Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

Released: 1998
Tracks: Show Introduction; If I Ruled the World; James Brown Thanks; Introduction to Say it Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud; Say it Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud; I Guess I’ll Have to Cry, Cry, Cry; Kansas City; Suds; Soul Pride; Tighten Up; Introduction to Star Time!; Licking Stick – Licking Stick; Cold Sweat; There Was a Time; Medley: Try Me/Lost Someone/Bewildered; Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag; I Got the Feeling; Maybe the Last Time; I Got You (I Feel Good); Please, Please, Please; I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me); Cold Sweat (reprise); I Got the Feeling (reprise); Say it Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud (reprise)
Best track: There Was a Time
Track to skip: none whatsoever!

If I had a time machine, I would go back and specifically watch this concert.  There would be other things, sure, but this show is so insanely good that it would be one of my top priorities.  INSANELY GOOD.  Anyway, some history: Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated about 4 ½ months before this show, Robert Kennedy was assassinated about 2 months after that and there was a ton of social unrest going on in the country in general in 1968.  James Brown was a leading figure in Black America and on August 16th, 10 days before this show, he released the anthem Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud.  Brown definitely didn’t advocate violence, but he wanted people to be proud about who they were.  The single comes out, it was a big hit, and this gig captures the spirit of Brown, his band and the audience right at this time.  Historically, this album is fascinating.  Musically, it’s even better.

Recorded at Dallas’ Memorial Auditorium (which is now part of the Dallas Convention Center) the album shows the man and band in prime form.  The show starts off with the excellent ballad If I Ruled the World, before James gives his inspired introduction to the new hit single: “I want the blacks in the audience to say ‘I’m Black’ and everyone else to say ‘I’m proud!’”.  As if they weren’t hyped enough by simply being at a James Brown show, Say it Loud really gets the crowd moving.  I think he played it early to reduce any possible tension it might cause, as it was also bookended by the ballads – the opener If I Ruled the World and I Guess I’ll Have to Cry, Cry, Cry.  After Kansas City, Brown takes a break and lets the band go for a while, about 15 minutes.  I have to say, this is one of the tightest bands I’ve ever heard.  The transitions between songs are fantastic, esp. noteworthy are the transitions from Guess I’ll Have to Cry > Kansas City and the absolute blow-my-friggin-mind transition from There Was a Time > Try Me.  The funk is gloriously thick on these three JB Orchestra tracks – Suds, Soul Pride & Tighten Up.  Man, this band is phenomenal!  On Tighten Up I love hearing the introduction of each instrument/group of players.  Charles Sherrell is an absolute monster on the bass here (and on Cold Sweat too, especially).  As a bassist, this whole album is totally a feast for my ears and probably the equivalent of years worth of lessons.

Once James Brown comes back on….WATCH OUT!  From this point forward the rest of the show is essentially one continuous song with the band not missing a beat.  You want to know why James Brown’s band is regarded as one of the greatest, tightest, most well-rehearsed bands ever?  This is why.  These next 40 minutes are absolutely inspired performances.  The interplay between James Brown and the band in Cold Sweat is incredible.  They extend this song out to 12 minutes and it’s amazing throughout.  I just love how incredibly tight this band is!  They’re super well-rehearsed, but it never sounds remotely robotic.  It’s absolutely fun music.  The transition from Cold Sweat into There Was a Time is incredible.  During There Was a Time you can really hear the audience become a frenzy and pretty much lose it.  This track is one of the most exhilarating live performances I’ve ever heard by anybody, ever.  And then, the band does what sounds impossible to me – they go from the hardest hitting funk right into the ballad Try Me.  It’s mind blowing.  The tempo of Try Me is so relaxed and calm, where 1 second before it was absolute madness.  The band pulls it off effortlessly.

We get a medley of three ballads next, which normally would be a nice breather, but you can still feel the audience about to burst while it’s going on.  Then once it’s over, another great transition into Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag (played significantly faster than the studio version) before it leads into I Got the Feeling and what’s essentially a medley of the faster-paced hits.  One after another in rapid succession…bam, bam, bam.  Next thing you know, the show’s over and you feel like you got hit by a train.

