Category: Music

Best Concerts Ever

It has been a while since I posted any top 5 lists. So, I thought I’d do something a little different today, meaning that this one is even more subjective than all the others. So, I present to you, my humble readers, the top 5 Concerts I have personally experienced.

5. Leftover Salmon – May 2, 2000 – Knoxville, TN

Leftover Salmon are an eclectic mix of bluegrass, country, Cajun, southern rock, and boogie. We got front-row tickets at the Bijou and smiled every minute of it. Their music is all about fun, and I danced my little rump off until the last cord. These guys made sounds come out of the mandolin and banjo I wouldn’t have thought possible.

4. Lucinda Williams – September 25, 2001 – Bloomington, IN

Lucinda is one of my all-time favorite musical acts. We got there early and were rewarded with spots right off the stage (there were no seats) and to the left. Dressed in a low-cut, red tank top and tight-fitting blue jeans, Lucinda was dressed to please, and she did just that. I would have preferred it if the band had stretched some of the songs a bit, but what they left out in improvisation, they more than made up for with energy. She sang all my favorite songs and a few that quickly became new favorites.

3. Ratdog – April 10, 2001 – Knoxville, TN

I’ve seen Ratdog several times before, but this was my favorite performance. I decided to go at the last minute, on a whim, and I’m glad I did. It was a mixed setlist, containing both songs I really don’t like and some of my very favorites. But even on the crappy songs they played tremendously.

2. Furthur Festival – June 25, 1998 – Atlanta, GA

Through various circumstances, I was never able to see the real Grateful Dead in concert. What I have to live with is their various incarnations minus Jerry Garcia. In the second year of the Furthur Festival, a touring festival featuring members of the Dead as well as other Dead influenced bands, the remaining members of the Grateful Dead (minus drummer Bill Kreutzman) formed The Other Ones. This was the first time since Garcia’s death that all of them were playing together, and the first time they set out playing the old classic Dead songs. It was not a disappointment. The jams were hot and smooth, in fact, much of the three-hour show seemed like one giant medley of music. It was a perfect time, perfect place and I enjoyed some great music with even better friends.

1. Willie Nelson
I’ve seen Willie Nelson twice: Once at the Brady Theatre, in Tulsa, OK, and again at the IU Auditorium in Bloomington, Indiana. They were completely different types of shows, and yet I cannot claim that one was better than the other. In Tulsa, they took all of the seats out of the theatre to give it a livelier atmosphere. The bar was running plenty of drinks out and the crowd acted like it. Willie’s music was up to the task. He played a huge medley of all of his classic hits without taking a break to say a word. It was loud, obnoxious, and fantastic. I’ll never forget Willie standing on the stage with a wrinkled face, and broken guitar running through “Amazing Grace” and “Uncloudy Day” with about 20 bras having been thrown on the stage and the audience saluting their beer mugs to the gospel music. It was quite a time.

In Bloomington, the atmosphere was completely different. It was an academic auditorium and the people were all dressed appropriately. Willie played his songs as songs, pausing between each one to say thank you. The audience sat politely in their seats, except for a few moments when they gave an ovation to the giant American flag and his tribute with some patriotic songs. It was vastly different than the crazed party scene I had witnessed before, and yet it was still a wonderful night of music.

That was really tough. There are other concerts that just barely missed the top five. The Indigo Girls, Sam Bush, and Jamgrass were difficult to cut out. But that’s what a top list is for, I guess.

Google News

I wrote my first piece for Google News today. Let me explain. I’ve been writing for Blogcritics for a couple of months now. Mainly I’m posting the reviews I write there over there, but there have also been a couple of music essays as well. Many Blogcritic authors also write on current events, such as the Michael Jackson court case, the new Pope, or whatever happens to be going on in the world. A lot of those posts are picked up by Google News which is subsequently picked up by just about everybody.

