Week 11

Sometimes music takes you to places long forgotten or helps make sense of life through the messages within. Often, music is a reminder of a place and time. Just the mention of Levon Helm takes me to Woodstock and reminds me of a long road trip with a good friend, snowy adventures to a Big Pink house, dinner at a tiny restaurant in a small town, or a night of music forever captured to remind you of the bonds music has between us all. Music is a feeling, a memory, or just something that takes you away from the drone of day-to-day life. Sometimes the reminders come in the form of tracks like Big Balls from Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, which was performed karaoke style at a work function. I didn't say they were all shining memories. Keeping in theme let's call this "dirt" week (3/15-3/21):

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory (vinyl)
Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust
Cry Of Love - Diamonds & Debris
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary Of A Madman
Alice In Chains - Dirt
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
AC/DC - Dirty Work Done Dirt Cheap
Rolling Stones - Dirty Work
Van Halen - Diver Down

I had to back-track figuratively and literally to listen to Cosmo's Factory by CCR. This record is full of some epic tunes like Travelin' Band (my personal favorite), I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Marvin Gaye cover), Who'll Stop The Rain, Lookin' Out My Back Door, and Run Through The Jungle. The album also features a tune made famous by Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby. Also of note, the last album of the week includes another Orbison tune - (Oh) Pretty Woman. Diver Down is a good Van Halen album, but is heavy on the cover songs. I love a good cover song and Eddie and the boys do a great job making them their own, but this album doesn't have any signature originals that other Van Halen albums include.

Bruce Springsteen has released several albums that deviate from the sound that made him popular to show a folk side that only The Boss can so aptly handle. Devils & Dust follows the same pattern as Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad showing the narrative story-telling skills of an artist not afraid to take a chance. The album actually peaked at #1 on the Billbord album charts, but this album is far from radio friendly by modern standards. That's exactly why this is one of my favorite albums by The Boss. The title track and Long Time Comin' are my favorites with the real highlight being the dual-sided DVD with just Bruce, harmonica, and acoustic guitar playing and giving commentary on the songs.

Cry Of Love only released two albums, but Diamonds & Debris was not quite as strong as their first album Brother. Audley Freed's amazing chops hold this album up entirely on it's own, but the songs just aren't as strong. The instrumental Hung Out Redux shows how influential Hendrix was to Audley. Front man Kelly Holland departed and was replaced by Robert Mason for this album. Favorite among the vocal tracks are Empty Castle and my favorite song Bring Me My Burden.

Once Ozzy left as front-man for Black Sabbath, he enlisted one of metal's most influential in gutarist Randy Rhoads. Diary Of A Madman is the final chapter in the guitarist short career, but proved that the Ozzy/Rhoads team was far from finished before the guitarists life was cut short. The album is full of great guitar work on tracks like Flying High Again and the simplistic acoustic work contrasted my running metal scales on You Can't Kill Rock And Roll.

Alice In Chains is another prime example of a musician leaving before their time. Lead singer Layne Staley burnt out long before his time, but sometimes the most troubled souls create the best music. The case is true as Dirt is perhaps one of my favorite hard rock albums from the 90's. It's gritty, angry, and well - dirty rockin album full of the plights of addiction. While Cantrell is given credit for most of the song-writing, it's Staley's voice that gives the album and band it's signature sound.

Even a band like the Rolling Stones can make a "bad" album, but when they make a bad album it's still better than most crap out these days. I find it interesting that it looks like Keith Richards is kneeing Mick Jagger in the groin on the cover. It's almost as if Keef is saying, "Keep your crappy drum-looping and over-dubbing out of our rock-n-roll and stick it in your solo crap". This album was a period in the Stones career where Richards and Jagger were not on good terms. It's clear that the music on this album just doesn't meet the standards for this band. It's also proof of just how bad an album cover can look when the label is in charge of decisions. Pastel on the Rolling Stones just doesn't fit. Additionally, the album features Jimmy Page on One Hit for which he is not credited - again due to record company red tape.

Week 10

While writing for the previous week's blog I decided to check craigslist for any vinyl records that may have been posted. Much to my surprise someone posted that very night their entire 500+ collection for sale. Now while I would have loved to buy virtually every single one I decided to just get the stuff that is highest on my wish list. I pretty much fulfilled a vast majority getting almost the entire collection for artists such as Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and some Bruce Springsteen, Grateful Dead, Traffic, Blind Faith, and Leon Russell selections thrown in for good measure. The nicest part of the whole transaction was meeting the seller, talking music, and having this proverbial musical torch passed along. Needless to say between life, work, and listening to my new collection the blog once again suffered. Onto this week's set (3/8-3/14):

Gov't Mule - Déjà Voodo
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu (cd & vinyl)
Jo Dee Messina - Delicious Surprise
Bob Dylan - Desire
Ryan Adams - Destroyer
Kid Rock - Devil Without A Cause


The week started the way last week ended, with another Gov't Mule album, Déjà Voodo. This album isn't a repeat of the Deep End albums as the band finally settled on a permanent bassist with Andy Hess and added keyboardist Danny Louis. This album is one of my favorite post-Allen Woody albums. While the previous studio releases are full of great songs, this album is more cohesive in terms of start to finish. The highlights for me on this album are Bad Man Walking, Little Toy Brain, Slackjaw Jezebel.

