Category Archives: Music Calendar

Great albums, Music Calendar, Randy Newman, Singer Songwriter

September 10: Randy Newman released Good Old Boys in 1974

Randy_Newman-Good_Old_Boys-Frontal

September 10: Randy Newman released Good Old Boys in 1974

“To me, someone who writes really good songs is Randy Newman. There’s a lot of people who write good songs. As songs. Now Randy might not go out on stage and knock you out, or knock your socks off. And he’s not going to get people thrilled in the front row. He ain’t gonna do that. But he’s gonna write a better song than most people who can do it.

You know, he’s got that down to an art. Now Randy knows music. He knows music But it doesn’t get any better than “Louisiana” or “Cross Charleston Bay” [“Sail Away”]. It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s like a classically heroic anthem theme. He did it. There’s quite a few people who did it. Not that many people in Randy’s class.”

– Bob Dylan (1991)

Good Old Boys is the fifth album by Randy Newman, released 10 September 1974 on Reprise Records. It peaked at #36 on the Billboard 200, Newman’s first album to obtain major commercial success. The premiere live performance of the album took place on October 5, 1974, at the Symphony Hall in Atlanta, Georgia, with guest Ry Cooder and Newman conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

This is one of the best records about “The South” that has ever been made. Randy Newman is cruel but, oh, so witty.

Mark Demming (Allmusic.com):
“ The album’s scabrous opening cut, “Rednecks,” is guaranteed to offend practically anyone with its tale of a slow-witted, willfully (and proudly) ignorant Southerner obsessed with “keeping the n—–s down.” “A Wedding in Cherokee County” is more polite but hardly less mean-spirited, in which an impotent hick marries a circus freak; if the song’s melody and arrangement weren’t so skillful, it would be hard to imagine anyone bothering with this musical geek show.
…
Good Old Boys is one of Newman’s finest albums; it’s also one of his most provocative and infuriating, and that’s probably just the way he wanted it. “

Rednecks:

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Great albums, Music Calendar, Tom Waits

September 8: Bone Machine by Tom Waits was released in 1992

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Bone Machine 1

September 8: Bone Machine by Tom Waits was released in 1992

“it ain’t no sin, to take off your skin and dance around in your bones”
~Tom Waits

From Wikipedia:

Released September 8, 1992
Recorded Prairie Sun Recording, Cotati, California
Genre Rock, experimental rock, blues rock
Length 53:30
Label Island
Producer Tom Waits

Bone Machine is a critically acclaimed and award-winning album by Tom Waits, released in 1992 on Island Records. It won a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, and features guest appearances by Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, Primus’ Les Claypool, and The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards.

Bone Machine marked a return to studio material for Waits, coming a full five years after his previous studio album, Franks Wild Years (1987). The album is often noted for its dark lyrical themes of death and murder, and for its rough, stripped-down, percussion-heavy blues rock style.

Tom Waits

Recording & production:

Bone Machine was recorded and produced entirely at the Prairie Sun Recording studios in Cotati, California in a room of Studio C known as “the Waits Room,” in the old cement hatchery rooms of the cellar of the buildings.

Mark “Mooka” Rennick, Prairie Sun studio chief said:

[Waits] gravitated toward these “echo” rooms and created the Bone Machine aural landscape. […] What we like about Tom is that he is a musicologist. And he has a tremendous ear. His talent is a national treasure.

Waits said of the bare-bones studio, “I found a great room to work in, it’s just a cement floor and a hot water heater. Okay, we’ll do it here. It’s got some good echo.” References to the recording environment and process were made in the field-recorded interview segments made for the promotional CD release, Bone Machine: The Operator’s Manual, which threaded together full studio tracks and conversation for a pre-recorded radio show format.

Artwork:

The cover photo, which consists of a blurred black-and-white, close-up image of Waits in a leather skullcap with horns and protective goggles, was taken by Jesse Dylan, the son of Bob Dylan. He wears this same outfit in the video for “Goin’ Out West” and “I Don’t Wanna Grow up”.

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Great albums, Music Calendar, The Who, The Who video

September 4: The Who released It’s Hard in 1982

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It’s Hard is the tenth studio album by English rock band The Who. It is the last Who album to feature bassist John Entwistle and drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was their last album until 2006’s Endless Wire. It was released in 1982 on Polydor in the UK, peaking at #11,] and on Warner Bros. in the US where it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts. It got mixed reviews on its release, but I find it interesting. It’s a bit different, but I love Townshend’s playfulness and willingness to seek new challenges.

The Rolling Stone Magazine’s Parke Puterbaugh gave the album a rave review and said it was their best album since Who’s Next:

“The key to the album is “I’ve Known No War,” a song that could become an anthem to our generation much the way “Won’t Get Fooled Again” did a decade ago.

