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Great albums, Music Calendar, Rolling Stones

Today: The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main St. was released in 1972 – 41 years ago

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ExileMainSt

More than anything else this fagged-out masterpiece is difficult–how else describe music that takes weeks to understand? Weary and complicated, barely afloat in its own drudgery, it rocks with extra power and concentration as a result.
~Robert Christgau (http://www.robertchristgau.com)

..It’s the kind of record that’s gripping on the very first listen, but each subsequent listen reveals something new. Few other albums, let alone double albums, have been so rich and masterful as Exile on Main St., and it stands not only as one of the Stones’ best records, but sets a remarkably high standard for all of hard rock.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

Let It Loose:

Wikipedia:

Released 12 May 1972
Recorded June 1969 – March 1972
Genre Rock and roll, blues, soul, R&B,country
Length 67:07
Language English
Label Rolling Stones
Producer Jimmy Miller

Exile on Main St. is the tenth British and 13th American studio album by English rock band The Rolling Stones. Released as a double LP in May 1972, it draws on many genres including rock and roll, blues, soul, R&B, gospel and country. The release of Exile on Main St. met with mixed reviews, but it is now generally regarded as the band’s best album. In 1987, as part of their 20th anniversary, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it third on the 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years. In 2003, the album was ranked 7th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the highest a Rolling Stones album ranked on the list.

The 2010 remastered version of the album was released in Europe on 17 May 2010 and in the United States on 18 May 2010, featuring a bonus disc with 10 new tracks.

mick jagger keith richards exile on main st

Loving Cup:

Recording:

Exile on Main St. was written and recorded between 1968 and 1972. Mick Jagger said “After we got out of our contract with Allen Klein, we didn’t want to give him [those earlier tracks],” as they were forced to do with “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” from Sticky Fingers. Many tracks were recorded between 1969 and 1971 at Olympic Studios and Jagger’s Stargroves country house in England during sessions for Sticky Fingers.

By the spring of 1971 the Rolling Stones owed more in taxes than they could pay and left Britain before the government could seize their assets. Mick Jagger settled in Paris with his new bride Bianca, and guitarist Keith Richards rented a villa, Nellcôte, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice. The other members settled in the south of France. As a suitable recording studio could not be found where they could continue work on the album, Richards’ basement at Nellcôte became a makeshift studio using the band’s mobile recording truck.

keith richards gram parsons nellcote

Torn And Frayed:

…..it’s their most physically jolting album and, ultimately, their most emotionally inspiring. Mick’s vocals are just another instrument in a glorious rush of high-velocity electric noise, his lyrics barely perceptible in all the guitar, sax, and harmonica; whatever he’s saying, he just wants to plug in and flush out and fight and fuck and feed. Keith channels all his nasty habits and internal chaos into the guitars, from the convulsive opener, “Rocks Off,” to the weary acoustic stomp of “Sweet Virginia.” Charlie Watts’ understated performance in “Shake Your Hips” demands some sort of Nobel Prize.

Exile was the Stones’ biggest musical triumph, but all the decadence was catching up with them. The band lost focus, with Keith’s attention diverted by the pressing concern of stuffing as many toxic chemicals into his veins as possible.

From: The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

Tracks:

  1. “Rocks Off” 4:31
  2. “Rip This Joint” 2:22
  3. “Shake Your Hips” (Slim Harpo) 2:59
  4. “Casino Boogie” 3:33
  5. “Tumbling Dice” 3:45
    –
  6. “Sweet Virginia” 4:27
  7. “Torn and Frayed” 4:17
  8. “Sweet Black Angel” 2:54
  9. “Loving Cup” 4:25
    –
  10. “Happy” 3:04
  11. “Turd on the Run” 2:36
  12. “Ventilator Blues” (Jagger/Richards/Mick Taylor) 3:24
  13. “I Just Want to See His Face” 2:52
  14. “Let It Loose” 5:16
    –
  15. “All Down the Line” 3:49
  16. “Stop Breaking Down” (Robert Johnson) 4:34
  17. “Shine a Light” 4:14
  18. “Soul Survivor” 3:49

rolling-stones_exile-grn_f

Personnel:

  • Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica, guitar on “Tumbling Dice” and “Stop Breaking Down”, percussion
  • Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Happy”, electric piano on “I Just Want to See His Face”, bass guitar on “Casino Boogie”, “Happy” and “Soul Survivor”
  • Mick Taylor – guitars, slide guitar, bass guitar on “Tumbling Dice”, “Torn and Frayed”, “I Just Want to See His Face” and “Shine a Light”
  • Charlie Watts – drums
  • Bill Wyman – bass guitar
Additional personnel
  • Nicky Hopkins – piano
  • Bobby Keys – saxophone, percussion on “Happy”
  • Jim Price – trumpet, trombone, organ on “Torn and Frayed”
  • Ian Stewart – piano on “Shake Your Hips”, “Sweet Virginia” and “Stop Breaking Down”
  • Jimmy Miller – drums on “Happy” and “Shine a Light”, percussion on “Sweet Black Angel”, “Loving Cup”, “I Just Want to See His Face” and “All Down the Line”
  • Bill Plummer – upright bass on “Rip This Joint”, “Turd on the Run”, “I Just Want to See His Face” and “All Down the Line”
  • Billy Preston – piano and organ on “Shine a Light”
  • Al Perkins – pedal steel guitar on “Torn and Frayed”
  • Richard Washington – marimba on “Sweet Black Angel”
  • Clydie King, Venetta Fields – backing vocals on “Tumbling Dice”, “I Just Want to See His Face”, “Let It Loose” and “Shine a Light”
  • Joe Green – backing vocals on “Let It Loose” and “Shine a Light”
  • Jerry Kirkland – backing vocals on “I Just Want to See His Face” and “Shine a Light”
  • Mac Rebennack, Shirley Goodman, Tami Lynn – backing vocals on “Let It Loose”
  • Kathi McDonald – backing vocals on “All Down the Line”
  • Engineers – Glyn and Andy Johns, Joe Zaganno, Jeremy Gee
  • Cover photography/concept – Robert Frank
  • Layout design – John Van Hamersveld, Norman Seeff

rolling stones exile on main st back

Shine A Light:

