Today: Ray Davies is 70 – Happy Birthday! (read more)Ray Davies’s (born 21 June 1944)influence on british music is large and important. It really became visible during the brit-pop period, but I can hear his way of talking about the english way of live in today’s pop and rap/hip-hop also. They might not know why they do it the way the do, but we do, it is the way Ray Davies taught them through his songs. |
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| John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was a highly influential American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. Hooker was born in Mississippi, he was the son of a sharecropper, and rose to prominence performing his own interpretation of what was originally a unique style of country blues. He developed a ‘talking blues‘ style that became his trademark. Though similar to the early Delta blues, his music was metrically free. John Lee Hooker could be said to embody his own genre of the blues, often incorporating the boogie-woogie piano style and a driving rhythm into his blues guitar playing and singing. His best known songs include Boogie Chillen’ (1948), I’m in the Mood (1951), and Boom Boom(1962)—the first two reaching #1 on the Billboard R&B chart. |  |
| Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951, Chicago, Illinois, United States) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has marked over 25 years as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band as well as a former member of Crazy Horse and Grin. |  |
Spotify Playlist – June 21: |
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Tag Archives: Nils Lofgren
Today: Ray Davies is 69 – Happy Birthday
“No one can penetrate me. They only see what’s in their own fancy, always.”
– Ray Davies
Raymond Douglas “Ray” Davies, CBE was born 21 June 1944. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television.
Ray Davies is one of my favorite british songwriters, he really is up there with lennon/mccartney and jagger/richards. He is that good!
Ray Davies’ influence on british music is large and important. It really bacame vissible during the britpop period, but I can hear his way of talking about the english way of live in today’s pop and rap/hip-hop also. They might not know why they do it the way the do, but we do, it is the way Ray Davies thaught them through his songs .
While almost every other songwriter working in a rock band at the time was talking about altered states or sticking it to squares, Ray Davies developed a vocabulary of traditional English life, and even mocked Carnaby Street fashion on “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”. The Kinks were culture without the “counter” prefix, a rock band that anomalously acknowledged the dignity in the middle-aged woman who went out and bought a hat like the one Princess Marina wore, the one that adopted the mannerisms of music hall without pastiche or irony, the one that sang about tea and gooseberry tarts and favoring neighborhood life over new patterns of development.
– Pitchfork (Joe Tangari)
20 Century Man (Storytellers, vh1):
Awards
- On 17 March 2004, Davies received the CBE from Queen Elizabeth II for “Services to Music.”
- On 22 June 2004, Davies won the Mojo Songwriter Award, which recognises “an artist whose career has been defined by his ability to pen classic material on a consistent basis.”
- Davies was also a judge for the third annual Independent Music Awards. His contributions helped assist upcoming independent artists’ careers.
- Davies and the Kinks were the third British band (along with The Who) to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, at which Davies was called “almost indisputably rock’s most literate, witty and insightful songwriter.” They were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
- On 3 October 2006, Davies was awarded the BMI Icon Award for his “enduring influence on generations of music makers” at the 2006 annual BMI London Awards.
- On 15 February 2009, The Mobius Best Off-West End Production in the UK for the musical Come Dancing.
- On 7 September 2010, Davies was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.
- On 26 October 2010, Davies was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at his AVO Session concert in Basel; the concert was televised internationally.
My fav Kinks song – Waterloo Sunset (live):
Here’s a great documentary about Ray Davies, The World From My Window (2003):
Album of the day:
Other June-21:
Today: Neil Young released “Tonight’s the Night” in 1975 – 38 years ago
“The record chronicles the post-hippie, post-Vietnam demise of counterculture idealism, and a generation’s long, slow trickle down the drain through drugs, violence, and twisted sexuality. This is Young’s only conceptually cohesive record, and it’s a great one.”
~Dave Marsh (The New Rolling Stone Record Guide)“Tonight’s the Night is that one rare record I will never tire of.”
~Chris Fallon (PopMatters)
The title cut:
Wikipedia:
| Released | June 20, 1975 |
|---|---|
| Recorded | August–September 1973 at Studio Instrument Rentals, Hollywood, CA (except “Come On Baby”: Fillmore East, NYC, March 1970; “Lookout Joe”: Broken Arrow Ranch, December 1972 and “Borrowed Tune”: Broken Arrow Ranch, December 1973) |
| Genre | Rock |
| Length | 44:52 |
| Label | Reprise |
| Producer | David Briggs, Tim Mulligan, Neil Young, Elliot Mazer (track 10 only) |
Tonight’s the Night is the sixth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1975 on Reprise Records, catalogue MS 2221. It was recorded in 1973 (most of it on a single day, August 26), its release delayed for two years. It peaked at #25 on theBillboard 200. In 2003, the album was ranked number 331 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Roll Another Number (For the road):
Content:
Tonight’s the Night is a direct expression of grief. Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and Young’s friend and roadie Bruce Berry had both died of drug overdoses in the months before the songs were written. The title track mentions Berry by name, while Whitten’s guitar and vocal work highlight “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown”; the latter was recorded live in 1970. The song would later appear, unedited, on a live album from the same concerts, Live at the Fillmore East, with Whitten credited as the sole author.
