Blues

New Song: Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs Return With “Dare To Dream” Featuring Graham Nash

~ kcorsini ~ 2 Comments

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Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs (Campbell, guitar/vocals; Mattt Laug, drums; Lance Morrison/bass; now Chris Holt, guitar) have released a new single “Dare To Dream” that features a wonderful backing/harmony vocal from none other than Graham Nash of CSNY fame. The song is from the Dirty Knobs upcoming album Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits. Is that not a fantastic album title? That title kind of sums up the whole B&V ethos… well, except that “virgin” part.

I think all of us were wrecked when we lost Tom Petty in 2017, but probably no one more than the members of the Heartbreakers – Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench in particular – as they had been on the ride with Tom for his entire career. I was so delighted that Mike Campbell, who I consider one of the greatest guitarist to ever strap the instrument on, has found himself a nice solo career after the passing of Petty. Sometimes a band leader passes and the other members are lost and fade away. Of course Campbell had guested on other people’s albums outside the Heartbreakers during their career, like Don Henley’s “Boys Of Summer” from way back in 1984, which he co wrote. With Benmont Tench he also formed my favorite ever surf band, The Blue Stingrays, which the Rock Chick discovered one night while musically spelunking. Well, I think Tench was involved in that project, it was pretty secretive. When Fleetwood Mac fired Lindsey Buckingham, they enlisted Mike Campbell – who was longtime friends with Stevie Nicks – along with Neil Finn to replace him. Finn for the vocals and Campbell for that fabulous lead guitar… he even brought back some of the great Peter Green era songs. Fleetwood Mac toured with Campbell, but they never went into the studio and with the passing of Christine McVie, it appears they’re done. I read somewhere that Christine told Campbell he “was fun to play the blues with,” high praise indeed.

While the thought of Campbell in Fleetwood Mac was cool, the guy was just too talented to be confined to just that as his post-Heartbreakers career. He co wrote so many great songs with Tom. I was thrilled in 2020 when it was announced that Mike Campbell and his band, the Dirty Knobs were putting out an album. Apparently the Dirty Knobs had been a live, side project to allow Campbell to play when he wasn’t busy with his “day job” for a while, prior to recording together. Campbell had stockpiled quite a few tracks and the result was Wreckless Abandon. The title track was the first song on the album and the first single and it was a great single that sounded, well, like Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. I really dug “Wreckless Abandon,” both the song and the album.

I was wondering if, like his stint in Fleetwood Mac, Wreckless Abandon was to be a one off. Thankfully, I was wrong. 2022 saw Campbell & the Dirty Knobs release External Combustion, another great rock n roll album. That album was preceded by the first single, “Wicked Mind,” which we loved down here at B&V. It was more of a road song, fast and rocking.

And now, here in 2024, we have a brand new song/lead single from the upcoming new album, entitled “Dare To Dream.” I’m so delighted Campbell and the Dirty Knobs are back. These guys are just a solid rock n roll band and we need those in 2024. “Dare To Dream” has such a great message. “These are the best of times, This is the good life and all you dare to dream can come true…” I like the sound of that. There’s a lot of negativity running around out there, it’s time for an uplifting message. The track itself is different than past first singles. It’s got a stab-y guitar riff. Campbell’s vocal is more prominent. I have to admit, it took me two listens for the track to click in my head. I had to get it first into the car for a good, windows down, volume cranked listen… and then I put it on the headphones. This track is utterly elevated by the amazing harmony/backing vocal of Graham Nash. That guy is an unsung hero…his vocals really make the vocals soar. I think I gave him short shrift on my post about CS&N solo/duo projects. Here’s the cool video:

Pretty cool stuff, and I don’t usually dig videos. Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone is playing drums in the video, I do not think he plays on the song, but I could be wrong, we’ll have to see when the LP drops and I can read the liner notes. I do know there are other guests beyond Nash including Chris Stapleton and Benmont Tench. I love that Campbell says the theme of the song is “everything will be okay if you hold onto hope.” Seems like a very timely message.

I’m not sure what this means for Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits, but with Mike Campbell at the wheel, with his track record, this just might be my summer album this year. Rest assured, B&V will be keeping our ear to the ground for this one…

Cheers!

David Gilmour Of Pink Floyd Announces New Solo LP, ‘Luck And Strange,’ Releases First Song, “The Piper’s Call”

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It appears the rumors I’ve been hearing are true and erstwhile Pink Floyd guitarist/singer David Gilmour is set to release his fifth studio album Luck And Strange this coming September. Today he’s released the first single from the album, “The Piper’s Call.”

It may seem odd that David Gilmour, a very famous musician, has only put out five studio albums (if I include Luck And Strange) over the years. Of course from the 60s through the early 80s he was busy in Pink Floyd with Roger Waters, Rick Wright and Nick Mason. And from the late 80s on he was busy… well, in Pink Floyd with only Rick Wright and Nick Mason. I don’t think there was a more contentious break up in rock n roll history as Pink Floyd’s split between Gilmour/Mason/Wright and Waters. These guys make the Beatles break up look like a slightly unruly evening at a bingo night at the local church.

I have to admit, like most critics I’ve been up and down on Gilmour’s solo career. His guitar playing is some of the most melodic, recognizable, soulful sounds ever generated from the instrument. When Gilmour played guest guitar on a Pete Townshend or Paul McCartney record, you knew it was Gilmour. Pink Floyd ranks amongst Zeppelin and the Stones in the 70s pantheon of “cool” bands that every rock head loved. If you weren’t into those bands you might as well have been listening to disco. You were simply “uncool.”

However, in his solo career Gilmour has been less successful. Of course a lot of Pink Floyd “purist” would say that A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and The Division Bell, Pink Floyd’s albums without Waters are merely Gilmour solo records disguised as Floyd records. Sigh… Most critics will tell you that About Face from 1984 is the “pick of the litter” in terms of his solo career. I would probably agree with that assessment but I really liked his last studio album, Rattle That Lock. One of the issues that most critics, and fans for that matter, bring up is that Gilmour’s songwriting partner and lyric writer is his wife Polly Sampson. You get the usual “Yoko” kind of complaints about that. Hey, the guy can partner with whomever he wants, and he chooses to partner with his wife. Although I’m not immune to the ol’ trope that it’s a bad sign when you invite your significant other into the band.

Having enjoyed Rattle That Lock, I’m actually sort of looking forward to Luck And Strange. I’ve been listening to this new track, “The Piper’s Call” all morning. It wouldn’t have been out of place on his last album. The track starts off with a quiet acoustic guitar, quite lovely actually. It’s almost a Spanish guitar thing. Suddenly Gilmour’s voice – which I’ve always loved – comes on. The guy has lost nothing vocally over the years. The track kind of meanders along until the chorus when some fabulous Gilmour electric guitar comes in. He’s so plaintive in the way he plays. The track is mellow for the first minute and a half. But that chorus with Gilmour’s distressed vocals and wonderful guitar drew me in. His guitar playing is the main reason to stick around. Here’s the track:

It’s not a track that’s going to change anybody’s life or reignite a career the way say, Billy Joel’s “Turn The Lights Back On” did, but it’s not a bad little song. And if you’re a Pink Floyd fan – and who among us isn’t? – you’ll probably dig this one.

The album isn’t out until September but rest assured B&V will be out there with our ear to the ground… heeding the piper’s call, so to speak.

Cheers!

RIP Dickey Betts Of The Allman Brothers, The Ramblin’ Man’s Journey Has Come To An End

~ kcorsini ~ 3 Comments

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*Photo of guitar legend Dickey Betts shamelessly taken from the internet and likely copyrighted

I had no sooner hit the “send” button on yesterday’s post containing our playlist compiled from rock songs from 1984 when I saw the news that former Allman Brothers Band lead guitar legend Dickey Betts had passed away at the ripe old age of 80. I’m not gonna lie, this one is gonna leave a mark. I had intended to listen to the new Pearl Jam today, but we’re in full Allman mode as a tribute to the man who wrote “Ramblin’ Man.” I’ve gotten through the Allman’s first two studio records, with Live At The Fillmore East – one of, if not the greatest live album ever – teed up next. In unrelated news the Rock Chick is gritting her teeth and rushing to get out of the house. I guess the Allman Brothers are more of a “guy” thing, like Pink Floyd but I digress…

Of the original lineup of the Allman Brothers, with Dickey now gone, there’s only one surviving member, drummer Jaimoe aka John Lee Johnson or Jai Johanny Johanson. Jaimoe has more nicknames than Deion Sanders. It was guitar legend Duane Allman who, with his brother Gregg (vocals/organ) who formed the Allman Brothers. Duane and Gregg had been knocking around in different bands for a while. If you’ve never heard the Hourglass song (Duane & Gregg’s early band) “Power Of Your Love,” you need to. The brothers ended up in California. Duane finally had enough and left. Gregg had to hang for a year…where he befriended singer/songwriter Jackson Browne. Duane ended up pulling a band together down in Florida. He recruited drummer Jaimoe first. Then came Barry Oakley on bass, Butch Trucks on drums as well. Duane wanted a different kind of band, he had a clear vision and he knew he needed a second lead guitar to fulfill his vision and eventually through Trucks he found Dickey Betts. And make no mistake this wasn’t a lead/rhythm guitar situation, both Duane and Dickey played dual leads. Duane’s legend is a bit bigger than Dickey’s but perhaps that’s because he died so young.

Eventually freed from the Hourglass contractual obligation Gregg joined his brother and the rest of the band in Florida. He was a little intimidated by the musicians in the band at first, but his brother told him to “sing his ass off” on a version of Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More,” and uh, Gregg complied. This was in ’69 and by the end of the year they’d put out their first album, The Allman Brothers, followed in 1970 by one of my all time favorites, Idlewild South. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I had graduated from college and moved down south to Ft. Smith, Arkansas that I purchased those two records. It’s hard to believe that it took me until my early 20s to find the Allman Brothers… although when I started listening to rock music in say, 1978, the Allmans were broken up.

While the Allman’s debut album consisted of songs written by Gregg Allman and a few covers, Idlewild South saw the debut of Dickey Betts as a songwriter. He contributed the epic instrumental “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed.” In their early days the Allmans used to practice in a cemetery and Dickey pulled the name off a tombstone, which is just damn cool. Dickey also contributed another song on the album, “Revival,” sung by Gregg that’s another all time fav. Although those first two albums are fabulous it wasn’t until their landmark live album, the aforementioned Live At the Fillmore East, that made the Allmans famous. By the time they recorded that live album their reputation as a live band was already immense.

Duane and Dickey – and the rest of the band – played the blues with a jazz ethos. There were long, extended guitar duels between Duane and Dickey that were borderline Miles Davis vibing off of John Coltrane. They’ve been described as “southern rock,” but they were so much more than that…although admittedly it took me briefly moving to the south to get into the Allmans. They’ve been described as a “jam band” but again, they were so much more than that. Many bands struggle to find one competent lead guitar player whereas the Allmans had two (and actually quite a few more if you look at their entire history). The live album was the only way to capture their magic conjured on stage vs a studio. For some bands it takes the live LP to break them.