This week I listened to a great deal of CSNY. In addition to listening to Déjà Vu twice (ironic huh!?), I listened to the Woodstock soundtrack which has several songs from the CSN and CSNY sets. While the Woodstock show was only the second gig for the group - all were seasoned musicians - serving in bands like The Byrds or Buffalo Springfield. Unlike the cohesiveness of Déjà Voodo, Deja Vu is a combination of several talented singer/song writers recording their own material and combining them for an album. The result is a fabulous album that, while it doesn't really flow from track to track, is full of marvelous tunes. Stills' Carry On, Crosby's Almost Cut My Hair, Nash's Teach Your Children Well, and Young's Helpless. Also noteworthy of this album is the cover of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock and the session work put in by Jerry Garcia on two tracks. Truly a great album (hence the double-listen and owning it in dual-format).

Jo Dee Messina is my favorite modern country artist. A few years back she performed for the Duke Children's Classic show and I got to catch her for free. It was a great performance and made me appreciate her more as a musician. Delicious Surprise was released 5 years after her previous album Burn, but the wait was well worth it. Modern country has gotten watered down with the pop-rock flavor, but this album is not quite as cheesy as many of it's contemporaries. My favorite track and saying from the album: My Give A Damn's Busted.

Back this week is another classic selection from Bob Dylan's collection, Desire. The album is another prime example of Dylan's story telling with the lead-off track Hurricane documenting the story of Rubin Carter. The album also features Emmylou Harris and Rolling Thunder Revue. I learned through research that Emmylou spent a lot of her early years in NC and even attended The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), which is my alma mater. The album features many great musicians and songs. My personal favorites are One More Cup Of Coffee and Oh, Sister - both featuring Emmylou.

Devil Without A Cause was not Kid Rock's first album, but it certainly put his career on the map. I remember first appreciating him through the 1999 MTV Music Awards. He had Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Run DMC come out to perform Walk This Way. I wasn't a big fan of his until after that night. I began to keep up with his work and realized he was actually a real musician. He plays guitar, drums, keys, turntables and has a pretty hard rockin' band backing him up. Since this album made it into my collection many years ago I've easily listened to it 100 times. The rock/rap/metal combo certainly wasn't new by the time Devil Without A Cause came along, but none have done it quite as well as Robert James Ritchie.

Week 9

Man am I slacking on this project. Keeping the momentum and finding the time to write has turned out to be harder than I expected. I have yet to finish my Ray Bradbury book, but I am trudging slowly through the pages as time permits. The old adage holds true - "Sometimes life gets in the way of living". I keep reminding myself that the reason I am doing this is to broaden my musical horizons, while along the way educating myself and perhaps others. On with the show (3/1-3/7):

Buddy Guy - Damn Right I've Got The Blues
Michael Jackson - Dangerous
Nickelback - Dark Horse
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town
DAUGHTRY - Daughtry
David Gilmour - David Gilmour
Metallica - Death Magnetic
Rolling Stones - December's Children
Gov't Mule - Deep End Vol. 1, The
Gov't Mule - Deep End Vol. 2, The

Buddy Guy's resume is an impressive one, but not just because who he's played with. Even more impressive is the list of artists he has influenced - Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Angus Young, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had the joy of seeing him play at the Bull Durham Blues Festival at the old Durham Athletic Park (DAP). Buddy paid tribute during segments of the show to Jimi and SRV, as well as many other guitarists, by jamming and playing solos in the style that those guys played. It was one of the best nights in music even though Buddy never actually played an entire song that I can remember. It was a jam session with a lot of musical knowledge thrown in, but no one seemed to mind, self included. Damn Right I Got The Blues is full of straight-ahead blues tunes done only the way a legend can. Damn right this Guy can play!!

Michael Jackson may have been a bit of an (cough)..."unusual person", but that doesn't mean he didn't make a huge impact on the musical landscape. I can't say that I admire the person, but I like the music. Dangerous is one of his finest albums, not only because it is full of good tunes, but because it features Slash on two tracks - Black Or White and Give In To Me. This is the album Mike decided to leave behind long-time producer Quincy Jones. The album has more edge than his earlier pop releases (of course it has SLASH - Duh!) It had been a long time since I last listened to this album in it's entirety. I was pleasantly reminded how good it is. RIP one-gloved one!

Nickelback is one of my favorite bands, but Dark Horse was a big letdown in my eyes. The album seemed a bit forced and too formula driven. I actually liked Daughtry's debut release better even though the albums differ very little. The difference is that Daughtry was the first pass of an American Idoler, while Nickelback is deep into their career without showing any huge signs of musical or lyrical growth. The album isn't bad, but I would certainly recommend many of their earlier releases over this one. All The Right Reasons is my personal favorite.

