Week 3

I made it through several Bob Dylan albums and a few of The Rolling Stones albums spanning several decades of their career, Between The Buttons and Black And Blue, to some one of their more recent releases, A Bigger Bang. However, it was by far the most eclectic listening weeks (Yes, I realize it’s only been 3 weeks) thus far. When you listen to Jay-Z, Incredible String Band, Radiohead, Toby Keith, and Nirvana (to name a few) in the same week you’ve covered nearly all ends of the musical spectrum. On a side-note, I've become slightly obsessed with Pepsi Throwback (made with REAL sugar). It's like crack. There's my plug for the taste born in New Bern, NC.

This week's set (1/19-1/24):

Radiohead - Bends, The
3 Doors Down - Better Life, The
The Rolling Stones - Between The Buttons
The Black Keys - Big Come Up, The
Incredible String Band - Big Huge, The
The Rolling Stones - Bigger Bang, A
Otis Spann - Biggest Thing Since Colossus, The
Jay-Z - Black Album, The
The Rolling Stones - Black And Blue
Buckcherry - Black Butterfly
AC/DC - Black Ice
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath, Vol. 4
Nirvana - Bleach
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Bloodline - Bloodline
Jeff Beck - Blow By Blow
Toby Keith - Blue Moon

Blonde On Blonde was the highlight of the week. It starts with Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, and is full of great tunes. I never gave Bob Dylan a chance until I was exposed to him by The Black Crowes and that same NJ redneck who opened my eyes to The Rolling Stones. The Black Crowes have covered many of Bob's tunes including a few from Blonde On Blonde. This album was the last one Dylan recorded prior to his motorcycle crash mentioned in last week's post. It was also one of the first double albums to be released in rock. This album aslo marks the time when Dylan first collaborated with members of the Hawks (The Band) Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm.

3 Doors Down is one of my favorite new bands from the past decade. Their first album The Better Life remains my favorite. It isn’t over-polished or forced like many of their later releases. I still like all of their albums, with the exception of Seventeen Days which underachieved my expectations, but The Better Life is the most-diverse straight-ahead album in their library. The Better Life has their breakout songs Kryptonite and Be Like That, but my personal favorites from this album are Duck And Run, Loser, and Down Poison.

I skipped over mentioning another new band covered in prior weeks that is really unique, The Black Keys. This guitar-drum duo is a grungy, raunchy, raw blues style band that uses funk, soul, rock, and blues unlike any band I’ve ever really listened to. The stripped down sound is heavily distorted and far from glossy in it’s presentation, but that’s exactly why I like them. This week I listened to their debut album The Big Come Up. If you like grunge or blues, this band fits both molds without conforming to either.

Hope you’re ready for another Fleetwood Mac (original lineup) reference. Otis Spann (long-time piano player for Muddy Waters) recorded several tunes with Fleetwood Mac at Chess Records. Otis ended up recruiting Peter Green and two other Fleetwood Mac members to record The Biggest Thing Since Colossus. This album is pure blues at its best featuring two giants on one album. This was actually the first time I got to listen to the album in its entirety, but it certainly will not be the last. And just as I predicted all this listen did was make me want to go buy everything with Peter Green and Otis Spann. Music is my drug and I need a new fix. I even did some research on Chess Records to learn that the studio is now a historical landmark owned by the Willie Dixon Blue's Heaven Foundation. If I ever get a chance to visit Chicago, this will be a must see attraction. Willie Dixon is perhaps the most influential person in modern music history. It's easier to name people that haven't covered one of his songs than those that have. He was basically on staff at Chess during it's glory years and played with and wrote for all the greats during his career (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Otis Rush). Click here to read an article on Gibson's website about Willie Dixon. However, ehe artists he influenced eclipse the list of  those he collaborated with. For instances Jeff Beck, whose instrumental album Blow By Blow was covered this week.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik is just a funky-nasty album. Yes, it has the commercial songs, but take a good hard listen and you realize the Red Hot Chili Peppers are diverse. No secret that the real driving force behind this band is Flea. That guy is just a freaky sick bassist. He's played with scores of other musicians, because his skills are in high demand and because he is so musically driven (doing research I found out he got into music as a trumpet player, which oddly enough was the instrument I played in Jr. HS and HS). RHCP are just a great rhythm band all-together. Their music is every style (punk, funk, pop, soul, rap, rock) and at the some time they don't fit in any one category. Nearly every track sounds totally unique.