Hey you’s guys…I’m going on a mancation, like now-ish, with my dad and brother to St. John, V.I.! I can’t wait to get there…I wish we could just skip the waking up at 5:00 am and going to JFK, where we will be molested by security and jacked around by American Airlines, who has been in the news the last couple days for a luggage-losing fiasco. But that’s what one does to travel in these-here post-9/11 days. It WAS nice to hear from Lou Dobbs on the radio that Exxon-Mobil reported record profits today for the last quarter ($12 billion!)… which is the largest quarterly profit EVER reported by a US company! And it was not actually nice to hear that…that was sarcasm.
So now I cheer up and finish packing. But I wanted to leave you all with something before I left, and it is this:
Right now, you can go to Amazon and download a 256 kbps, DRM-free mp3 version of Nick Drake’s classic Pink Moon album for only $2.99! That’s a frickin’ steal for an excellent album. So, if you don’t have it…go get it now!
Anyway, it’s gonna be quiet here for a few days, but I’ll be returning mid-week with some more RT and probably some great St. John pics!
Cheers!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTGTCSGj30&hl=en&fs=1]
What was the Scorpions first LP called?
…you don’t like music that’s ‘self-indulgent’.
Who played guitar on “I Zimbra” on Talking Heads’ Fear of Music album?
Who would have thought that the bass player on Finders Keepers Sadie, The Cleaning Lady, an unassuming single released in 1968, would go on to assume legendary status amongst the rock faithful? Another band, and two albums later, and Glenn Hughes was hitting his stride. Medusa, from Trapeze, hinted at where this rock/funk three piece could take it, You are the Music…We’re Just the Band released a year or so later fulfilled that promise. On the latter, Hughes is simply breathtaking. Handling ALL the vocals, he is unsurpassed. On Feelin’ So Much Better Now, his three-part black chick chorus is pure En Vogue. His gutsy lead vocal soars to incredible heights on Loser, and emotes with raw soul on the classic Coast to Coast and Will Our Love End. The bass playing is blistering rock funk, a perfect foil for the late Mel Galley’s rock solid guitar and Dave Holland’s stylish syncopations. This band had it all. Small wonder then, that Hughes was poached by Deep Purple, and Trapeze soldiered on for a while until Galley was poached by Whitesnake, and Holland by Judas Priest.
Hughes fell foul of the drink and drugs lavished on him as a newly-crowned Purple rock prince. He still managed to turn in classic performances on Purple albums, and his first solo album Play Me Out, is astonishing. But, after a last gasp classic, Hughes/Thrall in 1982, containing one of the greatest funk rock riffs of all time on Muscle and Blood, Hughes plumbed the depths in his personal life. Somehow, he appeared on various albums for the likes of Gary Moore and Tony Iommi, but it wouldn’t be until the 90′s and his brush with death, that Hughes would finally get his life, and his career, back on track. But oh boy, has he made up for lost time! A string of fantastic solo albums followed, plus great rock albums with Voodoo Hill and once again with Tony Iommi. His catalogue is of such a high standard, and so vast, its almost impossible to single anything out. Regular side men include Swedish guitarist JJ Marsh, and, as a perfect foil for the funk, the Chili’s Chad Smith on drums. He is known variously as The Voice of Rock, the White Man’s Stevie Wonder, but above all he’s the funkiest mutha to take the stage.There is, quite simply no-one who can play bass and sing like this man. He stands alone.
On a personal note, he is pretty much the reason I’ve been a bassist/vocalist professionally for 30 years, and I’ve been lucky enough to meet him and tell him so. Listening to Deep Purple’s Burn album, and Glenn’s vocal and bass lines…it was like a light bulb going on in my head – so THAT’S what it’s all about!
To paraphrase his old band Trapeze’s album title YOU are the music, Glenn – we’re just the fans.
RI.P. Mel Galley, guitarist with Trapeze, Whitesnake and Phenomena, who succumbed to throat cancer on July 1st. this year.
Recommended: Trapeze: You are the Music album, Deep Purple: Come Taste the Band, Glenn Hughes: Play Me Out, Feel, Soul Mover, Music for the Divine, F.U.N.K. Hughes/Thrall:Hughes/Thrall
I’ve got an offer that you can’t refuse right here! I found this over at Gorilla v Bear (indie people like animals) and it’s the music deal of the year so far. It’s The Walkmen‘s new album, You & Me, which is supposedly their best yet and one of the best albums of the year for a measley 5 bones. Not only is it only $5, but that $5 will go towards helping kids with cancer. Really, you almost can’t not do this, unless you’re a true grouch who doesn’t like music or kids. This from the press release:
“All donations go to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in honor of Luca Vasallo, a friend to the band and a current patient who is seven months old and doing a great job fighting a very difficult disease,” said Peter Bauer of The Walkmen. “This is a very good organization that certainly deserves the attention.”