Alas, tragedy was to hit the Allmans when in late ’71 Duane was killed in a motorcycle crash. Bassist Barry Oakley would suffer the same fate a year later. The Allmans soldiered through but Betts took more of a leadership role in the band and especially on stage. He was largely seen as the front man in the band, likely because Gregg was stuck sitting behind an organ. I think Gregg resented Betts assuming the leadership role in the band – a band with his name on it – and the rest of the Allman’s history was to be a tumultuous one.

Betts continued to develop as a songwriter. Many of his tunes have a country music vibe. But his songwriting credits are quite impressive from instrumentals “Les Brers In A Minor” and “Jessica” to “Ramblin’ Man” (the Allman Brothers biggest “hit”), “Blue Sky” and “Southbound.” After Brothers And Sisters in 1972, whose songs were predominantly written by Betts, Gregg dropped his solo-debut album Laid Back and the band began to splinter. Betts dropped his solo debut in 1974, Highway Call, but neither solo or with Great Southern, his side band, he never achieved the acclaim that Gregg’s solo stuff did.

The Allmans broke up in ’76, and reunited in the late 70s/early 80s, but finally called it quits again in 1982. I remember Allmans playing benefit shows for Jimmy Carter’s campaign. Jimmy Carter at a podium flanked by Dickey Betts and Gregg Allman was quite a sight. The Allman Brothers band lay dormant for a decade, until 1990. Dickey had started to put together a band that included Butch Trucks and Jaimoe and a newcomers Johnny Neal (keyboards), Warren Haynes (guitar) and Allen Woody (bass). I remember reading the band was going to be the Dickey Betts Band but Dickey realized they needed to get Gregg back in the fold and come back out as the Allman Brothers Band, a wise decision. The comeback album Seven Turns was an unexpected hit. Dickey wrote and sang the title track (with a haunting second vocal by Gregg) and co-wrote the hit “Good Clean Fun” with Gregg and Johnny Neal.

Under Dickey’s helm the Allmans began touring successfully and put out a string of great late career LPs: Seven Turns (1990), Shades Of Two Worlds (1991), and finally Where It All Begins (1994). That ’94 record was the biggest the Allmans had put out in a long time. That was the first tour I was able to see them live and watching Dickey and Warren Haynes (who was playing the Duane parts) spark off each other was nothing short of breathtaking. Many an air guitar was played that night.

Alas, the old tensions between Betts and Allman began to drag the band down. Betts was drinking pretty heavily (and perhaps was doing drugs as well) and Gregg had finally gotten sober. Betts kept getting into altercations. Eventually the band sent him a fax – demanding that he sober up/get clean and basically fired him. A band who he’d help found went on without him. Betts went on to record and tour solo but never found that solo fame he so richly deserved.

In 2017 we lost both Butch Trucks (alas, to suicide) and Gregg Allman from cancer. And now Dickey Betts has gone to that great concert hall in the sky. The Allman Brothers were a lot like brothers. They made fabulous, epic music but man, they also had a sibling like conflict underlying it all, especially Gregg and Dickey. Maybe if Duane had taken the bus that day in 1971 instead of riding his motorcycle, he could have kept more control over the band. They all worshiped him… Dickey named his kid Duane… but that’s consigned to the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” file.

While Dickey may have had demons – and who amongst the rock stars doesn’t? – his sublime guitar playing and great songwriting make him a legend in the rock n roll world. I was a fan of his and the Allman Brothers for a long time… still am. It’s a sad day here at the B&V labs. There will be many an Allman Brothers’ jam played in this house today…with perhaps a few sips of a sour mash along with the guitar solos… I might need to go buy some Southern Comfort today…

RIP Dickey Betts, guitar legend.

It’s a long, dark ride, take care of each other out there. Cheers.

Playlist: We Look Back 40 Years To The Epic, Blockbuster Year, Rock N Roll In… 1984

~ kcorsini ~ 11 Comments

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We’re fond of constructing playlists here at B&V and have been publishing them pretty much since we started this blog. It wasn’t until three years ago that we did our first playlist built from rock n roll tied to a specific year, in that case it was 1971. What a landmark year for music that was! It was so much fun, the next year we did a playlist of rock n roll from 1972. And after that we’ve had this rolling 50 year-lookback playlist we do to kick off every year. It was when I was doing my 1972 and later my 1973 playlist that I realized looking back 40 years to the 80s would be fun too and ended up doing playlists for 1982 and 1983. I guess I need to circle back and do 1981 at some point, since I didn’t do it the year I did 1971, but I digress. We did 1974 to kick off this year and now seems as good a time as any to look back only 40 years to 1984.

Ah, 1984… It wasn’t the dystopian nightmare of George Orwell’s novel but it was a pretty uptight time. I was in college and was surrounded by some of the most uptight young adults in the history of college. Don’t get me wrong, I met a lot of kindred spirits in those days: Drew, RK, Walt, the accountant, and Stormin’ to name a few who I actually still mention in these pages. While 1984 the actual year looked nothing like 1984 the novel, the Reagan administration was doing everything they could to bring it about. It seems we’ve saved the mass surveillance, permanent warfare, “cult of personality” and doublepeak (and alternative facts) for today’s world. I seem to remember the women had extremely tall hair and wore leg warmers. But then again so did a lot of the rock stars. “Greed is good” was a mantra. There was the L.A. Olympics, sadly boycotted by the Russians. I knew a guy who participated in those Olympics… he introduced me to Belinda Carlisle once after a Go-Go’s concert, but I’ve already told that story. Sadly nothing in that meeting happened that could have made a VH1 Behind The Music episode.

Despite all that grim stuff, we still managed to have a really good time. The movies were exceptional that year. The original Ghostbusters remains one of my all-time favorite movies. Beverly Hills Cop was another great comedy with Eddie Murphy, perhaps his best flick. I also dug the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. I seem to remember watching a lot of Miami Vice and Magnum PI on television. I think the 49ers started their NFL dynasty around that time, but I don’t like the 49ers so I don’t know. But the thing that really got us through 1984 was the rock n roll. What a year that was! It was no 1971, but man it was pretty epic.

When I think about the 80s, and ’84 in particular the first thing I think is: synthesizers. In the 70s bands like Rush, Queen and Van Halen eschewed synths as an evil to be avoided. But by the mid-80s it had invaded the sound of every major band: Rush, Queen, Springsteen even used them, famously Van Halen, and a litany of synth-based pop bands. Along with the all conquering synth the second thing I remember about 1984 is the sound of the acoustic guitar virtually disappeared. It was odd. The main thing about 1984 was the large number of blockbuster records we got that year: 1984, Born In The U.S.A., Purple Rain, Heartbeat City, Learning To Crawl. It seems like every rock group who released an album that year released a huge selling album that spawned multiple hit singles. Granted the production values of the time immediately tie these albums to that particular era, but oh well, I still dig the music.

I also remember a proliferation of the types of music we listened to. Alternative rock was being born on college radio. Hip Hop was beginning to get noticed, even amongst the uptight folks I described earlier. Hair Metal had begun to raise it’s highly coiffed head. Synth pop/synth rock bands began to proliferate. Classic rock still existed but it had begun to change. As mentioned the synth popped up on every classic rock artist’s record. Most of those big 70s bands had split up and the 80s saw either the dawn of a solo career (Roger Waters, Steve Perry) or the continuation of a solo career (David Gilmour, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, John Lennon, Paul McCartney). Let’s admit it, MTV and the visual images the acts chose had a huge influence on what we heard and absorbed. I could sit drunk in front of MTV and watch for hours, mindlessly. Now I’m more likely to see a music video on the Weather Channel than on MTV.

I’ll be the first to admit to you, I was not cool enough to actually have been listening to some of these bands – especially the synth pop or the alternative rock bands – in 1984. Some of these bands took years for me to discover. I was too busy listening to music from the 70s to pick up on the then-current music of the 80s. I’m lucky the Rock Chick was a huge fan of a lot of this music and turned me on to much of it. She lead me to the Cult, Psychedelic Furs, and Echo & The Bunnyman. Some times it matters when you hear a song if you’re going to be a fan… sometimes you have to be ready to hear it. I was not ready for a lot of this in 1984… immature ears. Well, if I’m being honest, my immaturity went way beyond my ears but again, I digress.

With all these great albums and songs from 1984 to choose from, I used my usual tactic. I picked only songs from albums that were released in 1984. I chose only 1 song per album (you may like a different song from the album, which is cool). This is a rock n roll blog so I didn’t put much pop on here – there’s no Madonna or Wham!… although admittedly I like “Careless Whisper.” Kenny Loggins had his big hit “Footloose” but I like ’70s Loggins, not ’80s Loggins… and it’s a song about dancing. I don’t dance. I tried to capture the melange of different styles and moods from ’84 which means I can go from Sade to Metallica. You can listen straight through or you can shuffle. If you hear something you don’t like, skip it… if you hear something you like, turn it up. As always, I put these playlists together to remind you of a song you haven’t heard in a long time or better yet, to turn you on to something you’ve never heard before. Hence, all the different styles of music in one playlist. Below, you’ll see my pithy insights on each track… Enjoy!

