Category Archives: Great albums

Classic Concert, Great albums, Live, Rolling Stones

October 17: The Rolling Stones recorded the Brussels Affair in 1973

Brussels-Affair

The Rolling Stones have finally begun to assemble and release their vast archives.  Setting up The Official Rolling Stones Archive online, their first release was The Brussels Affair ’73.

Long hailed by die-hard Stones fans as one of the band’s greatest live performances, The Brussels Affair has been a mainstay in the underground music world for years. The album is pulled from the two gigs that took place at the Forest National arena in Brussels, and was originally recorded by Andy Johns on the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Bob Clearmountain applied the final mix in 2011.

Buy it here

Keith talking about the two shows:

As i said it is compiled from two shows recorded in Brussels on 17 October 1973 in the Forest National Arena, during their European Tour. The album was released exclusively as a digital download through Google Music on 18 October 2011 in the US and through The Rolling Stones Archive website for the rest of the world in both lossy mp3 and lossless FLAC format. The 2011 digital edition has been bootlegged on physical CD.

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Bruce Springsteen, Great albums

October 17: Bruce Springsteen’s “The River” was released in 1980


springsteen The-River

But I remember us riding in my brother’s car
Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir
At night on them banks I’d lie awake
And pull her close just to feel each breath she’d take
Now those memories come back to haunt me
They haunt me like a curse
Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true
Or is it something worse?
~Bruce Springsteen “The River”

Put on your best dress baby
And darlin’, fix your hair up right
Cause there’s a party, honey
Way down beneath the neon lights
~Bruce Springsteen “Out In The Street”

From Wikipedia

Released October 17, 1980
Recorded The Power Station, New York
March 1979 – August 1980
Genre Rock, heartland rock
Length 83:47
Label Columbia
Producer Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt

The River is the fifth studio album (a double album) by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1980.

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Great albums, Paul Weller

October 11: Paul Weller released As Is Now in 2005

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as_is_now paul weller

“I wanted to make a record that sounded like a continous piece”
– Paul Weller

This is in my top three of Paul Weller’s solo albums, all tracks are good to great and it has a really appealing urgency. He sounds eager and inspired on this album. It is a great rock record, with a few mellow bits (and a fantastic funk song).

Paul Weller as is now 2

As Is Now is Weller’s eighth studio album. Released in October 2005, it reached number 4 in the UK charts. The album was recorded over a two-week period in March 2005 at Wheeler End Studios, Buckinghamshire. It was then mixed at Studio 150, Amsterdam.

Paul Weller – Blink and you’ll miss it, fantastic version! (live):

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Great albums, Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen: Popular Problems

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leonard cohen popular problems

At the age of 80, Leonard Cohen has created a masterpiece. It’s a smoky, late-night concoction delivered with a deceptively light touch that masks deep seriousness.
~Neil McCormick (The Telegraph)

There’s only been one other album this year that’s hit me this hard in the gut: Rosanne Cash’s “The River & The Thread”.

Cohen’s recent album feels like a masterpiece, but I’ve only listened to it for two weeks. It needs to sink in, and by the end of the year (end year lists) we’ll see how it holds up. But for now.. Holy shit! This is wonderful music, must be his best since the brilliant “The Future” (1992).

My Favorite songs so far: Did I ever Love You, Almost Like The Blues, My Oh My,  & Slow.

The lemon trees blossom
The almond trees whither
It’s Spring and it’s Summer
And it’s Winter forever

Did I ever love you
Does it really matter
Did I ever fight you
You don’t need to answer

Did I Ever Love You:

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Blues, Great albums, Music Calendar

October 5: Muddy Waters Electric Mud (1968)

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em1

Electric Mud imagines Muddy Waters as a psychedelic musician. Producer Marshall Chess suggested that Muddy Waters record experimental, psychedelic blues tracks with members of Rotary Connection in trying to revive the blues singer’s career.

The album peaked at #127 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. It was controversial for its fusion of electric blues with psychedelic elements, but was influential on psychedelic rock bands of the era.

Allmusic.com doesn’t like it:

” It’s a classically wrongheaded, crass update of the blues for a modern audience.”

I can understand the sceptics then, but I’m not a blues-purist and I really love the record!

She’s allright (audio):

 Chuck D(Public Enemy) is a big supporter of the record:
“To me, it’s a brilliant record. I’ve played it a thousand times. It took me a while to warm up to traditional blues, but what struck me right away was the Electric Mud thing.”

And check out the great inlay cover, the man looked great! :

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