So, it would behoove you to head on over to Amie St. and make your donation, and receive a fine musical album at 320 kbps DRM-free mp3′s! Oh yeah, and it doesn’t officially drop until August 19th. I haven’t heard it yet, but I’m going there now to get mine.
Sample the song “In The New Year” from You & Me… [audio http://www.frannysilverman.com/NewmRadio/04-In_The_New_Year.mp3]
I stumbled on these guys somehow recently and realized I had totally forgotten about them and how I wore out my cassette of their self-titled 1989 album. It was a reminder that there were gritty hard rock bands out there at the end of the nineties trying to revive the genre…and then along came Nirvana’s Nevermind in the middle of ’91!
Anyone remember these cats?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPQ0DI3Mar0&hl=en&fs=1]
Their s/t first album still sounds great today. And it’s super-cheap at Amazon. Highly-recommended.
…you voted against Bush twice.
In the early 1960′s , as popular music underwent its huge catharsis, it was not just the kids in the front rooms with their cheap guitars that would make it a force to be reckoned with. A lot of Jazz musos were crossing over, experimenting with the singles and album market that was growing almost daily. One such jazz player was a certain Jack Bruce. A jazz bassist in his teens, Bruce was playing for Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated by 1962, though on double bass. It was here he met Ginger Baker, and they went on to play with The Graham Bond Organisation, where Bruce finally succumbed to the lure of the Electric Bass. However the legendary hostility between him and Ginger soon brought proceedings to a close, and he joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, where he first played with Eric Clapton. After a stint with Manfred Mann, playing on several hits, he made his career-defining move, forming the ultimate power trio with Baker and Clapton; Cream. It was in the two short years between 66 and 68 that Bruce cemented his reputation as one of the greatest and most influential bassist/vocalists of all-time, his Gibson EB-3 bass becoming almost iconic. His fluid bass lines, almost solos in their own right, and rich, timbred vocals, singing the fantastical lyrics of Pete Brown, ensure that he’s still worshiped to this day.
His fondness for the Power trio never waned, and he experimented with it in several line-ups, including West, Bruce and Laing, (featuring ex-Mountain men Corky Laing and Leslie West) and BBM (Bruce, Baker and Moore, featuring the Irish guitar legend).
Following an almost fatal liver transplant, he returned triumphantly to the stage with Cream for the Albert Hall reunion concerts in 2005.
Recommended: Sunshine of Your Love – an iconic riff, a great vocal. I Feel Free – Classic Bruce!
West, Bruce and Laing: Why Dontcha? – A forgotten classic
And a note from Newm: It is certainly worth mentioning that our good friends at Esoteric Recordings in England have just released an amazing career-spanning Jack Bruce box set called Can You Follow, and having heard it, it’s absolutely brilliant. It’s got stuff that he’s done with Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, Cream, West Bruce & Laing, solo, Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse, Zappa, Manfred Mann, and more.
You might remember that I wrote a piece about the Welsh band, MAN, a few months ago when I was still a newbie to their music. Since then I have received some mind-blowing MAN albums, bursting with their eclectic blend of West Coast psychedelia, hard rock, blues, progressive rock, funk, Beatlesy harmonies, and top notch jamming. These albums have been beautifully remastered with excellent bonus material and packaging and new liner notes from one of the MAN legends himself, guitarist/singer/songwriter, Deke Leonard. The most recent reissues include the three albums, Back Into The Future, Slow Motion and Maximum Darkness.
I’ve got to say that these MAN reissues have been in very heavy rotation in my iTunes and iPod for the last couple months. I have gone from a complete ignorance of this band, not even having heard of them before 2008, to being converted to an unmitigated MAN fan by mid-2008. Why is MAN such a horribly overlooked band, you might ask? I’m really not sure, but my guesses are a) perhaps mismanagement (a la Moby Grape) and b) lack of radio hits. At least the Grateful Dead had “Truckin’” and “Casey Jones” But this isn’t necessarily mainstream music here either. This is music for music’s sake. Here’s my completely-biased account of the most recent set of MAN albums that have just been re-released on England’s Esoteric Recordings this summer.
Click on through for the juicy details…
When I was at the Stoned Crow in the Village a couple weeks ago, enjoying a strange and very real absinthe buzz, I went to the bathroom and found myself in a wonderland of amazing old rock photos. There was Angus Young, Mike Bloomfield, The Stones, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Cream, Clapton, Doors, Dylan, The Dead…and these Boobs. And I couldn’t figure out who they belonged to. My first guess was Debbie Harry, but when I thought about it, I thought ‘that’s not her body!’.
So tell me someone, is this her body, or is this another dame? Whose boobs are these?!