  1. Van Halen, “1984” – Well, where else was I going to start? A keyboard instrumental entitled “1984” from an album entitled 1984 that introduced Eddie Van Halen‘s new fascination with keyboards and kicked off the year 1984. I do consider this to be merely the intro to “Jump,” so you’re getting two Van Halen tracks for the price of one.
  2. Van Halen, “Jump” – Such an iconic song all these years later (same for the video). I guess Eddie figured if he can fuel a Michael Jackson song (“Beat It”) to the top of the charts with one of his guitar solos, he could put out a synth heavy track and do the same for his own band.
  3. Bruce Springsteen, “Born In The U.S.A.” – This title track is my favorite song on the album. I can remember where I was when I first heard this album. The story of an anguished Vietnam vet, back in America trying to pull his life together.
  4. Queen, “Hammer To Fall” – Queen pulling out all the stops on this “balls-to-the-walls” rocker. Great guitar from Brian May. This was a comeback of sorts for the band everywhere in the world except maybe… the U.S.A.
  5. Sammy Hagar, “I Can’t Drive 55” – Sammy expressing the collective American highway angst when the speed limits were only 55 mph. Bill Clinton lifted that restriction during his first administration.
  6. Pretenders, “Middle Of The Road” – Chrissie Hynde singing, “I’m not the cat I used to be, I’ve gotta kid I’m 33, baby,” is what I live for. The Pretenders had been through a lot since their sophomore album… they’d lost two members and Hynde had her first kid. We were just glad they were back.
  7. David Bowie, “Blue Jean” – From the much maligned album, Tonight. I still love this track. I think there were 3 separate videos for this song. I considered “Loving The Alien” from this one too, another exceptional song on a so-so album.
  8. The Cars, “You Might Think” – We just posted about the epic record this song was from, Heartbeat City. I could have chosen almost any song on the album but went with this, the first single.
  9. Prince, “When Doves Cry” – From Prince’s masterpiece, Purple Rain. I considered “Let’s Go Crazy” or “Purple Rain” but there’s something about this song that pulls me in, 40 years later.
  10. Bon Jovi, “Runaway” – From their debut. I’m not a huge Bon Jovi fan, but I love this song. When that falsetto comes in at the end… crank that up and hit the gas pedal.
  11. Whitesnake, “Slide It In” – My all time favorite Whitesnake tune. I was playing this song, while doing “research” for this playlist and the Rock Chick wandered by the door and I heard her say, “Ooooh, that’s a great song.” Indeed.
  12. John Lennon, “Nobody Told Me” – From John’s first posthumous release. It was bittersweet hearing it – I dug the song, but it made me miss John Lennon… still do.
  13. General Public, “Tenderness” – Having just seen Dave Wakeling play this song when the English Beat opened for Adam Ant last month, I had to include it. Great, great song! (Great show too).
  14. Christine McVie, “Got A Hold On Me” – Probably her biggest solo hit. I remember the video, which made fun of making videos which was a thing back in ’84. Sad to think we just lost Christine McVie.
  15. Ratt, “Round And Round” – As I mentioned, Hair Metal had started to rear it’s heavily coiffed head by the mid 80s… This was a worthy example of the genre from Ratt’s debut.
  16. Dio, “The Last In Line” – I love Dio’s work in Rainbow, Sabbath and solo… but this is my all time favorite song of his. The video, where a kid gets in the elevator and it freefalls into Hell…and Ronnie has to descend down from a rooftop in New York to save him. Oh, Hell yes! That’s money.
  17. Scorpions, “Rock You Like A Hurricane” – Love At First Sting was the second Scorpion’s album I bought on vinyl (the first was Animal Magnetism). I’d recorded Blackout on cassette… I love this album. The Scorpions put out Rock Believer a while back and it took me back to those glory days.
  18. Talk Talk, “It’s My Life” – Always liked this song… No Doubt did a great cover version of it.
  19. Thompson Twins, “Hold Me Now” – I know nothing about the Twins of Thompson, but everyone I knew dug this song.
  20. The Smiths, “What Difference Does It Make” – From their debut, seemingly answering the question, “Were they always sad?”
  21. Missing Persons, “Surrender Your Heart” – A track I’d completely forgotten about. I quickly added it to my Valentine’s Playlist, Songs About Hearts.
  22. Wang Chung, “Dance Hall Days” – A track the Rock Chick introduced me. “To Live And Die In L.A.” is still my favorite of theirs, but this is a great song.
  23. April Wine, “This Could Be The Right One” – A dying gasp from April Wine… at least for radio play in K.C.
  24. David Gilmour, “Blue Light” – One of two competing albums from former Pink Floyd members on this list.
  25. Joe Jackson, “You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)” – Joe Jackson in full jazzbo mode!
  26. The Go-Gos, “Head Over Heels” – I met Belinda Carlisle on the tour for this album in ’84. I wish I’d known more about how hard she partied before meeting her… that meeting could have gone a lot differently.
  27. INXS, “Original Sin” – I never get tired of hearing INXS.
  28. Run-D.M.C., “It’s Like That” – I’m on record as not being a huge Hip Hop fan, but this song did catch my attention way back when. A dude down the hall was a fan. Great stuff from these O.G.’s of Hip Hop.
  29. The Icicle Works, “Whisper To A Scream” – Another great song it took years for me to discover.
  30. R.E.M., (Don’t Go Back To) Rockville” – Reckoning, their second album, was the first one I bought.
  31. Rush, “Red Sector A” – Grace Under Pressure is probably the last Rush album I absolutely loved. This track, which was inspired by Geddy Lee’s family’s experience during the Holocaust, is stunning.
  32. Lee “Scratch” Perry, “Heads Of Government” – It’s always important to have a reggae legend on your playlist. Here he’s spouting truth to, well, the heads of government.
  33. Roger Waters, “5:06AM (Every Strangers Eyes) – From his odd first solo album which details a man’s midlife crisis through an early morning dream cycle. After complaining about Gilmour and guitarists in general he goes out and recruits Eric Clapton to play on The Pros And Cons of Hitchhiking. My buddy Drew bought the album the day it came out and thus has the original album cover where the hitchhiker in question is naked and not obscured. Good for Drew!
  34. Echo & The Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon” – A great tune I included on my Playlist: Songs About The Moon.
  35. Lou Reed, “I Love You, Suzanne” – From Lou Reed’s most accessible album, New Sensations. Lou just sounds happy on this record.
  36. Steve Perry, “Oh, Sherrie” – It’s hard to explain how much we all loved Steve Perry back in the day. I owned this record on vinyl.
  37. Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – A nice rallying cry of a song. I saw Dee Snider live in a city park in Winter Park a few years ago.
  38. Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Cold Shot” – From the epic Couldn’t Stand The Weather. I could have gone with the title track, but I’ve always loved this bluesy, post-breakup tune.
  39. Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” – I’m on record as being a bigger fan of Tina’s earlier rock n roll work, but now that we’ve lost her, I’m all in on this song.
  40. Jefferson Starship, “No Way Out” – Another 60s iconic band with an album out in ’84. I bought this record on the strength of this song about a cheating boyfriend and his forgiving girlfriend.
  41. Bruce Cockburn, “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” – A favorite track of my buddy Arkansas Joel. Oh, if I only did have a rocket launcher…
  42. Hagar, Schon, Aaronson, Shrieve, “Whiter Shade Of Pale” – Sammy Hagar and Journey’s Neil Schon form a supergroup (with Schon’s former Santana bandmate Shrieve on drums) and record a Procol Harum song. I do think Annie Lennox’s cover is better but this isn’t a bad track.
  43. Siouxsie & The Banshees, “Swimming Horses” – I feel like I should have been a bigger Siouxsie fan back in the 80s.
  44. John Waite, “Missing You” – My brother bought this song on a 45 for me. It was a song that used to mean something to me in a galaxy far away. It was nice of him to notice how much I liked the song.
  45. Elton John, “Who Wears These Shoes” – I didn’t remember this song until I pulled up the Breaking Hearts track list. I like this one so much more than say, “Sad Songs” from this album.
  46. Rod Stewart, “Infatuation” – At the time, this was his first collaboration with Jeff Beck, who played guitar on the song, in years… it led to Rod singing on Beck’s next album on “People Get Ready.” I wish these guys could have done something else before Jeff Beck’s demise last year.
  47. Elvis Costello & the Attractions, “Only Flame In Town” – Yet another great song from Costello.
  48. Glenn Frey, “Smuggler’s Blues” – A track that help land Frey a role on Miami Vice as, I believe, a drug smuggler. In terms of ex-Eagles I’ve always been more of a Henley guy – or if I’m being completely honest, more of a Joe Walsh guy – but I like this song.
  49. The Time, “Jungle Love” – I was already a fan of Prince’s when I saw the Purple Rain movie (friends had turned me onto 1999), but I left the theater a fan of the Time.
  50. Sade, “Smooth Operator” – Sadly, in ’84 I was far from being a smooth operator. I’m still not a smooth operator but I love this song. A beautiful woman with a beautiful voice singing a beautiful song.
  51. The Psychedelic Furs, “Heaven” – Another great alt rock song that I didn’t hear until well after ’84. There was so much great music out in the mid 80s that I could have discovered if I’d just paused my intense listening of the Faces and Zeppelin.
  52. Lindsey Buckingham, “Go Insane” – I had a roommate named Walt (name changed to protect the guilty) who loved solo Buckingham. He was ahead of his time. I remember him playing this cassette in the room. I must admit, at the time, I didn’t need to “go insane,” I already was.
  53. Billy Squier, “Rock Me Tonite” – I defy you to find anybody who lived through the 80s who didn’t like Squier.
  54. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Police Helicopter” – I read in Scar Tissue, Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, that the producer of their debut album labeled this song as “shit.” I’ve always loved it. But then, I used to date women from the sketchy part of town… saw too many police helicopters hovering over the neighborhood… but those records are sealed.
  55. Scandal, “The Warrior” – Scandal opened up for Elton John, the one time I saw him, in 1982. I was never a huge fan, but if Eddie Van Halen considered hiring Patty Smyth to replace Roth, she must have something.
  56. Stevie Wonder, “I Just Called To Say I Love You” – I was told this was the Motown Legend’s biggest hit and that stunned me.
  57. A Flock Of Seagulls, “The More You Live, The More You Love” – Another song I’d completely forgotten about but rediscovered during my “research.”
  58. Hanoi Rocks, “Up Around The Bend” – A Hair Metal band covers a Creedence Clearwater Revival song and scores their biggest hit only to lose their drummer, Razzle – killed by Vince Neil in a drunk driving accident – all in the same year. Is there anything more ’84 Hair Metal than that?
  59. Judas Priest, “Freewheel Burning” – Wonderful, punishing metal.
  60. Metallica, “Ride The Lightning” – The title track from my favorite Metallica album. They are one of the few bands to overcome the sophomore slump and put out an even better second album.
  61. Iron Maiden, “2 Minutes To Midnight” – I forget how melodic Iron Maiden is. This is a great track, even if I don’t have a clue what they’re singing about.
  62. The Cult, “Spiritwalker” – Another debut from a band I love. Dreamtime. And for all of you out there, he’s singing “wind walker” not “weed wacker” towards the end of the song.
  63. Kiss, “Heaven’s On Fire” – I was never a member of the Kiss Army but they always had a handful of decent tunes. Their 80s stuff was pretty paint-by-numbers Hair Metal…melodic but rocking stuff.
  64. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, “Cherry Bomb” – Where Joan goes back to visit the first big hit from her first band, the Runaways, “Cherry Bomb.” It was originally sung by Cherie Currie but I dig Joan’s turn on lead vocal here.
  65. Depeche Mode, “People Are People” – I love Depeche. Last year’s Momento Mori had to grow on me, but it was a great record.
  66. Midnight Oil, “Minutes To Midnight” – A band my buddy Doug always liked.
  67. Ramones, “Howlin’ At The Moon (Sha-La-La) – I didn’t realize the Ramones were still alive and kicking in ’84. I thought they’d gone their separate ways by then.
  68. U2, “The Unforgettable Fire” – I could have gone with “Pride (In The Name Of Love),” the big hit from this album, but I went with the title track. I’ve always loved this slinky song and the cool video. I once won a bet with Arkansas Joel (a huge U2 fan at the time) who was insisting there was no title track from The Unforgettable Fire.
  69. The Replacements, “I Will Dare” – Hats off to any band who had the balls to name an album Let It Be.
  70. Talking Heads, “Psycho Killer – Live” – I typically skip live albums for these playlists, but I’ve come to realize that’s a mistake. Stop Making Sense is one of the greatest live albums of all time so I had to include a song. I consider this the definitive version of “Psycho Killer.”
  71. Julian Lennon, “Too Late For Goodbyes” – I think this is a first that I have song by both father and son on a playlist. I hated the video for this but I dug the song.
  72. Paul McCartney, “No More Lonely Nights” – Great song, with David Gilmour on lead guitar, from an ill-advised movie and soundtrack.
  73. Autograph, “Turn Up The Radio” – I think these guys recorded a local versions of this song for every market. In Kansas City, I recall hearing the singer at some point sing, “KY102” which was the local rock station at the time. Although my memory can sometimes be fuzzy…
  74. Deep Purple, “Perfect Strangers” – As I said recently when writing about Machine Head, it may be their masterpiece, but for those of us of a certain age, Perfect Strangers was “our” Deep Purple album. This is not only one of my favorite Deep Purple songs, it’s one of my favorite songs.
  75. Philip Bailey (with Phil Collins), “Easy Lover” – I tried to veer away from “pop” songs but this great song from Earth Wind & Fire singer Philip Bailey with Phil Collins on drums/vocals was so popular, it was hard to not hear it. I kinda dug it.
  76. Bryan Adams, “One Night Love Affair” – I’m on record as not being a huge Bryan Adams fan, but I’ve always had a soft spot for this one. The story of two people who end up in a one night stand but just might have been looking for something more substantial. Much more interesting than the usual one night stand songs.
  77. Eurythmics, “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)” – From a soundtrack for a movie adaptation of Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. A novel that perhaps has more relevance today than ever. This song was actually banned and very hard to find for a long time. Big Brother is out there.
  78. The Honeydrippers, “Rockin’ At Midnight” – Robert Plant’s side project where he played old rock songs. “Sea Of Love” was the big hit, but I always dug this one. Jeff Beck plays guitar on this song! I think Elvis did it back in the day.
  79. Don Henley, “Boys Of Summer” – Henley’s masterpiece song, co-written with Heartbreaker Mike Campbell. The video “made southern California look like the south of France.” I always liked the lyric, “I saw a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac, a little voice inside my head said “Don’t look back, you can never look back.” A lot to love in this song.
  80. The Kinks, “Do It Again” – The Kinks are just always kick ass. I feel like they deserve even more respect than they already get. This is just a great rock song.
  81. Triumph, “Follow Your Heart” – One of the last songs from Triumph that I remember hearing get radio airplay. Such a great Canadian power trio.

