Rockin’ Blues Sunday (and Monday)

It’s been a while since we wailed the blues on a Monday. So let’s do it on a Sunday – with a dozen guitar rockin’ blues.

MP3: “Buried Alive In The Blues” by Nick Gravenites

MP3: “Blues Before Sunrise” by Elmore James & the Broom Dusters

MP3: “Little Red Rooster” by Sugar Blue

MP3: “Good Rockin’ Tonight” by Wynonie Harris

MP3: “All Your Love” by John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (w/Eric Clapton)

MP3: “Rockin’ Daddy” by Howlin’ Wolf (w/Eric Clapton)

MP3: “What’d I Say” by Steve Cropper, Pops Staples & Albert King

MP3: “Sweet Little Angel” by B.B. King

MP3: “The Blues Had A Baby (And They Called It Rock and Roll)” by Muddy Waters (w/Johnny Winter)

MP3: “Bound For Glory” by the Tedeschi Trucks Band

MP3: “Dirty Pool” by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

MP3: “Hear My Train A’ Comin'” by Jimi Hendrix

70 Years Out: Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix would have been 70 years old today.

A few weeks ago, during his concert in Houston Paul McCartney paid tribute to his friend Jimi Hendrix. At the end of “Let Me Roll It,” McCartney’s churning rocker, he appended some surprising lead guitar work in the form of “Foxey Lady.”

How awesome is a musician who has earned a tribute even from a Beatle? When Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood toured together, the finale of their show was a fiery guitar duel on Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons regularly rips into “Hey Joe,” in the style of his mentor.

Hendrix was, as you can see, a musician’s musician. He was only in the spotlight for a short time – he gained international fame in 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival and died in 1970 – but the recordings he made have influenced thousands of other guitar players and songwriters.

Had he lived, it’s inconceivable what Hendrix would be like today. It’s also hard to fathom what rock music would be like today as well, because wherever Hendrix went, music followed.

Jimi Hendrix would have been 70 years old today. Happy birthday, Jimi!

YouTube: “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”

YouTube: Jimi Hendrix interviewed in England just seven days before his death in September 1970.

Jimi Hendrix official web site

Glad It’s Over?

There are most likely many happy people in America this morning, and a lot of disgruntled, disappointed ones. By far, most people seem to be simply relieved it’s over.

It’s been a nasty and brutal year leading up to Election Day, so nasty you’d think the Civil War had started up again. Hell, even the band The Civil Wars broke up. That’s how divided everyone is.

So it’s time to move on. Congratulations to President Obama and Mr. Romney for getting their respective messages out to so many people – let’s hope we can find some ground in the middle from which we can work to solve our problems.

MP3: “Come Together” (live) by John Lennon & Elephant’s Memory

MP3: “Let’s Work Together” by Canned Heat

MP3: “One Time One Night” by Los Lobos

MP3: “Chimes of Freedom” by The Byrds

MP3: “The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

MP3: “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” by Johnny Cash

MP3: “Find The Cost of Freedom” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

MP3: “Blame It On Obama” by Andre Williams

MP3: “Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze” (live at Woodstock) by Jimi Hendrix

(More Than) 40 Years Out: Celebrating Woodstock

Marker overlooking the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair grounds near Bethel, NY.

There isn’t much more to say about Woodstock that we didn’t say here, here or here … but the 43rd anniversary of the historic music festival is coming up this week (Aug. 15-17) and we thought it would be a good opportunity to look back for a few minutes.

Why should we celebrate Woodstock? Someone asked that once, then he answered his own question: it was just a weekend when a whole lot of dirty hippies gathered in one place to smoke dope, get naked with each other and bitch about all of the things they took for granted. And I said yeah, exactly! The one thing he didn’t add was that those 500,000 so-called dirty hippies gathered there because nobody stopped them from doing it.