The conversation topic, "If you were stranded on an island and could only have 10 albums to listen to what would you pick?", recently came up and got me pondering. First, I never consider compilations in this discussion and second picking 10 is darn near impossible. However, I know Dark Side Of The Moon would make the cut. The album is epic, full of multi-layered sounds/genres, never dull, and contains some sweet tunes. A few years ago I did my own search into the myth about the connections made between The Wizard Of Oz and Dark Side Of The Moon. The term is known as synchronicity and fans labeled the "connection" Dark Side Of The Rainbow. Members of Pink Floyd have gone on record numerous times denying the connection. It's all basically coincidence, or if you think really hard a bunch of stoned/high fans with way too much time on their hands. Back to the point - this album never gets old to me. Each listen feels like the first which is why it would make it on my island list. The flow of this album is like a musical journey that takes your mind to another place and time, but not sure exactly where. By the end of this project I am going to complete the 'Top 10 Island List'. No doubt it will be tough, but I have already covered two other albums in strong contention - Beggar's Banquet and Appetite For Destruction.

Metallica's Death Magnetic brought the guitar solo back to the fore-front in their music and reminded us all that Kirk Hammett can shred. I stated in earlier posts that AC/DC's Black Ice and Death Magnetic were highlights in 2008 music for me. Both bands went back to old formulas without making a boring repetitive album (see above). There is not one bad track on this album. My favorite being The Day That Never Comes, which clocks in at a staggering 7:56. Actually, the shortest track on the album is 5:01 with the longest reaching 9:57. Also of note, the famed producer Rick Rubin was brought to guide the train.

The two volume set laid out by Gov't Mule, The Deep End, was a tribute to lost bassist Allen Woody. Both volumes feature a who's who of bassists, which were Woody's favorites. The list includes -  Jack Bruce of Cream, John Entwistle of The Who, Mike Watt of Minutemen, Les Claypool of Primus, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Chris Squire of Yes in addition to others. It speaks volumes to how good Woody was that Gov't Mule called out to these guys and they said yes. It also means that both volumes are never boring as each bassist contributes a little different approach making this album truly unique. The constant is still the heralded playing of frontman/guitarist Warren Haynes and drummer Matt Abts. I prefer Vol. 1, but both are full of gems and should not be overlooked. My favorite track from either album is the Allman Brothers tune penned by Haynes - Soulshine.

Week 8

Listening to The B-52's, Megadeth, and Nelly in a row nearly made my head explode. The combination was like drinking beer, liquor, and wine all within a short stretch of time. Or for non-drinkers like watching Sesame Street, a slasher movie, and a chick flick in the same day. While my musical tastes vary; the mix of all three in the same day may have been too much. Still, it makes the days of captivity in the corporate world go by quicker in a much more enjoyable fashion.

This week I took in 2 concerts at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro - Vetiver and North Mississippi Allstars. Both shows were awesome, but could not have been much different in terms of musical styles. Vetiver is mellow songwriter folk-style music while NMA play LOUD blues rock with a lot of Mississippi mud thrown in. The thing both have in common though is their approachability. The musicians mingled with the common-folk at the Cradle and they are just down-to-earth people that truly appreciate their fans. Enough babbling and on to this week's set (2/22-2/28):

Chris Hillman - Clear Sailin' (vinyl)
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
The B-52's - Cosmic Thing
Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction
Nelly - Country Grammar
Dave Matthews Band - Crash
Ten Years After - Cricklewood Green
Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow

Chris Hillman was a member of several pivotal bands from the 60's including The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Manassas. Artists included in those bands are legends like David Crosby, Gram Parsons, and Stephen Stills. Clear Sailin' is a nice listen, but contains no hits which makes it all the more enjoyable. Hillman is an amazing song-writer with credits on many other artists albums including Tom Petty, Beck, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow, The Oakridge Boys, and Nazareth.

Last week left off with Velvet Revolver and this week ties over with Stone Temple Pilots near the top of the list. Core is a great debut album from one of the 90's biggest bands.While they were often compared to Pearl Jam and Alice In Chains, STP proved they weren't just imitators as they grew through subsequent releases. Weiland went on to join Velvet Revolver and has now left to rejoin STP. Core remains my favorite album from STP.

I finally got to see Wolfmother back on 11/03/09 at the new Fillmore in Charlotte with Heartless Bastards opening. One quick aside, the Fillmore - Charlotte is an amzing venue. They are drawing great bands which means they will certainly be relieving me of several dollars for years to come. Back to Wolfmother - Andrew Stockdale is back, from the self-titled debut Wolfmother, with Cosmic Egg. The entire band around him has changed, but the sophomore release and new supporting cast do not disappoint. Wolfmother brings all the elements of metal, hard-rock, and lyrical story-telling together in each song. I recommend buying the double disc release of this album since some of the best songs are left out of the regular release.

Ten Years After is another one of the Woodstock bands that goes almost completely unnoticed as time goes by. I first learned of this band from watching the Woodstock documentary where they are featured playing I'm Going Home. The band did not achieve the commercial successes of many of the bands that played the festival. However, commercial success has no bearing on how good the music really is. Cricklewood Green is a great greasy blues-rock album from a often overlooked blast from the way-past.