I’m not really cued into any current situations of the world, thus I’ve stayed away from posting anything. Until today. I just heard that Dark Star Orchestra’s keyboardist recently passed away and felt moved enough to write about it. I must say that I’m not particularly a huge fan of the band, but I know enough people dig them that it is newsworthy. I feel a little opportunistic in taking a tragedy and using it to put my name a little further into cyberspace, but I suppose that’s the breaks. I guess, really, I happened into this information and realized it had not been posted on Blogcritics, so I took that opportunity. Read my post here (sorry the link is no longer valid).

Various Ramblings about U2

In high school, I drove a 1986 Plymouth Reliant. It was a hand-me-downs hand-me-down. From my mother to my brother to me, it had seen more than a few hard miles. But, it was my first car, and for what it was worth I loved it, except when the fan belt made that horrible squealing noise as I was pulling out of school. I had a new tape deck that literally hung in the dash. My father, never willing to spend more than he had to on car repair, decided to install the stereo himself. The new one was a bit smaller than the old one so it left a good half-inch space around the new stereo. I wedged some cardboard underneath it to keep it from taking to many bangs and was good to go.

In those days I had a habit of listening to one cassette over and over again. One month I listened to Paul Westerburg’s 13 Songs nonstop. I had the Doors soundtrack completely memorized, beat for beat, Morrison wail for Morrison wail. There was a several-week period that I listened to U2’s 4 song EP Wide Awake in America and nothing else. Since it is so short it contained the same music on side B as on side A. I didn’t care, I loved every moment of it. It was also just long enough to listen to the entire EP in one drive to school.

During this same period, I began driving one of my sister’s friends, Amy, to school with us. She was a pleasant girl and lived close enough to me that I didn’t mind picking her up. Two or three weeks went by like this: driving Amy to and from school, me listening to the same four songs over and over again. One afternoon we loaded into the car after school ready to head home. At that very moment, I decided I was tired of listening to U2 and ejected the tape after half a verse of Bad.

“That was a tape?” Amy asked.

“Of course, it’s a tape. We’ve been listening to it repeatedly for the last several weeks.” I replied.

“Well, I thought the radio was playing that song a lot.”

“Yeah, and playing it at the exact same moment in the afternoon that we left off in the morning. That’s nice of the radio station to do that for us,” I joked.

I think she was a little more than embarrassed.

————

That particular song, “Bad”, is a particular favorite of mine. It’s got a cool, elevating jam in it on the live version. It sparkles like the stars in the sky. Truth be told, it is the main reason I listened to the EP over and over again. It’s got some great, mysterious lyrics.

There’s a great story about the band playing some awards show way back when, and Bono spends their entire slotted time trying to get a fan on stage with him. The band keeps playing the riffs, and security keeps trying to stop the fan from climbing the stairs. And there is Bono, world savior, persuading the fan to come up with him. Meanwhile, everyone else is begging him to come back and sing the song. Minutes roll by, the band’s time slot is almost up, and they haven’t even finished this one song yet. Something like 8 minutes roll by, their entire time slot, and Bono is still trying to get this one fan on stage. Finally, security lets up and the girl runs onto the stage, into Bono’s arms. There he is, one of the biggest rock stars around and he’s hugging a fan. Bam! Superstardom forever.

The song doesn’t have a proper chorus. There is a repeated refrain, but its lyrics are obscure. I listened to that song a hundred times and I could never figure out what he was saying.

I’m Wide Awake
I’m Wide Awake

But after that, it was just a mumble. I was sure it was a powerful, amazing lyric, but I could never penetrate its meaning.

One day, months after keeping the tape in my deck for weeks on end, I threw the tape back in my player. Cruising the Oklahoma back roads I cranked it up.

If I could, yes I would
If I could, I would
Let it go

Bono sang. The Edge jangling his guitar, the music crescendos higher and higher.