Even in 1969, while there were riots in the streets and war protests across the country, we were still the Land of the Free. All of those people initially drawn to Woodstock went for the music, but once they got there it was something else: a festival that got out of control, a cluster fuck with a soundtrack. It was, ultimately, a peaceful happening in a time of war and personal conflict.

John Sebastian playing for the masses at Woodstock.

Woodstock was a good thing that happened in a troubled time. When assassins took the lives of Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy and Malcolm X, those were bad things. When a police riot disrupted protests in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, that was also a bad thing. When American National Guardsmen shot and killed unarmed students at Kent State, that was certainly a bad thing.

Most of all, Woodstock was a celebration of freedom. People went to Woodstock to celebrate the rights that we are guaranteed as Americans, and the privileges we think we deserve as a rich, prosperous nation. Including freedom of speech – the same right used back then to protest the Vietnam War, and the same right guaranteed today to guys who own fast-food chicken restaurants as well as to people who disagree with what he says.

So maybe Woodstock should join our calendar of national celebrations, another occasion to appreciate the many great things we have here in America. Maybe you shouldn’t take the day off work, but on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday of this coming week just take a moment to remember a time of peace and music – and freedom.

And you can play these as your soundtrack … they’re not all from the original Woodstock, but each one has the proper spirit.

MP3: “Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell

MP3: “Freedom” (2009 version) by Richie Havens

MP3: “Kiss My Ass” by Country Joe & the Fish

MP3: “Green River” (live at Woodstock) by Creedence Clearwater Revival

MP3: “The Brown Acid Is Not Specifically Too Good” stage announcement at Woodstock, 1969

MP3: “Goin’ Up The Country” (live at Bethel Woods 2009) by Canned Heat

MP3: “Dance To The Music” (live at Woodstock) by Sly and the Family Stone

MP3: “Wooden Ships” by Crosby, Stills & Nash

MP3: “Piece Of My Heart” by Big Brother & the Holding Company

MP3: “China Cat Sunflower” (live) by The Grateful Dead

MP3: “Johnny B. Goode” (live at Woodstock) by Johnny Winter

MP3: “Volunteers/With A Little Help From My Friends” (live at Bethel Woods 2009) by Jefferson Starship

MP3: “For Those of You Who Have Partaken of the Green Acid” stage announcement at Woodstock, 1969

MP3: “Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze” (live at Woodstock) by Jimi Hendrix

 

MP3: NBC News report on Woodstock, 1969

Celebrate Your Freedom

We are taking a few days off to celebrate our country’s birthday and if you are an astute reader, you will know this is simply last year’s July 4 post with a few different songs tossed in.

Wherever you are, take a few moments to appreciate your freedom – and remember there are still places in the world where armed thugs can kick down your door and drag you away just for reading this blog.  Celebrate freedom this weekend, and let it ring around the world.

You are welcome to enjoy the enclosed music at your summer party.  See ya!

MP3: “Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze” (live at Woodstock) by Jimi Hendrix

MP3: “American Idiot” (live) by Green Day

MP3: “Freedom Blues” by Little Richard

MP3: “Do You Remember the Americans” (alternate track) by Manassas

MP3: “Promised Land” by Chuck Berry

MP3: “Fourth of July” by Dave Alvin

MP3: “Let’s Turn This Thing Around” by Peter Case

MP3: “Freedom” by Richie Havens (2009 version)

MP3: “Simple Song Of Freedom” by Tim Hardin (live at Woodstock)

MP3: “Every Hand In The Land” by Arlo Guthrie (live at Woodstock)

MP3: “That Ain’t My America” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

MP3: “Rednecks” by Randy Newman

MP3: “I Shall Be Free” by Bob Dylan

MP3: “Listen To Me” by Bill Miller

MP3: “Back In The U.S.A.” (live)  by Edgar Winter’s White Trash w/Rick Derringer

MP3: “Fourth of July” by Soundgarden

MP3: “American Tune” by Paul Simon

MP3: “America, Fuck Yeah”  by Team America, South Park or whatever

MP3: “Living In America” by James Brown

MP3: “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” by Johnny Cash

Rock and Roll Remembrance

We’ve lost a lot of great rock and rollers lately. It seems we hardly catch our breath after one is laid to rest, then we hear of another that’s about to leave us. That’s the way it is – our heroes are getting older every day.

