31 jul 2012

Rick Derringer

Biography by Bruce Eder It seems like Rick Derringer has been on the rock & roll scene forever -- actually, it's only been since 1965, which makes him one of the more enduring veterans of his generation. Derringer's work with his band the McCoys in his midteens, highlighted by the bubblegum anthem "Hang On Sloopy," gave him a claim to low-level rock & roll immortality, and his subsequent playing with Johnny (and later Edgar) Winter provided him with a degree of credibility that a lot of guitar players can only envy, especially after the release of the Edgar Winter live double album Roadwork. Derringer began getting production experience with the McCoys, but they were never able to overcome their bubblegum rock image, and by the end of the 1960s, Derringer and his brother Randy were recruited by Johnny Winter into his band, with Derringer playing guitar and also producing. He emerged as a solo artist in the wake of his playing with Edgar Winter's White Trash. Derringer first became popular in his own right during the early/mid-'70s, beginning with a new version of his own "Rock & Roll, Hoochie Koo" (which Johnny Winter had covered for him a few years earlier) off Derringer's heavy metal-influenced debut album, All American Boy. Derringer soon had his own band, called Derringer, on the road -- although his guitarist and bassist, Danny Johnson and Kenny Aaronson, left in 1977 to form Axis -- and within a couple of years had established himself as a popular favorite. Derringer's recorded history was somewhat spotty, however, as his record sales never matched his favor with concert audiences -- a huge gap also existed between releases, which didn't bother him; even in the late '90s, Derringer played close to 200 shows a year. He spent most of the late '70s and 1980s, however, as a producer, working with artists as diverse as Bette Midler, Kiss, Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper, Barbra Streisand, and Weird Al Yankovic. Derringer is known for his hard-rocking live shows, which don't necessarily translate well to recordings, or lend themselves to much originality. As he neared age 50 in the 1990s, however, he had mellowed, and this showed when he began recording again for Shrapnel Records in 1993 with the albums Back to the Blues and Electra Blues. Years of fair to average rock and adult contemporary albums followed, but in 2002 Derringer did an about-face and tried his hands at jazz with the adventurous Free Ride.

25 jul 2012

Derek and the Dominoes



Biography
by William Ruhlmann
Derek & the Dominos was a group formed by guitarist/singer Eric Clapton (born Eric Patrick Clapp, March 30, 1945, Ripley, Surrey, England) with other former members of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, in the spring of 1970. The rest of the lineup was Bobby Whitlock (b. 1948, Memphis, TN) (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (b. 1942, Oklahoma City, OK -- d. May 30, 1980) (bass), and Jim Gordon (b. 1945, Los Angeles) (drums). The group debuted at the Lyceum Ballroom in London on June 14 and undertook a summer tour of England. From late August to early October, they recorded the celebrated double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (November 1970) with guitarist Duane Allman sitting in. They then returned to touring in England and the U.S., playing their final date on December 6.

The Layla album was successful in the U.S., where "Bell Bottom Blues" and the title song charted as singles in abbreviated versions, but it did not chart in the U.K. The Dominos reconvened to record a second album in May 1971, but split up without completing it. Clapton then retired from the music business, nursing a heroin addiction.

In his absence, and in the wake of Allman's death in a motorcycle accident on October 29, 1971, the Dominos and Layla gained in stature. Re-released as a single at its full, seven-minute length in connection with the compilation album History of Eric Clapton (Atco 803) (March 1972), "Layla" hit the Top Ten in the U.S. and the U.K. in the summer of 1972. (It would return to the U.K. Top Ten in 1982.) A live album, Derek and the Dominos in Concert (January 1973), taken from the 1970 U.S. tour, was also a strong seller.

Time has only added to the renown of the group, which is now rated among Eric Clapton's most outstanding achievements. The 1988 Eric Clapton box set retrospective Crossroads featured material from the abortive second album sessions. The Layla Sessions was a 1990 box set expanding that album across three CDs/cassettes. Live at the Fillmore (1994) offered an expanded version of the In Concert album.

22 jul 2012

Delaney & Bonnie




by Jason Ankeny
The husband-and-wife duo of Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett created some of the most distinctive and unique music of the early '70s, but their alchemical sound -- equal parts blue-eyed soul, blues, country, and gospel -- was often marginalized by the attention instead paid to the contributions of their famous "friends," including rock icons like Eric Clapton, Duane Allman and George Harrison.

Delaney Bramlett was born July 1, 1939 in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, later befriending fellow aspiring musicians Leon Russell and J.J. Cale. On their recommendation he relocated to Los Angeles, briefly landing with the Champs before he was hired to play guitar with the Shindogs, the house band on the popular ABC television variety series Shindig. Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell, meanwhile, was born November 8, 1944 in Acton, Illinois and raised in nearby East St. Louis; as a teen she backed blues acts including Albert King and Little Milton, before signing on as the first-ever white Ikette behind Ike & Tina Turner. She eventually migrated to Los Angeles as well, and met Delaney while the Shindogs were moonlighting at a local bowling alley. Within a week, the couple were married.

