Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble

Have to say I've been extremely fortunate enough to catch some incredible shows along the path so far. This past weekend the list of all-time greats got bigger after I made it up to catch Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble.
Taking place at Levon's house(!) set back in the woods of Woodstock, NY, I struggle to pay the this wonderful evening its proper due. After picking up some food at the community table and entering the barn to catch the wonderful opener by Swell Season, who staked a claim on the map after their Academy Award winning performance in ONCE, Levon came out and ripped into a killer version of the blues-classic, "Same Thing". Standing in his barn, about 20 feet from this legendary architect of The Band was awe-inspiring. Even more so was his frail condition, having beat throat cancer (the cruelest of inflictions for a singer) he was visibly struggling throughout the performance, but only on the outside. The 15+ song set contained some classics, none moreso than The Weight finale, but it was the more intimate numbers that proved most affecting. Having had my eyes opened to the joys of blue-grass recently, I was moved unlike any previous occasion at the beauty of the songs, Levon's delivery and his band's playing.

For music-lovers anywhere, I can't recommend this very special night of music enough. Get there as quick as you can to see a true musical legend.

Astral Weeks Revisited

wow....might have to check out flights to LA. Thankfully it's being filmed....

From rollingstone.com:
Van Morrison will perform the entirety of his 1967 masterpiece ASTRAL WEEKS during a run of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl this November. Morrison will perform at the famed Los Angeles venue November 7, 8 and 9. Many of the musicians who performed on the original album will perform at the concert as well. Tickets go on sale on October 5th.
The whole event will be filmed for an upcoming DVD, appropriately titled Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl.

Back Door Slam

After a brief hiatus and trip down to Austin City Limits, we're back here at FM. Thanks for your emails and music recommendations over the past month, and Ron in Minnesota I hear you bro and will post some more of my Dylan favorites shortly.

So I've got a new find to share, an act I caught down in Austin and literally was blown away by. Thought it could have been the 90 degree dead heat that was making me dizzy but no, this BACK DOOR SLAM is scary good. A UK-based trio fronted by Davy Knowles, an incredibly precocious chap who plays like he's on fire and sounds like he's a 45 and lived a hard lifetime already. Playing the kind of dirty blues that always sounds best live, I urge you to check them out when they come through your town. Props to the Geisenpatch for pulling me over to see this band.

The Boys Are Back

I.Fing.LOVE.OASIS.
New album out October 7.

Jerry Garcia

"There's no way to measure his greatness or magnitude as a person or as a player. He really had no equal"- Bob Dylan.

It's been 13 years since the guitar stopped playing. What an incredible life in music. What insane fun it was going to the shows. His iconic status will never fade, and thankfully his music lives on.

Possibly My Favorite Beatles Jam

And in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make

Sheer ridiculousness. Who knew Lennon was such an animal!?! He seemed to always be the bookish, sensitive, intellectual, not the rock-n-roll lunatic who wailed that ditty before one of the Beatles' most timeless lyrics ever.

Neil Young On His Genius, Life

This interview was one of the more revealing pieces I've seen. What a thinker, what a great soul, and yes what a genius. Check out the whole piece from the Charlie Rose show if you can.

Beatles 101

When this came up on the iPod shuffle running in Central Park this morning, I kicked it into overdrive. Positively cooking. Need to give McCartney credit for his chops on the 4 string, the way he makes the bass the lead on this song.
Just thinking of what it must have been like to hear this on the radio in the early 60's makes my head spin......

Scare Easy

"I don't scare easy
Don't fall apart when I'm under the gun
You can break my heart, and I ain't gonna run
I don't scare easy, for noone"

Have you picked up the Mudcrutch album yet? If you look at my iTunes player this song is at the top of my list, 27 plays and counting. I just can't get enough. A hit is a hit, and I knew this on the very first listen. In typical Tom Petty fashion it's a hard hitting, anthemic rouser that will have you throwing your hands up in the air and singing along once the essence of the track makes its way through you.