…

The entire album is vibrant with the palpable energy of rekindled bonds and rediscovered group values.

…

It’s a long road the Who have traveled from the bristling, bare-knuckled fury of their early days to the present. They rank among a handful of vanguard rock musicians who show signs of pushing through the age barrier and creating a viable adult vocabulary for rock, one that faces up to the moral responsibilities of middle age and allows them to use their craft to effectively shape consciousness. It must seem especially ironic to Townshend that this is true of the band that sang “hope I die before I get old” back in 1965, but there you go: always the group that delivers the unexpected. “

Eminence Front (Live, official video):

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Great albums, Music Calendar

September 2: Bad Reputation by Thin Lizzy was released in 1977

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Thin_Lizzy-Bad_Reputation-Frontal

Bad Reputation is Thin Lizzy’s eighth studio album, released in 1977. As the front cover suggests, most of the tracks feature only three-quarters of the band, with guitarist Brian Robertson only credited on three tracks. He had missed most of their earlier tour, following an injury sustained in a brawl, and this album turned out to be his last studio effort with Thin Lizzy.

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Phil Lynott at Winterland 1977 Photo: Chris Bradford

Allmusic’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote:

“Teaming up with legendary producer Tony Visconti, Thin Lizzy managed to pull off a nifty trick of sounding leaner and tougher than they did on Johnny, yet they also had a broader sonic palette. Much of this is due, of course, to Visconti, who always had a flair for subtle dramatics that never called attention to themselves, and he puts this to use in dramatic effect here, to the extent that Lizzy sound stripped down to their bare bones, even when they have horns pushing them forward on “Dancing in the Moonlight” or when overdubbed vocals pile up on the title track. Of course, they were stripped down to a trio for most of this record: guitarist Brian Robertson (who’d injured his hand) had to sit out on most of the recording, but Scott Gorham’s double duty makes his absence unnoticeable. Plus, this is pure visceral rock & roll, the hardest and heaviest that Thin Lizzy ever made, living up to the promise of the title track. And, as always, a lot of this has to do with Phil Lynott’s writing, which is in top form whether he’s romanticizing “Soldiers of Fortune” or heading down the “Opium Trail.” It adds up to an album that rivals Jailbreak as their best studio album.”

My three favorite Lizzy albums are:

1. Bad Reputation
2. Johnny The Fox
3. Jailbreak

It is strange to listen to these albums now, they are so mellow and soulful. We regarded them as hard rock records in the late 70s, but now I will describe them as Hard-rock/soul albums. And how great is Phil Lynott’s singing, he’s a great soul singer!

Dancing In The Moonlight (Live and Dangerous, DVD):

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Country, George Jones, Great albums, Music Calendar

September: George Jones released I am what I am in 1980

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September: George Jones released I am what I am in 1980

I love the voice of George Jones, and today we present his best album, I am What I am. It was released September 1980 on Epic Records label, then on July 4, 2000 this album was re–released with bonus tracks on the Legacy Recordings label. It peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and number 132 on the Pop Albums chart. I Am What I Am went Gold in 1981 and Platinum in 1983. We can not find the exact release date, but September it is.

Merle Haggard wrote in Rolling Stone magazine that “His voice was like a Stradivarius violin: one of the greatest instruments ever made.” This was never more true than on this classic country release.

When George Jones was divorced from Tammy Wynette in 1975, he went on an epic binge, an excess in cocaine and alcohol. His albums continued to sell ok and his singles were on the charts, he actually recorded some of his most popular songs between 1975 and 1980, but George was a wreck on a personal level.

He started cancelling concerts in large numbers and he got the un-flattering nick name, “No Show Jones”. George Jones went into rehab at a psychiatric hospital in Muscle Shoals. Thank God for that, it was the start of what would be his best record. It is a dark album, full of heartbreak and drinking, good melodies and the velvet voice of the restrained, but strong Mr. Jones.

George Jones – If Drinking Don’t Kill Me (1982) :

“I Am What I Am announced that George Jones had officially returned to form artistically and, in the process, it became his biggest hit album ever. It’s easy to see why — the production is commercial without being slick, the songs are balanced between aching ballads and restrained honky tonk numbers, and Jones gives a nuanced, moving performance. “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “I’m Not Ready Yet,” and “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” were the hits, but the remaining seven album tracks are exceptionally strong, without a weak track in the bunch.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic)

That is so true, all tracks are very good (not just the three hit singles!). This album is the sound of George Jones at his peak and it’s the highlight of his later years.

George Jones – He stopped loving her today (live, 1 July 1980, Canada):

George Jones – I am What I am on Spotify:

 

…and he has one of the best shirts in country music history on the cover!

– Hallgeir