Tag Archives: Top 5

List, Neil Young

Neil Young and Crazy Horse top 5 performances Europe Summer 2014

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Neil Young 2014

Tomorrow we are going to see Neil Young again, and for the first time I’m going to see him with Crazy Horse. I’m sitting here playing stuff that I hope he’ll play.

We had tickets to last year’s tour with Crazy Horse but that got cancelled and I was in a bit “of a dump” for some days. We ordered new tickets as soon as Mr. Young decided to come back to Bergen, Norway. Koengen in Bergen is THE best outdoor venue in Norway and I’ve seen Neil Young there once before, he was superb.

I’m going through YouTube to check out what we might get. He has really given some spectacular performances on this tour, here are my 5 favorites (before Bergen):

Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Cortez the Killer (Live in Copenhagen, July 30th, 2014):

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Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Great albums, List, Stax, The Band, Van Morrison

The 5 Best box sets and reissues of 2013

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I am one of those old guys that still buy physical copies of art (albums). I say it is because I need it to play in the car, but that’s really just an excuse. I love the sensation of unpacking a new album, the feel, the artwork, the printed lyrics, the smell, hell, the whole package!

When the record companies have sold me all the classic albums, they release them again, with better sound, with more songs and bonus features, I don’t feel cheated, I feel blessed. I love archival music stuff, and long to hear studio outtakes, live takes and alternative versions of songs.

It has been a good year for music archivists, and my favorite reissues/archival releases this year are:

 1. Bob Dylan – Another Self Portrait (1969-1971) The Bootleg Series Vol.10

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This is from my post right after I bought the box set:

I have now had a few days listening to the new Bootleg series 10 deluxe box set. It is very interesting, and it is actually rather good. I am one of those few that kind of liked the original album, so I expected to like Another Self Portrait. I was not expecting that I would like it as much as I do.

That said, there are two things that stand out however. The first is the demo version of When I Paint My Masterpiece, it knocked me out. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

But the best of the release is the full Isle of Wight performance with The Band, and I really did not expect that!

– Hallgeir Olsen (Johannasvisions.com)

When I paint my masterpiece – Demo:

A fantastic historical document!

2. The Band – Live at the Academy of Music 1971

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A 4-CD/1-DVD box set chronicles Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel’s 1971 concerts at New York’s Academy of Music, featuring arrangements by New Orleans great Allen Toussaint.

One of the best live albums in rock history got the deluxe treatment, and yes, it got even better. Rock of Ages had 18 wonderful tracks, this upgrade has 56(!) tracks with The Band (and Bob Dylan) at their very peak. 56 best takes of songs from  four evenings in 1971 (including the New-Years eve show in its entirety). I have played Rock of Ages so much I thought that nothing could surprise me, but this set did. The sound, the packaging, the liner notes and the pictures, everything is top-notch.

Life is a Carnival (Live, 1971):

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List

The 5 best christmas songs according to Hallgeir

Christmas-Songs

Ok, Egil  just released his list of christmas songs, well, at least he got one song right. Here are the 5 best christmas songs:

1. The Band- Christmas must be tonight

2.The Pogues Featuring Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale Of New York

3. Steve Earle – Nothing but a child

4. Neko Case – Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis

5. Smith & Burrows – When the Thames froze

Happy X-mas!

– Hallgeir

Blues, Music Calendar, Video

Today: Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White was born in 1906

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Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White (November 12, 1906– February 26, 1977) was a delta blues guitarist and singer born in Aberdeen, Mississippi. Even though he didn’t like the spelling “Bukka”, he was best known by that name. “Bukka” was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White’s given name Booker, by his second (1937) record label (Vocalion).

He is also known for giving his more famous cousin B.B. King his first guitar, a Stella.

A selection of “Bukka” White performances part 1:

White started his career playing fiddle at square dances. He met Charley Patton early on, although some doubt has been cast upon this; regardless, Patton was a large influence on White. He typically played slide guitar, in an open tuning. He was one of the few, along with Skip James, to use a crossnote tuning in Em, which he may have learned, as James did, from Henry Stuckey. (Lastfm)

A selection of “Bukka” White performances part 2:

Booker T. Washington “Bukka” White was active from the 30s all up to the mid 70s (he died in 1977).

Allmusic.com
by Uncle Dave Lewis

Blues purists will tell you that nothing Bukka White recorded after 1940 is ultimately worth listening to. This isn’t accurate, nor fair. White was an incredibly compelling performer who gave up of more of himself in his work than many artists in any musical discipline. The Sky Songs albums for Arhoolie are an eminently rewarding document of Bukka’s charm and candor, particularly in the long monologue “Mixed Water.” “Big Daddy,” recorded in 1974 for Arnold S. Caplin’s Biograph label, likewise is a classic of its kind and should not be neglected.

Top 5 songs by Bukka White:

First in great quality from Spotify:

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