I can’t say enough great things about this album.  It’s truly excellent.  There’s a nice bonus of great liner notes too.  Start to finish, this is an exceptional album/show.  It’s funny, because the only reason this show was even captured was because JB wanted to get instrumental recordings of the band (done after the gig was over no less!) and the recording engineer was like, what the hell let’s record the whole show.  Good move!  Monumental stuff.

Rating: 98

Released: 2004
Tracks: Manic Monday; Walking Down Your Street; I Got Nothing; If She Knew What She Wants; Eternal Flame; Getting Out of Hand; I’ll Set You Free; Walk Like an Egyptian; What I Meant to Say; I’m in Line; Be With You; In Your Room; Hero Takes a Fall; Hazy Shade of Winter; Following
Best track: If She Knew What She Wants or Hazy Shade of Winter
Tracks to skip: Getting Out of Hand, I’ll Set You Free, I’m in Line, Following

This band was inescapable if you were around in the 80’s and even though they only released 3 albums in the decade, there’s enough reason to warrant an “Essential” collection.  This one’s a single CD and at 50 minutes it’s a bit short.  I question why there was only 1 song included from their first full-length, All Over the Place and why Going Down to Liverpool was left off.  Oh well!  I like that this collection otherwise features a nice cross-selection of tunes from their 80’s output.  For collectors, you get their first A-side, Getting Out of Hand from 1981, I Got Nothing from The Goonies soundtrack, I’m in Line from their 1982 EP, Hazy Shade of Winter from the Less Than Zero soundtrack and What I Meant to Say, the B-side of Eternal Flame.

It’s obvious that the album Different Light gets the most tracks on here – 5 – as that was their most popular album.  You really can’t go wrong with Manic Monday, Walk Like an Egyptian, If She Knew What She Wants or Walking Down Your Street.  As for Following…yeah, it doesn’t really fit here and is a HORRIBLE ending track for this collection (despite the fact that I dig the guitar playing on it).  I’m not fully in love with the sequencing either…maybe you shouldn’t put three non-Susanna Hoffs tracks all in a row between Walk Like an Egyptian and In Your Room.  I totally love Be With You (with its great change for the 2nd mini-bridge), so I’m not hating on the songs, just the sequencing.  For me, and probably most people, Hoffs is The Voice of the band.  Of the skippers mentioned above I have to call out I’m in Line – the bass line and nearly the whole song is WAY too similar to The Beatles’ Taxman.  Other than being a little TOO obvious in that one, I absolutely love how The Bangles aren’t afraid to show off their Beatles influence.  It’s especially prevalent in the vocals and I love hearing bands use vocal arrangement like the Beatles.

There are some absolutely fantastic pop songs in this collection.  Their cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s Hazy Shade of Winter is truly awesome.  It still blows me away what they did to that song.  The guitars and the vocals sound absolutely amazing on this track.   I can’t decide if that’s my favorite on this disc or if it’s If She Knew What She Wants.  That’s just such a well-written pop song.  I never tire of hearing it.  As for the other huge hits, I enjoy the hell out of them.  Manic Monday is another great pop song and Egyptian is so crazy original that it’s impossible for me to not love it.  Man, just look at those first five tracks…great stuff one after the other.  As for Eternal Flame, oh yeah it’s super cheesy, but I absolutely LOVE the bridge on that one (“Say my name, sun shines through the rain…”).

While the track selection could be better (Going Down to Liverpool, dammit) and the sequencing is less than perfect, I really enjoy this collection.  The Bangles were a fun band with great vocals and definitely one of my favorite pop bands from the 80’s.  There are a ton of Bangles compilations out there, but I really like this one.  The sound is great on here, that’s for sure.  There are certainly a handful of tracks that bring the quality down, but overall it’s a solid summary of this band.