I’m not going to lie to you, my first attempt on this playlist had 120 songs. So there are a lot of songs from a lot of albums that I left “on the cutting room floor,” as the saying goes. There’s only so much typing one man can do in one sitting. If there’s an album you’re fond of from 1984 with a great song you think would be a nice addition to this playlist, drop it in the comments and I’ll add it. I like to think of these playlists as “our playlists” not “my playlists.” I will warn you, I do my homework and will have to verify the record is actually from 1984. Other than that rule, I welcome all suggestions. I do hope I bring a song back to your ears that you haven’t heard in a while and it stirs up a fond memory of those halcyon days… or better yet, you discover a song you haven’t heard before and it causes you to do a little musical spelunking and you seek out that album… You never know where you’re going to find a gem!

Enjoy this one, Cheers!

Review: Black Keys, ‘Ohio Players’ – Slightly Flawed Albeit Fun & Fabulous Album

~ kcorsini ~ 3 Comments

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Last Friday the Black Keys released their twelfth studio album, Ohio Players. Clearly the title is a tip of the hat to 70s soul masters The Ohio Players who hailed from Dayton, Ohio. The Keys – Patrick Carney (drums/percussion) and Dan Auerbach (guitars/vocals/keys) – are originally from Akron, Ohio. But the album title clearly cuts deeper than mere geography. This is an album that sees the Keys putting some groove into the tunes. And God knows, the Ohio Players were all about groove! “Love Rollercoaster,” anyone? And if I may digress, as a former league bowler as a kid, I love the cover art.

The Black Keys have been putting out consistently great records for so long – and so often by today’s standards, roughly every 2 years – that it’s easy to miss how far they’ve come from those early, raw, garage rock/blues punk days. As I think I’ve shared in the past, I got on the Keys bandwagon on the Rubber Factory album, which was their third album – and as I’ve stated before the third album can be very critical in a band’s career. It was the early 2000’s and I was really into the White Stripes and so it was only natural I’d get into the Black Keys. Although for some reason, after a few listens, I put the album back into our enormous pile of CDs at the time and didn’t return. I wandered into the music room some time later to find the Rock Chick jamming on Rubber Factory. “These guys are kick ass!” she exclaimed… Perhaps this band merited further study…and before I knew it, we had purchased their debut album, The Big Come Up.

I really dug that blues punk, raw rocking sound of the Keys early days, especially that debut. After 2008’s Attack & Release the Rock Chick and I have been all over every album the Keys have put out, save Turn Blue, which I couldn’t connect to. With each successive album, the Keys have developed their sound. They maintain that great, guitar/drums rock base, but have expanded to include additional musicians – bass players, keyboards, back up singers. And I’ve embraced every step they’ve made. But as I listened to Ohio Players, it suddenly dawned on me how far they’ve come since “Do The Rump.” Some of that musical expansion of their sound probably comes from the heavy collaborations on this album with Beck – who was co-wrote 7 tracks and sings backing vocals on a number of songs (and co-lead on one) – and with Noel Gallagher who co-wrote three songs. This album is produced by a gentleman named Dan The Automator, who I’ll admit I haven’t heard of before.

The album is 14 tracks long, but only clocks in at 44 minutes. Many of the tracks glide by on a smooth groove and before you know it, the album is over. I think the collaboration between the Black Keys and Beck is one made in rock n roll heaven. There is a ton I like here on Ohio Players. First and foremost I love the lead single “Beautiful People (Stay High).” I reviewed it when it came out, so I won’t go into too much detail other than to say that song is nothing short of an epic party anthem! That’s a track, co-written by Beck where the collab just works.

And don’t get me wrong, there are songs that are classic Black Keys, thick, fuzzy riffing guitar and insistent drumming. “Only Love Matters,” co-written by Gallagher, is one such great track. “Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)” is where Auerbach’s guitar really kicks in. It’s a stand out track. In fact, the latter third of the LP reads like a slightly smoother early Black Keys album. All the back end stuff is great – “Live Till I Die” may be my favorite track. “Read Em And Weep” has a noir-ish, James Bond (or maybe Dick Dale) kind of guitar thing that I really like. “Fever Tree,” another Beck co-write is trademark Keys but with a Beck feel. “Every Time You Leave,” co-written by producer Greg Kurstin (who recently produced the Liam Gallagher/John Squire album) ends the album on a bright rocking note.

However, as I said earlier, there are a lot of Beck styled groove tunes here. The album starts with “This Is Nowhere,” with a heavy bass and a smooth groove. It’s a great song, although I’m not sure it’s what I’d have led off with. It leads to “Don’t Let Me Go” which is downright soulful. Auerbach employs a nice falsetto vocal on that one along with a cascading guitar figure. “On The Game,” co-written by Gallagher, has echos of Oasis but maintains the Keys sound. I was kind of hoping we’d see some guitar pyrotechnics and dueling between Auerbach and Gallagher, but alas it didn’t happen. Noel mostly provides backing vocals.  “You’ll Pay” might be my favorite of the Gallagher collaborations. It’s got falsetto vocals and a funky groove. And who doesn’t love a good “you done me wrong but you’re gonna pay” kinda song.

The Keys pull out a cover song, written by singer William Bell and none other than Booker T. Jones (of Booker T & the MGs), “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” and it’s sensational. I’m always a sucker for a soulful ballad. Sadly, for me there are two missteps to my ears here. “Paper Crown” starts off promising and features Beck singing lead. But at the end they have Juicy J come in and rap. I’m probably showing my rock n roll bias, but I just couldn’t connect with the song. The same story goes for “Candy & Her Friends” which features Lil Noid who raps at the end of the song. Again, it just felt jarring and out of place on a Black Keys album. The Stones had some rapping way back on “Anybody Seen My Baby?” and I liked it… it worked better than this for me. At least “Paper Crown” had that Beck feel and it made more sense to me… I’d have preferred an epic guitar solo.

Again, this is another great album from the Keys. There were a couple of tracks I didn’t connect to, but overall the Keys are so consistently great that the rest of the record overcomes it. I know there are songs on this album that I’ll be coming back to for a long time. I recommend this album highly – as usual played at high volume – but you might end up skipping a couple of the tracks along the way. Overall, this album is gonna get a lot of airplay down here in the B&V labs! And remember, “all those beautiful people stay high,” so try to stay up and good out there.

Cheers!

Review: Deep Purple – ‘Machine Head – 50th Anniversary/Super Deluxe’ – Their 1972 Masterpiece

~ kcorsini ~ 4 Comments

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Happy April Fool’s Day to all of you out there pranking your unsuspecting victims today. And I do hope that for all those who celebrate, you had a happy Easter weekend. While I appreciate the use of the Pagan fertility symbols of the egg and the bunnies, I’ve never been a big Easter guy. I do like the Reese’s egg shaped peanut-butter cups, but who amongst us doesn’t? While most of you were celebrating the revered holiday with your families, I was holed up in a dark room bouncing between my April Fool’s Playlist and the newly released Machine Head – 50th Anniversary/Super Deluxe from the lads in Deep Purple.

I must admit to you, after all this time other than including Deep Purple songs on a number of my playlists, this is my first post about Deep Purple. I didn’t make a recent, conscious vow to expand the list of artists I’m writing about but fate seems to be leading me there. I’ve posted for the first time this year about Tracy Chapman, The Cars, Adam Ant and Alice Cooper. Much like I said on my recent post on Alice Cooper’s Billion Dollar Babies, I think I was too young for Deep Purple. I started listening to rock n roll in earnest in say, ’78-’79, and Deep Purple’s real heyday was probably 1970 to 1973. Make no mistake, I’ve always liked Deep Purple, they were once whispered about in the same revered tones as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Together with those two bands Deep Purple were known as the “unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal.” Well, at least that’s what Wikipedia says. But like my mother, you can’t always trust what Wikipedia says. I will say, their 1972 live album, Made In Japan, should have made my List of Essential Live Albums. It’s a double-live album with only 7 songs… a feat the Allman Brothers would be proud of.

Deep Purple went through a lot of line-up changes over the years and they are such an epic band that each era is described as “Mark I,” or “Mark II,” etc, with Roman numerals no less. I’ll use it in a sentence, “The Deep Purple album Machine Head was released in 1972 by the Mark II line-up that included Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (organ/keyboards), Ian Paice (drums) and Roger Glover (bass).” I think the Mark II line up, that I just slipped into this paragraph, is the most storied of their line ups. After Gillan split, they recruited David Coverdale as lead singer, later of Whitesnake fame, so this was no slouch of a band.