Fans have long speculated that an alternate version of Tonight’s the Night exists. Neil Young’s father, Scott Young, wrote of it in his memoir, Neil and Me:
Ten years after the original recording, David Briggs and I talked about Tonight’s the Night, on which he had shared the producer credit with Neil. At home a couple of weeks earlier he had come across the original tape, the one that wasn’t put out. “I want to tell you, it is a handful. It is unrelenting. There is no relief in it at all. It does not release you for one second. It’s like some guy having you by the throat from the first note, and all the way to the end.” After all the real smooth stuff Neil had been doing, David felt most critics and others simply failed to read what they should have into Tonight’s the Night — that it was an artist making a giant growth step. Neil came in during this conversation, which was in his living room. When David stopped Neil said, “You’ve got that original? I thought it was lost. I’ve never been able to find it. We’ll bring it out someday, that original.”
Here is “Roll Another Number” (unreleased from the Acetate tape):
Tonight’s the Night (unreleased – from the acetate tape):
This should end any lingering doubts as to whether the real Neil Young is the desperate recluse who released two albums in the late ’60s or the sweet eccentric who became a superstar shortly thereafter. Better carpentered than Time Fades Away and less cranky than On the Beach, it extends their basic weirdness into a howling facedown with heroin and death itself. It’s far from metal machine music–just simple, powerful rock and roll. But there’s lots of pain with the pleasure, as after all is only “natural.” In Boulder, it reportedly gets angry phone calls whenever it’s played on the radio. What better recommendation could you ask? A
~Robert Christgau (robertchristgau.com)
Track listing:
All songs written and composed by Neil Young, except when noted.
Side one
- “Tonight’s the Night” – 4:39
- “Speakin’ Out” – 4:56
- “World on a String” – 2:27
- “Borrowed Tune” – 3:26 (based on “Lady Jane” by The Rolling Stones)
- “Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown” (Live) – 3:35 (Whitten/Young)
- “Mellow My Mind” – 3:07
Side two
- “Roll Another Number (for the Road)” – 3:02
- “Albuquerque” – 4:02
- “New Mama” – 2:11
- “Lookout Joe” – 3:57
- “Tired Eyes” – 4:38
- “Tonight’s the Night—Part II” – 4:52
Musicians:
- Neil Young – vocals, piano, guitar, harmonica, vibes
- Ben Keith – pedal steel guitar, vocals, slide guitar
- Nils Lofgren – guitar, piano, vocals
- Danny Whitten – guitar, vocals
- Jack Nitzsche – electric piano, piano
- Billy Talbot – bass
- Tim Drummond – bass
- Ralph Molina – drums, vocals
- Kenny Buttrey – drums
- George Whitsell – vocals
Album @ spotify:
Continue reading Today: Neil Young released “Tonight’s the Night” in 1975 – 38 years ago
Today: Ray Davis is 68
From Wikipedia:
Raymond Douglas “Ray” Davies, CBE born 21 June 1944) is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave. He has also acted, directed and produced shows for theatre and television.
Awards
- On 17 March 2004, Davies received the CBE from Queen Elizabeth II for “Services to Music.”
- On 22 June 2004, Davies won the Mojo Songwriter Award, which recognises “an artist whose career has been defined by his ability to pen classic material on a consistent basis.”
- Davies was also a judge for the third annual Independent Music Awards. His contributions helped assist upcoming independent artists’ careers.
- Davies and the Kinks were the third British band (along with The Who) to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, at which Davies was called “almost indisputably rock’s most literate, witty and insightful songwriter.” They were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
- On 3 October 2006, Davies was awarded the BMI Icon Award for his “enduring influence on generations of music makers” at the 2006 annual BMI London Awards.
- On 15 February 2009, The Mobius Best Off-West End Production in the UK for the musical Come Dancing.
- On 7 September 2010, Davies was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.
- On 26 October 2010, Davies was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at his AVO Session concert in Basel; the concert was televised internationally.
My fav Kinks song – Waterloo Sunset (live):
and another great live version:
Album of the day:
Other June-21: