“The Black Swan” of Soul is back with a fine new video for his new single, Strictly Reserved For You. It has a retro but fresh feel, great horns, fantastic fuzz guitar and a wonderful funky bass.
Enjoy!
Charles Bradley – Strictly Reserved for You:
From the upcoming album, Victim of Love, out April 2nd, 2013.
(Directed by Homer Steinweiss)
– Hallgeir
Jason Molina died last Saturday 16th of March, rest in peace in The Tower of Song.
This is too sad…
Lioness:
When we saw Justin Townes Earle last year he ripped through a rousing version of Lightnin’ Hopkins’ My starter won’t start (I been burnin bad gasoline). I have looked at a lot of Justin’s performances to find one that is equally good, there isn’t one… That said, there are a lot of very good ones.
Since it’s Lightnin’ Hopkins’ birthday today we give you two of them, quite different but very entertaining and very good. Justin Townes Earle is a formidable player and singer!
Happy birthday to legend, Lightnin’ Hopkins rest in peace in blues heaven!
New Jersey 2011 (..and closest to the Bergen version):
Detroit 2010 (very different and very good):
Here’s Lightning Hopkins’ great original (audio only):
Two fantastic singers/songwriters and performers!
– Hallgeir
A double album from a criminally underrated period in The Kinks’ carreer is number 28, One for the Road.
The Kinks‘ U.S. career never flourished like that of their British Invasion peers, but that’s another and very interesting story. The Kinks is the quintessentially British band – especially in the nostalgic bittersweet songs of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ray Davies.
The Kinks enjoyed arise in popularity in the U.S. in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The gold-selling 1980 double-live album One for the Road is a fascinating document of english gentlemen who paved the way for heavy metal and punk, but always made great pop songs.
This album is my choice for the 28 place on my countdown of the 30 best live albums.
It may be considered an odd choice. partly because many felt that Kinks was over the top at the time and also because they was seen as strangely unmodern, especially in Europe. But that dosn’t matter, I discovered Kinks at this time (two years later actually), we were fed great concerts from Germany’s Rockpalast TV-show and The Kinks was one of the bands that came through our TV sets. I was mainly into punk and new wave but two bands felt very right, even if they were very old (in our eyes at the time), namely The Who and The Kinks. They were just as New Wave as anything we heard at the time. My love for both those bands is an everlasting one, and I have dug into their past eagerly.
One for the road also proves that Dave Davies is an extremely underrated lead guitarist. The guitar sound is very “punk like”. I belive Sex Pistols learnt a great deal from Kinks, both the guitar style (listen to Where have all the good times gone and Pressure) and the way Ray Davies delivered his lyrics. Brothers Dave Davis and Ray Davies, bass guitarist Jim Rodford, drummer Mick Avory, and guest keyboardists Ian Gibbons and Nick Newell recorded One for the Road at several concerts in 1979 and 1980.
Lola is the best-known track from this album, and this live performance was a minor hit single; Ray Davies’ teasing intro shows his playful side. Listen to the Spotify album at the bottom of the post and you will know what I’m talking about.
Lola:
The Hard Way, Low Budget, a raw, stripped-down Superman, Celluloid Heroes, and You Really Got Me are the other fantastic songs on this album. They may be faster or slower or very different, but they are just as good as their studio album counter parts. I also love the riff on Catch me now I’m Falling, where did they get that one? He, he.
Superman:
Continue reading 30 Best live albums countdown: 28 – One for the road by The Kinks
At number 29 in my countdown of the 30 best live albums in history, I have chosen Waiting for Columbus by Little Feat.
Many considered Little Feat to be over their golden age by 1977, but I think this live album shows them wrong. This is a band at its peak!
Willin’ 1977, Rockpalast:
Waiting for Columbus is the first live album by the “swamp rock” band, Little Feat. The album was recorded during seven performances in 1977. The first four shows were held at the Rainbow Theatre in London on August 1–4, 1977. The last three shows were recorded in George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium on August 8–10 that same summer in Washington, D.C.
The band was backed by the Tower of Power horn section with whom they had recorded in previous studio sessions. And they really fill out the sound!
Dixie Chicken (w/Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt and Jesse Winchester):
Continue reading 30 Best live albums countdown: 29 – Waiting for Columbus by Little Feat