Rating: 84

Released: 1987
Tracks: If I Had a Boat; Give Back My Heart; I Loved You Yesterday; Walk Through the Bottomland; L.A. County; She’s No Lady; M-O-N-E-Y; Black and Blue; Simple Song; Pontiac; She’s Hot to Go
Best track: probably If I Had a Boat
Track to skip: Give Back My Heart

In listening to this I got about half way through and thought, “I’m not really feeling this today, I’ll come back to it another day.”  I decided to go ahead and listen through so I could be better prepared for the next listen.  Well, She’s No Lady completely grabbed me in and that was all I needed.  I think I was just put off by the first half (side 1) in that it’s more traditional country and doesn’t feature a ton of his usual eclecticism and fun.  The second half (starting with She’s No Lady) really showcases what Lyle Lovett is about and maybe that’s where he really “got it” in terms of his recording career.  Could be.

As great as some of these songs are, I still think If I Had a Boat is the best song on the album.  It’s a stellar composition and one of my favorites from his whole career.  No one else sounds like that, especially in country music in the late 80’s.  It’s a song that continues to resonate with me.  I don’t care for Give Back My Heart anyway, but coming after If I Had a Boat it’s just a poor decision all around.   It’s a bad song and one that I always hate hearing.  “chip-kicker woman”  Really?  C’mon, Lyle, just say it!  I Loved You Yesterday is an average, though plain, song and coming after the skipper really brings the album down.  Thankfully Walk Through the Bottomland is such a great slow song.  Emmylou Harris provides backing vocals on this and she sounds great.  It’s such a good song and completely brings this album out of the mess of the previous two songs.  L.A. County is another solid song.

It’s the second half, side 2 originally, that really smacks you in the face.  It’s the eclectic stuff and the style that I’m used to with Lyle Lovett and it’s excellent.  From the cheeky lyrics and swing of She’s No Lady to the slightly funky and bluesy M-O-N-E-Y and then to the killer mood pieces of Simple Song and Pontiac, he does it right here.  M-O-N-E-Y isn’t my favorite song in the world, but it’s decent.  Other than that one, the rest of side 2 is full of great songs.  Both Simple Song and Pontiac really knocked me over today.  Back to back they make a great argument for the “highlight” of the album.  Pontiac has this wonderfully sparse sadness about it.  The album closes with another upbeat and super fun song in She’s Hot to Go.  The lyrical turnaround in this song is hilarious and had me laughing out loud.  It’s a great ending to this album.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the songs on side 1 were aimed for a “country” audience and then for side 2 he’s just like, “screw it” and throws it all out there.  Really it’s only Give Back My Heart & I Loved You Yesterday that give me pause on this album.  The rest of the tracks are all solid.  Still, as a whole the album is slightly shaky.  As this is only his second album, he definitely gets better.

Rating: 83

Released: 2003
Tracks: Rumba Caliente; Sabroso; Gitanito; Cosso; Caravan Road; Rêverie; Bossa Nueva; Cynthia; Linda; Redemption; Recuerdo Apasionado
Best track: Gitanito
Tracks to skip: Cynthia, Redemption

Tonino Baliardo is the lead guitarist for the Gypsy Kings and this is his second solo album.  I haven’t heard his first one, Essence, but there are a few repeated songs from that album.  By the look of things, this self-titled album had a bit more money behind it and probably better production.  This album is mostly instrumental, but there are a few incidental vocals on Rumba Caliente and Caravan Road.  Only the Cuban-sounding Sabroso has actual lyrics and a significant amount of singing, but it works for this song.  Otherwise, this is an instrumental album.  I’m so thankful for that because while I love the music on the Gypsy Kings stuff, it’s their vocals that I just can’t get past.  So, here you get the great sounding music without the annoying vocals.  Works for me!

Gitanito is the most traditional sounding Flamenco track and it’s absolutely the highlight of the disc.  The guitar playing on this track is excellent and he’s constantly trading barbs with the bassist who is also absolutely fantastic on here.  The bass is great throughout the album, but on Gitanito it’s especially excellent.  It’s a true feast for the ears.  I love how on this album Baliardo presents a pretty eclectic mix of songs.  We get Flamenco, Cuban, salsa, bossa nova, jazz and more, all while being anchored by the Spanish classical guitar.  I really enjoy listening to this album and the only songs I don’t care for are Cynthia and Redemption.  Redemption sounds like a standard American ballad (albeit with Spanish guitar flourishes) and doesn’t impress me as a composition that much.  On Cynthia it just has too many “modern” touches like a VERY out of place church organ and the electronica elements throughout.  Only 2 minor complaints, because they’re only less-good when compared with the rest of the album.

