Tag Archives: live

Elvis Presley, Great albums, Music Calendar

Today: Elvis Presley released “Elvis (NBC TV Special)” in 1968 – 44 years ago

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I want everyone to know what I can really do
~Elvis Presley (to producer Bob Finkel)

Trouble/Guitar Man:

From Wikipedia:

Released November 22, 1968
Recorded June 1968
Genre Rock and roll
Length 44:27
Label RCA Records
Producer Bones Howe

Elvis (NBC TV Special) is the thirty-fourth album by Elvis Presley, released on RCA Victor Records in mono, LPM 4088, in November 1968. Recording sessions took place in Burbank, California at Western Recorders on June 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1968, and at NBC Studios on June 27 and 29, 1968. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200. It was certified Gold on July 22, 1969 and Platinum on July 15, 1999 by the RIAA.

Hound Dog/All Shook Up:

From allmusic.com – John Bush:
……………   Although he exhibited more nerves than he ever had in the past — a combination of the importance this chance obviously presented plus the large gap between the psychedelic music culture of 1968 and the rather quaint rock & roll of ten years earlier — Elvis delivered an incredible performance throughout the television special. His vocal performances were loose and gutsy, and his repartee was both self-deprecating and sarcastic about his early days as well as his moribund film career (“There’s something wrong with my lip!…I got news for you baby, I did 29 pictures like that”). He was uninhibited and utterly unsafe, showing the first inkling in ten years that there was life and spirit left in music’s biggest artistic property. The resulting LP, NBC-TV Special, combined sit-down and standup segments, but probably over-compensated on the standup segments. What impresses so much about NBC-TV Special is how much it prefigures the rest of Elvis’ career. Dramatic, intense, driven, and earthy, frequently moving, but not without the occasional cloying note, Elvis during the ’70s was the apotheosis of rock music, a righteous blend of rock and soul, gospel and pop, blues and country. …
~Read more over @ allmusic.com

This album also happens to contain one of Elvis Presley’s best songs…..

If I Can Dream:

Personnel:

  • Elvis Presley – vocals, guitar
  • The Blossoms – backing vocals
  • Tommy Morgan – harmonica
  • Mike Deasy, Al Casey, Tommy Tedesco, Scotty Moore – electric guitar
  • Larry Knechtel – keyboards, bass
  • Don Randi – piano
  • Charles Berghofer – bass
  • Hal Blaine – drums
  • John Cyr, Elliot Franks, Frank DeVito, D.J. Fontana, Alan Fortas, Jack Sperling staff drummer NBC Orchestra – percussion
  • Lance Legault – tambourine
  • Billy Goldenberg – orchestra conductor

Album of the day @ spotify:

Other November 22:

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Concert Review, Live, Photo, Rock

Monster Magnet live in Haugesund, Norway 2012

Photo special

‘It’s A Satanic Drug Thing – You Wouldn’t Understand’ – warning on the album, Spine of God

Monster Magnet is an American stoner rock band. Hailing from Red Bank, New Jersey, the group was founded by Dave Wyndorf (vocals and guitar), John McBain (guitar) and Tim Cronin (vocals and drums). The band first went by the names “Dog of Mystery”, “Airport 75”, “Triple Bad Acid” and “King Fuzz” before finally settling on “Monster Magnet”, taken from the name of a 1960s toy made by Wham-O, which Wyndorf liked when he was a child. (Wikipedia)

Monster Magnet had managed to become one of the most successful and influential bands associated with the so-called underground “stoner rock” scene. And yet, their influences span much further than that scene’s foundations in ’70s hard rock and metal, delving into space rock, psychedelia, and beyond. (Allmusic.com (by Eduardo Rivadavia))

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Bruce Springsteen, Great albums, Music Calendar

Today: Bruce Springsteen released “Live/1975–85” in 1986 – 26 years ago

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It’s not enough. By anyone else’s standards, of course, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live/1975-85 is an embarrassment of riches — five albums and ten years’ worth of barroom, hockey-arena and baseball-stadium dynamite; greatest hits, ace covers, love songs, work songs, out-of-work songs — the ultimate rock-concert experience of the past decade finally packaged for living-room consumption, a special gift of thanks to the fans who shared those 1001 nights of stomp & sweat and the best possible consolation prize for the poor bastards who could never get tickets.
~David Fricke – rollingstone.com

“Thunder Road” – October 18, 1975 at The Roxy Theatre:

a short promo:

From Wikipedia:

Released November 10, 1986
Recorded October 18, 1975 – September 30, 1985
Genre Rock
Length 216:13
Label Columbia
Producer Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen

Live/1975–85 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. It consists of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs. There was also a record club only release which came on three 8-track cartridges, which is extremely hard to find.