All of that said, by the time I got into rock n roll – and started collecting music – when I was in junior high, Deep Purple wasn’t talked about as much as other bands. Sure they had great songs that were played on the radio, many of them from Machine Head, like “Smoke On The Water,” or “Highway Star.” Maybe it was because of the line up changes we weren’t as into them as we were Zeppelin or Sabbath. Of course Zeppelin and Sabbath still put out an album or two in the late 70s. Blackmore had split Deep Purple and formed Rainbow, so maybe that was what overshadowed them a bit. For some odd reason it took years for me to dig back through their back catalog and get into this band. That’s on me because peak Deep Purple is simply outstanding.

Frankly, for guys my age, the album that brought us into the Deep Purple fold was 1984’s Perfect Strangers. I absolutely loved the title track on that album and naturally we all liked “Knocking On Your Back Door” as well. It may not have been a great album or “up to par” with their classic early 70s work, but it was a damn strong hard rock album. It was from that album that I went back and started exploring Deep Purple’s back catalog. There was one album that stood out to me the most and probably has stood the test of time and that is the previously mentioned Machine Head from 1972 that is being celebrated with this new 50th Anniversary or Super Deluxe Edition. I’ve seen it described as both so I’m using both in my title. Of course 2022 would have been the actual 50th anniversary, but Covid slowed down a lot of production on box sets.

In this new release, there are two different remastered versions of the album, both done by Dweezil Zappa – for those of you who were wondering whatever happened to him. I already own Machine Head, so in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve just been streaming the album. The remasters sound great, especially in my car, but that’s no audiophile testament to the new sound. I just love this album. It has some of their biggest songs. “Highway Star” is an absolutely kick ass road song. “Smoke On The Water,” a true story about an idiot with a flare gun who burned down a casino Montreux at a Frank Zappa show. Deep Purple were supposed to record Machine Head there and then… “smoke on the water.” The iconic riff to “Smoke On The Water” has been described as “the Beethoven’s Fifth of rock n roll.” “Space Truckin'” is the song that concludes this album and I love that song. It was on my Playlist For The Love Of… Cars. I will admit, the almost 20 minute live version on Made In Japan might be definitive. When you pair Machine Head with Made In Japan which was culled from that tour, 1972 is an incredible year for this band.

Beyond the big hits that every rock fan knows, there are some great album tracks on Machine Head. I love the metal funk of “Maybe I’m A Leo.” It’s one of my all time favorites. “Lazy” is a song both my father and my wife could agree on as my theme song. It’s a long jam of a song. The interplay between Jon Lord’s keyboards and Ritchie Blackmore (truly one of the world’s greatest guitar players) turns this album up to 11. “Never Before” was released as a single, but I never heard it until I bought the album. It’s another great hard rock song. I can’t say enough about Ian Paice’s drumming on this album and this track in particular. Ian Gillan’s banshee wail is ever present, everywhere. “Pictures Of Home” is a song that just blasts out at you. This version includes a great B-Side, almost a ballad, a bluesy thing called “When A Blind Man Cries” that should have made my list of favorite B-sides.

The bonus material in this Super Deluxe Edition, consists of two separate concerts. The first is newly remastered In Concert ’72 taken from a BBC broadcast. I know it was previously released. It’s difficult to describe Deep Purple live. They jam on tunes for 10 or 20 minutes and it never gets mellow or totally bluesy ala Zeppelin. Jon Lord’s organ sounds like suppressing gun fire meant to subjugate a village. I hear him playing and I feel like I’ve just entered a carnival that’s being run by Satan – and I mean that in a good way. Gillan can go from singing to wailing in a sentence. The guy gives his all. And as I said, Ritchie Blackmore is a stupendous guitar player. I always kind of checked the box on Blackmore, “Yeah, yeah, he’s good.” Listen to this live stuff and you realize, oh my, he’s fabulous. I don’t think Ian Paice ever gets his due as a drummer. While I really enjoyed the In Concert ’72 disc, if you’ve got Made In Japan, this is just a nice to have, not essential. They do cover “Lucille” at the end which is interesting.

The second concert disc is a performance from Montreux in 1971, obviously before the idiot with the flare gun at the Frank Zappa show burned the place down. I would tell you, this is a great performance but the sound quality is very bootleg-level. Having heard a lot of bootlegs over the years I didn’t find it as off putting as many will, but its rough. I love that they open with “Speed King.” “Child In Time” is over 20 minutes here… If only the sound quality was a little better. Some of the jamming here is of the “melt your face off” variety. Again, this disc is likely just for the true Deep Purple fanatic.

With it’s expensive price tag – especially for vinyl – I can’t advise everyone to run out and buy this package. But every one should own Machine Head in some form or format. It’s an absolute hard rock masterpiece. I would advise everybody to crank the In Concert In ’72 disc, it’s well worth your time. And if you’re a Deep Purple fanatic, the Montreux ’71 disc is for you… although I’m guessing if you’re a Deep Purple fanatic, you already own this in bootleg form already. And as an aside, check out Made In Japan from the ’72 tour for Machine Head, its a stunner.

Classic rock, done loud and extraordinarily well. There’s nothing not to love about Machine Head.

Turn this one up loud as you shake that Easter family visit out of your system…. Cheers!

Playlist: In Honor Of April Fool’s Day, Our Favorite Songs About…. Fools

~ kcorsini ~ 8 Comments

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“No sooner had I hit the streets when I met the fools that a young fool meets” – Jackson Browne, “Daddy’s Tune”

I realize April Fool’s Day, despite being “celebrated” almost everywhere, is not a real holiday. Much like Valentine’s Day, which I’ve always described as a “Hallmark Holiday,” invented by greeting card companies to boost sales, April Fool’s is an odd, made-up holiday. That made-up nature won’t stop people from perpetrating hoaxes and pranks on people around the world and then yelling, “April Fools” or “April 1st” or whatever your culture yells when they catch someone falling for the annual ruse. I don’t know who invented April Fool’s or when it started, but I read somewhere (probably Wikipedia) that it dates back to Geoffrey Chaucer’s time and the Cantebury Tales. That’s probably apocryphal.

Regardless, when I was in high school and maybe even college, I used to call my dad at work and tell him some outrageous lie every April Fool’s Day. I’d tell him I was suspended from school or worse, expelled. Or I might tell him I was arrested for some nefarious offense against the community. I also remember that I stopped doing that – because it infuriated him, he was a busy guy – and he was just too quick to believe I had fucked up and done something stupid. He’d overreact and I’d meekly say, “Uh, dad, April Fools…” I think it left us both feeling kind of awkward. Pretty soon he caught on and just said, “Yeah, right,” and promptly hung up on me which was actually comforting after those first few years.

I guess I’d rather be a fool than an idiot. An idiot, according to Webster, is “a person of low intelligence.” A fool, on the other hand, again according to Webster, is “a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person.” As a verb it means “to trick or deceive a person.” It sounds like being an idiot is a permanent malady while merely being a fool is a temporary condition typically based on being deceived or tricked, ala April Fool’s Day. I’d rather be silly than stupid. In Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot, the title character (i.e. the Idiot) is merely a man with a clean heart and a kindly nature who is driven back into an asylum by the perfidious and evil nature of his fellow man.

While April Fool’s is a bit of a silly holiday, for some reason the idea of a playlist got stuck in my head. It was last year actually, but it wasn’t until the holiday passed that the idea of songs about “fools” popped into my head. The playlist has been hanging around the outer limits of my consciousness for about a year so I figured it was about time to just publish this thing and cleanse my mind. There are so many songs about fools…

As I’ve learned from listening to these songs, there is a lot in the universe we can be fooled by. Perhaps its politics (“American Idiot” or “Won’t Get Fooled Again”), maybe you’re a fool for urban living (“Fool For The City”), or maybe you’re a fool when it comes to directions (“Fool In The Rain”). By far most of the songs about being a fool are related to yes, love. When else are we such fools as people than when we’re in love… especially in the beginning. Our vulnerability leaves us open to deception. I once went to SantaCaliGon Days, an arts and crafts fair, because a woman asked me too… and as you can probably tell, we’re not artsy-craftsy here at B&V (it was an awful day). I once attended a woman’s family reunion and I don’t attend my own family’s reunions. I was single for a long time so my situation is probably more of a “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me” kind of thing. Of course it’s probably no coincidence that April Fools is so close to Valentine’s Day…Spring has sprung and people’s fancy turns to a new love…but I digress.  But luckily for me, being fooled is a temporary condition. A few shots of bourbon and the feeling goes away. In my opinion, the worst thing you can do is fool yourself… self-deception is almost always dangerous.

Without further adieu, here is our playlist for April Fool’s Day, Songs about Fools. As usual you can find us on the dreaded Spotify. You can play it straight through or on shuffle, it’s dealer’s choice. If there’s a song you don’t like, skip it. If there’s a “fools” song we missed, let us know in the comments and we may add it to the list. While as usual we’re all over the place stylistically, our goal is to just introduce you to a song you may not have heard or at the very least put a song you haven’t heard in a while back in your ear. Pour a tumbler of the good stuff and turn it up loud…

