Tag Archives: Great Album

Beatles, George Harrison, Great albums, John lennon, Music Calendar, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

June 1: The Beatles released Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967

1 Comment

 

June 1: The Beatles released Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967

“A decisive moment in the history of Western civilisation”
– Kenneth Tynan, The Times

“Sgt Pepper is one of the most important steps in our career. It had to be just right. We tried, and I think succeeded in achieving what we set out to do.”
– John Lennon

The opening track:

We were fed up with being the Beatles. We really hated that fucking four little mop-top boys approach. We were not boys, we were men. It was all gone, all that boy shit, all that screaming, we didn’t want any more, plus, we’d now got turned on to pot and thought of ourselves as artists rather than just performers. There was now more to it; not only had John and I been writing, George had been writing, we’d been in films, John had written books, so it was natural that we should become artists.

– Paul McCartney

I love Sgt. Pepper and it will always be in my top 5 Beatles album, sometimes at number 5 sometimes at the top spot. It’s a great Beatles album,  and it’s one of the best album in Rock history. It is laid out as a concept album, but the idea held for two songs, the coda, and the album’s sleeve design.

The Beatles songs now did not sound practiced or rehearsed, and the reason for this is that they weren’t. They were studio snippets put together in sections and pieces. I think that’s the reason that the outtakes from the Sgt. Pepper sessions are so uninspiring, so unfinished. There are several bootlegs with alternative versions, and for Beatles-nerds they are of course something to seek out. That said, I think the best Sgt.Pepper outtakes are presented on Anthology 2, and, yes, they are put together in the same way as the original album, each song constructed from different takes and sound bites.

I’m guessing it would be a difficult record to play live.

I believe that this album represent a shift in popular music, we look at pop/rock music before and after Sgt. Pepper. Almost everything on the album was new. And it still sounds new and fresh.

Happy birthday, Sgt. Pepper!

The Making of Sgt. Pepper documentary made for the 25 year anniversary :

Continue reading June 1: The Beatles released Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 →

Great albums

Mar 01: Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon in 1973

2 Comments

dark-side-of-the-moon-original-vinilo

Mar 01: Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon in 1973

The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band’s earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure in 1968 of founder member, principal composer, and lyricist, Syd Barrett. The themes on The Dark Side of the Moon include conflict, greed, the passage of time, and mental illness, the latter partly inspired by Barrett’s deteriorating mental state.

My relationship with Pink Floyd comes in waves, and I must say that Jonathan Wilson and the latest album by The South has rekindled my Pink Floyd interest. The influence by Pink Floyd is so obvious. I just had to go back and listen closer. Two other bricks in the wall (pun intended) was Gov’t Mule and Flaming Lips’s Pink Floyd cover project. Some of my favourite bands love Pink Floyd, there has to be more to them. So, right now I’m on top of the wave, I listen to Pink Floyd a lot.

Classic albums: The making of Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd:

Continue reading Mar 01: Pink Floyd released Dark Side of the Moon in 1973 →

David Crosby, Great albums

Feb 22: David Crosby released If I Could Only Remember My Name in 1971

3 Comments

f-i-could-only-remember-my-name

“My girlfriend had been killed in a car crash and  the only place I could exist was in the studio, Garcia would come every night. The Airplane and the Dead were recording in the same complex… They were all buddies of mine…”
– David Crosby about the recording of his masterpiece (Mojo)

Rolling Stone Magazine put it at number 37 of the “Greatest Stoner Albums” and said:
“Like a super-stoned campfire jam with an A-list of Cali hippie-rockers – including Joni Mitchell and most of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and CSNY – this hazy solo project by the altered-consciousness overachiever sounds like it was pretty much made up on the spot. See the toasted strum-fest “Music Is Love” (with Neil Young on congas!) and “Tamalpais High,” with Jerry Garcia and Jorma Kaukonen noodling around wordless Crosby-Nash harmonies. By the time it’s over, you may not remember your name, either.”

I believe a couple of Santana and Quicksilver Messenger Service members also visited.

Photo: BBC/Tricia Yourkevich
Photo: BBC/Tricia Yourkevich

David Crosby – Cowboy Movie (Live, Jan 31, 2014) a very fine version! :

It is an album that grows on you, it feels like a mess at first, but it soon starts to make sense. This is a coherent album with wonderful melodies and harmonies. For me it is the quintessential “Laurel Canyon” album, a true classic.
Continue reading Feb 22: David Crosby released If I Could Only Remember My Name in 1971 →

David Bowie, Great albums, Music Calendar

Jan 23: Station to Station by David Bowie was released in 1976

3 Comments


stationtostation

Jan 23: Station to Station by David Bowie was released in 1976

“The return of the Thin White Duke
Throwing darts in lovers’ eyes
Here are we, one magical moment, such is the stuff“

Station to Station is a collection of soul, rock, funk, and disco, twisted by an influence of experimental German artists. This is David Bowie’s “plastic soul” mixed with krautrock. This is the introduction of the “Thin White Duke”.

It is Bowie’s tenth album, one of his most important and in my opinion, one of his very best!

stationtostation2

David Bowie came from the soul infused “Young Americans” into Nicolas Roeg’s film, “The Man who fell to Earth” (the picture on the cover is a still from the film) and then into this masterpiece of a record. If you see the film and listen to Young Americans you get a sense of what made the album. There is a switch from popular dance oriented music into a more artful approach. But, without losing the pop sensibility. It is also a start for Bowie on his journey back to a more  European approach to his music, even if it was recorded in LA.

“I know it was in LA because I’ve read it was”
– David Bowie

TVC15 (from rehearsals for the Station to Station tour 1976):

Continue reading Jan 23: Station to Station by David Bowie was released in 1976 →

Drive-by Truckers, Great albums, Music Calendar

Jan 22: Drive-by Truckers released Brighter Than Creation’s Dark in 2008

1 Comment

Brighter_than_creations_dark

“That man I shot, I didn’t know him
I was just doing my job,
maybe so was he”

Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is the seventh studio album released by Drive-By Truckers. It was released on January 22, 2008 in the United States. Recorded during and after the acoustic Dirt Underneath Tour, the album features a more stripped down, and country based sound not seen since their sophomore releasePizza Deliverance.

A Ghost to Most (official video):

The album’s title is taken from a line in a Mike Cooley song entitled “Checkout Time in Vegas”. Wes Freed once again provided the album artwork. According to guitarist Patterson Hood, the band’s decision on the name of the album was greatly influenced by the Freed’s artwork. Hood also said that the album was recorded with much ease and did not require compromises.

Continue reading Jan 22: Drive-by Truckers released Brighter Than Creation’s Dark in 2008 →