Category Archives: Rock

Country, Great albums, Music Calendar, Rock

Today: Uncle Tupelo released Still Feel Gone in 1991

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“When the Bible is a bottle
and a hardwood floor is home
When morning comes twice a day
or not at all…”
– Still Be Around

Still Feel Gone is the second album by Uncle Tupelo. It was released 17 September 1991 on Rockville Records and re-released in 2003 by Sony Legacy. It was my first Uncle Tupelo album (I bought No Depression the next day).

Uncle Tupelo was an alt. country music group from Belleville, Illinois, they were active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their earlier band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville Records.
Uncle Tupelo broke up before it achieved commercial success, but the band is renowned for its impact on the alternative country music scene. The group’s first album, No Depression, became a byword for the genre and was widely influential. Uncle Tupelo’s sound was unlike popular country music of the time, drawing inspiration from styles as diverse as the hardcore punk of The Minutemen and the country instrumentation and harmony of the Carter Family and Hank Williams.

Uncle Tupelo is a very important band in the development of Alt.country/Americana.

“With the release of their 1990 debut LP, No Depression, the Belleville, IL, trio Uncle Tupelo launched more than simply their own career—by fusing the simplicity and honesty of country music with the bracing fury of punk, they kick-started a revolution which reverberated throughout the American underground.”
– Jason Ankeny (allmusic)

Uncle Tupelo – Gun (Bloomington,IN, 1992):

I love the contrasts in Uncle Tupelo, the country vs. punk/rock, Tweedy’s voice vs. Farrar’s voice, the heart aching ballads vs. the working class lament. The slow howls in the songs vs. the attacking guitars. The balance of innocence and rawness gives Still Feel Gone an edge and an emotional dimension seldom found.
To me the album sounds like a stew consisting of, The Clash, Neil Young, Rolling Stones, Husker Du and all the country music influences they surely got from their parents’ records and their radio listening habits. It’s a lovely stew and a contender for best album of 1991.

“The band eschews quaint rootsiness for the time-bomb attack of Jay Ferrar’s aggressive stop-start guitars and some deceptively gentle acoustic ballads that convey an underlying sense of dissatisfaction. The band’s melodic skills don’t always equal their unpretentiousness, but Still Feel Gone remains a vivid snapshot of life in a town that`s colored gray.”
– Chicago Tribune (Feb 1992)

Uncle Tupelo – Punch Drunk (Toad’s Place, New Haven CT, March 2, 1992):

“The characters that populate Still Feel Gone are far from one-dimensional caricatures of rural life. Songwriters Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy write with an insightful eye and ragged beauty that bring their images alive without coming off as rote shrieks of youthful disenchantment. “
– Rolling Stone Magazine (Mar 1992)

Uncle Tupelo – Still Feel Gone on Spotify:

– Hallgeir

Blues, Country, Festival, Live, Rock

Vikedal Roots Music Festival 11-14 July

plakat

Next week I’m visiting a local festival, Vikedal Roots Music Festival. It is the 15th year anniversary for this gem of a festival and they have some really great acts on their program.

It is located in Vikedal a beautiful little place here in the western part of Norway. They are setting up several stages and have concerts in the church, the harbour and in a big festival tent.

vikedal 2

We are talking about 23 concerts in 3 days, all of them firmly placed in the roots oriented music scene. Sometimes it’s roots-rock other times more folksy stuff.

The festival has given us some very good concerts through the years, and we have a long and loving relationship with this little, but great festival.

We here at Johannasvisions will try to see as many shows as we can, and we have chosen some favorites from this years

Here are our three must see artists at Vikedal Roots Music Festival 2013:

1. Ida Jenshus (with band)

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Ida Jenshus is always a safe bet, she and her band delivers on all shows, and she has a terrific band. Her latest release is less straight country and more into the Daniel Lanois /Emmylou Harris sound scape. We love it!

Here’s a concert taped for the Norwegian Broadcast Company (NRK). 22 minutes of great music with Ida Jenshus and her band:

 Place/Time: The Harbour, Thursday 11th July at 21:30

Our next choice is the up and coming “prairie-rock”-band, Yuma Sun.

2. Yuma Sun

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We have seen Yuma Sun in concert a few times, and they’re getting better with each show. They’ve toured extensively the last year and we are really looking forward to hear an even tighter band. As I write this they are playing at The Hove Festival, one of Norway’s biggest festivals.

Yuma Sun – Another Day:

In between all the gigs they are recording their second album. Hopefully we will get a release this fall.

Place/Time: The Harbour, Thursday 11th July at 23:30
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Blues, Led Zeppelin, Music Calendar, Rock

Today: The late John Bonham was born in 1948 – 65 years ago

 

bonham in action

I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It’s all very well doing a triple paradiddle – but who’s going to know you’ve done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It’s being original that counts.
– John Bonham

John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and “feel” for the groove. 

Led Zeppelin – Full concert Live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970:

“Bonzo had very broad listening tastes. When we weren’t listening to James Brown or Otis Redding, he might be listening to Joni Mitchell or Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Bonzo was a great lover of songs.” – John Paul Jones

He is widely considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music by many drummers, other musicians, and commentators in the industry. Over 30 years after his death, Bonham continues to garner awards and praise, including a Rolling Stone readers’ pick in 2011 placing him in first place of the magazine’s “best drummers of all time”.

bonham cool

Led Zeppelin – Kashmir – Earl’s Court 1975:

Awards and accolades

While Bonham is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential rock drummers by other musicians and commentators in the industry, he continues to receive the greatest acclaim from fans, and several opinion polls and critic lists continue to list him in first place before any other drummer in rock history.

