Category Archives: Great albums

Great albums, Southern rock

The South – The Further Inside You Go… New album and interview

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the south

Finally we’re getting new music from The South! We have listened extensively to the album since we got it and we had a little talk with Alexander Pettersen about the record and music in general.

The South (photo from Facebook)
The South (photo from Facebook)

What do you see as the biggest difference on this album from the last one?
The main difference is how fast we did it. We started recording the last album in December 2010, but we didn’t release it until March 2012. The new record was done in January 2013 and was actually ready for release in June this year (even if we waited until October)

Musically they’re even more at “the west-coast” of USA this time, the country aspect is toned down (but there are traces of it still – great steel-guitar and some honky-tonk piano, I like that they haven’t abandoned it all.) It has that very recognizable guitar sound (“The South-sound”), but it has more “space” and is more dreamy in a way.

When we talked to The South at Bergenfest in 2012, they told us that producer Bent Sæther (Motorpsycho) gave them music to listen to, to get inspired by.

What did Bent Sæther think you should listen to this time?
We didn’t have that specific discussion this time, we told him a bit about what we wanted, in what direction we would like to go. “A bigger canvas” was an expression that came about early on. We wanted not to rush it, to give the songs more time.

The Further Inside You Go… (Album teaser):

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Country, Great albums, Music Calendar, Singer Songwriter

Today: Laura Cantrell released Not the tremblin kind in 2000

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CantrellLNotthe

“It is my favourite record of the last ten years and possibly my life”
– John Peel

This is a good album, a very good debut!

It’s a mix of Cantrell’s own compositions and songs from other very gifted songwriters. THey are performed in a sincere and fresh style. It sounds traditional and fresh at the same time, just what the country scene needed. Laura Cantrell is a great interpreter, she has an expressive voice and she knows how to get a story across.

Laura Cantrell – Not the tremblin’ kind, St Andrews in The Square in Glasgow, October 2013 – part of the Glasgow Americana festival:

“Cantrell reclaims the essence of country songwriting, but she also puts subtle twists on familiar slice-of-life songs about whiskey drinkin’, relationships gone sour, livin’ on the road, and simple girl-wants-boy longing. Her music, whether inherently sad or jubilant, is always delivered with convincing sincerity. She’s also not afraid to explore uncomfortable psychological truths in intimate and eloquent detail.”
– Michael Sandlin (Pitchfork)

Laura_Cantrell-Not_The_Tremblin_Kind-Interior_Frontal

I bought this album on the strength of hearing just one track on Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, When the roses bloom. I bought everything I could find of hers, she is a great country singer and songwriter. I play her albums a lot, she reminds me of Kitty Wells in her singing and Dolly Parton in her songwriting, yes, she is that good!

 

Not the tremblin’ kind on Spotify:

– Hallgeir

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums, Great albums, List

Bob Dylan Albums @ alldylan.com

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bob_dylan-bob_dylans_greatest_hits

I hear it sometimes on the radio or a record player and I see that it’s badly mixed and it doesn’t sound very good, but what can you do? I’ve got, on Columbia Records alone, 21 or 22 albums out. So every time you make an album, you want it to be new, good and different, but personally, when you look back on them for me all my albums are, are just measuring points for wherever I was at a certain period of time. I went into the studio, recorded the songs as good as I could, and left. Basically, realistically, I’m a live performer and want to play onstage for the people and not make records that may sound really good.
~Bob Dylan (Lynn Allen interview, Dec 1978)

A list of “Dylan album” posts @ alldylan.com:

-Egil

Curtis Mayfield, Funk, Great albums, Soul

Curtis Mayfield released Roots in October 1971

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curtis-mayfield-roots

Roots is Curtis Mayfield’s second studio album, released in October 1971, we don’t know the exact date so we will do the celebration today.

Curtis Mayfield – Keep on keeping on (BBC TV, 1972):

I love Mayfield’s pleading voice and strong songwriting. In a just world this album would be as well-known as Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin on, it is equally good. It has many similarities with What’s Goin’ on, the long songs (relatively), the far-reaching ambition both lyrically and musically, the heartbreaking and soulful ballads and the sweet voice of a soul legend at his peak.

The music is extremely bold, Curtis Mayfield creates a sound scape that is both complex and simple at the same time.

And you can dance to it!

Curtis Mayfield – Get Down (Soul Train, 1972):

“The music is even bolder than the material on the Curtis album, with Mayfield expanding his instrumental range to the level of a veritable soul orchestra; and the recording is better realized, as Mayfield, with that album and a tour behind him, shows a degree of confidence that only a handful of soul artists of this era could have mustered. “
– Bruce Eder (allmusic)

Curtis Mayfield – Roots on Spotify:

– Hallgeir

Beatles, Great albums, Music Calendar

Today: Abbey Road was released 44 years ago

beatles abbey road

Released 26 September 1969
Recorded 22 February – 20 August 1969,EMI, Olympic and Trident Studios,London
Genre Rock
Length 47:23
Label Apple
Producer George Martin

Abbey Road is the 11th studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It is their last recorded album, although Let It Be was the last album released before the band’s dissolution in 1970. Work on Abbey Roadbegan in April 1969, and the album was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, and 1 October 1969 in the United States.

Abbey Road is widely regarded as one of The Beatles’ most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time. Despite the tensions within the band, Abbey Road was released to near universal acclaim and is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2012, Abbey Road was voted 14th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2009, readers of the magazine also named Abbey Road the greatest Beatles album.

After the near-disastrous sessions for the proposed Get Back album (later released as Let It Be), Paul McCartney suggested to music producer George Martin that the group get together and make an album “the way we used to”, free of the conflict that began after the death of Brian Epstein and carrying over to the sessions for the “White Album”. Martin agreed, stipulating that he must be allowed to do the album his way. This would be the last time the band would record with Martin.

Golden slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End my favourite Beatles song:

In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the “last album”, they all felt when this would very likely be the last Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and “go out on a high note”.

With the Let It Be album partly finished, the sessions for Abbey Road began in April, as the single “The Ballad of John and Yoko” / “Old Brown Shoe” was completed. In fact, recording sessions of John Lennon’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” had already started in February 1969 in Trident studios, with Billy Preston on the organ—only three weeks after the Get Back sessions. Photos from these sessions are included in the book Get Back, which came along with the Let It Be album but not in the Let It Be film. McCartney is clean-shaven and Lennon has started to let his beard grow.

Most of the album was recorded between 2 July and 1 August 1969. After the album was finished and released, the Get Back / Let It Be project was re-examined. More work was done on the album, including the recording of more music (see Let It Be). Thus, though the bulk of Let It Be was recorded before Abbey Road, the latter was released first, and Abbey Road was the last album properly started by The Beatles before they disbanded. Lennon was on hiatus from the group and working with the Plastic Ono Band during the September 1969 lead-up to Abbey Road’s release, which was effectively the first official sign of The Beatles’ impending dissolution.

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