  1. Aretha Franklin, “Chain Of Fools” – I had to start with the Queen of Soul. I wonder how many women from my past count me amongst the “ch-ch-chain, chain of fools” they’ve dated… sigh.
  2. Foghat, “Fool For The City” – A friend of mine is moving to some small town in Wyoming or Idaho, I forget which. He told me I should do the same… I said, “Uh, man, I love the smell of smog in the morning… it smells like victory.” I can remember standing on the curb in “downtown” Ft. Smith, Arkansas early one morning watching all the traffic pour in from Sallisaw and eastern Oklahoma while my co workers laughed about me missing the city.
  3. Black Crowes, “Only A Fool” – “Only a fool would let you go, only a fool and I should know.” Oh, how I could relate to those lyrics in the old days. I love the new LP, Happiness Bastards.
  4. Green Day, “American Idiot” – Still hard to believe how relevant this song is today. Green Day’s latest, Saviors, is a real return to form, by the way.
  5. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It)” – Well, who would like to be fooled… again. But then again, like I said earlier, “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
  6. Led Zeppelin, “Fool In The Rain” – From an LP maybe only I like, In Through The Out Door. A song in which our hero fears his love has forsaken him, in the rain no less, only to find he’s waiting for her on the wrong block. One of the few songs in the Zeppelin catalog that shows a sense of humor.
  7. Steve Perry, “Foolish Heart” – From the erstwhile lead singer of Journey’s first solo LP. Laugh at this song’s inclusion, but everyone I knew liked this album.
  8. The Beatles, “The Fool On The Hill” – From their psychedelic period. “They can see that he’s just a fool…”
  9. Def Leppard, “Foolin'” – Def Leppard is a band I always dug and they should be on more of my playlists. Always dug this one.
  10. The Who, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” – Fascism rose in the 1930’s out of the crippling world wide Great Depression. Let’s hope Western Civilization doesn’t get fooled again in November.
  11. John Mellencamp, “American Fool” – “Some people say I’m obnoxious and lazy…” Perhaps…
  12. ZZ Top, “A Fool For Your Stockings” – Well, if you’ve gotta be a fool…
  13. Muddy Waters, “Still A Fool” – Muddy bringing it home. I hope I’m not still a fool but I’d wager the Rock Chick would side against me on that.
  14. Bob Dylan, “Idiot Wind” – Dylan’s most gripping, painful song. The disintegration of a relationship or a marriage is a brutal thing in this cold world. “We’re idiots babe, it’s a wonder we can even feed ourselves.”
  15. Grateful Dead, “Foolish Heart” – Great deep track from the Dead.
  16. Ray Charles, “A Fool For You” – The music of Ray Charles should be required learning in every high school in the world.
  17. Robert Plant, “Ship Of Fools” – The first of a number of songs about sailing ships full of fools. A fleet of fools perhaps? Always loved this track from Plant.
  18. The Rolling Stones, “Fool To Cry” – An all time favorite Stones’ tune of mine. Years ago, before the Rock Chick, I dated a woman, “and she live in the poor part of town…” And come to think of it, she did say, “Tell me all your troubles…”
  19. Dave Matthews Band, “Fool To Think” – From the DMB’s glory days.
  20. Doobie Brothers, “What A Fool Believes” – Co-written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins. You couldn’t escape this track when I was in junior high. It may be yacht rock, but it’s good yacht rock.
  21. Southside Johnny And the Asbury Jukes, “I Played The Fool” – How many times, when we’re being a fool, do we consciously know we are being a fool? That sentence reads like Marcus Aurelius, with my apologies.
  22. Bob Seger, “Ship Of Fools” – This boat Seger is on may be the worst one in the fleet. Great tune though.
  23. Whitesnake, “Fool For Your Lovin'” – Whitesnake making a rare appearance on B&V! There comes a time when you can’t be a fool anymore. It’s a liberating realization. Bring on Tawny Kitaen.
  24. Frank Zappa, “Dancin’ Fool” – Also included on our Playlist Songs About Dancing For Wallflowers, I’ve known some fools for the dance… When it comes to dancing for me though, “the beat goes on and I’m totally wrong.”
  25. Rod Stewart, “Foolish Behavior” – Having watched the ID Channel with the Rock Chick enough, lyrics like “Why I wanna kill my wife? I have this urge to take her life,” this really is foolish behavior. Might I suggest counseling.
  26. Elvis Costello & The Attractions, “You Little Fool” – Great tune from one of the world’s greatest songwriters. Just who is the fool in this song?
  27. Joe Jackson, “Fools In Love” – I should have included this in my original Playlist: Rockers Doing Reggae. “Fools in love, are there any other kind of lovers?” So true, Joe, so true.
  28. Randy Newman, “You Can’t Fool The Fat Man” – I know two things listening to this song. Life is hard and you really can’t fool the Fat Man.
  29. The Rolling Stones, “Just Your Fool” – Fabulous tune from the Stones’ blues covers record Blue And Lonesome.
  30. Foreigner, “Fool For You Anyway” – This just sounds like an awful situation. I should know, I went through it once upon a time. “Oh to be young and feel loves keen sting.”
  31. Rival Sons, “Play The Fool” – Better to play the fool than to actually be the fool.
  32. Steely Dan, “Only A Fool Would Say That” – Steely Dan sounding almost calypso under the usual cryptic lyrics.
  33. Elvis Presley, “(Now And Then There’s) A Fool Such As I” – Even a King can be a Fool. Love is tough, baby.
  34. Jack Johnson, “Fortunate Fool” – Isn’t this an oxymoron?
  35. Ronnie Wood, “If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody” – From Wood’s first solo album… with Rod Stewart on harmony vocal this sounds more like a Faces outtake than a Ronnie solo song. Oh, what could have been if the Faces could have held it together. Bonnie Raitt covered this song very ably on an early LP, but I went with the original.
  36. Alice Cooper, “Hey Stoopid” – Ok, its not nice to call somebody stupid… but this song has Slash on guitar and Ozzy on backing vocals. How could I resist?
  37. Rod Stewart, “Fool For You” – From Rod’s Tom Dowd-produced, more soulful period. It’s a lovely ballad. If I was dating Britt Ekland back then I’d probably a little googly eyed too but then I was in junior high.
  38. Eagles, “Certain Kind Of Fool” – The late Randy Meisner wrote this song (with Henley and Frey) and takes the lead vocal.
  39. Steely Dan, “Dirty Work” – Another track from their superb debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. “I’m a fool to do your dirty work…” Indeed you are.
  40. Prince, “There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool” – Sure, it’s fun for a while… A superb outtake from Sign O The Times.
  41. Gene Clark, “Life’s Greatest Fool” – From the forgotten gem, No Other. Former Byrd Gene Clark couldn’t get a break commercially but man, did he write some great tunes. He was able to effortlessly accomplish the rock/country hybrid that Gram Parsons tried so desperately to create.
  42. Styx, “Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)” – The worst person to lie to is yourself. I used to tell an ex of mine, “You can lie to yourself babe, but don’t lie to me.” Styx were from Chicago, but I would have sworn they were from London when I was in high school.
  43. Van Halen, “Fools” – Heavy riff here. “Fools, who makes the rules?” For a guy in his 20s singer David Lee Roth sure could write from the perspective of a high school kid. I love the bluesy intro… god we miss Eddie Van Halen.
  44. Cinderella, “Nobody’s Fool” – These guys are one of my favorite hair metal bands. The Rock Chick turned me back onto them when we met, but I’d always liked them. They had just a touch of blues in their sound, which obviously, I’m a sucker for.
  45. Social Distortion, “King Of Fools” – I told an old boss one time that I was surrounded by morons on my new team. He said, “Yes you are. Just don’t become their king.” Wisdom or snark?
  46. Triumph, “Fool For Your Love” – From the fabulous album, Allied Forces. I needed some more riffs on this list.
  47. Bonnie Raitt, “Fool’s Game” – For some reason this track has always sounded like New Orleans to me. It might be the piano.
  48. Little Feat, “Fool Yourself” – Little Feat had such a distinctive sound back in the day. I just love the vibe they put out.
  49. Eddie Money, “Maybe I’m A Fool” – From Money’s sophomore album – the difficult sophomore album – Life For The Taking. Money was exhausted from constant touring, so it’s hard to blame him for this foray into disco. Many rock bands had disco tracks…
  50. Pretenders, “You Can’t Hurt A Fool” – Um, I’m proof you can… From the great Hate For Sale.
  51. Jackson Browne, “The Pretender” – “I’m gonna be a happy idiot and struggle for the legal tender.” Perhaps slightly out of the purview of this list, but I felt it fit…
  52. Grateful Dead, “Ship Of Fools” – At least if you were stuck on this boat, you’d have the Dead to hang out and party with. From the album From The Mars Hotel.
  53. The Doors, “Ship Of Fools” – Coincidentally, like the last tune this one’s from an album named after a hotel, in this case, Morrison Hotel. Probably on the same street.
  54. Doobie Brothers, “How Do Those Fools Survive” – Another song about fools from Minute By Minute.
  55. Rockpile, “Fool Too Long” – Any amount of time spent as a fool is too long.
  56. Elvis Presley, “Can’t Help Falling In Love” – I love to sing this song in the shower… “Wise men say, only fools rush in, Oh but I, I can’t help falling in love with you.” Damn, the King was on fire on this song.
  57. Aretha Franklin, “Running Out Of Fools” – A younger Aretha finds herself on the opposite end of the fool equation on this one… What a voice!
  58. James Taylor, “I Was A Fool To Care” – I love J.T.’s early stuff. While you may be a fool for caring, it is a sign you’re human.
  59. Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, “April Fool” – Sometimes I put songs on these lists only for me. Ex-Faces member Ronnie Lane with the Who’s Pete Townshend on a beautiful song that for me commemorates April Fool’s Day.

That’s our list. Did I miss any good ones? Let me know in the comments section. Whatever you’re doing or wherever you are, I hope nobody’s foolin’ you? And if you are under some delusion, hopefully now that spring has sprung, your mind will clear and you’ll come out of it. As Cher’s character in the movie Moonstruck exclaimed, “Snap out of it…” If you’re the victim of an April Fool’s joke, take it in good stride. Some day we’ll look back on this and laugh…

Cheers to all my fellow fools out there…

LP Review: The Black Crowes’ Solid, Rocking Comeback – ‘Happiness Bastards’

~ kcorsini ~ 2 Comments

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I can’t tell you how much we’ve been waiting for this new Black Crowes album down here at B&V. The phrase, “highly anticipated” doesn’t do it justice. Both the Rock Chick and I have been fans of the Crowes since their early days. The Black Crowes, formed by brothers Chris Robinson (vocals) and Rich Robinson (guitars) have had an up and down career. That can happen when brothers form bands. When the Crowes first started out, we thought they were the Stones of the 90s. They had a similar sound to the Stones or perhaps more accurately a sound similar to Stones’ acolytes Humble Pie and the Faces. We hoped they’d have the Stones’ longevity… Somewhere along the line the Crowes turned into a bit of jam band, or at least that was the impression many of us got. They broke up after 2001’s Lions and I’m not sure any of us were terribly surprised. If my brother and I had formed a band I’m sure he would have fired me a long time ago…

However, by the time they broke up again in 2015, I’m not sure I even noticed. After reuniting in 2005 they’d put out two very solid albums – 2008’s Warpaint (which is sadly overlooked) and 2009’s Before The Frost…Until The Freeze. They’d recorded that latter double LP of new material, live in Levon Helm’s barn in front of an intimate crowd. I still don’t think that album was a jam band album. It was more rootsy than jammy? I think that whole jam band reputation comes more from Chris Robinson’s solo projects like the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Not that there’s anything wrong with jam bands but I digress. The animosity between the brothers Robinson was so bad in 2015 I never thought they’d get back together.

But, and good for them as humans, they reconnected as brothers before they reconnected as band mates. I’m sure that made Thanksgiving less awkward and made their mother happy. Everybody wins. Eventually they decided, like you do, to get the band together. They were criticized for not involving any former members, especially erstwhile drummer Steve Gorman. But Gorman had written a tell-all book about the Black Crowes that wasn’t a terribly flattering portrait of the Robinson Brothers. They said when they first got back together that they were trying to keep influences who were “negative to their relationship” out of the band. Read that how you want. Sometimes you’ve got weigh the pro’s and cons of a relationship, especially in light of the chemistry within a band. Chemistry is so important and yet so fragile in a working rock n roll outfit.

