Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Chrome Dreams

Chrome Dreams II is Neil Young's latest album and a 'sequel' to Chrome Dreams, originally scheduled for release in 1976, but still unreleased to this day. Some of the songs on Chrome Dreams II were scheduled for other albums but dropped for various reasons. Among the retreads Neil has rolled out of the garage is "Ordinary People", the album's first single and an 18+ minute epic slated for 1988's This Note's For You.

The original Chrome Dreams was the follow up to Tonight's The Night, Neil Young's grossly underrated classic. Some of the songs from Chrome Dreams were later rerecorded and found there way onto other albums.




Enjoy some classics past and future!

From Chrome Dreams:

Too Far Gone

Homegrown

Powderfinger

And from Chrome Dreams II:

Beautiful Bluebird

Ordinary People

The Believer

Spirit Road

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Simone White :: I Am The Man



I just came across Simone White the other day and listened to the title track to her new album, I Am The Man. Give this song a listen!

Her gentle strumming and carefully crafted vocals belie her surefooted and staunch convictions about right and wrong in world.

Her album was released earlier this year in the U.K. and unfortunately, isn't available in the U.S. yet. Instrumentation is sparse through most of the album as Simone and her acoustic guitar take front and center stage. While the album as a whole is "alright", two songs in particular have grabbed me.

The other song I found intriguing on her album is called "Roses Are Not Red". An "I'm-certainly-not-heartbroken-over-losing-you" lament if one has ever been written!

Roses Are Not Red

Roses are not red
A still life never growing
The sun is not a source of light
And the wind will not be blowing
Birds will die
Up in the sky
The sky that is not blue
Everything is as it was
I never loved you
I never loved you



Saturday, October 6, 2007

By request:


Kid Rock's new album Rock N Roll Jesus drops this Tuesday.

Michigan's Devil Without a Cause takes a sentimental journey, singing about the halcyon days of youth and "goin' Up North" (as we say).

Kid Rock :: All Summer Long

Warren Zevon :: Werewolves Of London

Lynyrd Skynyrd :: Sweet Home Alabama

Thanks Kap! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!



Click on the Petoskey Stone to learn more about Michigan's unique "State Stone"!


Honky Tonk Women (alternate version)


Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) (from Goat's Head Soup)


Monkey Man (from Let It Bleed)


Sweet Virginia (from Exile On Main St.)

Friday, October 5, 2007

Jimi Plays Monterey

On October 16, a new release of Jimi Hendrix: Live At Monterey DVD and CD will available.

Tthe CD had been extremely hard to find in past couple decades due to the legal wrangling over rights to Jimi's music. Thanks to the Great, Great House of Guitars in Rochester, NY, I got an import CD of Jimi Plays Monterey in the early 90's.



D.A. Pennebaker's film, Monterey Pop Festival, as well as his filming of Jimi in Jimi Plays Monterey have been previously available on DVD.

The new release's "Definitive Edition" will allow you to view alternate camera angles of Jimi's performance. (Cool!)

An oft-told story behind Jimi's over-the-top performance is due to a rift between Jimi and Pete Townsend of The Who backstage at Monterey. Pete respected and admired Jimi for his playing and stage show. But both Pete and Jimi were going to use guitar-smashing as part of their act and Pete did not want to go on after Jimi. A coin-toss decided that The Who would in fact go first. The Who's own electrifying shows would certainly be a hard act to follow for nearly any musician or group in the spring of 1967.

Jimi Hendrix, however, was not just any musician. Jimi was a force of nature; a cosmic storm hurling atomic fireballs across the galaxy while other performers were shooting rubber bands at the moon. Jimi, as we know, enrapt the audience with his charm then began to set the world on fire one Stratocaster at a time with an inspired and other-worldly performance.

So to whet your appetite for the re-release of this historic performance...

The Wind Cries Mary and

Like A Rolling Stone, from Jimi Plays Monterey

I credit Jimi Hendrix 100% for piquing my interest in, and subsequent obsession with, Bob Dylan. In this version of Like A Rolling Stone, Jimi's voice inflects the taunting, bittersweet feelings behind lyrics of the song.

"How does it feel?!"