  • In 2007, Stylus magazine rated Bonham number 1 on its list of the 50 greatest rock drummers, 
  • as did the online music magazine Gigwise.com in 2008,
  •  Rolling Stone reader’s poll where he “led the list by a significant margin” in 2011.
  • Bonham was ranked at no. 1 on Classic Rock’s 2005 list of “50 Greatest Drummers in Rock”,
  • Modern Drummer magazine describes him as “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll drummer in history.”
  • In September 2008, Bonham topped the Blabbermouth.net’s list of “Rockers fans want brought back to life”, ahead of Elvis Presley and Freddie Mercury.
  • Rhythm magazine voted him the greatest drummer ever, topping their reader’s poll to determine the “50 greatest drummers of all time” for its October 2009 issue. 
  • At the end of the BBC Two series I’m in a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band! on 5 June 2010, John Bonham was named the best drummer of all time.

John Bonham has been described by Allmusic as one of the most important, well-known and influential drummers in rock. Adam Budofsky, managing editor of Modern Drummer magazine, writes “If the king of rock ‘n’ roll was Elvis Presley, then the king of rock drumming was certainly John Bonham.”

Moby Dick – great video w/focus on Bonham (the whole 30 minutes with a long drum solo) 24 May 1975:

Led Zeppelin is not available @ Spotify, so let’s roll another video..
Whole lotta love:

Other May-31:

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Rock, Rock'n Roll, Rolling Stones, The Best Songs

Brown Sugar by Rolling Stones was released 16 April in 1971

Rolling-Stones-Brown-Sugar

“The lyric was all to do with the dual combination of drugs and girls. This song was a very instant thing, a definite high point.”
– Mick Jagger

“I’ve got a new one myself. No words yet, but a few words in my head – called Brown Sugar – about a woman who screws one of her black servants. I started to call it Black Pussy but I decided that was too direct, too nitty-gritty.” – Mick Jagger (1969, The True Adventures of Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth)

Brown Sugar is the opening track and lead single from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #495 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and at #5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

The group sings the lyric with all the enthusiasm of tongue-wagging dogs swooping onto a prime rib, leading up to one of the band’s strongest shout-along choruses. As on other Stones classics of the period like “Honky Tonk Women” and “Bitch,” beefy horns start to duel with the buzzing electric guitars in the instrumental break; few if any other groups have used guitars and horns as deftly in unison. The crowning embellishment is the final choruses, which vary the melody and tempo so that the group sings and make a high-pitched exclamation in a rhythm that very much resembles that of a sexual climax.

– Richie Unterberger (allmusic)

It is credited, like most of their songs, to  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but the song was primarily the work of Jagger, who wrote it sometime during the filming of Ned Kelly in 1969.

Brown Sugar from the fantastic concert film Ladies and Gentlemen (1972):

This version of the song features Mick Jagger on vocals, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor on guitar, Charlie Watts on drums, Bill Wyman on bass, Nick Hopkins on piano, Bobby Keys on saxophone, and Jim Price on horns.

Brown Sugar, Lyrics:

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in new orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he’s doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should
A-huh.

Drums beating, cold english blood runs hot,
Lady of the house wondrin where it’s gonna stop.
House boy knows that he’s doin alright.
You should a heard him just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a black girl should
A-huh.

I bet your mama was a tent show queen, and all her boy
Friends were sweet sixteen.
Im no schoolboy but I know what I like,
You should have heard me just around midnight.

Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should.

I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, I said
Oh just like a, just like a black girl should.

Continue reading Brown Sugar by Rolling Stones was released 16 April in 1971 →

Great albums, List, Live, MC5, Rock

30 Best live albums countdown: 22 – Kick out the Jams by MC5

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MC5-1969-Kick-Out-The-Jams

“And right now, right now, right now it’s time to… kick out the jams, motherfuckers!”

 Let’s continue with my countdown of 30 the best live albums ever, at 22 I have MC5‘s ferocious Kick Out The Jams.

I was into punk when I grew up, and not metal. There were two camps in our little town when I grew up. When us punk fans listened to Detroit music, we listened to The Stooges. When the metal kids listened to Detroit music, they listened to Kiss. MC5 were something in the middle, to me they are the ancestors of both punk-and metal music. Their attitude was punk and their riffs were the inspiration of many metal bands. Together with Detroit sparring partners The Stooges, The Motor City Five were truly an anomaly in the peace-and-love hippy climate of 1967.

Kick out the Jams (1970):

And they looked great!
MC5 bare chested

…and the borders between the genres have blurred since my childhood, I now like good music no matter what genre or where it comes from.

On new years eve in 1968, MC5 recorded this earthquake , this thunderstorm, Kick Out The Jams. Not everyone’s new year, but the followers of Zenta, The religion of MC5. To us who have no religin or who has other beliefs and follows the ordinary calendar, it was recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit on the Halloween weekend, 30. and 31. October. It was released in February 1969, through Elektra Records.

I know, they were a special group of people…
MC5 Concert Poster

MC5 was formed by their time, the Vietnam War and the social changes, this was garage rock with a rage not known to anybody before (and very rarely since). The guitars acted as assault weapons in their war against conformity.

John Sinclair (poet) was instrumental in leading the MC5 into creating the soundtrack for the new party The White Panther Party, which had the fitting slogan: “Rock’n Roll, dope and fucking in the streets”.

Video where John Sinclair is reading the liner notes from the album:

This was danger caught on vinyl!
Continue reading 30 Best live albums countdown: 22 – Kick out the Jams by MC5 →