So today let’s blow it out with some tunes from rockers who’ve passed to the other side. R.I.P., and keep on rockin’.

MP3: “I’m Losing You” (alternate version) by John Lennon (d. 1980)

MP3: “Holy Diver” (live) by Dio (Ronnie James Dio, d. 2010)

MP3: “Smokestack Lightning” by Howlin’ Wolf (d. 1976)

MP3: “Piece Of My Heart” by Big Brother & the Holding Company (Janis Joplin, d. 1970)

MP3: “Texas Tornado” by the Sir Douglas Quintet (Doug Sahm, d. 1999)

MP3: “Ella Guru” by Captain Beefheart (d. 2010)

MP3: “I’d Rather Go Blind” by Etta James (d. 2012)

MP3: “Lonely Lover” by Marvin Gaye (d. 1984)

MP3: “Small Town Talk” by Bobby Charles (d. 2010)

MP3: “Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze” (live at Woodstock) by Jimi Hendrix (d. 1970)

MP3: “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive” by Hank Williams (d. 1953)

MP3: “Deep Blue” by George Harrison (d. 2001)

YouTube: “Up On Cripple Creek” (1969 rehearsal), by the Band (Levon Helm, d. 2012; Rick Danko, d. 1999; Richard Manuel, d. 1986)

Jim Marshall, R.I.P.

Tom Morello's "Arm the Homeless" guitar and his Marshall amp.

The rock world is a little quieter today, with news of the death of Jim Marshall. Marshall, whose Marshall amplifiers have powered the guitar sounds of rockers from the Who to Hendrix to Clapton to Page and Morello, was 88 years old.

Jim Marshall obituary from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Hurricane Warning!

Some trouble from the tropics headed this way:  Hurricane Irene threatens to rake the Florida coast later this week.  The last time we went through this drill was in 2008, when Hurricane Ike lashed Texas and turned my backyard into a brush heap.

So as another nasty bit of weather rolls up to the beach, it occurs to me that we haven’t posted any hurricane/storms/rain songs yet this season.  Here you go – stay dry and rock on!

MP3: “Change In The Weather” by John Fogerty

MP3: “Blowin’ Like A Bandit” by Asleep at the Wheel

MP3: “Hurricane” by Levon Helm

MP3: “Surfing In A Hurricane” by Jimmy Buffett

MP3: “High Water (For Charley Patton)” (live) by Bob Dylan

MP3: “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” by Peter Gabriel

MP3: “Lost and Found” by the Kinks

MP3: “In From The Storm” by Jimi Hendrix

MP3: “Like A Hurricane” by Nils Lofgren

MP3: “Here Comes The Rain” by Jan & Dean

MP3: “Riders On The Storm” by the Doors

MP3: “The Rains Came” by Big Sambo

MP3: “Wild Is The Wind” by David Bowie

MP3: “Rock You Like A Hurricane” by the Scorpions

MP3: “Down In The Flood” (live) by the Derek Trucks Band

MP3: “Like A Hurricane” (live) by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

Celebrate Your Freedom

We are taking a few days off to celebrate our country’s birthday and if you are an astute reader, you will know this is simply last year’s July 4 post with a few extra songs tossed in.

Wherever you are, take a few moments to appreciate your freedom – and remember there are still places in the world where armed thugs can kick down your door and drag you away just for reading this blog.  Celebrate freedom this weekend, and let it ring around the world.

You are welcome to enjoy the enclosed music at your summer party.  See ya!