After signing to the famed Memphis soul label, Stax, Delaney & Bonnie recorded their debut LP, 1969's Home. Though cut with the aid of Stax linchpins like Booker T. & the MG's, William Bell, and Isaac Hayes, the record went virtually unnoticed and the duo were released from their contract. They landed with Elektra to release the follow-up, Accept No Substitute -- recorded with a superb backing band including keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Keltner, the album was another commercial failure, but the couple's gritty, soulful vocals and earthy sound earned the appreciation of fellow musicians at home and abroad, not to mention an invitation to serve as the opening act on British supergroup Blind Faith's 1969 U.S. tour. Blind Faith's superstar guitarist Clapton was soon a fixture aboard Delaney & Bonnie's tour bus, regularly jamming with the Bramletts and their band. When Blind Faith disbanded after the tour ended, Clapton joined Delaney & Bonnie full-time, assuming a sideman role and actively avoiding the spotlight on-stage and off. The group eventually toured the U.K., where Clapton friends like Harrison and Dave Mason occasionally popped up on-stage -- a late 1969 show in Croydon was released the following year as On Tour with Eric Clapton, becoming the duo's best-selling LP when it cracked the American Top 30.

Now dubbed Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, the group briefly joined up with John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and toured Europe before returning stateside in 1970. When Clapton dropped out to begin working on his debut solo album -- a record that introduced a bluesy, raw vocal style clearly indebted to Delaney -- audience interest began to dissipate. Worse, Leon Russell lured away Radle and Keltner to join Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour, forcing the couple to cancel a planned tour of their own. Nevertheless, the backing band assembled for 1970's Tom Dowd-produced To Bonnie from Delaney was first-rate, including guitarist Duane Allman, bassist Jerry Scheff, pianist Jim Dickinson, and saxophonist King Curtis. 1971's Motel Shot was another all-star affair, highlighted by Delaney & Bonnie's biggest U.S. pop hit, "Never Ending Song of Love." The following year's D & B Together yielded another Top 20 hit, a reading of Dave Mason's "Only You Know and I Know." However, the LP was Delaney & Bonnie's last -- when their marriage fell apart, so did their musical collaboration.

After the couple's divorce, Delaney recorded a pair of solo albums, 1972's Something's Coming, and 1973's Mobius Strip, to fulfill their contract with Columbia Records; after 1978's Delaney Bramlett with Steve Cropper, a collaboration with the legendary Stax house guitarist recorded for Motown's Prodigal subsidiary, he largely disappeared from sight, overcoming a battle with alcoholism to become a born-again Christian and making a living by writing commercial jingles. In 2000, he returned with a new solo album, Sounds from Home, with Sweet Inspiration following in late 2003. Bonnie, meanwhile, made her solo debut with 1973's Sweet Bonnie Bramlett, recorded with the Average White Band. She then cut three little-noticed albums for Capricorn, and while touring with Stephen Stills in 1979, made headlines when she punched out Elvis Costello in a Columbus, Ohio bar after the British upstart reputedly called Ray Charles a "blind, ignorant nigger." She later changed her professional surname to Sheridan, found Jesus, and was, for a short time, a supporting cast member on the hit 1990s sitcom Roseanne. Bonnie returned to recording with I'm Still the Same. In 1993, Bekka Bramlett, Delaney and Bonnie's daughter, joined Fleetwood Mac, replacing Stevie Nicks.

19 jul 2012

Great Lake Swimmers: New Wild Everywhere


Review
by James Christopher Monger
Canada's Great Lake Swimmers may not engender the endless praise ascribed to critical darlings like Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver, but what the Toronto quintet lacks in dazzle, it more than makes up for with authenticity. New Wild Everywhere, the group's fifth full-length outing, offers up another solid, if predictable batch of warm, contemplative, country-folk pop that seamlessly blends the rootsy, sunset melancholy of Gram Parsons, the smoky, Adirondack sheen of Joe Pernice's Scud Mountain Boys and the earthy grace of the Cowboy Junkies. Understated, yet undeniably lush (the band chose to record in a proper studio, rather than employ their usual field recording method), stand-out cuts like the languid "Cornflower Blue" and "On the Water," and the rolling, Automatic for the People-era R.E.M.-infused title track feel homey and safe, like flames licking the walls of a fireplace. New Wild Everywhere may not bring anything new to the table, but what It does bring, as is the case with the best comfort food, has been honed to perfection.

