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Music Calendar

Today: Graham Nash is 71

graham nash 2

Graham William Nash,  (born 2 February 1942) is  known for his light tenor voice and for his songwriting contributions with the British pop group The Hollies, and with the super group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Nash is also a photography collector and a published photographer. Nash was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1997 and as a member of The Hollies in 2010.

In the early 1960s he was co-founder with schoolfriend Allan Clarke of The Hollies. Nash was a leading ‘group figurehead’ member of The Hollies, one of the UK’s most successful pop and “British Invasion” groups.  Nash wrote or co-wrote many of the band’s original songs, most often early on in collaboration with Allan Clarke and also then together with Tony Hicks up to Nash’s departure from the band in December 1968.

Teach your Children:

Nash initially met both David Crosby and Stephen Stills in 1966 among a group of American musician friends during a Hollies USA tour. In 1968, after a further visit to the US during which he met David Crosby in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California, Nash left The Hollies to form a new group with Crosby and Stephen Stills. A threesome at first, Crosby, Stills & Nash later became a foursome with Neil Young: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). With them, Nash went on to even greater worldwide success.

Simple Man:

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young lasted long enough as a performing unit for one major national tour and a live follow-up album before the members went their separate ways. Nash emerged from the chaos of the quartet’s demise as a star in his own right and found a major audience for his music. There have been quite a few reunions.

The album of the day is his solo debut, Songs for beginners from 1971:

Graham-Nash-Songs-For-Beginne-333342

Other 2 February:

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Music Calendar, Punk

Today: John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten was born in 1956

John Lydon 1

John Joseph Lydon (born 31 January 1956), also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is the lead singer of the post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL), which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again from 2009.

bollocks

Throughout his career, Lydon has made controversial or dismissive comments about the royal family and other subjects. There has been a recent revival of a 1980s movement to have Lydon knighted for his achievements with the Sex Pistols – even though he has since turned down an MBE for his services to music. In 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote. Q Magazine remarked that “somehow he’s assumed the status of national treasure.”

John Lydon

Lydon’s personally crafted image and fashion style led to him being asked to become the singer of the Sex Pistols by their manager, Malcolm McLaren. With the Pistols, he penned singles including “Anarchy in the U.K.”, “God Save the Queen” and “Holidays in the Sun”, the content of which precipitated the “last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium” in Britain. The band caused nationwide uproar in much of the media, who objected to the content of Lydon’s lyrics, and their antics, which included swearing on live television, in which Steve Jones called Bill Grundy a “fucking rotter”.

God save

 

Due to the band’s appearance in the media, Lydon was largely seen as the figurehead of the punk movement in the public image although this idea was not widely supported amongst the punk movement itself. Despite the negative reaction that they provoked, they are now regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music.

Lydon left the Pistols in 1978 to found his own band, Public Image Ltd, that was far more experimental in nature, and which has been described as “arguably the first post-rock group”. Although never as commercially successful as the Pistols, the band produced eight albums and a string of singles, including “Public Image”, “Death Disco”, and “Rise”, before they went on hiatus in 1993, reforming in 2009. PiL released their latest album in 2012. In subsequent years, Lydon hosted a number of television shows in the UK, US and Belgium, as well as writing an autobiography, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs (1993), and producing some solo musical work, such as the album Psycho’s Path (1997). (Read more on Wikipedia)

Today’s album is, not surprisingly, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols:

Other 31 January:

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Great albums, Sound, Van Morrison

Today: Them Again by Them was released in 1966

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THEM_again

Them Again is the second album by Them, lead by singer and songwriter Van Morrison. The album was released by Decca Records in the UK on 21 January 1966 but it failed to chart. In the U.S. it was released in April 1966 where it peaked at #138 on the Billboard charts.

Released 21 January 1966 (UK), April 1966 (USA)
Genre Rock
Length 48:21Decca (UK), Parrot PA 61008; PAS 71008 (USA)
Producer Tommy Scott

It’s a great record and often overlooked and unfavourably compared to Them’s debut. It is allmost as good. You owe it to yourself to check it out.

Two of the original Van Morrison songs included on the album, “My Lonely Sad Eyes” and “Hey Girl”, can be seen as precursors to the poetic musings of Morrison’s later Astral Weeks album, released in 1968. “My Lonely Sad Eyes” begins with the words, “Fill me my cup, and I’ll drink your sparkling wine/Pretend that everything is fine, ’til I see your sad eyes.” The title implies that the sad eyes belong to the singer but the lyrics address the singer’s love interest. It reminds me of Rolling Stones at their most soulful.

My Lonely Sad Eyes:

The song “Hey Girl” has a pastoral feel to it, enhanced by the addition of flutes and in Brian Hinton’s opinion is a “dry run for ‘Cyprus Avenue'” from Astral Weeks.