The guitars here kill me. Listen closely and you'll get it. The drive, the achieved effect of the layering during the chorus. The solo by Mike Campbell, perfectly described by someone on YT as "criminally underrated". The flawless groove established by the bass player: who is this guy and how the F did this guy not make it into The Heartbreakers??!
And then of course there's TP's lyrical magic, rendering this simple yarn about resolve that even the mightiest of men can dig deep on.

If you love great music, you're out of your mind if you don't have this record.

Beck

Still relevant, still exploring new directions, still cool as hell.

New album out today. I'm only 4 songs in but already recommending to pick it up. In the meantime check out this clip as a reminder of what a true artist the Glendale wizard continues to be.

4th of July

MAKE IT A GREAT ONE.

My Morning Jacket

"I'm Amazed"....at how good this F'n song is.

MMJ's been on constant repeat lately and I'm really starting to enjoy the varied delights of their new album.

Pearl Jam at MSG

There is an extremely limited number of bands that can launch a tour with no new material or significant media promotion around it. There’s even fewer who could sell out 2 nights at Madison Square Garden, even with a full-on media blitz. All Pearl Jam had to do was announce the shows on their website and they sold out in minutes. That’s the kind of power they retain after years of consistent good material and most importantly always doing the right thing for their fans. They’re the only band left standing that came out of the ‘grunge-rock’ explosion in the early 90’s, and Tuesday night’s show demonstrated that their popularity has seemed to only increase with time.
The wailed through classics like “Evenflow”, “Eldery Woman...” and “Daughter” but it was their non radio-hits that went over best and give an important signal into the depth of their fanbase. Songs like “Given to Fly”, “Faithful”, “Present Tense”, and one of my favorite PJ deep cuts, “Indifference”.
Greatest of all to see at this show is the energy. The band’s and the crowd’s. It what seems to be missing in rock music today, but not at a Pearl Jam gig. This clip says it all, how they're able to create a wild, rock-club like atmosphere in a huge arena, everyone on their feet and totally going for it. As all the comments on YouTube and message boards have been evangelizing, an absolutely killer show.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at MSG

A perfect show. 2 of my all-time favorites, Tom Petty and Steve Winwood, on one bill at the worlds most famous arena. After a fabulous opening set from Winwood, where he's showing how he's quickly becoming one of the world's best guitarists as well as keyboard playing, TP and company took the stage and wailed through 2 straight hours.
There's not many shows you can attend these days where you know and love every single song the band plays, but after 22 years of non-stop hits this is what their shows delivers. SO many classic tunes. Tom Petty is just an institution at this point, a desert island that you can spend months on end listening to alone. And I can't complete this without noting how truly ridiculous Mike Campbell is on the guitar. The Heartbreakers and arguably Tom Petty wouldn't be what they are without him. Man I wish these guys played every weekend.
As for the best of the night, even though every classic Heartbreakers song rocked the house, I have to go with this, when Steve came out and joined the band to render one of his rock hey-dey classics. The guitar playing!!! Check the way Campbell and Winwood lock into each other around 3:58 and just let it unfold. Also notice how TP backs off to sideman and lets these 2 take the wheel. Ridiculously good.

I Walk On Guilded Splinters

Rousing jam as we head into the weekend. Figures that the kick-ass guitar part came courtesy of Duane Allman, there's just something ferocious about it. Some will know this opening part too, famously borrowed in Oasis's classic "Go Let It Out".
Thanks to JB down south for hipping me to this one.


get it

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

This show at MSG Theater last night was as beautiful an evening of music as you could ask for. The unusual yet effective mix of blue-grass pleasantry, solemn hymms and reworked rock-n-roll classics left the audience spellbound, and I had a hard time concentrating all the way through to this afternoon.
I never thought "Black Country Woman" from Physical Graffiti was one of Led Zeppelin's greatest songs but now I know that it is. And "Battle Of Evermore" seems like it can now finally be complete with Ms. Krauss' vocal backings.

Plant looked as god-like as his legend backs him up to be, and appeared to genuinely be enjoying himself with this project that nobody could have ever predicted to be so good. I was as excited as anybody about the prospect of Led Zeppelin touring this summer, but after seeing this show I can almost understand why he said no and went out to play the music that most inspired him. As for Alison Krauss, there wasn't one rocker who left this show not having declared themselves a new fan.

