@jafant: Yeah, if uDiscover ever ships it. I received notice my copy of the Cahoots boxset had been given a shipping label on Dec.9th, and given its tracking number, 9 days ago. Street date was the 10th, so I figured it would be on its way that day. Yet here it is the 18th, and my box is still not on its way! Ri-dic-u-lous. I will never order from them again.
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@slaw: It's funny---both Chrissie and Lucinda have new Dylan song albums out. I'm picking up Lucinda's on Sunday, to add to the Dylan albums I already have by Maria Muldaur and Joan Osborne.
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Shannon McNally: The Waylon Sessions. All songs having been recorded by Waylon, Shannon is provided musical accompaniment in her recording of the songs by Buddy Miller, Rodney Crowell, and Jessi Colter. Though Shannon has albums dating back to 2002 (when she was 30 years old, a relatively late bloomer), I only recently discovered her (via the Charlie Sexton-produced Geronimo). A great singer with excellent taste in material and musicians. The LP is on it’s way to me.
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In December, the 50th Anniversary issue of The Band’s 4th album Cahoots. Though imo overpriced at $149.99, the deluxe boxset contains a new Bob Clearwater mix on LP and CD, some unreleased and/or alternate takes, the second half of a live show taped in Paris in ’71, a 7" 45 RPM single, and a Bluray surround sound disc. Plus a 12" x 12" booklet with notes from Robbie Robertson, as well as three lithographs. This release completes the reissue series of The Band’s first four/essential studio albums. |
Thanks to you @jafant for the excellent topic for a thread! |
Two by Lucinda Williams:
- Lu’s Jukebox Volume 3: Bob’s Back Pages: A Night Of Bob Dylan Songs.
- Lu’s Jukebox Volume 4: Funny How Time Slips Away: A Night Of 60’s Country Classics.
Both albums feature excellent song choices; I can’t wait to hear what Lu does with them. I also hope her recovery from her stroke earlier in the year is progressing well. |
Appearing soon at a record store near you:
- Stomping Ground by Dion DiMucci. If you’re not hip to Dion, get with it, man. Dave Edmunds produced his 1989 "comeback" album Yo Frankie, upon which appear k.d. Lang, Lou Reed (a huge fan of Dion), Paul Simon, pianist Chuck Leavell, and a great rhythm section.
Appearing on Stomping Ground are Billy Gibbons, Bruce Springsteen, Boz Scaggs, Eric Clapton, Keb’ Mo, Marcia Ball, Mark Knopfler, Patti Scialfa (a fantastic singer, and a member of Springsteen’s band as well as his wife), Rickie Lee Jones, and the fantastic slide guitarist Sonny Landreth. Nice accompaniment. ;-)
- At My Piano by Brian Wilson. Brian is given a lot of credit for The Beach Boys’ harmonies, as well as his talents at melody writing and arranging. But I have long made the case for his abilities at writing really, really great chord progressions, his use of modulation and inversion. and other sophisticated composition techniques, far above the level of almost all other Rock ’n’ Roll songwriters.
Brian’s "God Only Knows" is as always a harmony-feast, but the heavy production (employing all the members of The Wrecking Crew studio recording band) and multiple harmony vocal parts make hearing the song’s chords and their harmonic/modulated/inverted movement difficult. You have to listen "through" the dense sounds piled on top of the piano part, played by Brian. I am hoping and assuming At My Piano---Brian playing his songs alone, without instrumental accompaniment and/or vocals, both melody and harmonies--will rectify that situation. Awesome!
- All The Good Times by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. Originally released in a limited pressing available only through their website, this album will now be available everywhere good music is sold.
And for comic relief, a Christmas album from Billy Idol. Maybe he figured if Dylan could do one, so could he. I predict it sucks. |
Emmylou Harris & The Nash Ramblers live in 1990, Lucinda Williams Southern Soul, Jim Lauderdale Hope, new Flatlanders (Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock), their first in a decade. All available on both LP and CD. |
The Beach Boys Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions boxset. |
Yep @jafant, there are a couple I missed: Elvis and Moby Grape.
I got to see and hear some of the old guys before they died, like Albert King and Big Joe Turner (his band that night were The Blasters. Dave Alvin was still in the band, and blowing tenor sax was Lee Allen, heard on all the 1950's Little Richard recordings. Fantastic!).
I also got to experience Little Richard's label-mates on Specialty Records, Don (Sugarcane Harris) & Dewey. And that night I had what Levon Helm called "the best seat in the house" : on the drum riser behind them. ;-) |
@thepigdog: Right you are. Some of Jerry’s albums are what I call Progressive Bluegrass---mostly instrumental, all the musicians of virtuoso caliber, the playing very Jazz influenced. I saw him and his band live a few years back in Portland, and the music that night was Progressive in nature. I prefer his work as a sideman, accompanying a singer. Plus, I love vocal harmonies, usually absent in Progressive Bg. |
Yeah @thepigdog, drums aren’t employed in hardcore Bluegrass music and bands. The mandolin player provides the 2/4 backbeat by playing accented staccato downward strokes in place of a snare drum. I’m real glad Marty Stuart breaks that rule, having the fantastic drummer Harry Stinson in his band The Fabulous Superlatives.