Spirit in the Night – July 7, 1978 at The Roxy Theatre:

Springsteen’s long-awaited and highly-anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart, a rare occurrence that hadn’t happened in ten years since Stevie Wonder‘s Songs in the Key of Life in 1976.

Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) – (again) – July 7, 1978 at The Roxy Theatre:

Not surprising, given Springsteen’s reputation as a live performer and the sheer scope of the 40-song set, most reviews were overwhelmingly positive. There were, however, a few critics that felt the album could have been better, citing the omission of several concert highlights such as Springsteen’s live rendition of “Prove It All Night” and his rousing cover of John Fogerty’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain”, among others.

—

..I need to address this issue of leaving out a 78-version of “Prove It All Night”. This is a tragedy.. it’s alright for those of us collecting bootleg concerts… and thus having heard the 78-version countless times, but what about the rest ? IMO Bruce made a real bad judgement…

So I really need to include a brilliant version in this post:

Prove it all Night – Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ. 19-9-1978:

–

But.. back to “Live/1975-85”.. Here is the brilliant “The River” w/rap:

The River – September 30, 1985 at the LA Coliseum:

Let’s close the “youtubes” with Badlands..

Badlands – November 5, 1980 at Arizona State University, the night after the election of Ronald Reagan to the United States presidency:

Album of the day @ Spotify:

also check out:

Other November 10:

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Blues, Concert Review, Live, Rock, Rock'n Roll

Jace Everett live in Haugesund 2012

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Jace Everett and his excellent band gave us a sweet but short concert in Haugesund last night, maybe it was because they had caught “The Svalbard Flu” that it was over so fast or maybe that’s the way they do it. I prefer longer shows, but I know a lot of people who prefer them short and sweet.

Mr. Everett clearly struggled with sickness but he gave his best, and we got some great tunes, old and new.

The following song was described as “A blues in E for those of you who keep track of those things” I cannot recognise the song. It might be from his new album, which he described as an album of religious songs, ” it should fit right in here in Norway”.

Edit: Thanks to Lisafemmeacadienne (check the comments) who told me the song was One of them from the 2010 album Red Revelations. How did I miss that! I think  I should also say that the comment about the song and Norway was delivered in a very “tongue in cheeck” manner.

The song has some strong religious images, and it kinda reminds me of a song Tom Waits/Nick Cave could do. Good song.


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Concert Review, Country, Live, Rock, Singer Songwriter, Video

Ida Jenshus live in Haugesund

We had a fantastic night at Høvleriet in Haugesund last night. We want to come back, what a venue and what an atmosphere! Thank you.
– Ida Jenshus (on her webpage)

Ida Jenshus has recently released her third album, Someone to love. The album is a departure from the country on her two previous records, into a more airy sounding country/rock/songwriter style. The obvious comparison is Emmylou Harris’ collaboration with super-producer Daniel Lanois, but I can also hear Kathleen Edwards and Mary Gauthier in the quiet stuff, and Lucinda Williams in her more uptempo stuff. I like the direction she’s taken. I like the first two records but I think her concerts have showed a truer Ida Jenshus, and finally it is reflected in her recorded work.

The wonderful Tender Leaves:

We saw Ida Jenshus with a great group of musicians at Høvleriet in Haugesund last friday, there she dedicated a very fine version of Tender Leaves to Chip Taylor. An artist that Jenshus has worked with lately and have played with on several occasions. Chip Taylor is the man who wrote Wild Thing and Angel of the morning.

It was a lovely show that varied from tender moments into full blown guitar jams, never dull and, man, what a great group she’s touring with! The audience clearly liked what they heard, quiet listening and attentive, and it was great to see this many people coming out to see Ida Jenshus. Country flavoured music isn’t always the biggest audience puller.


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