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.