If I could through myself
Set your spirit free
I’d lead your heart away
See you break, break away
Into the light
And to the day

To let it go
And so to fade away
To let it go
And so fade away

I’m loving it. It’s a perfect summer day. My windows are down, my left arm soaring out the window. The road is untrafficked by other drivers, and unwatched by the cops. There are a series of hills we used to call “the Rollercoaster” because they dipped and rose like an amusement park ride. I used to take them real fast and try to get some air between the road and my tires. Life was good.

I’m wide awake
I’m wide awake

And then it hit me. Out of the clear, blue sky, I suddenly knew what he was singing. It made perfect sense, and fit perfectly with the previous couplet. There it is again, this time I can’t help but understand. How could I have not heard those lyrics before? A smile crept to my lips as I sang along:

I’m wide awake
I’m not sleeping
Oh, no, no, no

Meditations on the Grateful Dead circa 10/09/77

1977 is not the greatest year for Grateful Dead concerts. 10/09/77 is not the Dead’s finest night, it is not even their best from 1977 or their best night from October. “The Music Never Stopped” is a good song. It is not a Great Song.

But what the band does to it this night is what the Dead could do to just about any song. They make it Great. It begins no better than any number of versions they played throughout the years. All cylinders are popping right on time. Bob sings with his usual gusto.

The verses and chorus sound good, but it is after the last chorus that things really get going. At 3:24 the music begins to break down. The song’s structure is shed. Garcia plays like two snakes intertwined, dancing through each other. Bob follows his trail, throwing loopy, curved rhythms. Lesh hops along behind on bass like a kid on a pogo stick. The drummers keep their pace. Garcia speeds up the race moving his fingers like a jackrabbit on acid.

The pace quickens, and all melody and structure are thrown away, for a moment there is no longer a song, hardly what anyone would call music, but it is magic. An exciting pulsing beast. Garcia’s snakes eat each other and explode into something new. Phil thump thump thumps into the highest reaches of the atmosphere. Bob is no longer playing anything like rhythm unless it is the rhythm of some cosmic god. This lasts for two or three minutes, then without warning every musician, as if on cue, bangs back into the beat. I, wearing my headset at full volume, tense up as if a bomb has been dropped.

I begin to open my mouth half expecting to sing along with the next verse or the chorus. The boys seem to expect this too, playing the melody outright for a moment before realizing there is nothing left to sing. There are no more verses, the chorus has been sung. Garcia takes that cue to soar to the heavens again. The rest of the band continues to hammer out what remains of the song. The melody is there in the backbeat. Phil has it in his bass, the drummers pound it out on the skins, and even Bob is back into the rhythm. But Garcia, sensing the cosmos around him wants nothing to do with the conventions of song. He skates, dances, and weaves through a new song.

Something the audience, as cosmically charged as Dead audiences get, must understand. It is Garcia taking us along for the ride, headed to outer space and salvation, held back only by the melody and rhythm of that song. No longer dancing, Garcia charges ahead to break free. Faster, faster, louder he plays. Like a rocket flaring to break through the atmosphere, but at last, the gravity of the song still being played pulls him down. The band senses their victory and as if toying with Garcia breaks out of the mold of the song and begins the fast beat of the end. A crescendo of noise followed by the crash of a song ended.

No, 1977 was not the greatest year for live Dead. December was not the greatest month in 1977 and October 9 was not the Dead’s greatest night of October. “The Music Never Stopped” is not the Dead’s finest song. Yet in this year, this night, and on this song the Grateful Dead created magic. Just like they did for 30 years over different years, different months, and different songs.

Alien (1979)

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Each film in the Alien quadrilogy has differed from the other. It helps that they each had a distinctive and imaginative director. Ridley Scott created a slow, tension-filled science fiction epic. James Cameron pumped it full of adrenaline and made an action-packed masterpiece. David Fincher cut his teeth on Alien3 by turning the action into a dark, mostly muddled mess. Jean-Pierre Jeunet tried to rescue the franchise but had no story to work with. Like the Star Wars movies what we’re left with is a couple of top-notch flicks and a few others that – while showing a few moments of visual brilliance – ultimately leave the series limp.

