I grew up in the 1960s, but the music that filled my home was more Beatles and Johnny Cash and less folk music. The only folk music that I did hear was from the Smothers Brothers and a couple of songs from the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul, and Mary. So all the songs on the soundtrack to Inside Llewyn Davis were new to me. It was something of a surprised to find that they were all real songs, even the fairly silly Please Mr Kennedy, though they have all been altered in subtle and not so subtle ways. So…
Category: music review
Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono
While doing a bit of ritual cleaning I came across a stack of old LPs. Double Fantasy was among them. This is one of a handful of albums I bought new when it came out. I was never as big a music fan as I could have been. Oh, I love music, but I tend to love it after it’s been around for a while. For example, I was really into the Beatles when John Lennon was murdered. Like most Beatles fans, I was never very fond of Yoko Ono. As far as his Asian women went, I always thought…
Songza
Back when I was in High School New Wave music was all the rage and there was a New Wave version of the Rolling Stone’s Mother’s Little Helper. This was a song that I heard a handful of times and than never heard again. Until I found Songza the other day. A quick Google let me find out that this Rolling Stone cover was preformed by a group called Polyphonic Size. I still like this song. The clipped words and techno sound fit nicely with the old lyrics. Ok, so this isn’t exactly like finding an old Beatles recording in…
30,000 Pounds of Bananas
It was just after dark when the truck started down the hill that leads into Scranton Pennsylvania.Carrying thirty thousand pounds of bananas.Carrying thirty thousand pounds (hit it Big John) of bananas. -Harry Chapin Harry Chapin is best known for his serious songs like Taxi and Cat’s in The Cradle, but this is my favorite Harry Chapin song. 30,000 Pounds of Bananas is a tragic song in its own right, but it is not exactly the same as Taxi. I’ve been to that hill outside of Scranton, PA and I couldn’t help but think of this song. Lovely place, but I…
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
As with all such lists, it is purely a matter of taste as to which 1001 Albums You Must Listen To Before You Die. Flipping though the dense and heavy tome I found that I had already listened to a good number of the 1001 Albums, but was shocked by the albums that I had never even heard of. I like to think of my taste is a bit eclectic and kind of with it-at least up until about 1985 when music took a hard turn which throw me into a ditch. It should be possible to pack all 1001…
Amy Winehouse-Rehab
Natalie Cole wasn’t happy about Amy Winehouse’s five Grammy wins on Sunday night. “I don’t think she should have won,” Cole said of the British singer’s triumphs, People reported. “I think it sends a bad message to our young people who are trying to get into this business, the ones who are trying to do it right and really trying to keep themselves together.” Cole, who would have no career if she was not Nat King Cole’s daughter, said that giving Winehouse, who is currently in rehab the awards, was a bad move. “We have to stop rewarding bad behavior,”…
Vinyl Records-I Never Miss Them
Vinyl records have a kind of magic aura about them-they live in a world of dreams where they are better in our memories than they were in our reality. As with film, there are some people that just don’t want to admit that new technology is better than old technology. As a photographer I met old guys who say with absolute conviction- film is better than digital. If by ‘better’ you mean it costs more to use, is harder to work with, and is unreliable, than yeah, film is better than digital. Much the same can be said about vinyl…
The Naked Violin-Is There Any Other Kind?
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin, what else does a man need to be happy. Albert Einstein The Naked Violin is a free download of some very nice classical music by Tasmin Little. So there is not reason to give The Naked Violin a listen. I was a Violinist when I was in High School, though I did quit pretty soon after I found out that I was really, really bad at playing the violin. Tasmin Little struck with that whole violin thing and is currently giving away digital downloads of her CD The Naked…
Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club is the most important album the Beatles ever recorded. The satin uniforms, the backward music, that whole Paul is Dead thing. And it was in eye popping color. Their first smash album in the U.S. was Meet The Beatles, followed by their appearance on Ed Sullivan-both in black and white. The split lighting on the cover of Meet the Beatles has been paraded almost as much as the mob scene on the cover of Sgt Pepper. I discovered the Beatles when I was in High School in the late 1970s. Disco and New Wave ruled…
k.d. lang Shadowland
I was made to sing like a lemon tree was made to make lemons-k.d.lang k.d. lang has always had an amazing voice, but she has never really fit in with the rest of the big haired Country Western Women Singers. So she is no longer listed as Country, but as Alternative, or Alt-Country. Shadowland has a country feel in places, but really, since they let Lee Greenwood call himself a Country singer, there hasn’t been any real Country Music. So k.d. lang’s mix of country and soft jazz is very good stuff. Like Boy George and Mick Jagger, k.d. lang…