Category Archives: Great albums

August 19: Neil Young and Crazy Horse released Greendale in 2003

greendale_cover

Greendale is the name of an album, movie and graphic novel by Neil Young. As the twenty-seventh album by Neil Young, Young and Crazy Horse’s Greendale, a 10-song rock opera, is set in a fictional California seaside town. Based on the saga of the Green family, the “audio novel” has been compared to the literary classics of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio for its complexity and emotional depth in exploring a small town in America.

Greendale combines many themes on corruption, environmentalism and mass media consolidation. The album, concert, film and DVDs have produced a vast divergence of critical opinion ranging from being called “amateur” to being voted as one of the best albums of 2003 by Rolling Stone magazine music critics.

Falling from above:

The CD was originally released with a DVD of live “Neil-only” acoustic performance of the Greendale material from Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland. In 2004, the CD was released with a new DVD containing a live performance of Neil Young and Crazy Horse. A DVD-Audio version was also released, with both Advanced Resolution Stereo and 5.1 Surround sound mixes, and a video of “Devil’s Sidewalk” from the film. In late 2004, the feature-length DVD with actors lip-synching the material was released.

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August 13: Eels released beautiful freak in 1996

Eels-Beautiful_Freak-Frontal

Eels released their debut album, “beautiful freak” on this date in 1996. For me it was the soundtrack of fall 1996, a perfect sad pop-album, for sad Norwegian weather.

“Eccentric and quirky are the best ways to describe the Eels’ debut effort, Beautiful Freak. Concise pop tunes form the backbone of the album, yet tinges of despair and downright meanness surface just when you’ve been lulled into thinking this is another pop group, as titles like “My Beloved Monster,” “Your Lucky Day in Hell” and “Novocaine for the Soul” indicate.”
– Review by James Chrispell (allmusic)

Eels is a rock band, formed in California in 1995 by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett (son of famous physicist Hugh Everett III). Band members have changed across the years, both in the studio and on stage, making Everett the only official member for the most of the band’s work. Often filled with themes about family, death and lost love, Eels’ music straddles a range of genres, which is shown by the distinct musical style of every album. Since 1996, Eels has made eleven major studio releases, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett (2014) being their most recent release. 

Eels – Novocaine for the soul (live, Pinkpop 1997):

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(Billy Joe) Shaver – Tramp On Your Street – released 21 years ago today

billy joe shaver tramp on your street

 

I’m gonna live forever
I’m gonna cross that river
I’m gonna catch tomorrow now
You’re gonna wanna hold me
Just like I’ve always told you
You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone

This is one of my favourite Americana/alt.country/roots albums, and among many great songs here..  there is real diamond:

Live Forever:

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Today: Get behind me Satan by The White Stripes was released in 2005


Get-Behind-Me-Satan-cover

Get Behind Me Satan is the fifth album by The White Stripes, released on June 7, 2005. We clearly recognize the “White Stripes sound”, but it is also very different from the earlier albums from the band.It relies much more on piano-driven melodies and experimentation with marimba on “The Nurse” and “Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)”, Get Behind Me Satan plays down the punk, garage rock and blues influences (a little bit…) that dominated earlier White Stripes albums.

The White Stripes at Glastonbury 2005 – Blue Orchid:

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Today: Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars was released by David Bowie in 1972


bowie

I leaned back on my radio
Some cat was layin’ down
some rock ‘n’ roll ‘lotta soul, he said
Then the loud sound did seem to fade
Came back like a slow voice on a wave of phase
That weren’t no D.J.
that was hazy cosmic jive. 

– Starman

Ziggy the glam androgynous alien messiah fell to Earth, he changed Bowie from a prodigy to a superstar who transformed  music forever. His impact still lingers after 42 years and will continue to do so as long as there is music. No less.

My favourite Bowie album is Hunky Dory, but Ziggy sure comes close.

Ziggy Stardust – Dunstable June 21, 1972:


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