16 jul 2012

June Star

Un interesante grupo que tiene disco nuevo este año y no debería pasar desapercibido
(slow dance)

13 jul 2012

M. Ward - A Wasteland Companion


Biography
by Nate Cavalieri & James Christophe
Portland, Oregon-based singer/songwriter M. Ward (born Matthew Stephen Ward) grew up listening to gospel and country, two genres that figure prominently in his breezy, West Coast take on Americana. After a six-year stint with the folk-rock trio Rodriguez, Ward began sketching out songs deeply rooted in the classic traditions of American country-folk. Ward's first solo effort came in the form of Duet for Guitars #2, which was written and recorded while he was living between Chicago and various locales on the West Coast. Eventually, the album was placed in the hands of the ever enigmatic Giant Sand mastermind Howe Gelb, who released it on his own Ow Om Recordings in the fall of 2000. The record enjoyed favorable reviews and a considerable amount of attention in underground rock circles, and Ward supported it with a handful tours throughout the United States and Europe.

Released in 2001, End of Amnesia helped to further develop Ward's penchant for dusty, timeless narratives and bluesy, back-porch ballads, but it wasn't until 2003's Transfiguration of Vincent that Ward would begin to penetrate the mainstream. His first release for indie darling Merge Records, Vincent cashed in on the Great Depression obsession of the post-O Brother, Where Art Thou? gold rush, paving the way for 2005's Transistor Radio and 2006's Post-War, both of which firmly established Ward as a major player in the burgeoning indie folk/adult alternative rock scene. In 2008, after collaborating on a song for the film The Go-Getter with actress Zooey Deschanel, the unlikely duo released a well-received album of covers and Deschanel originals called Volume One under the moniker She & Him. Ward returned to the studio later that year to begin work on his next full-length offering; 2009's Hold Time, which featured guest vocals from Deschanel, Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), and Lucinda Williams, arrived in early 2009. 2010 and 2011 saw the release of two more She & Him outings (Volume 2 and A Very She & Him Christmas), followed in 2012 by his seventh proper solo outing, A Wasteland Companion, which was recorded in eight different studios and featured contributions from 18n different musicians including Howe Gelb, Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis, Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley, Devotchka's Tom Hagerman, and Deschanel.

12 jul 2012

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

eview[-]by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Pieced together from outtakes and much-labored-over songs, Sticky Fingers manages to have a loose, ramshackle ambience that belies both its origins and the dark undercurrents of the songs. It's a weary, drug-laden album -- well over half the songs explicitly mention drug use, while the others merely allude to it -- that never fades away, but it barely keeps afloat. Apart from the classic opener, "Brown Sugar" (a gleeful tune about slavery, interracial sex, and lost virginity, not necessarily in that order), the long workout "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and the mean-spirited "Bitch," Sticky Fingers is a slow, bluesy affair, with a few country touches thrown in for good measure. The laid-back tone of the album gives ample room for new lead guitarist Mick Taylor to stretch out, particularly on the extended coda of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking." But the key to the album isn't the instrumental interplay -- although that is terrific -- it's the utter weariness of the songs. "Wild Horses" is their first non-ironic stab at a country song, and it is a beautiful, heart-tugging masterpiece. Similarly, "I Got the Blues" is a ravished, late-night classic that ranks among their very best blues. "Sister Morphine" is a horrifying overdose tale, and "Moonlight Mile," with Paul Buckmaster's grandiose strings, is a perfect closure: sad, yearning, drug-addled, and beautiful. With its offhand mixture of decadence, roots music, and outright malevolence, Sticky Fingers set the tone for the rest of the decade for the Stones.

10 jul 2012

ACDC & The Rolling Stones - Rock Me Baby

Bueno , bueno . hay más guitarras en este escenario que en el festival del Sonar .

Vaya blues se marcan los amigos con sus piruetas guitarreras.

Magnífica puesta en escena del Sr.Jagger con esa hermosa camisa fucsia.

Men at Work !