I think it’s safe to say at first the reunion was a tentative one. They intended to tour for the 30th anniversary of Shake Your Money Maker, their sensational debut album but then… Covid. I loved the deluxe edition of that album. In particular one of the outtakes from those sessions, “Charming Mess” is sensational. In light of their tour being cancelled they recorded a great, fun little EP of cover songs all from 1972, creatively titled 1972. I dug that little exercise. They did everything from Bowie to the Stones to Little Feat. It was fun but it could also be read as an experiment to see if their formerly combustible chemistry could take being in  the studio together. With the release of their first album of all new material in 15 years, it seems the answer was yes, it could.

The Brothers Robinson did eventually get a former member of the Black Crowes back into the fold, bass player Sven Pippien. They augmented the line up with Erik Deutsch on keyboards, Cully Symington on drums and Nico Bereciartua on guitar. Sure, I’d like to see Weird Eddie Harsch back on keyboards, but alas I think he passed in 2016. The new album is called Happiness Bastards and was produced by Jay Joyce. Oddly, I have never heard of this producer. I hear he’s been tied to rootsy albums. I know he’s worked with Emmylou Harris, John Hiatt, and Cage The Elephant… although admittedly most his credits read country. Have no fear though, this is not a country album.

I guess the Crowes had a choice to come back rocking or come back jamming and they chose to rock. I will admit, my first listen of Happiness Bastards didn’t grab me like I thought it would. Expectations can be tricky, and mine were pretty high. Sometimes though, you just have to commune with a new album – put it on the headphones… listen in the car… really spend some time with it. And I’ll tell you, the more I listened to this album the more I like it. I mean, if you’re looking for Southern Harmony And Musical Companion 2.0 – and considering the cover art is that album’s cover photo painted over like graffiti, so you could be forgiven for hoping for that – you’re likely going to be disappointed. Not many bands are gonna pull off a second Southern Harmony in a career. As mentioned the Crowes have definitely decided to come out swinging. It’s all guitars/drums/vocals with a few harmonica and keyboard accents. And in 2024 we need good ol’ solid rock n roll like this in our lives.

I think one of the reasons I didn’t immediately connect with this album on first listen – it’s more of a “grower” – is because of the first two tracks, “Bedside Manners” and “Rats And Clowns.” They’ve grown on me, believe me, but on first listen it sounded like they were trying too hard. They’re both balls-to-the-wall rockers but like on Van Halen’s first album with Sammy, the songs “Good Enough” and “Get Up” sounded like they were trying too hard to establish chemistry with the new singer. So too, these first two Crowes tunes sounded a little like they were trying too hard to re-establish their chemistry. But, the more I listen to these songs the better they sound. “Rats And Clowns” may be aimed at former band members?

There are two, great rootsy, acoustic songs. I really dug “Kindred Friend,” the track that ends the record. It’s not “She Talks To Angels,” but it’s a nice upbeat strummer. I love the lyrics, “Sit at my table, let me fill your glass with something strong and fine, Stay forever or leave tonight, Thankful for the time…” Nothing better than sharing a glass of something dark and murky with an old pal. The other track is “Wilted Rose” and features country singer Lainey Wilson. I’ll be honest, I had to google her. Her contribution here is more of a harmony vocal, it’s not a duet. But again, I love my Crowes old style acoustic songs.

When we get into the meat of this record, there is so much kick ass rock n roll to like. “Wanting And Waiting,” the first single, is just a great song. It’s a classic Black Crowes tune. “Cross Your Fingers,” the second single is a wild ride of a song. It starts acoustic and then turns into rocking funk, like they had too many ideas… but in a good way. “Dirty Cold Sun” is maybe my favorite… rocking guitars over an organ and a snarling vocal. Oh, yes the Crowes are back! “Bleed It Dry” is a fantastic blues song, complete with harmonica. It might end up on my Rockers Playing the Blues/Blues Rock playlist. I love that the Black Crowes still play the blues. “Flesh Wound” is another galloping rocker that should be played up loud.

The Crowes are back with a solid, if not completely sensational album of rock n roll. That, to me, is grounds for celebration. Two warring brothers, putting aside their feud and instead picking up instruments and making a glorious racket. Let’s all cross our fingers that this time the reunion holds and these guys continue to build that all important rock n roll chemistry. I know I’ll be keeping my eyes on the tour for this album… I haven’t seen them since the By Your Side Tour…

Cheers!

Review: The Rolling Stones, ‘Live At The Wiltern’ From the ‘Forty Licks’ Tour (2002) – A Glorious Theater Show!

~ kcorsini ~ 7 Comments

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When I think about artists who have a great “official bootleg” business going – i.e., bands who are actively releasing stuff from their vaults – I tend to think about Neil Young (whose Archive Series is remarkable), or Bob Dylan (whose “official bootleg” series started it all). Or I think about Springsteen who mostly (other than the box set Tracks, or deluxe versions of past LPs) has focused mostly on releasing concerts from years gone by (seriously, do yourself a favor and pick up anything from 1978 or 1980). Meanwhile, while I’ve been focused on those artists, my favorite band on the planet, the Rolling Stones have been quietly releasing – much like Springsteen – a series of concerts from past tours. Believe me, I’ve been front row for the Stones’ “Deluxe LP” versions of Tattoo You or Goats Head Soup with all those box set’s extra goodies (“Criss Cross” is still in high rotation around here). However, I guess I own so much live Stones that I’ve kind of turned a blind eye toward the live stuff they’ve been putting out. Shame on me…

I saw recently (last Friday), the Stones were releasing a concert from the Licks Tour which ran from 2002 to 2003. Recently I’ve seen the Stones release Steel Wheels Live or Voodoo Lounge Uncut or Grrr! Live from the 50 & Counting Tour. I saw the Stones on all of those tours and they were always great. Typically the Stones release a live album from every tour – and I’ve purchased many of those – so I figured I was covered. However, now that Stones are releasing complete shows from those tours, I have to admit, those play so much better than the live albums culled from those tours. Much like I said for the Who’s recently released Live At Shea Stadium 1982, when four or five certain musicians inhabit that magical space we call “the stage,” the chemistry can create magic. I’ve always felt that way about the Stones. It’s a kinda magic.

Originally, when I saw that the Stones were releasing this new live LP, Live At The Wiltern, I consigned it to the long list of live Stones’ stuff I probably wouldn’t jump in on. I mean, this wasn’t a legendary show like Live At The El Mocambo, or was it? Eventually curiosity got to me. I checked, and the Wiltern is a 1,850 seat theater in Los Angeles. That piqued my interest. The Stones can play the biggest stages/stadiums in the universe, but when you get them in a theater something special happens. Jagger always seems so much more relaxed in a theater when he’s freed from the onus of performing in front of 70,000 people. The show was from the Licks Live tour, in support of the greatest hits package Forty Licks, which was the first Stones show I went to where the Rock Chick was with me. I did see that this show was from November 4th, 2002 and the Rock Chick and I saw this tour in Chicago, less than 2 months prior on September 10th, 2002 at the United Center and that was a great, great show. The Pretenders opened up and Chrissie Hynde dedicated a reggae track to Mick & Keith who she said “helped bring reggae to the world.” Indeed, they did.

I couldn’t help myself, I had to check out Live At The Wiltern. Charlie Watts was still on drums, and that’s worth the price of admission. Charlie is joined, as always, by Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards (guitar), and Ronnie Wood (guitar). The band that night was filled out with Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (keyboards) and killer back up singers: Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler, and Blondie Chaplin. They even brought along a horn section (4 folks) which included legendary, late sax man Bobby Keys who had played on such classics as “Brown Sugar” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” When the Stones play theaters, they tend to mix up the setlist and they end up playing a bunch of deep tracks, which frankly I want to hear more than the usual stuff. And, once I saw the setlist on this concert album I knew it was going to kick ass. I put on some headphones and what a listen!! The guitars – one in each ear – accomplish what Keith always describes as “the ancient art of weaving.” This really is a special show. I am only commenting on the 2 CD version of this, I haven’t seen the Blu-Ray. As I mentioned  recently on a post about my journey as a collector, I’ve switched back to CDs, but I have to sneak those into the house in elaborate ways to get them past the Rock Chick…I do have a birthday coming… but I digress.

For a long time Stones fan, this set list is a treat. They open with “Jumping Jack Flash,” which I consider a Stones’ “standard.” When the Rock Chick and I saw them they opened with “Street Fighting Man,” so I knew they were shaking things up here. But I never expected a rocking version of deep track “Live With Me” as the next track. A rocking “Hand Of Fate” from Black And Blue, one of those albums only I like, was a wonderful surprise. Again, I love that the guitars are right up front and Jagger sounds delighted to be singing something other than “Satisfaction.” Country-blues track “No Expectations” is an absolute highlight with Ronnie on pedal steel. They even do “Stray Cat Blues” (which they did when I saw them) and while it’s not politically correct anymore, it’s a great blues tune. The whole first half of the set is a Rolling Stones’ Deep Tracks fan’s wish list.

They even dig deep for one of their disco songs from the 70s, “Dance, Part 1.” Like, I’ve said before about disco, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. It’s sloppy as hell, but as usually happens the Stones lock into the groove and pull it out in the end. After that, the Stones go into the “soul review” part of the show where they play three tracks from the acts that inspired them. It was a cool mini-set and utilized the horn section well. They do Solomon Burke’s “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” which they’d recorded years and years ago. Since Solomon was the opener that night, it makes sense he’d come out and join them to sing the song. From there, they cover the wonderful Otis Redding song “That’s How Strong My Love Is.” They wrap the soul thing up with “Going To A Go-Go” which is a track they started playing on the first tour I saw them on, in support of Tattoo You. Bobby Keys kills on the sax solo.

After Mick introduces the band, it’s Keith’s turn at the mic. Keef’s singing sends a lot of people to the beer line, but I’ve always loved the Keith songs. He starts with “Thru And Thru” which I think is much better live than on record. He then digs deep for a reggae tune “You Don’t Have To Mean It.” Keith used to just do “Happy” and I just love that he’ll sing any song he’s ever sung at any point in the Stones’ career. It’s always a highlight when he walks up to the microphone. Mick comes out and they just kill “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” a song I would have sworn they played at the United Center… I’d never seen them play that song… it turns out, I didn’t hear it until the Bigger Bang tour. Memory is a tricky thing… After the old blues tune “Rock Me Baby,” which perhaps foretold that Blue And Lonesome might happen and the great track “Bitch,” the Stones start to hit the “standards” list again. To get to the finish line they run through “Honky Tonk Woman,” “Start Me Up,” “Brown Sugar” and finally “Tumbling Dice.” And I’m not complaining, they rock those songs. Yes, I’d have loved if they’d kept on the deep tracks thing and played say, “Ventilator Blues,” but then I’d have been the only one jumping up and down on that one. Ronnie Wood is solo’ing all down the line on these tracks and he’s fabulous.

Live At The Wiltern captures the Stones on a very, very good night in L.A. When the Stones are sloppy and off, they’re still pretty good – just like pizza. But when they’re good – like they are at this show – they are simply sublime. The Stones get dinged for being sloppy but to me it’s more about a willful recklessness that to me represents freedom… freedom from restraint or worry – than mere sloppiness. They come out and leave it all on the stage. When the Stones gel, it’s magic, baby.

