Tag Archives: calendar

Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan albums, Music Calendar

Today: Bob Dylan released Shot of Love in 1981 – 32 years ago

August 10, 2013 Hallgeir 2 Comments

I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand

Shot of Love is Bob Dylan’s 21st studio album, it was released by Columbia Records in August 1981.

It is generally considered to be Dylan’s last of a trilogy of overtly religious, Christian albums. Also, it was his first since becoming born-again to focus on secular themes, from straight-ahead love songs to an ode to the deceased comedian Lenny Bruce. Arrangements are rooted more in rock’n’roll, less in gospel than on Dylan’s previous two albums. So maybe it is more of a new start than a gospel-tinged end?

At the time of its release, Shot of Love received mixed reviews; Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone in particular savaged the album, though he did single out the last track, “Every Grain of Sand,” as a stand-out. Shot of Love, while reaching UK #6, continued Dylan’s US commercial decline, reaching #33 during a brief chart stay. By contrast, Bono of Irish band U2 described Shot of Love as one of his favourites, particularly due to Dylan’s singing ability.

“To those who care where Bob Dylan is at, they should listen to “Shot of Love.” It’s my most perfect song. It defines where I am spiritually, musically, romantically and whatever else. It shows where my sympathies lie. It’s all there in that one song.”
– Bob Dylan (NME 1983)

Shot of Love (Avignon 1981, audio) one of my favorite versions of the song, and it is so much better than the album track:

Don’t need a shot of heroin to kill my disease

Don’t need a shot of turpentine, only bring me to my knees

Don’t need a shot of codeine to help me to repent

Don’t need a shot of whiskey, help me be president

I need a shot of love.

Heart of Mine (live, Avignon, 1981), a wonderful rendition:

The song is a roller coaster of expression due to the way Dylan sings it, and due to a host of often hilarious couplets throughout the song. The musicians seem similarly inspired and give the song a feel comparable to something from Highway 61 Revisited.
– Thomas Ward (allmusic)

A large number of songs recorded during the Shot of Love sessions were ultimately omitted from the final album, but several outtakes later found their way into private circulation.

Best of the outtakes is Caribbean Wind & Angelina…follow the links to listen to some fantastic versions and read about those two gems!

A number of critics had already turned on Dylan for the evangelism of his last two albums, but the reception for Shot of Love was particularly harsh. Despite lavish praise of “Every Grain Of Sand,” Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone savaged the rest of the album. Nick Kent of New Musical Express called it “Dylan’s worst album to date.” Despite heavy touring in Europe and North America (in which all but two songs were performed), sales of Shot of Love were below CBS’s expectations. Still, in an interview taken in 1983, Dylan would describe Shot of Love as a personal favorite.

Great live version of Every Grain of Sand – Paris 84 (audio, with Mick Taylor on lead guitar):

Shot of Love finds Dylan still in born-again mode, but he’s starting to come alive again — which isn’t as much a value judgment as it is an observation that he no longer seems beholden to repeating dogma, loosening up and crafting songs again. And it’s not just that his writing is looser, the music is, too, as he lets himself — and his backing band — rock a little harder, a little more convincingly. Shot of Love still isn’t a great album, but it once again has flashes of brilliance, such as “Every Grain of Sand,” which point the way to the rebirth of Infidels.

– Stephen Thomas Erwine (allmusic)

Now here is a real gem! – The Grooms Still Waiting At The Altar – live (probably Nov 1980):

I still believe it is an underrated album, yes I know that it has been somewhat reassessed, but the new reviews normally says: “It’s not as bad as they said…”. I think that is wrong, it is in fact a very good album. Put in on, play it loud and marvel at yet another great Bob Dylan record! And check out all these fantastic versions of Every Grain of Sand!

Album of the day:

Other August-10:

Continue reading Today: Bob Dylan released Shot of Love in 1981 – 32 years ago →

Blues, Live, Music Calendar, Video

Today: Happy birthday Buddy Guy – Two great concerts

July 30, 2013 Hallgeir

Happy 77th Birthday, Buddy Guy!

