Songs You May Have Missed #607

25 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: ,

amnesia

Pousette-Dart Band: “Amnesia” (1977)

A song that starts with the line “you hit me on the head with your beer bottle” seemed an unlikely choice for recommendation here. But when the chorus of this 70’s soft rock chestnut kicked in, well, “something in my chemistry changed”.

That chorus is a neat summation of a sound that could be found on late 70’s radio, when Pure Prairie League and Marshall Tucker Band and Poco found their greatest success. And the slide guitar solo brings to mind the work of Joe Walsh in another notable country rock band of the day.

Pousette-Dart Band only cracked the top 100 once, with the lilting “For Love”, which perfectly sums up the late 70’s soft rock era of Player, Orleans, Chilliwack and the like:

Thanks Dave Geraci!

“More Barn!”…Neil Young Finally Confirms The Most Popular Legend About Him

25 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: ,

UNSPECIFIED - JANUARY 01: Photo of Neil Young (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

(via Huffington Post) by Todd Van Lulling

Graham Nash — of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — has a story about his friend, Neil Young, that has been almost too perfect to believe for nearly three decades.

As the myth goes, Nash was at Young’s ranch just south of San Francisco when Young asked him if he wanted to hear something. (That something would become Young’s now famous 1972 “Harvest” album, which features the track “Heart of Gold.”) Nash, of course, said yes and suggested going into Young’s studio. That wasn’t Young’s plan.

“He said, ‘Get into the rowboat,’” Nash explained on NPR’s Fresh Air in 2013. “I said, ‘Get into the rowboat?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to go out into the middle of the lake.’”

The two row out on the lake, with Nash assuming Young brought a cassette player and headphones with him.

“Oh, no,” said Nash on NPR. “He has his entire house as the left speaker and his entire barn as the right speaker. And I heard ‘Harvest’ coming out of these two incredibly large loud speakers louder than hell. It was unbelievable. Elliot Mazer, who produced Neil, produced ‘Harvest,’ came down to the shore of the lake and he shouted out to Neil, ‘How was that, Neil?’”

The best part is Young’s apparent response to the situation. As Nash explained, “I swear to God, Neil Young shouted back, ‘More barn!’”

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/neil-young-more-barn_us_576927bae4b015db1bca809f?

Donnie and Joe Emerson, and the most moving lost record of the 70s

13 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

emerson

(via the guardian)

Among the great “what-ifs” of the recording industry, it has to be among the most unlikely: what if a farmer had never bought a tractor?

Fruitland, Washington has a population of 751. There are no zeros missing from the end of that number. This tiny rural town is where Donnie and Joe Emerson grew up, living a teenhood driven by the demands of the family’s 1,600-acre farm.

emerson-2

As Donnie, says, during the summer in particular, “there wasn’t no messing around. You don’t run that type of farm by sitting around.”

Their life-changing moment came in the summer of 1978 when their father, Don Sr, bought a tractor that came with a built-in AM-FM radio. It was this that led, not so indirectly, to one of the greatest forgotten records of the decade, Dreamin’ Wild…

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/28/donnie-joe-emerson-dreamin-wild

Pitchfork‘s review of Dreamin’ Wild:

Originally released in 1979, only to sit in the teenaged Emerson brothers’ home studio for decades, Donnie and Joe’s sole record showcases a prodigal talent for blue-eyed soul and landlocked yacht rock that’s only just getting its dues…

Read more: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16841-dreamin-wild/

emerson-3

 

18 Cover Songs That Transcend the Originals

11 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

covers

(via Purple Clover) by Kevin Haynes

First released January 11, 1971, Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” redefined the limits of cover song success. Here, we celebrate Janis’ classic version and other artistic interpretations gone right.

‘Me and Bobby McGee’ — Janis Joplin

Kris Kristofferson’s vagabond road song was first recorded in 1969 by, appropriately enough, “King of the Road” Roger Miller. But Joplin’s only No. 1 hit, completed days before her death on October 4, 1970, is the ultimate trip down memory lane—a soulful, cinematic look back at love gone by.

Kristofferson, who’d been dating Janis, first heard her version of the song shortly after she died. “Afterwards,” he recalled in a recent interview, “I walked all over L.A., just in tears.”

clapton

‘I Shot the Sheriff’ — Eric Clapton

Slowhand played fast and loose with Bob Marley’s sly profession of guilt and innocence—hey, he didn’t shoot no deputy—propelling this reggae groove to No. 1 in September 1974.

‘Twist and Shout’ — The Beatles

The Fab Four didn’t just shake it up, baby, they incited a dance riot in 1963, a year after the Isley Brothers got the party started with their first Top 20 hit. (Bonus points if you knew the song was introduced in 1961 by the Top Notes.)

 Read more: http://www.purpleclover.com/entertainment/5844-cover-songs/

Video of the Week: Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ Slowed Down to 33 RPM

03 Jan 2017 6 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags: ,

Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” is a pretty great country standard in its original form.

But when slowed from 45 rpm to 33 1/3, the honky tonk molasses that results sounds like a pretty awesome alt-country tune, like that My Morning Jacket track you’ve never heard:

Did You Ever Realize…

03 Jan 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Did You Ever Realize, General Posts Tags: , ,

call-me roach

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