Turn this live treat up loud and dance around the room doing your best Jagger impersonation, I know I’ll doing that. It’s one of their better live performances. Sure, it’s not Get Your Ya Ya’s Out, but not many live albums are. The guy we got the United Center Tickets from actually had a spare ticket to a show they did a few nights later in a Chicago theater, the Aragon. Bono jumped on stage and sang with the band on “It’s Only Rock N Roll.” The dude, didn’t go… he wasn’t a Stones fan. I’d have flown back up for it… Oh well. I now realize, listening to this album, what a magical night I’d missed when the Stones played that theater. Bygones… At least I now have this wonderful document to sooth my wound…

Cheers!

A Music Collector’s Journey: From Vinyl to CDs to MP3’s And Now… Back To Vinyl Or Streaming?

~ kcorsini ~ 13 Comments

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*Photo of my multiple options to listen to David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ taken by your intrepid blogger… and yes, I put my LPs in plastic sleeves… and I forgot to take it off for the photo so it looks like I’m suffocating Bowie with a Dry Cleaning bag…

I don’t know where it came from, this need – or perhaps it’s better described as a compulsion – to “own” music. Perhaps it was the influence of my younger brother – and when do we ever get influenced by a younger brother vs an older brother – who, by the time I started collecting albums at the age of 13 or 14, had already built an extensive collection of albums. He owned mostly Beatles, George Harrison and Doors albums back then. It was the late 70s and he was a 60s DJ. Whenever I walked by his room, vinyl was spinning and music filled the air. I remember, once music captured me in it’s magic siren’s spell, there was no question I was going to start buying records. Maybe it was the influence of radio, once I turned the dial from baseball games on AM to rock n roll on FM. I’d hear a song and long to hear it again and just hated waiting. Maybe I just decided to cut out the middle man – local rock station KY102 in my case – and go directly to my very own turntable. Regardless of why, that decision to buy Some Girls by the Stones all those years ago began a life long love affair with rock n roll for me…

There were other options available in terms of music formats back in the late 70s when I started buying vinyl. Cassettes were big. I actually bought a couple of albums on cassette – which I regretted later – AC/DC’s Highway To Hell and Pete Townshend’s Empty Glass. I thought the cassettes might lend some audio advantage… they didn’t. Of course they could be played in the car and were considerably more portable. Cassettes, for me, were more of a Mix-Tape experience, buying blank cassettes and recording songs in creative sequences sourced from my vinyl LPs…or other people’s vinyl. Borrowing albums and cassettes was a crude, early form of “file sharing,” I suppose? Although even when I started driving my parent’s car, they didn’t have a cassette player in the Oldsmobile. I’d carry my boom box in the back seat.

There were also 8-track tapes still available. My buddy Brewster owned Cheap Trick’s Live At Budokan on 8-track – he’d play it in the car on the way to school – and I’m not sure I ever really knew the running order of that album until years later. 8-tracks were for aliens so I shied away from them. For me, it was all about that vinyl. I wanted that 12.375 inch by 12.375 inch album cover. I wanted to stare at the album art and read the lyrics and liner notes while I cranked my tunes. I was a student in the temple of musical delights. Although admittedly, I had this weird rule where I’d only buy an album if I liked 3 tracks on the record… I’d been burned one too many times by albums with one great song and the rest filler. Looking back, the number 3 seems terribly arbitrary.

By the time I got out of college I had not one, but two record crates full of albums. I’d purchased the record crates at Peaches Records and hammered them together myself…they weren’t terribly sturdy but I had them until I was in my 30s, schlepping them from apartment to apartment. But by the time I paraded across the stage to receive my college diploma the world of music was radically changing. CDs had come along. I remember being in a used record store and they had a portable CD player chained to the counter by the cash register (used record stores were mostly a cash business back then, ahem), and I listened to the clean, pristine sound of whatever they were sampling. My verdict, which I announced loudly to anyone who would listen, was that CDs were a “fad” like 8-tracks and would never gain any traction. This is why you should never listen to me when predicting the future.

By the time I had been exiled to Ft. Smith, Arkansas CDs were everywhere. You could still buy vinyl, but CDs were gaining market share rapidly. To add salt in my vinyl wounds, CDs often had a bonus track or two, much the same way cassettes occasionally did to entice you to make the move to that format. I found a new rock n roll friend in Ft Smith when I met Arkansas Joel. He was a gadget guy and so was all in on CDs. Cleaner sound, no pops and hisses, and portable so you can take them with you in the car – CDs were the wave of the future according to Joel. I finally succumbed to his peer pressure – he really wanted me to buy CDs so he could record them – and purchased a CD player. My first CD was yet again, the Stones, but this time it was Steel Wheels. After that I followed everybody else and shifted my buying focus to CDs which led me to buy The White Album and so many other LPs again.

I actually liked CDs. You still had the album artwork and the lyrics. There was a huge market for used CDs. If I was kind of into a band – maybe I’d heard a song or two I liked – but wasn’t sure about the band or which LP to buy, I’d buy it used on CD. If I didn’t like it, I’d sell it and pick out something else. And record stores started putting listening stations at the end of the CD rows so you could sample a new record prior to buying it. That went a long way to ending my “three songs” rule. I remember buying the Red Hot Chili Peppers LP One Hot Minute, which is a weird starting point on the Peppers, and loving it. I picked up Blood Sugar Sex Magik at a used CD store because I still wasn’t “sure” about them and couldn’t believe I hadn’t gotten into them earlier. Wary still it took me a good half hour of listening to Californication at the end cap listening station in a Barnes & Noble before I took the plunge.

Eventually I met the Rock Chick and I’m embarrassed to admit she got me to start selling off albums. Usually it was the ones I’d repurchased on CD. I succumbed but only around the edges of my collection. In truth I sold records I wasn’t listening to more often than ones I’d repurchased in the different formats. I sold a lot of Greatest Hits albums as I’d collected most of the songs on the albums and CDs I’d purchased.  I regret selling a lot of those but as they say, marriage is a compromise. Between the Rock Chick and I we had a lot of CDs. A lot. I was beginning to worry about storage but I figured as long as we lived in a house with a guest room, I’d have a living space I could cannibalize for music storage… although admittedly I never had that conversation with the Rock Chick and I’m not sure it would have ended in my favor. Not many conversations with the Rock Chick end in my favor now that I really think about it.

Around this time the music industry changed again and Apple invented the iPod. Oh, we all loved the iPod. Luckily I could pull MP3’s off my CDs and put them on my iPod. It was called “ripping” a CD. I even figured out how to download the artwork. The good news about MP3’s was it solved my storage issues. I wasn’t going to have to put up giant CD racks in the guest room and hope the Rock Chick didn’t notice. We built quite a music file over here at B&V. Between the CDs we ripped, and new purchases by me and the Rock Chick our musical universe exploded. Then my daughter got into the game and suddenly I had everything from the Stones and Springsteen to Christmas music (the Rock Chick is indeed Mrs. Claus), and Lil Wayne (my daughter). I never got into that whole Napster file sharing thing but I must admit I dabbled on Limewire. Usually it was only for that rare B-side or live track I couldn’t find anywhere else. I used Limewire the same way I did the listening stations in the CD store, as a way to check out an album. If I liked the songs I’d downloaded, I’d go buy the album. I wanted the artist to get paid for creating this beautiful music. Recently, Apple changed iTunes to an app simply named “Music” and I can no longer plug my old iTouch into the computer and manually manage my music files. I could do it via Bluetooth, but it apparently would load all the music we have onto my iTouch. First, it wouldn’t fit and more importantly I don’t want Xmas music or Lil Wayne, I just want my rock n roll and my playlists. So after 20 years of buying albums on Apple, now I’m at a standstill. I can’t use my phone, it belongs to my corporate masters. I can’t update or change my iTouch… I can’t even buy new LPs and add them to my iTouch which seems like a faulty business model, although admittedly the folks down at Apple seem to know what they’re doing?

As folks who have read our posts containing playlists, I too joined the “streaming revolution.” It seems that’s why Apple ended my ability to update my (old technology) iTouch. I’m on Spotify which was an unfortunate choice. But I typically have used Spotify again, as a sampler. Listen to the record and then buy it if I like it. It’s a useful tool for me. The Rock Chick is all in on Spotify and listens in her car. I just don’t think I can go all in on streaming, it’s just not the same as owning the album. I began to buy used albums again a few years ago. And I have loved getting back into vinyl.  However, the price tags on the new albums are prohibitive. Peter Gabriel’s latest, i/o, came in two mixes. To purchase the CD or download it on my home computer is $20. To purchase both mixes on quadruple LP is $80. Hey man, even I have limits. I’m not a huge audiophile but I do think everything sounds better than streaming. I encourage all music fans to consume music in the fashion they most enjoy and for most folks I guess that’s streaming.

But I must admit I find myself at a crossroads. Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter comes out on April 19th. I love the title track, by the way. If I download the album – because I certainly want Pearl Jam to get paid and I want to own the album, I have all the rest of them – I can listen in my home office but nowhere else. If I buy it on vinyl it’s sure to cost a fortune, but at least I can crank it on my stereo. I can buy it on CD but those don’t really have the cache with the Rock Chick that LPs do… yes, she’s finally become a vinyl-head like me. And I guess this goes back to my first sentence, I have a compulsion to own music. Just having access to an album on Spotify doesn’t scratch the itch for me. I need that album or CD to hold in my hand, or the ability to pull the album up on my iTouch on command. When I started collecting music we all judged each other on our music taste. If you weren’t into rock n roll there was something wrong with you. Hell, if you were into the wrong music or artists we thought there was something wrong with you. Buying albums and sharing my collection with people is central to who I am.

And so I’ve taken this whole journey with music, from albums to CDs, to MP3s, sort of to streaming… and then back to used vinyl. Where I’ll go from here now that my MP3 era is over, remains a mystery. I can’t afford all the new vinyl I want, there are great LPs on the way (Lenny Kravitz, the Black Keys, the Black Crowes, the aforementioned Pearl Jam, Liam Gallagher/John Squire to name a few) and streaming doesn’t do it. I tried to explain this to the Rock Chick the other night over martinis and it might have been the martinis, but I don’t think she understood what I was talking about. I don’t know if others out there are like me, and feel this compulsion to buy records, but if you do, how do you plan to go forward collecting music? CDs, shelling out for vinyl? Or have you embraced this whole streaming thing? I suppose next we’ll all just have a chip in our head where we can call up music my tapping our temples… Count me in I guess?

However you’re getting your music, good for you for continuing to listening to your rock n roll. It’s taken twists and turns but my love affair with rock n roll will continue until they bury me with my copy of Exile On Mainstreet. Keep cranking those tunes folks, it’s a long dark ride… at least we can rock n roll to the finish line.

Cheers!