Overall I really dig this album and I think anyone with a passing interest in Spanish guitar music would enjoy it.  It’s a great listen.

Rating: 84

Jimmy Buffett, w/ Ilo
4/19/11 – Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion @ Walnut Creek, Raleigh, NC

Buffett Setlist:

The Wino and I Know, Brown-Eyed Girl, Off to See the Lizard, Havana Daydreamin’, It’s 5:00 Somewhere, Changes in Latitudes, Life is Just a Tire Swing, Come Monday, Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Son of a Son of a Sailor, Schoolboy Heart, Cheeseburger in Paradise, One Particular Harbour, Use Me Up, The Lady I Can’t Explain, Chansons Pour Les Petits Enfants, Sending the Old Man Home, Volcano, Coast of Carolina, Margaritaville, A Pirate Looks at Forty, In the City, Fins, Southern Cross

Encore:

Great Filling Station Holdup > Midnight Rider > Great Filling Station Holdup, Last Man Standing, Survive

I should plan these things better, because seeing Jimmy Buffett on a Tuesday night is an awesome event.  Forgetting to take off work the next day?  Not so bright.  Oh well, maybe I’ll learn next time?  Regardless, my 3rd Jimmy Buffett show was another great one.  This time it was a bit more of a simple affair – I brought my fiancée to her first Buffett show.  She wasn’t terribly familiar with his music prior to this show except for me playing a few albums for her over the past month or so.  Good thing is that she had a great time and loved the music and the atmosphere.  Yay, success!

We arrived to the lot with our cooler and chairs around 4:00 so we had plenty of time to eat, drink and enjoy a perfect Carolina day.  Weather was barely cloudy and in the upper 80’s – perfect day.  Freshly made sub sandwiches, chips, cookies, water and of course margaritas were the food and drink choices of the afternoon.  In addition to hanging out in our space, we walked around a good bit and took in the whole atmosphere of the parking lots and fellow Parrotheads.

Once the pre-show activities were complete, we headed into the venue and found a great spot on the lawn for our blanket.  The opener for the show was a guy, some friend of Buffett’s, Ilo.  The old RNR song Tequila was played over the PA before Buffett introduced him and his backing band, “Los Amigos”.  They were just a trio, Ilo played guitar and sang and he also had another guitarist and a saxophonist.  They only played 3 songs which was the perfect length because I really didn’t enjoy it very well.  He had a nice voice, and the harmonies were very good, but the music itself was pretty boring and one-dimensional.  Just basic “island” singer/songwriter stuff that seemed to be overly-consumed with “rock and roll”.  Whatever.  It was decent, but I’d never request to hear him again.

Buster Poindexter’s Hot Hot Hot played over the PA immediately following Ilo’s set and some dudes fired T-shirts into the audience from a shark gun.  Whee!  Cheesy, yeah, but it’s a Jimmy Buffett show…OF COURSE it’s gonna be cheesy and fun.  Buffett and his 11 piece Coral Reefer Band (2 guitars, pedal steel, keyboards, trumpet, bass, drums, percussion, steel drums & 2 background singers) came out and immediately went into The Wino and I Know from Living and Dying in ¾ Time.  I love this song and it was a great treat to have it as an opener.

I was very pleased with the setlist and the amount and choice of rare songs.  Of course the usuals were covered and the crowd loved them (me included), but I do always love hearing rare stuff like Wino and I Know, Survive, Life is Just a Tire Swing and my favorite song of the night – Sending the Old Man Home.  For this tour, Jimmy is focusing on the Volcano album and he played quite a bit from that album including The Lady I Can’t Explain, a song he’d never played live before.  It sounded great and was really cool to hear.