“He is the best living guitar player in the world”
– Eric Clapton

We celebrate George “Buddy” Guy’s birthday with two fantastic concerts. The first from The Montreal Jazz Festival, 6th July 1997. Check out the matching guitar and shirt! …also check out the Hammond B3 playing starting at 15 minutes in, just incredible!

Buddy Guy, Montreal 1997:

We want also to show you a concert from 2008, from a festival in Lugano (Switzerland). We get a happy Buddy Guy, clearly enjoying himself in a tremendous concert (and the checkered shirt is still with him).

Buddy Guy, Lugano 2008:

Enjoy!

– Hallgeir

Beatles, Great albums, John lennon, Music Calendar, Paul McCartney

Today: A Hard Days Night by The Beatles was released in 1964

July 10, 2013 Hallgeir 1 Comment

“We were different. We were older. We knew each other on all kinds of levels that we didn’t when we were teenagers. The early stuff – the Hard Day’s Night period, I call it – was the sexual equivalent of the beginning hysteria of a relationship. And the Sgt Pepper-Abbey Road period was the mature part of the relationship.”
– John Lennon (1980)

A Hard Day’s Night is the third album by The Beatles; it was released on July 10, 1964. The album is a soundtrack to the A Hard Day’s Night film, starring the Beatles. The American version of the album was released two weeks earlier, on 26 June 1964 by United Artists Records, with a different track listing. This is the first Beatles album to be recorded entirely on four-track tape, allowing for good stereo mixes.

In 2000, Q placed A Hard Day’s Night at number 5 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 388 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The soundtrack songs were recorded in late February, and the non-soundtrack songs were recorded in June. The title song itself was recorded on April 16.

“…but A Hard Day’s Night is perhaps the band’s most straightforward album: You notice the catchiness first, and you can wonder how they got it later.

The best example of this is the title track– the clang of that opening chord to put everyone on notice, two burning minutes thick with percussion (including a hammering cowbell!) thanks to the new four-track machines George Martin was using, and then the song spiraling out with a guitar figure as abstractedly lovely as anything the group had recorded.”

– Tom Ewing, Pitchfork

A Hard Day’s Night (Paris, 1965):

I saw the movie before I bought the album, and the pictures roll before my eyes as I listen to the album. The film is a masterpiece and so is the album.

“Considering the quality of the original material on With the Beatles, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that Lennon & McCartney decided to devote their third album to all-original material. Nevertheless, that decision still impresses, not only because the album is so strong, but because it was written and recorded at a time when the Beatles were constantly touring, giving regular BBC concerts, appearing on television and releasing non-LP singles and EPs, as well as filming their first motion picture. In that context, the achievement of A Hard Day’s Night is all the more astounding.”
– Allmusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

It was my first Beatles album, and even if it has lost it’s top spot on my Beatles list, I love it dearly. It always makes me happy when i put it on.

John Lennon was the main contributor to the album. He wrote A Hard Day’s Night, I Should Have Known Better, Tell Me Why, Any Time At All, I’ll Cry Instead, When I Get Home and You Can’t Do That.

He also wrote the majority of If I Fell and I’ll Be Back, and wrote I’m Happy Just To Dance With You with McCartney.

I Should Have Known Better (my favorite song on the album):

That doesn’t mean that Paul McCartney was left off the record. He wrote the ballads Things We Said Today plus And I Love Her , and lets not forget the lovely single Can’t Buy Me Love.

Can’t Buy Me Love:

As always the lines blur on some of the songs, but there are a lot of indications that this was the way the songs were composed, or rather, who wrote the songs.

“When we knew we were writing for something like an album John would write a few in his spare moments, like this batch here. He’d bring them in, we’d check ’em. I’d write a couple and we’d throw ’em at each other, and then there would be a couple that were more co-written. But you just had a certain amount of time.”
– Paul McCartney

A Hard Day’s Night is classic album that is a true testament to their collaborative writing powers, and, man, they had become a tight band!