MP3: “Star Spangled Banner/Purple Haze” (live at Woodstock) by Jimi Hendrix

MP3: “American Idiot” (live) by Green Day

MP3: “Do You Remember the Americans” (alternate track) by Manassas

MP3: “Red, White and Blue” (live) by Lynyrd Skynyrd

MP3: “Promised Land” by Chuck Berry

MP3: “Freedom” by Richie Havens (2009 version)

MP3: “Simple Song Of Freedom” by Tim Hardin (live at Woodstock)

MP3: “Every Hand In The Land” by Arlo Guthrie (live at Woodstock)

MP3: “I Shall Be Free” by Bob Dylan

MP3: “Back In The U.S.A.” (live)  by Edgar Winter’s White Trash w/Rick Derringer

MP3: “American Tune” by Paul Simon

MP3: “America, Fuck Yeah”  by Team America, South Park or whatever

MP3: “Living In America” by James Brown

MP3: “U. S. Blues” by the Grateful Dead

MP3: “Spirit Of America” by the Beach Boys

MP3: “Momma Miss America” by Paul McCartney

MP3: “Rockin’ In The Free World” (live) by Neil Young & Crazy Horse

MP3: “Free and Freaky (In The U.S.A.)” by the Stooges

MP3: “Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)” by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

MP3: “Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream” by Johnny Cash

Your Sister’s (Record) Rack: The Isley Brothers

So much has gone under the bridge that we’ve all but forgotten that era when racial lines were not obliterated but smudged in such a way that it was a little tough to find the line between black and white. By the early 1970s we had been through the civil rights upheaval and the backlash that made martyrs out of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others. It was like that refreshing period following a good hard rain … we were all open to checking out each other’s culture a bit.

The Isley Brothers were a huge act throughout the 1960s – their first million seller came in 1959 with “Shout.” They served a stint at Motown and in 1969 the Isleys created their own record label, T-Neck Records. In 1971 the Isleys put out the album we’re going to spin today, Givin’ It Back, on T-Neck. For more than a decade, white/mainstream pop artists scored their own successes with versions of Isley Brothers’ songs (Joey Dee & the Starlighters hit with their own version of “Shout;” and there’s that version of “Twist and Shout” by some guys from Liverpool) so the Isleys decided to “give it back” by cutting their own versions of songs by then-current rock and pop artists.

The LP starts off with a sizzling version of Neil Young’s “Ohio” fused with Jimi Hendrix’s “Machine Gun.” The song speaks not only to the Kent State campus killings of 1970 but the less publicized incident 10 days later at Jackson State University in Mississippi, where two black students were killed and a dozen more were injured by police trying to stop a demonstration. The song was a reminder that the times were still angry and deep divisions still remained in this country. The Isleys’ prayer in the middle of these two angry songs suggests that cooler heads were out there, begging to be listened to. This is a powerful way to start off the album, and it’s easily the best cut.

Next up the Isleys give a new setting to James Taylor’s singer/songwriter warhorse, “Fire and Rain.” The Isleys charge it up with a tangible urgency, as they do with Eric Burdon and War’s “Spill The Wine.” Even better is the Isleys’ soulful reading of Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay,” giving it a sexual tension and soul that its writer could never hope to pull off.

“Cold Bologna” is a funky blues that even features its writer, Bill Withers, on guitar. The Isleys were good for giving young writers a showcase, and here’s a good example with Withers, who would soon come into his own with songs like “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean On Me.” Stephen Stills also gets the Isley cover treatment on two songs, “Nothin’ To Do But Today” and “Love The One You’re With.” The former is the weakest song on the album but the latter is a highlight, as the Isleys inject a little soul and extra rhythm into the proceedings. Consider this a worthy companion to Marvin Gaye’s better-known masterpiece from 1971, What’s Going On.

MP3: “Ohio/Machine Gun”

MP3: “Lay Lady Lay”

MP3: “Spill The Wine”

MP3: “Love The One You’re With”