The crowd was honestly a bit quieter than I’ve seen at other shows, but maybe that’s just my perception.  For the crowd favorites like Margaritaville, It’s 5:00 Somewhere and Fins the crowd was really loud and active, but I did notice that overall it was a quieter show.  Maybe it’s just how people are at Buffett shows and maybe I never noticed before.   I do think that Jimmy himself took a couple of songs to really get going, but the band perfectly covered up his couple of mistakes.  His sense of humor was definitely intact as he poked a lot of fun at himself for his fall a couple of months ago – in Australia, he fell off the stage and into the orchestra pit at the end of the show…he missed the edge apparently.  Thankfully he was OK and was released from the hospital the next day.  So yeah, he definitely poked fun at himself for his “stumble” and even changed the lyrics for the last version of Off to See the Lizard about the event.

Like I said, it was another great Buffett show and I’ll always try to go any chance I get.  The whole experience is always great fun.  Fins up!

David Sedaris
10/9/10 – PECPA/Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh, NC

I don’t usually go see comedians live, but I’ve seen a few.  I think Davis Sedaris is more of a humorist who writes funny stories than a true “comedian”, but what the hell, that’s how I’m categorizing him.  I decided to take my girlfriend Danielle to the show since I know she really likes his books.  I’ve read bits here and there and he’s a pretty funny dude.  The performance was in the bigger auditorium of the Progress Energy Center in downtown Raleigh and the place was definitely packed.  It was amusing to observe the audience because most of them seemed to be hard core NPR listeners.  They laughed heartily at Sedaris’ more liberal parts, but cringed at his more risqué material.  There’s nothing like watching people laugh uncomfortably at highly offensive material.  Still, this “offensive” stuff was only a small portion of what he read.

Sedaris was touring to promote his latest book – Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.  He read some passages from this book, told some stories, read from other books including some of his own and some from others.  I liked that he didn’t just do his own stuff, but chose to highlight a book that he liked a lot.  I’m honestly not familiar enough with his books to go into a lot of detail about the “live version”, but I liked it a lot and certainly laughed a lot.  He’s a good storyteller and I can’t wait to dig into his books.

Project/Object, w/ ATV
2/17/11 – The Pour House, Raleigh, NC

P/O Setlist:

Set 1: Chunga’s Revenge, Can’t Afford No Shoes, Pygmy Twylyte >Dummy Up (part), Montana, Sy Borg, “Lasagna” (Ike singing as Johnny Mathis), Crew Slut, Twenty Small Cigars, Apostrophe, Wild Love

Set 2: The Legend of the Illinois Bandit, Big Swifty, T’Mershi Duween, Dog Breath Variations/Uncle Meat, Sam With the Showing Scalp Flat Top (part), Willie the Pimp, Duke Orchestral of Prunes, City of Tiny Lights, Peaches En Regalia, Packard Goose, Andy, Inca Roads

I hadn’t seen Project/Object for a few years so I was happy they’d come back to my area.  I think it’s awesome that I’ve seen them three times and Zappa Plays Zappa twice here in North Carolina.  It’s always great to see an evening of live Frank Zappa music.  I met my friend Matt at the club and I arrived a couple of songs into open ATV’s set.  They’re a local Triangle band and I really liked their sound.  They’re comfortably a prog/jam band and really good players.  The bass player especially, he was excellent.  Guitar and drums rounded out the group.  I can’t for the life of me remember if they had vocals or not.  I’m leaning to all instrumental.  Regardless, I’d be happy to see them again and it was clear they had a great love of Zappa’s music.

After ATV’s set everyone was excited for P/O.  This tour saw legendary Zappa vocalist Ray White joining the group and this meant that Ray White and Ike Willis would be sharing the same stage since 1984.  Truly an exciting event.  I had see Ray White with ZPZ a few years ago, so it was a nice treat to be able to see him live again.  Besides Ray and Ike on both vocals and guitar, the band had P/O member Andre  Cholmondeley on guitar/vocals and the backline featured David Johnsen on bass/vocals, Ryan Berg on drums/vocals and Eric Svalgard on keys/vocals.  Ike Willis was pretty sick this night and even though he definitely gave it his best shot, you could still tell he felt like crap.  Still, he’s talented enough that on an off night, his guitar playing was still killer.  He took several extended solos throughout the night and always sounded great.