But my review is not of the series as a whole, but on the movie that started it all. In considering the franchise it is sometimes forgotten that Alien never started out as a quadrilogy. There was only this one movie about a group of average workers sent to capture a monster. Scott does a superb job of creating suspense. It is some 30 minutes into the picture before we actually see an Alien. And even then the action is slow to evolve. For the audience, this creates a great amount of tension.

Even for those who have never seen an Alien movie, the creature has so penetrated our popular culture that everyone knows it’s not an ET kind of alien. So, while watching it we know that the it is creeping around some corner just waiting to devour the characters. And yet we hardly see it. We not only don’t get to see any alien through a third of the film, but when it does come out and begin its slaughter, we only catch glimpses of the creature itself. It is seen in the dark creeping inside a corner, or in a flash as it jumps out of the darkness to attack.

Scott, instead, uses shots of the crew to show the fear in their eyes, before their destruction, rather than show the creature in action. There are only one or two moments where the audience sees the alien in full figure, and those last only a short time. Even then the alien does not move, never allowing us to see it kill. This stroke serves to scare the audience even more. How many times have we seen a movie’s monster in action only to laugh at its poor design?

The movie oozes with atmosphere. The cinematography is dark and shadowy. The ship’s quarters are enclosed and tight, creating claustrophobic spaces in which to encounter the monster. Then there is HR Giger’s amazing design. His designs of the alien ship and the alien are absolutely perfect. The ship seems to slither and move as if it’s alive. There are curves, ridges, and smooth edges as on the alien itself. All of which create an atmosphere, and mood that stimulates the horror to come.

All of the effects shot were done in without the use of CGI. Generally, they still hold their ground. Sure, the glimpses we get of the alien standing look like a man in a rubber suit. But overall the effects look great. This is a testament to their genius of Giger. My main complaint is with MOTHER. Like other science fiction films the crew’s ship, the Nostromo has its brains in a giant computer. Here, MOTHER is housed in an inner room of the ship and only accessible by the ship’s captain. We see her captain, Dallas (Tom Skerritt) go to visit MOTHER for a “your eyes only” type deal. Why a commercial ship needs this type of security is never mentioned. Mother turns out to be a Star Trekesque computer equipped with blinking lights and a faint whirring sound. All of this is so that Dallas can sit down to a DOS prompt and ask silly questions like “What’s the story, Mother?” They should have gone with a more 2001 approach and had the crew be able to actually speak to MOTHER.

All of the characters are very well acted and fleshed out. Each character is given their own personality and is fully realized. There is a nice scene in which the crew is searching for the recently non-sucking face sucker as it has disappeared. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) has left the door open and Ash (Ian Holm) moves to shut it so the alien won’t escape. The look Ash gives as he is doing this is incredible. Ash and Ripley have previously had a bit of a fight and you can see the anger and irritation at Ripley perfectly in Ash’s face.

Sigourney Weaver plays Ripley beautifully. This is a female action star that is sexy but doesn’t pander to her sexuality (though they did manage to get her in her underwear.) She is tough as nails and intelligent. And Weaver plays her perfectly.

Alien is arguably the best in one of the most successful series in film history. It is also one of the best science fiction films Hollywood has ever made.

A Hard Days Night (1964)

a hard days night poster

I started watching Alien on Monday to follow through with my alphabetical watching, but have been delayed in completing it. Instead, I have a review of the Beatles’ first film A Hard Day’s Night.

Critiquing this film as a piece of cinema, and not as a collection of Beatles tunes is a difficult task. Richard Lester creates some truly beautiful black-and-white images. Though sometimes the camera can’t seem to find its focus. And the images were obviously taken on a helicopter as the boys play in the grass outside the television studio shake wildly and distract from the fun being had. The boys, though essentially playing themselves, still play it a little stiff as if they are not sure how, exactly, to be themselves. The jokes, for the most part, are still funny, and what little plot there is, still works to give a glimpse into what it was like to be a band on the verge of universal stardom.

