Category Archives: Great albums

March 17: Elvis Costello and The Attractions released “This Year’s Model” in 1978

this-years-model

 

Perfectly balancing the raw energy of My Aim Is True with the more elegant pop songwriting that would come to characterize much of his later work, This Year’s Model is not only Costello’s best work, but one of the most distinctively brilliant albums ever to be released. For fans of rock music bursting with wit and character, it really just doesn’t get any better than this.
~Matt LeMay (pitchfork.com)

My favourite Costello album was released 17 March 1978 – 37 years ago today.

The Beat:

Continue reading March 17: Elvis Costello and The Attractions released “This Year’s Model” in 1978

March 12 and 13: The Allman Brothers played Fillmore East in 1971

allman brothers fillmore east

 

March 12 and 13: The Allman Brothers played Fillmore East in 1971

Recorded at the Fillmore East concert hall, the storied rock venue in New York City, on Friday and Saturday March 12, 1971–March 13, 1971, the album showcased the band’s mixture of blues, southern rock, and jazz.
~Wikipedia

it remains the pinnacle of the Allmans and Southern rock at its most elastic, bluesy, and jazzy.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

“The true brilliance of this live recording is in the shorter pieces. The longer pieces (“Whipping Post,” “You Don’t Love Me,” and “Mountain Jam”) have their moments, but those moments are diluted in the self indulgent noodling typical of many 1970’s live performances. If The Allman Brothers Band: The Fillmore Concerts contained only “Statesboro Blues,” “Stormy Monday” and “One Way Out,” it would still have a place as one of the finest live recordings ever released.

“Statesboro Blues” and “One Way Out” have Duane Allman’s dense and precise slide guitar pitted against Richard Betts’ round lead guitar, with “One Way Out” providing Betts with his finest recorded guitar solo. “Stormy Monday” juxtaposes Allman and Bett’s distinct lead styles in an orgy of perfect blues phrasing. Gregg Allman’s jazzy organ interlude is an added delight.”
~C. Michael Bailey (allaboutjazz.com)

Statesboro Blues (+ Duane Allman tribute video)

Continue reading March 12 and 13: The Allman Brothers played Fillmore East in 1971

March 11: Déjà Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album) released in 1970

crosby stills nash young deja vu

March 11: Déjà Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album) released in 1970

 

One of the most hotly awaited second albums in history — right up there with those by the Beatles and the Band — Déjà Vu lived up to its expectations and rose to number one on the charts.
~Bruce Eder (allmusic.com)

Almost Cut My Hair – Live Wembley 1974:

Continue reading March 11: Déjà Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young album) released in 1970

March 5: Steve Earle – Guitar Town (1986)

steve earle guitar town

The first two things I wrote were Guitar Town and Down the Road, because I was looking for an opening and an ending.  So I wrote ’em like bookends, and then filled in the spaces in the middle.  And the album’s kind of about me.  It’s kind of personal.
~Steve Earle (to Alanna Nash – May 1986)

Guitar Town was his first shot at showing a major audience what he could do, and he hit a bull’s-eye — it’s perhaps the strongest and most confident debut album any country act released in the 1980s.
~Mark Deming (allmusic)

Guitar Town:

Continue reading March 5: Steve Earle – Guitar Town (1986)

March 3: Nick Cave – The Boatman’s Call (1997)

Nick_Cave_&_The_Bad_Seeds-The_Boatman

..It speak volumes about the album’s universality that its songs have soundtracked everything from Michael Hutchence’s funeral to Shrek 2.
~Stuart Berman (pitchfork.com)

The Boatman’s Call is one of his finest albums and arguably the masterpiece he has been promising throughout his career.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

Into My Arms – live

Continue reading March 3: Nick Cave – The Boatman’s Call (1997)