There were some really nice surprises, like the Chunga’s opener, Twenty Small Cigars, finally getting to see Ray sing Illinois Enema Bandit live, a stellar Duke of Prunes and a seriously jammed out Willie the Pimp.  Throughout the whole show, both sets, the band sounded great.  I will say though, that I could tell there was a big degree of tiredness to the group.  They hadn’t been on the road too long, but maybe everyone was feeling a bit off and not just Ike.  Whatever it was, something was there that contributed to them being at around 90% instead of their usual 100%.  Regardless, I’ll always go see Project/Object any chance I get, because these guys always do the music justice and take chances with the music that Zappa Plays Zappa (the official, family-approved, Dweezil Zappa led band) just won’t do.  Oh well, I welcome both because both are great representations of FZ’s music and both bring Zappa’s music out to the people.  That’s always a good thing.

Released: 1989
Tracks: Sea Brazil; Frontiers; Hurricane Camille; Half Moon Bay; The Sinister Minister; Sunset Road; Flipper; Space is a Lonely Place; They’re Here; Reflections of Lucy; Tell It to the Gov’nor
Best track: Reflections of Lucy
Track to skip: nothing outright stinks, but a lot of this bores me

This is the Flecktones debut album and if you’re not familiar with what exactly the Flecktones are…well, just imagine a crazy mixture of bluegrass and jazz.  They do throw in a few other ingredients into the mix, but on a basic level it’s a cross between bluegrass and jazz.  I do think this band is very inventive and right from the start they’ve already established their highly original sound.  My preference in the Flecktones’ music is with the presence of Howard Levy’s harmonica.  It gives the music nice “backwoods outer space” kind of touch.  Levy only played on a few albums and the band eventually brought in saxophonist Jeff Coffin.  Coffin’s a good player, but I’ll always prefer my Flecktones with harmonica and piano.  Besides Levy, the band is Béla Fleck on banjo, Roy “Future Man” Wooten on Synthaxe-Drumitar and Victor Wooten on bass.

As far as actual playing goes, Victor Wooten’s bass is the most inventive.  He gets some fantastic solos in Sea Brazil and Sinister Minister, one of his signature songs.  Sea Brazil is a nice opener that gives you a blueprint for what the whole band is about.  Same with the fast dual banjo/bass runs in Hurricane Camille.  While I like the music on here, I do have a couple of big issues with this album.  First, the drums.  Future Man’s homemade synthesizer drum/ guitar instrument (which he created) is cool in its existence, but the sound of it on this album still pretty much sounds like a drum machine.  Drum-wise, this album is so cold and sterile.  Esp. on something like Sinister Minister, where the fake-sounding drums stick out and just give me a bad taste in my mouth.  I want to hear a real drummer, not something that sounds like a drum machine…even if it is played live.  Sunset Road is another tune pretty much ruined by this sterility.

The other main problem I have with this album is that it’s really pretty boring.  Here and there you get some good tunes, but when listening to this album front to back it gets REALLY boring.  The musicianship is great, surely, but it all sounds cold and once you hear a few tunes the only thing that I look forward to are the bass solos.  If you’re not a bassist?  Heh, there’s a good chance you might hate this.  I honestly don’t listen to this debut much because it’s so hard to get through.  I think the Flecktones’ music works a million times better in a live settings (and on the live album Live Art).  It really takes the band quite a few albums before they start to make their studio albums sound even the slightest bit exciting and not so cold.

Rating: 70

Released: 1971 (Deluxe Ed. in 2003)
Tracks: Statesboro Blues; Trouble No More; Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’; Done Somebody Wrong; Stormy Monday; One Way Out; In Memory of Elizabeth Reed; You Don’t Love Me (Soul Serenade); Midnight Rider; Hot ‘Lanta; Whipping Post; Mountain Jam; Drunken Hearted Boy
Best tracks: so hard to choose…Elizabeth Reed, Whipping Post, Mountain Jam, Stormy Monday…
Track to skip: none

This is an insanely good album.  I love how I can intensely listen or just have it on in the background and I enjoy it just as much either way.  The Allman’s put out two studio albums before releasing this live classic in 1971.  I’m working off the 2003 reissue – the “Deluxe Edition”.  This version has the full takes from the original album plus the various tracks from these dates that came out on other versions over the years.  Until a box set of the complete run is released, this is the best version to get.

