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I don’t care about the rules. In fact, if I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I’m not doing my job properly.
~Jeff BeckEvery time I listen to Jeff Beck my whole view of guitar changes radically. He’s way, way out, doing things you never expect.
~Brian May
Jimmy Page inducts Jeff Beck at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009:
Jeff Beck accepts the award at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Induction:
Jackie Leven was brilliant and truly under-appreciated. I never tire of his music.His lyrics stand as poetry of the highest order.His life ended much too soon. I was lucky to see him in concert just a year before he died. He was a master story-teller both in his songs and between his songs.
After the show he asked me what my name was, I told him that it was Hallgeir. He said: “What?” and then tried to say it and laughed. “What does it mean?” I said that it is an old viking name that it literally means stone spear. He signed his cd for me with the words: “To my big viking friend, Hallgeir!” He was a sweet, funny and very talented man.
I found some fine moments on YouTube to celebrate a fine songwriter.
Jackie Leven – Empty in Soho Square and a fine interview (2004):
Jackie Leven – Ancient Misty Morning medley – Tramway Glasgow 1995:
Jackie Leven (18 June 1950 – 14 November 2011) was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician. After starting his career as a folk musician in the late 1960s, he first found success with new wave band Doll by Doll. He later recorded as a solo artist, releasing more than twenty albums under his own name or under the pseudonym Sir Vincent Lone. He sometimes complained that his record company wouldn’t let him release as many albums as he wanted. And he wanted to release a lot!
Continue reading June 18: The Late great Jackie Leven would have been 65 today
Workingman’s Dead, in part inspired by the rustic soul of the Band, ranks as the Dead’s studio masterpiece, followed closely by American Beauty. The focus is on the songs, rather than the jams, and these would provide the focal point of an era, spanning 1969–74, when the Dead played some of the most remarkable concerts in American history, virtually every one available in some incarnation thanks to the band’s dedicated tapers.
~rollingstone.com
Uncle John’s Band:
Continue reading June 14: The Grateful Dead released “Workingman’s Dead” in 1970
“These five young rebels are outrageously true to themselves. Defiant! Angry! Sad! They are honest to the point of insult!” (original liner notes)
The Angry Young Them is Them’s first album. The album was released in the UK on 11th of June 1965. The band’s lead singer and songwriter was of course Van “The Man” Morrison. He was with Them on only two albums before deciding to go solo.
The opening track Mystic Eyes was from an 8 or 9 minute jam originally, a long intense jam session in the studio with Van making the words up on the spur of the moment. Oh why didn’t they use the long take? Anyway, a good opener.
If You And I Could Be As Two is the next song and it opens with Van’s spoken voice talking (rather angrily) before this wonderful soul ballad continues. Then it is Little Girl which is about watching a 14-year-old (!) school girl on her way to school, not very acceptable these days but we need to remember that Van Morrison was only a teenager himself when he sang these words (still no excuse, I know).
Just A Little Bit by Roscoe Gordon is the next one out, Morrison sings great and it is my favorite song of the non Van Morrison penned tracks. Fantastic song!
Then we are in for the weakest track on the album, I Gave My Love a Diamond. That is not a put-down, because it’s a good sixties ballad, it just pales compared to the other songs on the album.
Continue reading June 11: Them released their debut album The Angry Young Them in 1965
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as Howlin’ Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.
With a booming voice and looming physical presence, Burnett is commonly ranked among the leading performers in electric blues; musician and critic Cub Koda declared, “no one could match Howlin’ Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.” A number of songs written or popularized by Burnett—such as “Smokestack Lightnin'”, “Back Door Man”, “Killing Floor” and “Spoonful”—have become blues and blues rock standards.
Allmusic:
“A Robert Johnson may have possessed more lyrical insight, a Muddy Waters more dignity, and a B.B. King certainly more technical expertise, but no one could match him for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.”
Very fine documentary, The Howlin’ Wolf Story – The Secret History Of Rock and Roll (playlist with 8 videos):
Buddy Guy (to Rolling Stone Magazine):
“And he used to put on such a show. He would get down on the floor, crawl like a wolf and sing in that voice: “I’m a tail dragger.” He would do this boogie-woogie thing, around and around — like the kids used to do with the hula hoops, where you had to go around and around at your waist, to keep the hoop going. That was the kind of shit he was doing. I’d see that and think, “Man, there goes the Wolf.“”
Continue reading June 10: The late great Howlin Wolf was born in 1910 – 105 years ago