Hey Girl:

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Music Calendar, Steve Earle

Today: Steve Earle is 58

steve-earle-58

“I don’t really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.” – Steve Earle

One of JV’s Greatest heroes

Steve Earle (born January 17, 1955) is  known for his rock, folk and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play.

Birth name Stephen Fain Earle
Born January 17, 1955 (age 58)
Hampton, Virginia United States
Origin San Antonio, Texas, United States
Genres Country-rock, Texas country, folk,Americana, heartland rock, alt-country,roots rock
Occupations Musician, singer-songwriter, writer, actor
Instruments Guitar, mandolin, harmonica, banjo,bouzouki, bass guitar
Labels Uni. MCA Nashville, New West, E² Records, Warner Bros.
Associated acts Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Del McCoury Band
Website www.steveearle.com

Me and Egil have seen Steve Earle in concert several times and have followed him since his magnificent debut. We love the man.

He is always exciting to follow, as a musician, as a writer or as an actor. He has integrity. We’re always looking forward to his new albums and hope he will return to our shores as soon as possible.

Happy birthday Steve Earle!

Allmusic:

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

In the strictest sense, Steve Earle isn’t a country artist; he’s a roots rocker. Earle emerged in the mid-’80s, after Bruce Springsteen had popularized populist rock & roll and Dwight Yoakam had kick-started the neo-traditionalist movement in country music. At first, Earle appeared to be more indebted to the rock side than country, as he played a stripped-down, neo-rockabilly style that occasionally verged on outlaw country. However, his unwillingness to conform to the rules of Nashville or rock & roll meant that he never broke through into either genre’s mainstream. Instead, he cultivated a dedicated cult following, drawing from both the country and rock audiences. Toward the early ’90s, his career was thrown off track by personal problems and substance abuse, but he re-emerged stronger and healthier several years later…(READ MORE)

One of his best – Goodbye:

steve earle - 58 two

 Photo: Senor McGuire

Last year for his birthday we picked our favourite songs by Steve Earle.

Here is Egil’s list (follow link to read post)

Egil picked 20 songs:

  1. Fort Worth Blues (El Corazón)
  2. Goodbye  (Train a Comin’)
  3. The Mountain (The Mountain)
  4. My Old Friend the Blues (Guitar Town)
  5. Feel Alright (I Feel Alright)
  6. Guitar Town (Guitar Town)
  7. When I Fall (Transcendental Blues)
  8. Hard-Core Troubadour (I Feel Alright)
  9. Johnny Come Lately (Copperhead Road)
  10. Taneytown (El Corazón)
  11. Valentine’s Day (I Feel Alright)
  12. Billy Austin (The Hard Way)
  13. More Than I Can Do (I Feel Alright)
  14. The Galway Girl (Transcendental Blues)
  15. The Unrepentant (I Feel Alright)
  16. Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song) (Transcendental Blues)
  17. Harlan Man (The Mountain)
  18. The Boy Who Never Cried (Transcendental Blues)
  19. Nowhere Road (Exit 0)
  20. Ellis Unit One (Sidetracks)

 

Here is Hallgeir’s list (follow the link to see videos)

 

I picked 10 songs:

  1. Fort Worth Blues
  2. The Mountain
  3. Guitar Town
  4. Copperhead Road
  5. Galway Girl
  6. Ellis Unit One
  7. My old friend The Blues
  8. Goodbye
  9. Devil’s right hand
  10. Telephone Road

For the album of today I have picked I Feel Allright from 1996:

Other January 17:

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Music Calendar

Today: J.D. Souther is 67

John David Souther (commonly abbreviated as JD Souther) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actor. He has written and co-written numerous hits songs recorded by artists such as Linda Ronstadt and Glenn Frey of the Eagles. He is one of the greatest songwriters in the so called west coast rock, country rock wave of the 70s. He is mainly known for other peoples interpretations of his songs.

That is deeply unfair, he has made seven terrific albums under his own name.

J.D. Souther – Doolin’ Dalton, live 1973:

From Rolling Stone magazine interview with Souther, October 2012:

“…pivotal member of the L.A. country-rock posse of the Seventies, Souther recorded a handful of albums on his own, was briefly in the short-lived Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, is still close friends with Jackson Browne and, most recognizably, co-wrote songs with his friends the Eagles (“Best of My Love, ” “New Kid in Town,” “The Sad Cafe”) and Henley (“The Heart of the Matter”). Never one to court fame (despite having dated Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks), Souther, 66, has largely remained under the pop-culture radar, especially once he retreated from the music business in the Eighties. But over the last few years, he’s returned to recording and touring (he just released a live EP, Midnight in Tokyo, featuring new songs and his current, jazz-oriented band), and he’s been nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame. And as Nashville shows, he’s also begun acting again (music fans in the Nineties may remember his stint as environmentalist John Dunaway inthirtysomething)…”

Read the whole interview here

J.D. Souther – I’ll be here at closing time, live 2009:

The album of today is the excellent “John David Souther” from 1972:

Other 2 November:
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