There’s so much to love about this album.  I think the primary thing that sticks out is the immense musical talent of these guys.  All of them are mega-talented.  Duane Allman is going to get the most attention, naturally, because his slide guitar is one of the most prominent aspects of this album.  Dickie Betts has some stellar moments throughout (In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, in particular) and Greg Allman’s soulful vocals and excellent keyboard playing are other standouts, but the member of the band that really floors me when listening to this is bassist Berry Oakley.  His solo in Mountain Jam is excellent and full of bass playing that makes my jaw drop.  That bass solo is excellent and his playing here and on the entire album is completely ahead of its time.  I can’t think of too many “rock” bassists during this time that were as creative and inventive as Berry Oakley.  He really shines throughout the whole album.  Unfortunately both Oakley and Duane Allman died in separate motorcycle accidents within a year and a half after this album was released in 1971.

Stormy Monday is definitely one of the greatest “mood songs” ever.  It’s the perfect song to just sit back and LISTEN to.  You can’t get much better when it comes to slow blues songs.  This song begins a stretch in the middle of the album that I just love.  Well, except for You Don’t Love Me.  That song has some good bits, but it’s also a bit overblown and it’s honestly my least favorite of the long songs.  Besides that one, though, that stretch from Stormy Monday through Mountain Jam is some of the coolest stuff around.  The album starts off with the blues stuff and then ends with a final blues statement in Drunken Hearted Boy.  I used to hate this song, but I’ve come to at least be able to tolerate it.  I do like that it brings the whole album full circle back to the “pure” blues.  That says a lot about this band.

Whipping Post is one that I loved listening to today.  This is where the band really jumps into their jazzy side and the full-on musical exploration.  It’s great to listen to this whole thing (all 20+ minutes of it) and hear the band really stretching out.  Then comes Mountain Jam and the band just blows it all out of the water.  There’s a bit in the middle where if you took out Duane’s slide guitar, you’d swear it was James Brown’s band.  I love how this band could tackle blues, jazz and funk with ease.  In both Mountain Jam and Whipping Post you really get to see what this band was capable of and how wide they could cast their net.  While they could excellently play the blues all day long (as evidenced on Stormy Monday and One Way Out), these two songs really show how eclectic and ground-breaking the Allman Brothers truly were.  Just for grins, I love the “Frère Jacques” quote at the end of Whipping Post.

At Fillmore East is a hugely influential album and rightly so.  It’s plain as day that in every single jam band that came after this you can hear traces of the Allman’s music and a direct influence of this album.  I’d say that this album above all others is the blueprint for that entire style of music.  To put it further, I’d say *any* band after 1971 that stretched out their songs owes a huge debt to this album and is probably influenced by it in some way or another.  Truly ground-breaking stuff and highly recommended.  The quality of the playing here is outstanding.

Rating: 96

I haven’t done this in a while.  I stumbled onto the last one that I did and thought it would be fun to do again.  What I do for this thing is put iTunes on shuffle and write about whatever comes up.  Fun stuff!

12:30 – Robert Palmer – Addicted to Love – Like, Omigod!  The 80’s Pop Culture Box

I am not ashamed to say I like this song.  I absolutely *love* the pre-chorus (“you like to think you’re immune to the stuff”).  This dude can definitely sing.  Yes, the song is cheesy as hell, but it’s a fun one and I like hearing it.  As for this album, it’s a boxed set of 80’s pop tunes put out by Rhino.  Missing a lot of the more popular bands (Madonna, Huey Lewis, U2, Michael Jackson), but it’s still a great collection.  7 CDs!

12:34 – King Crimson – Pictures of a City – In the Wake of Poseidon

Opening track of Crimson’s 2nd album.  It’s really similar to 21st Century Schizoid Man, esp. the middle bit, but I still really like this song.  I think Poseidon tends to get the shaft when it comes to Crimson and while this isn’t the best track on the album, it’s a good listen.  Screaming guitars, screaming saxophones, super plunky bass and Greg Lake singing like his usually cool self.  It’s a bit rawer than Schizoid Man so that’s cool.

