Tag Archives: Countdown

Jerry Lee Lewis, Rock'n Roll

30 Best live albums countdown: 20 – Live at the Star Club Hamburg by Jerry Lee Lewis

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live at the star club 1964

I have 20 albums left in my top 30 live albums countdown, it is getting extremely difficult to say that one is better than the other. Now I continue on “gut feeling” and even if it is a carefully thought out list, it may well look different tomorrow (or even later today). But don’t take it too seriously, we’re just having fun here.

Live At The Star Club, Hamburg is not an album, it’s a crime scene: Jerry Lee Lewis slaughters his rivals in a thirteen-song set that feels like one long convulsion. – Rolling Stone Magazine

Live at the Star Club, Hamburg by Jerry Lee Lewis is the best classic rock’n roll live album ever made. No, it is not from Lewis’ golden age, the 50’s, it is from The Star Club in Hamburg in 1964.

It was not released in the U.S. until the early nineties when Rhino re-issued it on CD. That’s when I heard this thunderstorm of a record.

From the liner notes (the Rhino re-issue):
What do you think of when you think of the Star Club? “Well, that’s obvious. That’s where The Beatles played.” Right and wrong. If you’re a regenerate rocker, you’d say, “That’s where Jerry Lee Lewis recorded the greatest album ever made.”

It’s a speed driven, frenzied, rock’n roll moment, luckily it is captured for posterity.

Mean Woman Blues:

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Beatles, List

The Beatles 40 best songs: at 18 Ticket To Ride

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ticket to ride beatles picture sleeve

The Beatles were such a prolific album act that it’s sometimes hard to abstract their later singles; here, they ride their roots as a bar band in Liverpool and Hamburg to a new kind of glory.
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)

The opening circular riff, played on 12-string guitar by George Harrison, was a signpost for the folk-rock wave that would ride through rock music itself in 1965.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Wikipedia:

Released 9 April 1965
Recorded 15 February 1965,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Rock
Length 3:10
Label Parlophone
Writer Lennon–McCartney
Producer George Martin

John Lennon: double-tracked lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass and lead guitar
George Harrison: rhythm guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine and handclaps

“Ticket to Ride” is a song by the Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. In 2004, this song was ranked number 394 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

beatles ticket to ride

They say this was one of John’s personal favorites, probably because it has his most soulful vocal ever. But “Ticket to Ride” is intricate and interesting all the way through, with Paul playing mean lead guitar and Ringo dispelling all doubt about his prowess as a drummer: The groove comes straight out of his pure backbeat.
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)

Ticket To Ride was slightly a new sound at the time. It was pretty fucking heavy for then, if you go and look in the charts for what other music people were making. You hear it now and it doesn’t sound too bad; but it’d make me cringe. If you give me the A track and I remix it, I’ll show you what it is really, but you can hear it there. It’s a heavy record and the drums are heavy too. That’s why I like it.
– John Lennon (Anthology)

Ticket To Ride (Video-Mix 1965) HD 0815007:

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Great albums, List, Live, Rolling Stones

30 best live albums countdown: 16 – Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert by The Rolling Stones

rolling-stones-get-yer-ya-yas-out

#16: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s out! The Rolling Stones in Concert – The Rolling Stones

“I have no doubt that it’s the best rock concert ever put on record.”
~Lester Bangs

“Recorded during their American tour in late 1969, and centered around live versions of material from the Beggars Banquet-Let It Bleed era. Often acclaimed as one of the top live rock albums of all time, its appeal has dimmed a little today…  it’s certainly the Stones’ best official live recording.”
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Carol – 27 Nov 1969:

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Concert films, Great albums, List, Live, Talking Heads

30 best live albums countdown: 17 – Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads

talking-heads-stop-making-sense

#17: Stop Making Sense – Talking Heads (1984)

Stop Making Sense is a live 1984 album by Talking Heads, the soundtrack to the film of the same name. Stop Making Sense spanned three live shows at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles (Dec 1983).

“Stop Making Sense the album” cannot be separated from “Stop Making Sense the movie”, this is a two for one deal. When I write Stop Making Sense I mean them both. I’ve seen Stop Making Sense 4 times in the cinema and countless times on video/dvd/blu-ray. I have the album on vinyl, cd and digital files. When I hear the music I see the movie in my head.

And it’s a great movie!

The beginning is iconic. David Byrne comes shuffling out on an empty stage, starts a cassette-player with a rhythm track and play along with an acoustic guitar as he sings Psycho Killer.

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Beatles, John lennon, List

The Beatles 40 best songs: at 24 “Help!”

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help single

“The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help”.
– John Lennon (1980)

Help! is a song by the Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Help! was mainly written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon–McCartney.

“I seem to remember Dick Lester, Brian Epstein, Walter Shenson and ourselves sitting around, maybe Victor Spinetti was there, and thinking, What are we going to call this one? Somehow Help! came out. I didn’t suggest it; John might have suggested it or Dick Lester. It was one of them. John went home and thought about it and got the basis of it, then we had a writing session on it. We sat at his house and wrote it, so he obviously didn’t have that much of it. I would have to credit it to John for original inspiration 70-30. My main contribution is the countermelody to John.”
– Paul McCartney (Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now)

The Beatles – Help! (live):

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