– Hallgeir

Sources: Wikipedia, Allmusic, Pitchfork, John Lennon Interview with David Sheff in 1980, Many Years From Now by Barry Miles (book)

Jazz, Music Calendar, Soul

Today: Mavis Staples is 74 – Happy Birthday

July 10, 2013 Hallgeir 3 Comments

Mavis Staples was born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois she is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family’s band.

The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck “Pops” Staples (1914–2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (1934–2013), Pervis (b. 1935), Yvonne (b. 1936), and Mavis (b. 1939). They are best known for their 1970s hits “Respect Yourself”, “I’ll Take You There”, “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)”, and “Let’s Do It Again”.

Biography from Allmusic (Rob Bowman):

She first recorded solo for Stax subsidiary Volt in 1969. Subsequent efforts included a Curtis Mayfield-produced soundtrack on Curtom, a disappointing nod to disco for Warner in 1979, a misguided stab at electro-pop with Holland-Dozier-Holland in 1984, and an uneven album for Paisley Park. Staples has a rich contralto voice that has neither the range of Aretha Franklin nor the power of Patti LaBelle. Her otherworldly power comes instead from a masterful command of phrasing and a deep-seated sensuality expressed through timbre manipulation.

Both the Staple Singers andMavis found fresh audiences stemming from their participation on the CD Rhythm Country and Blues, and in 1996 she issued Spirituals & Gospel: Dedicated to Mahalia Jackson. Her next recording project didn’t land for another eight years, although Have a Little Faith on Alligator became her highest-profile release in years. We’ll Never Turn Back appeared three years later in 2007.

Staples teamed up with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy as producer for 2010’s You Are Not Alone, which won the 2011 Grammy Award in the category of Best Americana Album. One True Vine, released in 2013, was also produced by Tweedy and featured a mix of old and new songs written by the likes of George Clinton, Alan Sparhawk (Low), and Nick Lowe.

The Weight – The Band with The Staple Singers (from The Last Waltz):

Album of Today is Mavis’ fantastic new record, One True Vine:

Other 10 July:
Continue reading Today: Mavis Staples is 74 – Happy Birthday →

Music Calendar

Today: Beck is 43 – Happy Birthday

July 8, 2013 Hallgeir

“I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me?”

Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970) , singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, is known by the stage name Beck.

The four-time platinum artist rose to underground popularity with his early works, which combined social criticism with musical and lyrical experimentation. He first earned wider public attention for his breakthrough single “Loser”, a 1994 hit. Beck is known for creating musical collages of a wide range of styles.

Loser (official video):

Beck’s 1996 album Odelay was awarded Album of the Year by the American magazine Rolling Stone and by UK publications NME and Mojo. Odelay also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Both Odelay and Sea Change appeared on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Beck – Live at Union Chapel, 2003 (Full Show):

Setlist:

00:48 – The Golden Age
05:01 – It’s All In Your Mind
08:30 – Guess I’m Doing Fine
14:22 – Lonesome Tears
19:00 – Nicotine & Gravy
24:34 – Lost Cause
28:18 – Ship In A Bottle
32:54 – Fourteen Rivers, Fourteen Floods
36:48 – Loser
44:03 – Nobody’s Fault But My Own
48:53 – Lord Only Knows

My top 20 Beck songs (Spotify):

Allmusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine):

Initially pegged as something as a voice of a generation when “Loser” turned into a smash crossover success, Beck did wind up crystallizing much of the post-modern ruckus of the ‘90s alternative explosion, but in unexpected ways. Based in the underground anti-folk and noise-rock worlds, Beck encompassed all manners of modern music, drawing in hip-hop, blues, trash-rock, pop, soul, lounge music…pretty much any found sound or vinyl dug up from a dusty crate, blurring boundaries and encapsulating how ‘90s hipsters looked toward the future by foraging through the past.

He is now finishing some new material and hopefully we’ll see a new album soon.

Other 8 July:
Continue reading Today: Beck is 43 – Happy Birthday →

My Site