To take the movie without the songs is well beyond the point, though. The movie is essentially a market ploy to get the songs heard via different media. One might not be so forgiving if the songs were not any good, but the music shines throughout. The title song that starts the movie off starts with that struuuum that is instantly recognizable and jumps out and smacks you in the face. That is followed by what is arguably the Beatles’ best tunes. When you add in such songs as “I Should Have Known Better”, “Tell Me Why”, “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You”, the simple, sweet “If I Fell” and the sing-along favorite “Can’t Buy Me Love” to the soundtrack then you have a musical that is just shy of remarkable.

The movie was released just before the Beatles came to America and appeared on Ed Sullivan which brought on the madness known as Beatlemania. By this time they were extremely popular as can be seen in the crowd’s reaction while the boys sings on the television show. It is still shocking to see images of teenage girls screaming, crying, and shaking in a manner previously only known to the Pentecostal religion. The soundtrack periodically allows the girls screaming to take over the music allowing us to glimpse what it must have been like to be there. No wonder the boys gave up playing live shortly thereafter.

A Hard Days Night is an excellent glimpse of the Beatles on the cusp of World Stardom. This was before the summer of love, drugs, and the sitar where the Beatles were just trying to be the best band in the world and writing songs that made them so. It is a joy to see them cutting up and being their goofy, hilarious selves. I dare you not to sing and dance along as you watch it.

A Short Post

Originally posted on December 20, 2004.

This will be short. I have spent most of the day quite ill and I don’t expect I have the strength or mental capacity to write a whole lot at this point. My blog pal Foolish Knight has asked everyone for their top ten songs of all time. I posted mine in his comments which you can read here although it is not the final version. I have a very hard time with the term “favorite.” Mainly because it makes me try to say one thing is better than the other. If I say Star Wars is my favorite movie then it means I think To Kill a Mockingbird is not as good as Star Wars. When this is not at all true. Choosing ten songs was amazingly difficult. There are a whole lot of other songs that I enjoy just as much as those ten. Then there are a million more that I enjoy at certain moments to make me happy or sad or whatever…All this is to say I hope to make a new list on this site going over a whole bunch of my favorite songs/artists.

Being sick I slacked off even more on my movie watching. I still haven’t finished The Abyss and didn’t get started on this week’s movie: About Schmidt. And now there is Christmas to contend with. Maybe I’ll get back on track in the New Year.

Top 5 Opening Tracks

Editor’s Note: For a brief period back in 2004 I had a little Facebook group where we would ask each other for our Top Five…whatevers.  I got the idea from the film High Fidelity, and we had a lot of fun with it.  I regularly posted my answers to the question on my blog. 

1. “Box of Rain” by the Grateful Dead from the album American Beauty.

Phil Lesh wrote all of the music, and even scatted the vocal lines before giving it to Robert Hunter to write the lyrics. He wanted a song to sing to his dying father. Hunter is quoted as saying the lyrics nearly wrote themselve coming as fast as the pen could hit the page. It is a beautiful song and opens waht is arguably the best Grateful Dead album ever made.

2. “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2 from the album The Joshua Tree

The opening track to my all time favorite U2 album. The slow, ethereal feel of the organs drifting is like sitting in a cathedral. Then the quick rhthym of the Edge’s guitar fades followed the thump thump of Adam Clayton’s bass. My head begings to nod, my feet begin to tap and then ‘BAM’ Bono’s vocal “I wanna run. I want to hide” it’s like the lift off of a rocket. Pure joy is followed for the next 4 minutes.

3. “So What” by Miles Davis from the album Kind of Blue

The jazz album for people who don’t own any jazz. This is a Miles Davis album in name only, with a line up like John Coltrane, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums this is an allstar jazz group. And it is this opening tonal song that brings the world to a new kind of jazz. Even the opening notes are some of the finest music to be played on any album.

