Tag Archives: 1968

January 20: Bob Dylan & The Band @ The Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert in 1968

Woody Guthrie had died (after fifteen years of illness) on October 3, 1967, and, apparently at Dylan’s suggestion, plans were made to hold a benefit concert in his honor. The concert took place January 20, 1968, at Carnegie Hall; Dylan appeared backed by the Band (other performers included Odetta, Pete Seeger, Jack Elliot, and Judy Collins), and played three Woody Guthrie songs: “Grand Coulee Dam,” “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,” and “I Ain’t Got No Home.” These performances were later released on a Columbia album called A Tribute to Woody Guthrie, Part 1. Dylan and the Band are in fine form here – their performances are inventive, exuberant, and sublimely musical.
-Paul Williams (Bob Dylan Performing Artist I: The Early Years 1960-1973)

Carnegie Hall
New York City, New York
20 January 1968
The Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert. Afternoon show.

  • Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal)
  • Robbie Robertson (guitar)
  • Richard Manuel (piano)
  • Garth Hudson (organ)
  • Rick Danko (bass)
  • Levon Helm (drums)

Continue reading January 20: Bob Dylan & The Band @ The Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert in 1968

October 25: Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience was released in 1968

Jimi_Hendrix_-_Electric_Ladyland

“undoubtedly a rock album, albeit rock on the point of evolving into something else.”
– David Stubbs

“one of the greatest double-albums in rock.”
– John Perry

Electric Ladyland is the third and final album of new material by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, released in October 1968 on Reprise Records. It is the only Hendrix studio album professionally produced under his supervision. It topped the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks in November 1968.

Released October 25, 1968 (some sources says October 16…worth celebrating anyhow)
Recorded Olympic Studios, London and Record Plant Studios, New York, July and December 1967, January 1968, April–August 1968
Genre Psychedelic rock, blues rock, acid rock, hard rock
Length 75:47
Label Reprise, Track, Barclay, Polydor
Producer Jimi Hendrix

All along the watchtower, the best Dylan cover of all time! (live, Isle of Wight):

This is a perfect Hendrix album. It is poppy and funky and original at the same time, and what a great soul singer Hendrix was! I also think it is very inventive, sonically speaking. Jimi Hendrix really searched for “new sounds” on this record, he produced an album that has stood the test of time marvelously.

Continue reading October 25: Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience was released in 1968

The Best Song: I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye (and others)

 

Great song: I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye (and others)

For me, Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is Motown’s greatest record. It may be played to death but I still like it, like it? I love it!  It’s pulsating hypnotic rhythm pattern and the melodic singing hovering above it, it grooves and it’s funky as well.

Marvin Gaye (audio only):

It’s a love  song, where one part pleads to the other part after a break up, but it feels deeper than ordinary pop ditty. It’s about lies, loss, gossip, torment, fear and doubt. Dark stuff hidden in a soul tune.

Marvin Gaye (1968 live version):

The sinister rhythm gives us a taste of dark things ahead, it’s a painful story underscored with a cinematic theme. Marvin is in pain, and he tells us, over and over again. Lovely. Terrible. Terribly lovely.
Continue reading The Best Song: I Heard It Through The Grapevine – Marvin Gaye (and others)

Classic Concert – The Who @ Fillmore East 1968

TheWhoFillmoreEast1968

Sat, 06 April 1968 – New York, NY, Fillmore East

1. Summertime Blues:

From wolfgangsvault:
The second night of The Who’s first run ever playing at the Fillmore East is an unbelievably great document of the band in its early prime, still full of the punk attitude that they would initially define while beginning to venture off into more artistic and experimental territory. Every minute of this performance is fascinating and much of this material cannot be found, in better quality or at all, on any other Who recordings. This set captures the entire band fully engaged in their music. Although many songs were still short and concise during this stage of their career, the intensity level is undeniable. Opening the show with Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” they immediately set a bar that most other bands could never even approach.

Setlist:

  1. Summertime Blues
  2. Fortune Teller
  3. Tattoo
  4. Little Billy
  5. I Can’t Explain
  6. Happy Jack
  7. I’m A Boy
  8. Relax
  9. A Quick One While He’s Away
  10. My Way
  11. Shakin’ All Over
  12. Boris The Spider
  13. My Generation

Personnel:

  • Pete Townshend – guitar, vocals
  • Roger Daltrey – vocals
  • John Entwistle – bass
  • Keith Moon – drums

The Who Fillmore East New York City 1968 Back

2. Fortune Teller

3. Tattoo

4. Little Billy

Continue reading Classic Concert – The Who @ Fillmore East 1968

Jan 22: Aretha Franklin released “Lady Soul” in 1968

Aretha Franklin - Lady-Soul

 

Jan 22: Aretha Franklin released “Lady Soul” in 1968

…1968’s Lady Soul proved Aretha Franklin, the pop sensation, was no fluke. Her performances were more impassioned than on her debut, and the material just as strong, an inspired blend of covers and originals from the best songwriters in soul and pop music.
~John Bush (allmusic.com)

Chain of Fools – Live 1968:

Continue reading Jan 22: Aretha Franklin released “Lady Soul” in 1968