Tag Archives: music calendar

Today: John Fogerty is 68 – Happy Birthday

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I’ve always felt that with true talent, and a commitment to hard work, it is possible to achieve an enduring respect and appreciation. In other words, I don’t take my fans for granted.
– John Fogerty

John Cameron Fogerty was born May 28, 1945. He is a songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) and as a #1 solo recording artist.

Mystic Highway (Letterman, May 2013) – John Fogerty:

 Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Guitarists at #40 and the list of 100 Greatest Singers at #72. The songs “Proud Mary” and “Born on the Bayou” also rank amongst the Greatest Pop songs (“Proud Mary,” #41) and Guitar songs (“Born on the Bayou,” #53).

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Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music is still a staple of American and worldwide radio airplay and often figures in various media. The band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone. Creedence Clearwater Revival was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. They were ranked at 82 on Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest artists of all time.

Someday Never Comes (Letterman, May 2013) – John Fogerty and The Dawes:

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Album of the day @ JV is his marvelous comeback album from 1985, Centerfield:

Allmusic:

Since Fogerty always romanticized a past he never lived, these sepia tones suit him but it also helps that he’s written a clutch of terrific songs: that giddy ode to his beloved game, the equally sunny rocker “Rock and Roll Girls,” the snappy Sun tribute “Big Train from Memphis,” the gently swaying “I Saw It on TV,” the rip-roaring “I Can’t Help Myself” (only slightly undone by its hyper-active drum programming) and, of course, “The Old Man Down the Road,” a callback to CCR’s spooky swamp rock so successful that Saul Zaentz, the then-president of Fogerty’s former label Fantasy, sued John for plagiarizing himself.

A great artist, a great rock guitarist and singer,
Happy birthday John Fogerty!

 

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Today: It is 50 years since Bob Dylan released The Freewheelin Bob Dylan

 

” I think it was the first time I ever heard Dylan at all… And for the rest of our three weeks in Paris, we didn’t stop playing it.” 
– John Lennon

Dylan had already moved on to other songs when his first masterpiece was released. Contrary to his first album, this album mostly has songs penned by the man himself.  With songs like Blowin’ in the Wind, Girl From The North Country, Masters Of War,  and  Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right  that are still a big part of Dylan’s concerts half a century later,  Freewheelin’ is an album whose music will live long after anyone who is  reading this post is gone.

Facts from Wikipedia: 

Studio album by Bob Dylan
Released May 27, 1963
Recorded April 24–25, July 9, October 26, November 1 and 15, December 6, 1962, and April 24, 1963 at Columbia Records Studio A, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York City
Genre Folk
Length 50:04
Label Columbia
Producer John Hammond, Tom Wilson

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in May 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, Freewheelin’ initiated the process of writing contemporary words to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are original compositions by Dylan. The album kicks off with “Blowin’ in the Wind”, which would become one of the anthems of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul & Mary soon after the release of Freewheelin’. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as amongst Dylan’s best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: “Girl from the North Country”, “Masters of War”, “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”.

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall:

Dylan’s lyrics embraced stories ripped from the headlines about civil rights and he articulated anxieties about the fear of nuclear warfare. Balancing this political material were love songs, sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features surreal humor. Freewheelin’ showcased Dylan’s songwriting talent for the first time, propelling him to national and international fame. The success of the album and Dylan’s subsequent recognition led to his being named as “Spokesman of a Generation”, a label Dylan came to resent.

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan reached number 22 in the US (eventually going platinum), and later became a number one hit in the UK in 1964. In 2003, the album was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2002, Freewheelin’ was one of the first 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Girl from the North Country:

Even if you were among the handful of people who bought Bob Dylan’s 1962 self-titled debut, you couldn’t have predicted The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, the 1963 folkie touchstone where Dylan transformed American songwriting and blew the minds of everyone from his coffeehouse compatriots to the Beatles.