UPS was scheduled to deliver my copy of the Barnes & Noble exclusive version (signed cover, black & gray splatter vinyl) of the Hiatt/Douglas LP today, but it's now delayed until Monday. |
Now THAT should be interesting @jafant! I didn't much care for Joan Osborne's Dylan-song album, but Maria Muldaur's Heart Of Mine is pretty good
Graham Nash quit The Hollies after unsuccessfully attempting to talk them out of doing an album of all Dylan songs. I guess Graham didn't want to be in a Dylan Tribute Band. ;-) |
Craft Recordings reissue of John Martyn's 1998 album The Church With One Bell, first time on LP. A July Record Store Day title. |
Los Lobos, a double-LP album of their new recordings of favorite old songs, some really interesting choices. Oughta be great! |
And Barnes & Noble is selling their exclusive version of the LP: the cover signed, the vinyl black & gray splatter. Guess I gotta get both! |
I don’t ordinarily go in for colored vinyl LP’s (isn’t black a color? ;-), but this one looks great: the upcoming John Hiatt w/ The Jerry Douglas Band album, Record Store Day edition. The vinyl is a very cool-looking "Coke bottle" green. I’m gettin’ it! |
Analogue Productions UHQR LP of Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue album, street date May 21st. 25,000 copies to be pressed. Get yours before the flippers do! |
@slaw: I don’t Steve. In fact, I can’t: The Dwight Twilley band was signed to Shelter and had an album out before Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers existed. A back-to-back listen to each band’s debut album says it better than I ever could. |
Recently announced: Lucinda Williams doing 60's Southern Soul Music (a major influence). I forget the title. Oughta be great.
Out later this week: Fire It Up by Steve Cropper (I have no doubt Lucinda eagerly anticipates this one). The guitar riff he came up with for "Green Onions" is as cool as it gets.
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Actually @slaw, I believe it is John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band ;-) . I give top billing to the singer/songwriter, whom on this album I am sure is John. I saw The Jerry Douglas Band at the tail-end of 2019, at a nice theater in Portland. I prefer he and they in a supportive role; on their own they are too Jazz-informed for my taste. It was all about virtuosity, which bores me. I’m a song-orientated music lover, first and foremost. Also upcoming is the Tom Petty tribute album by Lucinda Williams, Runnin’ Down A Dream I believe it is entitled. Oughta be great. Fun fact: Do a search of early Dwight Twilley Band videos on You Tube. There are a couple (one on American Bandstand, I believe) in which you will see Petty playing a Rickenbacker bass, as if he were a band member. The two DTB albums (drummer/singer Phil Seymour left after the second for a solo career) were recorded as a trio, no formal bassist. Even though they were lip-synching in the videos, I guess they wanted to look "right". More facts: When Mudcrutch left Florida for Los Angeles to seek their fame and fortune, they stopped in Tulsa to look up Twilley, Seymour, and Pitcock. The first DTB album Sincerely had made a huge impact of bands of a "certain" ilk, one that included Petty and company. Tom sought Dwight’s advice on securing a record deal in LA. Instead, Twilley took Petty to the Shelter Records office in Tulsa (Twilley’s label), and introduced him to label owner Leon Russell. Though Mudcrutch didn’t get a deal, the new Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers did, and it was with Shelter. If you listen to the first Petty album critically, you will hear the same "phasing" problem you can also hear in the first Twilley solo album. The Shelter studio on Sunset Blvd. had two engineers---Max and Noah---who were not so hot. They had some kind of phase thing going on, and you can hear it in their recordings. It’s a mild form of the phasing effect you hear intentionally in "Ichicoo Park". Weird. To dispel any notions you have remaining in regard to the glamorous Rock Star life: I became acquainted with the guys in Twilley’s band in early 1980 (Pitcock and I played on a recording of "Money" by an aspiring singer), and they were living on a salary of $150/week each. None of them had a car or girlfriend, and were just killing time between recording dates and occasional gigs around town. And this is signed to a major label. As luck, good fortune, perhaps management and promotion---and their undeniable talent---would have it, Twilley and his band watched as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers---not nearly the equal of the former imo---went on to true fame and fortune. Phil Seymour enjoyed some success as a solo artist (he had a killer live band), but died of cancer in the 1980’s. Guitar extraordinaire Bill Pitcock IV---a two pack a day man, died of lung cancer ten years ago, leaving Twilley alone back in Tulsa, releasing an occasional album that few hear. It’s a cryin’ shame. |
