Week 16

Last week I caught Leon Russell with Medusa Stone opening at the Lincoln Theatre. I'm excited to see what direction Medusa Stone heads, as a new heavily Black Sabbath influenced tune closed their set, showing signs the band might be headed in a varied musical direction. One of the coolest moments of the evening was learning that the ES-335 that Leon's guitarist played was once owned by Freddie King. Leon played with Freddie who gave Leon the guitar, and now Leon gifted it to his guitarist. Witnessing an actual passing of the torch (the guitar was cherry red) on stage was a surreal experience. I also got a chance to see A Rooster For The Masses, which I can say was a band I would certainly pay to see again. They are great musicians with a solid collection of songs, but it would be nice to get a little more on-stage presence from the entire band. On to this week's set (4/19-4/25):

Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Jethro Tull - Aqualung (vinyl)
Alice In Chains - Facelift
George Michael - Faith
Puddle Of Mudd - Famous
ZZ Top - Fandango!
Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
The Felice Brothers - Felice Brothers, The
Pink Floyd - Final Cut, The
Small Faces - First Step
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

AC/DC - Flick The Switch

Jethro Tull's Aqualung is one of the creepiest, but coolest album covers in rock archives. The title track is perhaps the most famous song from the album, but Locomotive Breath is my favorite tune from the album. The entire track was overdubbed to create the song and the record itself incorporated one of the first uses of quadraphonic sound. Quadraphonic sound is basically the first form of surround sound in 4.0. The technology was way ahead of its time, but was too expensive to last in the era of its invention. Back to Aqualung, the album is said to be a concept album, but Ian Anderson has gone on record saying it was just a collection of songs. The record does have two distinct themes as side 1 is a collection of songs about sorted characters while side 2 contains a predominantly anti-church theme. It's not hard to see how some of this material had an impact on the heavy metal world in retrospect. One interesting note on Jethro Tull, Tommy Iommi of Black Sabbath and Phil Collins did a very short stint in the band, but at different times.

This week had a nice heavy mix of folk-style singer/songwriting with Norah Jones, Fleet Foxes, and Nick Drake. The debut release Five Leaves Left is a great album while it also contains that sad aura of an artist that departed well before his time. Just like Otis Redding, much of Nick Drake's musical success took place after passing on into the great beyond. Thanks to the miracles of recording technology for preserving some this timeless musicians abilities. Norah Jones' Feels Like Home is a gem of an album. In addition to containing covers of Gram Parsons, Tom Waits, and Townes Van Zandt the originals shine just as brightly. The album also contains Levon Helm on drums for What Am I To You? and a duet with Dolly Parton on Creepin' In which garnered one of three Grammy's for this album. The album may play tribute to it's antecedents while sounding fresh, just as the Fleet Foxes have done with their break-through self-titled release. Perhaps the two might join for a tour one day - I for one would shell out for such a billing.

First Step was credited as the Small Faces in the US to garner more commercial success, but this is just the Faces debut album. The "Small" portion of the band name was dropped due to the addition of larger than life additions Ron Wood and Rod Stewart fresh off their departure from the Jeff Beck Group. This album is raw, but is packed full of great tunes. Production is very loose which makes this album feel more like a live performance with little overdubbing. The later studio releases gained the band bigger success in the US, but this album was exactly as titled - a First Step.

This week had some big name acts, but the lesser volumes from their catalogs. The Final Cut by Pink Floyd, AC/DC's Flick The Switch and Famous by Puddle Of Mudd. Decent albums, but not the finer collections that have been covered. I got to finally listen to Motorhead which has been on my list of bands that I'm familiar with, but never actually listened to fully. Ace Of Spades is just like their front-man, Lemmy, brash and bold with a driving assault of unadulterated rock Not something I think I'll be listening to over and over, but when the mood to listen to thrash rock hits I'll know where to turn.