It is 35 years since one of the best albums in rock history was released, Darkness On The Edge Of Town is number 2, (some days it has the top spot) on my list of favorite albums.
Today I think it is the best rock album ever released!
It came out three years after the incredibly successful Born To Run, and three years was an awful long time between albums in the 70s. Bruce Springsteen had been tied up in a legal battle with his former manager Mike Appel but reached a final settlement in this year-long litigation with Mike Appel on May 28, 1977.
Darkness on the Edge of Town (Houston, 1978):
This meant that for the first time in a long time Bruce Springsteen was allowed into a studio. And he did. The recording of what was to become Darkness On The Edge Of Town began in June 1977 in New York City. He had a lot of material in various state of completion. Many of the songs were written or finished over the course of the sessions. He was in the studio for a long time.
Adam Raised a Cain (Paramount Theatre, 2009):
The material that didn’t make the album seeped out on a lot bootlegs through the years, it is of an incredibly high quality both sound wise and artistic. in 2010 we finally got a Darkness box that in many ways ended the need for Darkness bootlegs . There must still be a few unreleased gems in the vault, as of 2011, only 33 of more than 70 songs have been officially released.
It consisted of 6 discs with the following content:
1: Darkness On The Edge Of Town (remastered ) 2. Darkness on the Edge of Town (Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ, 2009) 3:Thrill Hill Vault (1976-1978) + Houston ’78 Bootleg: House Cut 4 and 5: The Promise (double album with outtakes and alternative takes)
6: The Promise: The Making of “Darkness on the Edge of Town”
“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 :
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (often shortened to Sgt. Pepper) is the eighth studio album by The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin. The album is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, and has since been recognised as one of the most important albums in the history of popular music, including songs such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “A Day in the Life”. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, Sgt. Pepper saw the band developing the production techniques of their previous album, Revolver. Martin’s innovative and lavish production included the orchestra usage and hired musicians ordered by the band. Genres such as music hall, rock and roll, pop rock, and traditional Indian music are covered. The album cover art, by English pop artist Peter Blake, depicts the band posing in front of a collage of their favourite celebrities, and has been widely acclaimed and imitated. (Wikipedia)
“The album was always going to have Sgt Pepper at the beginning; and if you listen to the first two tracks, you can hear it was going to be a show album. It was Sgt Pepper and his Lonely Hearts Club Band with all these other acts, and it was going to run like a rock opera.” – Ringo Starr, Anthology
Fun fact: Jimi Hendrix performed the title track at the Roundhouse, London, three days after the album was released. In the audience that night were Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Hendrix also performed the song at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970.
Legacy
In 1987 Rolling Stone named Sgt. Pepper the best album of the last twenty years (1967–1987).
In 1997 Sgt. Pepper was named the number one greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM.
In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number seven
in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 10.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 1 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
In 2006, the album was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.
In 2002, Q magazine placed it at number 13 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.
The album was named as one of Classic Rock magazine’s “50 Albums That Built Prog Rock”.
In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The best song from the album: “A Day In Life”:
A Day in the Life – that was something. I dug it. It was a good piece of work between Paul and me. I had the ‘I read the news today’ bit, and it turned Paul on. Now and then we really turn each other on with a bit of song, and he just said ‘yeah’ – bang bang, like that. It just sort of happened beautifully, and we arranged it and rehearsed it, which we don’t often do, the afternoon before. So we all knew what we were playing, we all got into it. It was a real groove, the whole scene on that one. Paul sang half of it and I sang half. I needed a middle-eight for it, but Paul already had one there.
– John Lennon
“As we got up to Sgt Pepper, George Martin had really become an integral part of it all. We were putting in strings, brass, pianos, etc, and George was the only one who could write it all down. He was also brilliant. One of them would mention: ‘Oh, I’d like the violin to go “de de diddle”,’ or whatever, and George would catch it and put it down. He became part of the band. “ – Ringo (Anthology)
I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It’s all very well doing a triple paradiddle – but who’s going to know you’ve done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It’s being original that counts. – John Bonham
John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and “feel” for the groove.
Led Zeppelin – Full concert Live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970:
“Bonzo had very broad listening tastes. When we weren’t listening to James Brown or Otis Redding, he might be listening to Joni Mitchell or Crosby Stills Nash & Young. Bonzo was a great lover of songs.”– John Paul Jones
He is widely considered to be one of the greatest drummers in the history of rock music by many drummers, other musicians, and commentators in the industry. Over 30 years after his death, Bonham continues to garner awards and praise, including a Rolling Stone readers’ pick in 2011 placing him in first place of the magazine’s “best drummers of all time”.
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir – Earl’s Court 1975:
Awards and accolades
While Bonham is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential rock drummers by other musicians and commentators in the industry, he continues to receive the greatest acclaim from fans, and several opinion polls and critic lists continue to list him in first place before any other drummer in rock history.
