The Clash

August 21: Joe Strummer was born in 1952

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 “We aren’t particularly talented. We try harder!”― Joe Strummer

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“—Authority is supposedly grounded in wisdom, but I could see from a very early age that authority was only a system of control and it didn’t have any inherent wisdom. I quickly realised that you either became a power or you were crushed”
― Joe Strummer

August 21: Joe Strummer was born in 1952

As frontman and main songwriter of the Clash, Joe Strummer created some of the fieriest, most vital punk rock — and, indeed, rock & roll — of all time. Strummer expanded punk’s musical palette with his fondness for reggae and early rock & roll, and his signature bellow lent an impassioned urgency to the political sloganeering that filled some of his best songs.
~Steve Huey (allmusic.com)

The Edge inducts the Clash Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions 2003:

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Blues, Music Calendar, Soul

August 21: Etta James released Tell Mama in 1968

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August 21: Etta James released Tell Mama in 1968

Something told me it was over
When I saw you and her talking.
Something deep down in my soul said cry girl,
When I saw you and that girl walking.

I would rather,
I would rather go blind, boy,
Than to see you walk away from me, child.

Tell Mama is the eighth studio album by Etta James. The album was released August 21, 1968 on Cadet Records and was produced by Rick Hall. Tell Mama was James’ first album since 1963 to enter the Billboard 200 albums chart and contained her first Top 10 and 20 hits since 1964. It was her second release for the Cadet record label.

Tell Mama (on US TV, Happening ’68, 1968):

Leonard Chess sent Etta James to Muscle Shoals in 1967 (2 August – 6 December), and it really paid off with what might be her best  Cadet album. The record has a fantastic title cut, it has the moving soul ballad I’d Rather Go Blind, it has the incredible The Love of My Man and a many more very fine soul numbers. The tight studio band at Fame Studios really shone next to Etta James. The music they made is timeless soul/blues, it’s a masterclass in record making.

An incredibly good version of I’d Rather Be Blind (Live at Montreux 1975):

“The question of why a rural Alabama town became a conduit for some of the most memorable and instantly identifiable grooves may still be up for debate. The evidence exists in droves and Tell Mama could certainly be considered exhibit A. “
– Lindsay Planer (Allmusic)

One of the best soul albums ever made, and certainly among Etta James’ best records!

Listen to Miss James testify in a  country church style  on It Hurts Me So Much, oh my God how good it is!

Etta James – Tell Mama (Album, The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions, Spotify):

– Hallgeir

Sources: Liner notes Tell Mama, Wikipedia, Allmusic

Led Zeppelin, Music Calendar, Robert Plant

August 20: Robert Plant Birthday

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It’s sort of a feeling of power onstage. It’s really the ability to make people smile, or just to turn them one way or another for that duration of time, and for it to have some effect later on. I don’t really think it’s power… it’s the goodness.
~Robert Plant

My vocal style I haven’t tried to copy from anyone. It just developed until it became the girlish whine it is today.
~Robert Plant

Whole Lotta Love – live 1970:

Our report from Robert Plant’s concert in Bergen, Norway in 2014:

The headliner on the second day was of course, Robert Plant and his band The Sensational Space shifters. Plant revisited  surprisingly many songs from the Led Zeppelin catalog (and an appreciative audience loved it) plus some new songs and tunes from his post-Zeppelin career. The emphasis was on blues put in a historic context, very modern sounding but also true to it’s roots. He drew the lines from England to Memphis to Africa. This wasn’t a dry history lesson, but a joyful celebration of the blues art form.

Mr. Plant was in a splendid mood, joking and clearly having fun. When he did Whole Lotta Love the audience went wild, he started it as a slow call and response blues before the band kicked in into a full-blown rock’n roll anthem. He then slowed it down again and had a middle act where he incorporated a “Who do you love” segment before finishing the song in Rock heaven. So fresh, but still so true to the original song! This gentleman of Rock delivered way beyond our expectations, the concert was amazing!

 

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Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan video, Paul Simon

Bob Dylan & Paul Simon: I Walk The Line & Blue Moon Of Kentucky – Colorado Springs 6 June 1999 (video)

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bob dylan and paul simon 1999

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you’re mine, I walk the line

World Arena
Colorado Springs, Colorado
6 June 1999

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & acoustic guitar)
  • Paul Simon (vocal & electric guitar)
  • Mark Stewart (electric & acoustic guitar, dobro. Mandolin, cello)
  • Vincent Nguini (electric guitar)
  • Chris Botti (trumpet)
  • Jay Ashby (slide trombone, percussion)
  • Andy Snitzer (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, synthesizer)
  • Tony Cedras (keyboards, accordion)
  • Alain Mallet (keyboards)
  • Bakithi Kumalo (bass)
  • Jamey Haddad (percussion)
  • Steve Shehan (percussion)
  • Steve Gadd (drums)

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Music Calendar, World Music

August 19: Ginger Baker Birthday

Ginger Baker und Jonas Hellborg 1987

“They credited us with the birth of that sort of heavy metal thing. Well, if that’s the case, there should be an immediate abortion.”
~Ginger Baker

If I am playing any music at all it is jazz music.
~Ginger Baker

There are a lot of great drummers. But Ginger Baker is an inspiration because of a certain almost relaxing quality that he brings to the drums. While a lot of drummers are putting speed and power first, Baker put rhythm first.
~bgamall.hubpages.com

Ginger Baker Biography – youtube video:

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