4. “A Hard Days Night” by the Beatles from the album Hard Days Night.

From the opening chord of George’s guitar you know this is gonna be something exciting. From that startling moment John launches into one of the all time great rock and roll dities. Just one of many lennon/mccartney tunes that sound like they’re having so much fun and you just can’t help but sing a long at the top of your lungs.

5. “Radio Free Europe” by REM from the album Murmur.

A muddy, murky tune that you can’t understand a word to ushers to the world the sound that would be REM (at least for the next decade or so). Alternative college rock had been brewing behind the scenes for awhile and this, to me at least, is one of the defining songs of the whole scene. To this day I have no idea what Michael Stipe is singing about, and I just don’t care.

The Top Ten Cover Songs

Editors Note:  Once again I originally wrote this post many years ago.  I don’t know that I would pick these same songs were I to pick my favorite cover songs now.  But these are all good choices.  I haven’t thought about some of these songs in years, so this was a fun stroll down memory lane.

Top 10 Cover Songs

A few rules. To be a cover song the song could not have been written specifically for that artist. Therefore the Monkees “I’m a Believer” will not work because Neil Diamond wrote it for their TV show. Likewise, Neil Diamond’s version of that song doesn’t count even though many think of it as a cover, because well, he wrote it. To count for my list the cover has to be of an already generally known song. So Jimmy Hendrix’s version of “Hey Joe” doesn’t count. Because there’s a dispute over who actually wrote the song and whoever heard the versions by any of those guys?

1. Satisfaction by Otis Redding.
Original by the Rolling Stones

Many people consider the Devo version to be a much better cover, and I totally dig it too, but Otis just blows it away. He’s got that killer Otis soul, jumping rhythm and even horns! Keith Richards has been quoted as saying the Otis version is how he meant the song to sound.

2. All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix.
Original by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan himself changed his way of playing this song after he heard Hendrix

3. I Will by Alison Krauss.
Original by the Beatles

We played this song at our wedding. It’s a beautiful McCartney number slowed down, and sung even more beautifully by Ms. Krauss.

4. Sweet Jane by Cowboy Junkies.
Original by the Velvet Underground

I actually prefer Lou Reed’s solo live versions of this song more than the original Velvet Underground’s studio recording. But the Junkies make what is a rowdy, dirty rock and roller into a softer, peaceful lullaby.

5. Not Fade Away by the Grateful Dead.
Original by Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly’s sweet rockabilly tune is turned on its head by the masters of jam. Often the Dead would churn this tune into a grinding 15-minute spectacle.

6. RESPECT by Aretha Franklin
Original by Otis Redding

Aretha gets back at Otis here. Otis does some amazing vocals on his version, but Aretha takes it a step further and nails it on its head.

7. Cold, Cold Heart by Norah Jones
Original by Hank Williams

Norah turns this forlorn country song into a sultry, sexy croon.

8. Stardust by Willie Nelson.
Original by Hoagy Carmichael

Transforming a huge big band tune into its most simplistic melody Willie Nelson makes this song his own.

09. Bizarre Love Triangle by Frente
Original by New Order

The orignal was a big dance hit, but Frente break it down into a beautiful acoustic number.

10. Hurt by Johnny Cash
Original by Nine Inch Nails

The heartbreaking video adds a lot of texture to this version but in the end, it’s Johnny Cash’s voice that brings out more meaning into this song than ever meant by Trent Reznor.

There are certainly many more great covers out there that I thought of and didn’t think of that could have been included. I tried to pick songs that followed my mentioned rules and that broke away from the original. For instance, I think the harmonies on CSN’s version of “Blackbird” elevate it far above the Beatles version, however, they didn’t make it a different song and thus it wasn’t included. Got covers, not on my list? Comment them!