Harvest in 2011

The Harrow & the Harvest is stunning for its intimacy, its lack of studio artifice, its warmth and its timeless, if hard won, songcraft.
~Thom Jurek (allmusic.com)

The Harrow & The Harvest is simply one of the richest, most expansive roots albums to be released in some time.
~Douglas Heselgrave (pastemagazine.com)

Our fav song from the album:

Tennessee (live):

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Blues, Great albums, Muddy Waters, Music Calendar

June 27: Muddy Waters Rollin Stone The Golden Anniversary Collection was released in 2000


Muddy Waters - Rollin' Stone - The Golden Anniversary Collection

This is powerful music and belongs in any serious music fan’s library. You can’t own too much Muddy Waters. And even if you bought the Chess Box Set, only a third of these tracks were included. ESSENTIAL
~Steve Vrana (amazon.com review)

Not just an essential historical record of an artist and genre, these are some of the most seminal and inspired blues performances ever recorded.
~Hal Horowitz (allmusic.com)

Down South Blues @ spotify:

Wikipedia:

Released June 27, 2000
Recorded 1947-September 17, 1952 Chicago
Genre Blues
Length 153:41
Label MCA/Chess
Producer Leonard & Phil Chess, Andy McKaie
Compiler Andy McKaie

 

Who’s Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I’m Gone:

Rollin’ Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection is a compilation album collecting the first 50 master recordings of blues singer Muddy Waters for Chess Records. The collection spans Muddy’s debut with then named Aristocrat Records circa 1947, and traces his evolution as a songwriter and musician up to September 17th, 1952 on what became Chess Records after the company changed ownership. It is the first in a series of releases chronicling Muddy Waters’ complete recording career at Chess. The second release in the series is Hoochie Coochie Man: The Complete Chess Masters, Volume 2, 1952-1958 (2004) and the third release in the series is You Shook Me: The Complete Chess Masters, Volume 3, 1958 to 1963 (2012).

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Grateful Dead, Great albums, Music Calendar

June 14: The Grateful Dead released “Workingman’s Dead” in 1970


WorkingmansDead_Cover

June 14:  The Grateful Dead released “Workingman’s Dead” in 1970

Workingman’s Dead, in part inspired by the rustic soul of the Band, ranks as the Dead’s studio masterpiece, followed closely by American Beauty. The focus is on the songs, rather than the jams, and these would provide the focal point of an era, spanning 1969–74, when the Dead played some of the most remarkable concerts in American history, virtually every one available in some incarnation thanks to the band’s dedicated tapers.
~rollingstone.com

Uncle John’s Band:

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Great albums, Music Calendar, Van Morrison

June 11: Them released their debut album The Angry Young Them in 1965

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Them- The Angry Young- Frontal

June 11: Them released their debut album The Angry Young Them in 1965

“These five young rebels are outrageously true to themselves. Defiant! Angry! Sad! They are honest to the point of insult!” (original liner notes)

The Angry Young Them is Them’s  first album. The album was released in the UK on 11th of  June 1965. The band’s lead singer and songwriter was of course Van “The Man”  Morrison. He was with Them on only two albums before deciding to go solo.

Them

The opening track Mystic Eyes was from an 8 or 9 minute jam originally, a long intense  jam session in the studio with Van making the words up on the spur of the moment. Oh why didn’t they use the long take? Anyway, a good opener.

If You And I Could Be As Two is the next song and it opens with Van’s spoken voice talking (rather angrily) before this wonderful soul ballad continues. Then it is Little Girl which is about watching a 14-year-old (!) school girl on her way to school,  not very acceptable these days but we need to remember that Van Morrison was only a teenager himself when he sang these words (still no excuse, I know).

Just A Little Bit by Roscoe Gordon is the next one out, Morrison sings great and it is my favorite song of the non Van Morrison penned tracks. Fantastic song!

Then we are in for the weakest track on the album, I Gave My Love a Diamond. That is not a put-down, because it’s a good sixties ballad, it just pales compared to the other songs on the album.

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