This record continues to carve out a very special place, and if you have a chance to catch this show live you do not want to miss it.

Eddie Vedder & My Morning Jacket

Filmed in 2006 when MMJ was opening for Pearl Jam in Europe, this cover of The Who's mini rock-opera "A Quick One" totally kills. Hang in there for this, runs 9 minutes long but what a JAM! This kind of performance makes you want to drop everything your doing and go join a band.



Get It

Gideon

I'm starting to get psyched to hear MY MORNING JACKET'S new album, out next week, and have been playing their excellent 2nd album Z non-stop this week.
Favorite track on this is "Gideon", no question.

Dry The Rain

Do you know this wickedly awesome tune by the Beta Band?
Exposed to the masses in the great scene in HIGH FIDELITY?
What a jam. I had the same reaction as the dude in the movie the second I heard this too. Love the lazy beginning and how it just cruises to the 2 mintue mark before switching gears. Such a great build, like more band members kept entering the studio and picking up instruments to join in. The bass line steers this thing out. Even with the near-perfect hype-up from this film the Beta Band never really seemed to go over, but its not because they didn't have songs.



get it

RIP Bo Diddley

As he reminded us in those great 80's Nike commercials, Bo certainly did know diddley. What a pioneer of the rock-n-roll sound, what an animal!! Look at the way he rocked the house here and had the girls going apeshit. And who was this woman he had in has band??! Singing backup AND playing guitar. Could this guy have been any cooler? Probably not. He'll certainly be missed.



Millennium Collection

The Eagles

"city girls just seem to find out early
how to open doors with just a smile"

It’s a huge statement that the most popular album ever released is The Eagles Greatest Hits. I honestly don’t find myself reaching for their stuff that much but when I hear their classic songs I always seem to get that peaceful easy feeling they wrote about. Their body of work, career trajectory and phenomenal success cannot be denied.

Last night I caught them live as MSG and was amazed at how good they still sounded. The opening set was like having to drive through the Bronx to get to Manhattan as the first 4 songs from their new album couldn’t stand a chance against their hits. However, as soon as they hit the opening chords on“Hotel California” the arena temperature changed and the audience lept to their feet and started preaching along. I wish I had video of the air-guitaring, the singing, the hordes of people reliving the times in their lives when they connected with the band and their songs. It continued as they went into Witchy Woman, One Of These Nights all the way through to the Desperado finale. A totally different live experience, more subdued than high energy, but fulfilling nonetheless.
I was thinking of their recent 60 Minutes interview when Glenn Frey was asked about the band's extraordinary success, and his Clintonian answer was basically "It's the songs stupid". And there you have it. In the end, it really is pretty basic isn't it?

Please Read The Letter

"maybe baby, everything's gonna turn out fine"

Have you picked up RAISING SAND yet? You're seriously missing out if not. This thing just keeps giving, growing stronger with each play.
Robert Plant, what an icon. Turning down a zillion dollar offer to tour with the Zep to concentrate on what was more personally fulfilling. His range and vocal reinvention on this record is astounding, especially given his earlier work. This is the same guy who sang The Wanton Song for F's sake! And Allison Krause, I guess I never got the memo on her but what a beautiful talent. This is easily one of the best albums released in the last year, one you can play straight through, one I can't recommend enough.



get it

Refugee

"somewhere, somehow,
somebody must have kicked you around some
tell me why you wanna lay there and revel in your abandon"

Sooooooo good. Opens like a bolt of lightning and powers through with attitude. The guitars. The keyboard bridge in the middle. TP persuading her to check her baggage and move on.
Words like perfection come to mind when I hear this song.



get it

Memorial Day Weekend

Time to enjoy the weather and day off, and to be grateful that you can.


Bruce Springsteen, Devils and Dust.
get it

Box Of Rain

"What do you want me to do
To do for you, to see you through"

I couldn't even begin to count how many times I've played this song. Phil Lesh's defining moment on the Grateful Dead's insanely wonderful AMERICAN BEAUTY. It was here when the legendary road-warriors stripped themselves down to churn out some of their most famous songs. Can't say enough about this song or record so I won't even try.....