In 2007, Stylus magazine rated Bonham number 1 on its list of the 50 greatest rock drummers,
as did the online music magazine Gigwise.com in 2008,
Rolling Stone reader’s poll where he “led the list by a significant margin” in 2011.
Bonham was ranked at no. 1 on Classic Rock’s 2005 list of “50 Greatest Drummers in Rock”,
Modern Drummer magazine describes him as “the greatest rock ‘n’ roll drummer in history.”
In September 2008, Bonham topped the Blabbermouth.net’s list of “Rockers fans want brought back to life”, ahead of Elvis Presley and Freddie Mercury.
Rhythm magazine voted him the greatest drummer ever, topping their reader’s poll to determine the “50 greatest drummers of all time” for its October 2009 issue.
At the end of the BBC Two series I’m in a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band! on 5 June 2010, John Bonham was named the best drummer of all time.
John Bonham has been described by Allmusic as one of the most important, well-known and influential drummers in rock. Adam Budofsky, managing editor of Modern Drummer magazine, writes “If the king of rock ‘n’ roll was Elvis Presley, then the king of rock drumming was certainly John Bonham.”
Moby Dick – great video w/focus on Bonham (the whole 30 minutes with a long drum solo) 24 May 1975:
Led Zeppelin is not available @ Spotify, so let’s roll another video..
Whole lotta love:
“Bob’s bad stuff is better than other musicians’ best”
Down in the Groove is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan‘s 25th studio album, released by Columbia Records 30 May 1988. Egil here at Johannasvisions rate it as maybe Dylan’s lowest point. Me? I’m not so sure anymore…
It got pretty terrible reviews upon it’s release. Many reviewers compared it to his previous album, Knocked Out Loaded, and not in a favourable way.
Wikipedia:
“A highly collaborative effort, it was Dylan’s second consecutive album to receive almost unanimous negative reviews. Released during a period when his recording career was experiencing a slump, sales were disappointing, reaching only #61 in the US and #32 in the UK.”
How is it in hindsight? Was it unfairly slated? I think it’s better than reported and as usual Dylan’s standards were expected to be higher than anybody else’s. We cannot expect a masterpiece every time. Can we?
The album was delayed for more than six months and the track listing changed at least three times. The tracks that made the final album come from many different recording sessions spread out over a long time (six years?).
Rick Griffin was asked by Dylan’s management to come up with a cover design for what was to be the ‘Down In The Groove’ album. Rick produced many designs and, apparently, became somewhat exasperated as his ideas were rejected and changed. This seems to have reflected the overall situation surrounding the album at the time (bonhams)
I’ve always thought of it as a strangely confusing album, but it gets less confusing with each listen session. It has some very good cover songs. Let’s Stick together opens the record in an energetic way, I would love to hear it live!
The comes the song I think is not very good at all, the cover When did you leave heaven. Very eighties drum sound, strange production, it just sounds a bit off, I don’t think the song suits Dylan, and it ends kind of funny.
Sally Sue Brown, the third track is another rockn’roll/soul standard that gets a good run through. I prefer Arthur Alexanders classic, but it is not bad at all.
The last three songs on the album are also cover songs (Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a dead end street), Shenandoah and Rank Strangers To Me, and they are all quite good actually.
I like Rank Strangers To Me best (the closing track). Dylan sings beautifully.
Let’s also include a fine live version from Wembley 1997:
“He really wasn’t built for the strand of rock music borne of rebellion or release; he was a songbird…”
– Dominique Leone (Pitchfork)
Today marks the sixteenth anniversary of Jeff Buckley’s tragic drowning in the Wolf River. Jeff Buckley was a man who shunned celebrity, he had spent two years touring in support ofGrace, before recording what he intended be his next album, My Sweetheart the Drunk.
He never got to see its release. In 1997, while re-recording a few songs, Jeff Buckley drowned after going for a swim. It was was ruled an accidental drowning.
It was posthumously released under the name Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk after Buckley’s mother asked for a title change because of the unfinished state of the songs.
“Jeff Buckley was a pure drop in an ocean of noise.”
– Bono
Jeffrey Scott “Jeff” Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician. After a decade as a guitarist-for-hire in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan’s East Village, such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labelsand his father’s manager Herb Cohen, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace. (wikipedia)
Documentary from Columbia Records on the making of Grace:
Awards and nominations
MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best New Artist in a Video for “Last Goodbye”, 1995.
Rolling Stone magazine nomination for Best New Artist, 1995.
In 2006, Mojo named Grace the #1 Modern Rock Classic of all Time. It was also rated as Australia’s second favorite album on My Favourite Album, a television special aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on December 3, 2006.
Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Everybody Here Wants You”, 1998.
Grace was ranked #303 of the 500 Greatest Albums by Rolling Stone in 2003.
Buckley’s cover of “Hallelujah” was ranked #259 of the 500 Greatest Songs by Rolling Stone in 2004.
Rolling Stone ranked Buckley #39 in its 2008 list: The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