12:42 – L.A. Law Theme Song – Tee Vee Toons – Television’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 3: 70’s and 80’s

Didn’t watch this show.  Cheesy saxophone/synths and bad sounding drums.  Damn, this theme song is a minute and a half!  Torture

12:43 – Living Colour – Glamour Boys – Vivid

Man, I used to hate this song when it came out.  After many years passed I like it a lot more.  The chorus lyrics (I ain’t no glamour boy, I’m fierce!) are horrible.  I love the music on here; I mean, it’s super poppy, but there’s a ton of great afropop guitar work on here and that makes me way happy.  The band definitely had a fire in their bellies on this first album.  It really shows with the way they handle a song like this.

12:47 – Phish – The Divided Sky – Junta

Well, this one’s gonna take up a lot of time!  12 freaking minutes.  That’s Phish for ya.

I like this song a lot, but, man, I’m not in the mood to listen to this right now.  It goes through about 50 different changes and most of the time I love hearing it, but not today.  There are some really gorgeous parts of the song and some great melodies too, however.  Still, I’d rather a different song come on.  Oh well, I shall wait.

12:59 – Chris Cornell – Follow My Way – Euphoria Morning

This comes from Cornell’s first solo album.  Pretty good album, to me just sounds like a pop version of Soundgarden.  Not much different than a continuation from Down on the Upside, just remove the heaviness.  This is a solid song, not superbly amazing, but I like it a good bit.  My only problem is that it’s kind of forgettable.  I don’t really reach out for this album that often and when I do, this isn’t one of the songs I usually go for.  Still, when it comes up on random it’s enjoyable.

1:04 – Bruce Dickinson – Son of a Gun – Alive in Studio A (Alive at the Marquee)

I think the scenario of this song is stupid.  Oooh look!  A preacher who Bruce categories as a cowboy goes and shoots up his congregation.  Dumb lyrics, Bruce.  This is why I don’t pay attention to words most of the time, because there are so many times where I’m like, “dude, just shut up”.  I do like this as a song and the band (and Bruce) sound really great on this, but there are better solo Bruce songs.  I have to say, though, this album, Alive in Studio A is so freaking good.  The band is fantastic on this album.  Alex Dickson rages on the solo.

1:10 – Ozzy Osbourne – Devil’s Daughter – No Rest for the Wicked

Drums sound like crap.  Ozzy sounds like a cat.

This is a stupid song.

1:15 – Joe Jackson – Nineteen Forever (live) – Greatest Hits

Joe Jackson writes some solid songs.  A good tune and a super catchy chorus easily defeat the cheesy sound on this.  But, MAN!  That chorus is so damn good!  Great pre-chorus lead up to the chorus.  Awesome chord progression.  This dude should be more popular as a songwriter, because his stuff is really good.   I can do without the cheesy sax solo though.

1:21 – Spinal Tap – America – This is Spinal Tap

Spinal Tap doesn’t always work outside of the movie.  This is one of those times.  It gets slightly better about half way through when the band kicks in, but it’s not a very good song.  Probably my least favorite from this soundtrack.

1:25 – Megalo – Neverland – Live at Steamboat 7/8/97

I was at this show!  Haha.  Megalo was a band from Austin in the late 90’s and they were friends of mine.  Our bands shared a drummer, so I tended to see them a lot.  I love this song, it’s one of my favorite songs they wrote.  I’d describe them as a heavier pop band with some alterna bits thrown in.  The 3 guitars made for some cool textures.  This one is a great sing-along that’s from the POV of Peter Pan trying to get Wendy to go out and fly around with him.  Great stuff.

1:28 – Van Halen – “Dirty Movies” – Fair Warning

This isn’t my favorite VH song.  Not by a long shot.  Maybe in 1981 it was original to write songs about porn, but it’s such a lame subject and it’s been so overdone by “bad boy” rock bands.  This song is kind of a mess and it really just makes me roll my eyes.  Damn, what a bad way to end this thing.

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Posting music: Bob Marley – High Tide or Low Tide (love it!  such a great song)

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