Mystery Tits
This is pretty damn cool. Animal Collective debuted a new song “Lion In a Coma” at the Pitchfork festival. Always interesting…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q1pf_t_IQo&hl=en&fs=1]
A Big thank you to Newms for inviting me to post my series on bassist/vocalists. I’m going for a roughly chronological theme here..by “roughly” I mean that if I get to the mid-80′s and suddenly think of a guy from ’72, i’ll just stick it in. Who else to start with but the Daddy:
PAUL McCARTNEY
When it comes to the bass guitar, there are two people whose importance cannot be overstated: Leo Fender, who pretty much got everything right with his first attempt when he invented the Precision Bass, and Paul McCartney, who elevated it to an art form, and almost single-handedly saw to it that it was recognised as a serious instrument in its own right.
McCartney wasn’t satisfied with simply underpinning the song, he wove wonderful countermelodies between the chords, demanding the listener’s ear. Take the bassline to “With a little help from my Friends” – taken alone, it is a wonderful melody, never resting on the root notes, but moving around with a great fluidity. But what also elevated McCartney into a very select group was the fact that he was a lead vocalist, and probably the first of his kind that doubled on bass. Traditionally, its a lot easier to strum along on rhythm, or intersperse your vocal with lead breaks, than to play lines that cut directly across what you’re singing. McCartney did this to perfection, unwittingly laying the blueprint for the role of the bassist/vocalist in the glut of power trios that would follow in the Beatles’ wake. This series aims to highlight the bassists who’ve taken on the mantle of singer – interestingly, in almost every case – to great success.
Suggested McCartney basslines to listen to: With a little help from my Friends; Penny Lane; Come together. Suggested McCartney vocals: Got to get you into my life; I’m Down
What was Bob Dylan’s first book called?
…you went to the Siren Festival knowing you’d hate it.
Liars always put on good shows, and Sunday’s McCarren Pool show was no exception. Here’s an assortment of visual aids from the festivities…
The Dodos
Jaguar Love
Jaguar Love
Ra Ra Riot
Ra Ra Riot
After last year’s hugely successful and extremely cool 77 BoaDrum, brought to you by the Boredoms and Nike, there will be an 88 BoaDrum this year…in both Brooklyn and L.A. In case you don’t know about it, 77BoaDrum was a serpentine coil of 77 drummers at 77 kits, all playing for over an hour and a half, conducted by Eye from Japanese band, the Boredoms. It was set up last year, of course on 7/7/07, on Brooklyn Bridge Park between the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge. It ended up being the surprise best live event in NYC in 2007.
This year, it is free again, but you need to get tickets in advance to assure admission. Last year, was just a queue-up and hope you get in kinda thing, but it was also not widely known about. So get your tickets here fast, if you wanna go!
And here’s a little video I took last year…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn40TATTxgI&hl=en&fs=1]
It’s gonna be hard to beat the heat in NYC this weekend (over 90 and humid), but what you can’t beat is New York’s bevy of free live summer shows every summer! And this weekend is especially off the charts. Here’s what happening:
Friday, July 18th: Mary Weiss with Nouvellas and the Lost Crusaders at South Street Seaport
Seaport Music: Mary Weiss of the Shangri-Las with Nouvellas and The Lost Crusaders
Time: 6:30pm
Date: July 18, 2008
Location: South Street Seaport
Price: Free
Mary was fifteen years old when she and her sister Elizabeth (Betty) began singing with identical twins Margie and Mary Ann Ganser in their neighborhood of Queens, NY. They soon shot into the charts with massive hits including Remember (Walking In The Sand), Leader Of The Pack, and Give Him A Great Big Kiss. Mary put out a new album recently and has been tearing it up ever since. It’ll be a massive garage rock party when others are announced on this bill.
This event is part of 2008′s R2R Legacy program. R2R Legacy highlights a selection of the Festival’s programs that strongly reflect, revive, newly interpret, or celebrate important cultural works, influential artists and our diverse cultural heritage. These programs are made possible, in part, with support from American Express through their commitment to cultural preservation.This show starts at 6:30!
and also on Friday, July 18th: Deerhoof and the Metropolis Ensemble: The Rite – Remixed (at Prospect Park Bandshell)
Celebrate Brooklyn & Wordless Music present DEERHOOF / METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE: THE RITE: REMIXED The mercurial experimentalists DEERHOOF, “the most creative band in indie rock today,” (LA Weekly) forge a distinctive sound out of sophisticated improvisation, fierce dissonance, and weirdly catchy melodies. They’re paired here, via the forward thinking Wordless Music Series, with a world premiere by METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE, led by Artistic Director/Conductor Andrew Cyr. The Rite: Remixed is a collaboration with composers and live electronics producer/performers Ryan Francis, Leo Leite, and Ricardo Romaneiro, who re-conceptualize Stravinsky’s monumental The Rite of Spring through the lens of the latest sounds and technology from electronica. The work combines keyboards and laptops with huge percussion and brass ensembles to create a futuristic, rhythm-inspired sonic tableau.
So far, that’s just Friday! Click through below to see Saturday and Sunday’s lineups…