Lightships - Electric Cables


by Tim Sendra
After over 20 years playing in Teenage Fanclub and a few playing with the Pastels, Lightships is Gerard Love's first crack at a solo career. Gathering up friends like Bob Kildea from Belle & Sebastian, Tom Crossley of International Airport, and original TFC drummer Brendan O'Hare, Love spent time between TFC records and tours crafting a beguiling album that has roots in the chiming guitar pop sound he helped create but is far more atmospheric and low-key. Love's songs in the Fanclub are often the band's most direct and powerfully pop, but on Electric Cables he approaches the songs much more subtly, burying the rhythm guitars deep in the mix and adding all kinds of sound on top. His (and Dave McGowan's) guitar lines snake around the melodies gracefully, Crossley's flute floats through like a peaceful bird, and the album is swimming in tremolo and delay but not so much that it buries the beauty of Love's melodies and the heartwarming quality his vocals (both alone and in harmony) effortlessly transmit. A good reference point to the sound of Lightships would be "Vivid Youth," the enchanting song Love co-wrote on the Pastels/Tenniscoats album Two Sunsets. Like that song, the bulk of the album here has a late-autumn feel, very pastoral and peaceful with only the stray loud chorus (as on the uplifting "Silver and Gold") to break the mood a little. Even the tracks that up the tempo and/or dynamics a little (like "Stretching Out" or the truly lovely "Sweetness in Her Spark") are so coated in flutey atmosphere that they seem quietly dozy in the best possible way. Love's introspective lyrics and comforting voice are a half-made bed beckoning you back for a late-afternoon nap; the sound of the record is like the warm and cozy comforter on that bed. Shaking loose of the sweet and calming spell the album casts is as hard as waking up on a stormy fall afternoon. Electric Cables is the best record to come out of the TFC camp in a long time; the other guys in the band will no doubt be justifiably proud of Gerard's artistic success, but might also be wondering why he didn't save some of the songs and sonic imagination for the group's next outing. Regardless of how his bandmates might feel, those who like their indie pop filled with soft light and tender beauty will fall in love with this album quite easily.

9 jul 2012

LOU REED & DR JOHN 'PERFECT DAY'

Dos grandes aportaciones que ha traído internet han sido You Tube y la posibilidad de abrir la opinión de todo el mundo a través de los blogs. Digo esto ya que a través de You Tube se localizan vídeos que uno no podía imaginar y que provienen en su mayor parte de directos de las televisiones americanas e ingleses ( aunque este sea de la tv holandesa). Esta ha sido mi sorpresa al encontrar al Doctor con el Paciente intentando ambos encontrar un día perfecto, y uno de los medios para darlo a conocer es a través de este blog y seguramente otros ya lo habrán hecho anteriormente.

8 jul 2012

Bonnie Raitt - I Will Not Be Broken (live) 2005

Uf , que maravilla de canción !
Muy bien Bonnie Raitt !

Take me down
You can hold me but you
Can't hold what's within
Pull me round
Push me to the limit
Maybe I may bend
But I know where I'm not going
I will not be broken
I will not be broken
I will not be...


David Bowie - Starman - Live 1972

Aquí está !!

6 jul 2012

David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust [BBC Documentary]

Dedicado a Jordi

THE WILLIE WISELY TRIO “TRUE”


THE WILLIE WISELY TRIO “TRUE”
WRITTEN ON APRIL 7, 2012 BY POWERPOPAHOLIC IN ALBUM PREVIEW, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY POWERPOPAHOLIC, POWER POP REVIEW

After an 18 year hiatus the original members of the Willie Wisely Trio reunite for the enjoyable True. I would call the Trio an amalgam of pop, folk and blues with a twist. Wisely fans will love the catchy opener “Kiss Her And Make It Right” and it’s the peppiest song here. The sweet banjo progressions and trombone start “Dr. Jack” but it slowly fades into Wisely-land after the chorus, with dense violin effects. The excellent “Everybody Fears The Lord” does the same, it’s also got a killer hook and rapturous guitar.

The album also doesn’t take itself too seriously with “National Council Of Jewish Women’s Thrift Store.” Wisely writes about all the junk at the thrift store he sees from Farrah Fawcett to “I’m with Stupid” t-shirts. The acoustic folk tunes like “True” and “Low” are shining examples of great roots pop, like Glen Campbell or James Taylor. Also notable is the 26 minute final track “Surreal,” a long jam that reminds me of Simon & Garfunkel’s “A Simple Desultory Philippic.” Wisely and his trio let’s it all hang out and I simply loved this album.

3 jul 2012

Bad Weather California - Let It Shine

ac dc high voltage

Esto es rock : heavy , metal , estadio . lo que quieras llamarle y esta canción es fantástica!!

David Byrne - Make Believe Mambo, live 1992

He estado viendo el poco sentido el ritmo que tiene Paul Weller en el directo de "Walls Come Tumbling Down" y me ha venido a la mente el Rey Momo , recuerdo su concierto en Zeleste , lo mal que bailaba el tío David en su fase Pérez Prado . Algún día alguién deberá escribir algo serio sobre las estrellas del rock y sus problemas de como saber "marcar el paso" como dirían los que saben. Y si te aburre el clip ves al minuto 2.58 directamente y verás . Este es de los que caerá en el Sonar un año de estos!

2 jul 2012

25 años de Public Enemy

Este año se cumplen las bodas dwe plata del nacimiento de Public Enemy (¿quién dice que esto no es rock?)Mojo recopila sus mejores momentos mojo