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Classic Concert, Great albums, Jimi Hendrix, List, Live

30 Best live albums countdown: 25 – Band of Gypsys – Jimi Hendrix

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Band Of Gypsys Cover

Baby Child as a man
as a living grain of sand…
Sitting on the ever changing shore,
Greeting the sunrise…
Picked up upon the Gypsy woman,
Hair Flaming Night as ravens even sleep…rainbow cloth
Tambourine complimenting her chant and choice of graces,
And Love Her God…

– Jimi Hendrix

Band of Gypsys is a live album and a band, but it isn’t any kind of band. It is the band that was formed by Jimi Hendrix after The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Band of Gypsys (the band) is Jimi Hendrix backed by Billy Cox (bass) and Buddy Miles (drums). They made one album before Jimi Hendrix died, but what an album!

Band of Gypsies poster

The Songs were recorded at the Fillmore East on two nights, New Years eve 69 and New Years day 70. The Band of Gypsys played  four concerts on these dates, but only songs from the final two shows was included on Band of Gypsys (the album). These shows were the live debut of Band of Gypsys.

Machine Gun:

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Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Video

Bob Dylan songs covered by Jimi Hendrix

“Sometimes I do a Dylan song and it seems to fit me so right that I figure maybe I wrote it. Dylan didn’t always do it for me as a singer, not in the early days, but then I started listening to the lyrics. That sold me.” – Jimi Hendrix, Beat International 1969

Though they were not close friends, Jimi Hendrix was a huge fan of Bob Dylan and covered five of his songs (to my knowledge), both live and in the studio. These tracks are “Like a Rolling Stone,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Drifter’s Escape” , “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?” and “Tears of Rage” (by Dylan and Richard Manuel)

From Seven Ages of Rock (BBC):

“First time I saw him, he was playing with John Hammond. He was incredible then. I’d already been to England and beyond, and although he didn’t sing, I kinda had a feeling that he figured into things. The last time I saw him was a couple of months before he died. He was in that band with Buddy Miles. It was an eerie scene. He was slouched down in the back of a limousine. I was riding by on a bicycle. I remember saying something about that song “Wind Cried Mary,” it was a long way from playing behind John Hammond. That was my favorite song of his – that and “Dolly Dagger”… I don’t know, it was strange, both of us were a little lost for words, he’d gone through like a fireball without knowing it, I’d done the same thing like being shot out of a cannon…” -Bob Dylan (Biograph liner notes)

Like a Rolling Stone:

“I love Dylan. I only met him once, about three years ago, back at the Kettle of Fish on MacDougal Street. That was before I went to England. I think both of us were pretty drunk at the time, so he probably doesn’t remember it.” – Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stone Magazine

A tender cover of Bob Dylan and The Band‘s classic Tears of Rage from the 4cd set “West Coast Seattle Boy” (Spotify):

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Leonard Cohen, Music Calendar

Today: Leonard Cohen is 78

Like a Bird on a Wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
~Leonard  Cohen, Bird On A Wire

“The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.”
― Leonard Cohen

“I don’t remember
lighting this cigarette
and I don’t remember
if I’m here alone
or waiting for someone.”
~Leonard Cohen, Book of Longing

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Leonard Norman Cohen
Born 21 September 1934 (age 78)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres Folk, folk rock, rock, pop rock,spoken word, synthpop
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter,poet, novelist
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano,keyboards, synthesizer
Years active 1956-present
Labels Columbia
Associated acts Sharon Robinson, Jennifer Warnes

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honour.

While giving the speech at Cohen’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the “highest and most influential echelon of songwriters.”

The critic Bruce Eder wrote an assessment of Cohen’s overall career in popular music, writing, “[Cohen is] one of the most fascinating and enigmatic. . .singer/songwriters of the late ’60s. . . [and] has retained an audience across four decades of music-making. . . Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon) [in terms of influence], he commands the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the 1960s who is still working at the outset of the 21st century.”

The Academy of American Poets has commented more broadly on Cohen’s overall career in the arts, including his work as a poet, novelist, and songwriter, stating that “[Cohen’s] successful blending of poetry, fiction, and music is made most clear in Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs, published in 1993, which gathered more than two hundred of Cohen’s poems . . .several novel excerpts, and almost sixty song lyrics. . .While it may seem to some that Leonard Cohen departed from the literary in pursuit of the musical, his fans continue to embrace him as a Renaissance man who straddles the elusive artistic borderlines.”

From allmusic.com – Bruce Eder:

One of the most fascinating and enigmatic — if not the most successful — singer/songwriters of the late ’60s, Leonard Cohen has retained an audience across four decades of music-making interrupted by various digressions into personal and creative exploration, all of which have only added to the mystique surrounding him. Second only to Bob Dylan (and perhaps Paul Simon), he commands the attention of critics and younger musicians more firmly than any other musical figure from the 1960s who is still working at the outset of the 21st century, which is all the more remarkable an achievement for someone who didn’t even aspire to a musical career until he was in his thirties.
read more over @ allmusic.com 

Bird On A Wire – Live 1972:

Bird on A Wire – Live 2008:

Album of the day – Live In London (2009):

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