10 Great songs produced by Bob Johnston

Photo: George Schowerer
Photo: George Schowerer

The Great “Music Man” Bob Johnston passed away yesterday.

Here is a tribute we posted earlier today:

We honor his life and his legacy with 10 great songs he produced.  This is not a “best songs” list, rather a list trying to shed a light on the diverse body of work he produced.

There are a lot of Bob Dylan covers on the list… sorry (can’t help myself).

Photo by Al Clayton
Photo by Al Clayton

I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight – Bob Dylan from his album “John Wesley Harding” (1967)

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August 15: Bruce Springsteen played a classic Largo concert in 1978 (Full concert Video)

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August 15: Bruce Springsteen played a classic Largo concert in 1978 (Full concert Video)

A concert perhaps best known for the outstanding video footage available. “Backstreets” has some lines from “Pretty Flamingo” in the ‘Sad Eyes’ section. Tremendous versions of “Quarter To Three” (particularly the video) and “Prove It All Night” with the cab driver intro and an outstanding guitar solo. “Jungleland” cuts after Steve’s guitar solo, and the start of “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)” is also missing – presumably due to tape changes. The show features a particularly loose and active Bruce, maybe because the next day he was going home to New Jersey for the first time in a year. The video now circulates in good quality on DVD ‘I F*cked Everything Up’.
(from Brucebase)

“I’m watching the video of this concert. I cannot help writing some lines on it. I don’t want to encourage the buying of unauthorized material, but if you already have all the official video items, you really got to have this. Performance like ‘Sandy’ and ‘Prove it all night’ as captured in this film make you understand how great he is, just in case there was any doubt left.

All the show was great, but Sandy is above all… and this show was not better than all the other ’78 shows…. I’m just speaking of this because I just have this one…. This reminds me of an old phrase I saw written on some horrible shirt : “People can be divided in two halves; the ones who love him, and the ones who never saw him playing live…”

Back here… the video is goin’ on…. I cannot write nothing on Growin’up and Backstreets. The ‘sad eyes-drive all night-pretty flamingo’ interlude in backstreets is simply one of the best things you may ever watch and listen to…. Also Because the Night is terrific”

– www.brucespringsteen.it

 

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August 15: Jim Dickinson passed away in 2009

jim dickinson

August 15: Jim Dickinson passed away in 2009

“(Jim Dickinson is)…. that magical musical maestro from Memphis….   he was the kind of guy you could call to play piano, fix a tractor, or make red cole slaw from scratch.”
-Bob Dylan

“There are cool cats and there are cool Memphis cats but no one, not Elvis, not Jerry Lee, not even the Wolf came close to epitomizing Memphis and cool like Jim Dickinson did. He was the Top Cat Daddy, an inspiration, a mentor and my friend.

If you knew his music and understood his role as one of the links between black and white culture and between blues and rock and roll, you know what I’m talking about. If he is unfamiliar to you, now’s as good time as any to get to know him, even though he’s checked out of the motel.”
-Joe Nick Patoski

John Brown (from his great 1972 album “Dixie Fried” – words by Bob Dylan):

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August 15: The Beatles played at Shea Stadium in 1965

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August 15: The Beatles played at Shea Stadium in 1965

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, honoured by their country, decorated by their Queen, loved here in America, here are The Beatles!”
– Ed Sullivan

The Shea Stadium concert on 15 August was record-breaking and one of the most famous concert events of its era.  Over 55,000 people saw the concert.  “Beatlemania” was at one of its highest marks at the Shea show. Film footage taken at the concert shows many teenagers and women crying, screaming, and even fainting. The crowd noise was such that security guards can be seen covering their ears as The Beatles enter the field.

Shea2

 

The Beatles interview before Shea Stadium:

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August 14: David Crosby is 74 Happy Birthday – top 11 songs

david_crosby-oh_yes_i_can

David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941)

American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds; Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN, who are sometimes joined by Neil Young as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young [CSNY]); and CPR.

David Crosby released his fourth studio album Croz earlier this year, January 28 It is his first studio album in 20 years and it is very good!

croz

But let’s get down to it, here are my ten choices:

1. Almost Cut My Hair (great acoustic version with fun intro):

and Live with Stills and Nash at Madison Square Garden, NYC – 2009:

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