– The Rolling Stone Magazine

Album of the day @ JV:

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Today: The late Miles Davis was born in 1926 – 87 years ago

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Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.
– Miles Davis

Miles Davis is my definition of cool.
– Bob Dylan

 I discovered Miles Davis through Prince. Prince talked about Miles and they played together, they played each others songs and I got curious. My first meet with Miles Davis was in the eighties, the years that some hard-core Miles fans consider the decline or the lost years. Not for me, I love 80s Miles Davis, and what I heard made me go back in time. What a world that opened up!

I got to see him in concert, once in 1988. To a young and recent fan it was mind-blowing!

Tutu, Stuttgart 1988:

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From Allmusic:

Throughout a professional career lasting 50 years, Miles Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument was constant, his approach to jazz was dazzlingly protean. To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-’40s to the early ’90s, since he was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the music during that period, and he often led the way in those changes, both with his own performances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and collaborators who forged new directions. It can even be argued that jazz stopped evolving when Davis wasn’t there to push it forward.
– William Ruhlmann

The best Jazz song in music history, So What:

I have choses On The Corner (1972) as today’s album, my favorite Miles record is Kind of Blue, but I thought it would be nice to focus on one of my other favorites. It is a an album that was loathed when it was released. Miles Davis was accused of selling out (just as he was in the 80s). When listening to the album today it is hard to understand what he was selling out to…

At the time, everyone loathed Miles Davis’s On the Corner – even the people who played on it. But now, some of the coolest names in music are proud to name it as a major influence. – Paul Tingen (The Guardian)

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Today: Paul Weller is 55 – Happy Birthday to The Modfather

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Paul Weller was born 25 May 1958.  Starting with the Punk/New Wave band The Jam (1972–1982), later Weller went on to branch out musically to a more soulful “cool” style with The Style Council (1983–1989). In 1991 he established himself as a successful solo artist, and continues to remain a respected singer, lyricist and guitarist.

Paul Weller grey

Despite widespread critical recognition, Weller has remained a national rather than an international star, and much of his songwriting is rooted in English culture. That said, he has a devout following in the rest of Europe and abroad. He is also the principal figure of the 1970s and 80s mod revival and is sometimes and respectfully referred to as the Modfather.

 

Here is a great documentary telling the story of Paul Weller’s musical career, Into tomorrow (BBC):

My favorite Paul Weller album is Stanley Road and it is today’s chosen album:

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Today: Bob Dylan is 72 years old – top 25 Bob Dylan songs by Hallgeir

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Happy birthday, Bob Dylan!

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly reluctant figurehead of social unrest. A number of Dylan’s early songs, such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'”, became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving his first base in the culture of folk music behind, Dylan’s six-minute single “Like a Rolling Stone” radically altered the parameters of popular music in 1965. His recordings employing electric instruments attracted denunciation and criticism from others in the folk movement.

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Dylan’s lyrics have incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed hugely to the then burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the performance style of Little Richard, and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres. His recording career, spanning fifty years, has explored many of the traditions in American song—from folk, blues, and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing line-up of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, but his greatest contribution is generally considered to be his songwriting. (wikipedia)

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Since it is his birthday and all, I have forced myself to pick 25 songs to celebrate Bob Dylan. It was extremely hard to leave so many good songs out of the list…

These are my top 25 Bob Dylan songs:

1. Blind Willie McTell
2. Like a Rolling Stone
3. Tangled Up In Blue
4. Ballad Of A Thin Man
5. Every Grain Of Sand
6. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
7. It’s All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
8. Visions Of Johanna
9. Brownsville Girl
10. The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
11. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
12. I Shall Be Released
13. Simple Twist Of Fate
14. Knocking On Heaven’s Door
15. Just Like A Woman
16. Masters Of War
17. Mississippi
18. Idiot Wind
19. Isis
20. Cross The Green Mountain
21. High Water (for Charley Patton) (the live 2003 version on bootleg s. vol. 8)
22. Highway 51 Blues
23. Oh, Sister (Hard Rain version)
24. Shelter From The Storm (Hard Rain version)
25. You’re A Big Girl Now

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Check out Egil’s list of his favorite Bob Dylan songs (an ongoing top 200 list)

– Hallgeir

Bob Dylan cover versions @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan albums @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan videos @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan concerts @ Johannasvisions
Bob Dylan recording sessions @ Johannasvisions

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