Week 20

Why does vinyl sound better than CD? Listening to vinyl makes it feel more "real" if that's the way I could describe it. The mixes are closer to the true sound of the recording. You can certainly tell a subtle difference when listening, but it's tough to say exactly what it is, so here is ONE scientific explanation that I thought was interesting: Is the sound on vinyl records better than on CDs? That helped me understand the differnces a little better! Grab your board and ride this week's sound waves (5/17-5/23):

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers - Bare Wires
Grateful Dead - Grateful Dead (aka-Skull & Roses) (vinyl)
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River (vinyl)
Goo Goo Dolls - Gutterflower
Oakley Hall - Gypsum Strings
Counting Crows - Hard Candy
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers - A Hard Road
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
The Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
Gosling - Here Is…
North Mississippi Allstars - Hernando
AC/DC - High Voltage
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

CCR was a band I knew about through hearing my Dad talk about them, but until I got into music heavily never explored. The first thing I bought by them was Chronicles Vol. 1 (aka - greatist hits) and loved it. I never owned an actual album until I started my vinyl collection. Listening to Green River as it was originally intended was a treat. Discoverng music from a classic band beyond greatest hits is like the feeling you get when you find forgotten money hidden away in an old book. It's been there all along waiting for you to discover it, you need to simply open the right page.

Oakley Hall is a Brooklyn band currently on local Durham label Merge. They have sort of dropped off the map as they don't have any recent tour dates anywhere in the area and haven't updated their website (they made a small update and mentioned themselves how out of date their media is). The band has had a few lineup changes over the years, but Patrick Sullivan and NC native Rachel Cox have been the core of this Americana/folk/country rock band. The album featured this week is my favorite release of theirs - Gypsum Strings - featuring my personal favorites Living In Sin In The U.S.A. and Lazy Susan. For those of you that like a fiddle in the band, Claudia Mogel offers a nice dosage throughout, but visit Second Guessing for a full dose.

Counting Crows' Hard Candy features a collaboration in writing with Ryan Adams as well as the huge commercial success of the Joni Mitchell cover Big Yellow Taxi. I am partial to the hidden track version of BYT instead of the overdubbed Vanessa Carlton version which charted the commercial success. I haven't listened to much Counting Crows, but liked what I heard here beyond the known commercial hits.

Another band from this week that has dropped off the planet is Gosling. These guys are super talented and churned out some terrific songs on Here Is... which was their "debut" after a full name change (sans a lineup change from Loudermilk). These guys actually toured with Motley Crue before the name change, which I found to be most curious given their old sound and new sound don't really fit the Hair Metal mold. Anyway, Here Is... an awesome album from a band I am sad to see no longer in the scene.

My album of the week is Hernando. Yes, I am biased toward the North Mississippi Allstars because of the baddest slide guitarist I've ever seen in person - Luther Dickinson. This last album is perhaps the most complete sounding record NMA has released. It's full of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix guitar licks while keeping true to the roots of the Mississippi-country-blues. My favorite track from the album is I'd Love To Be A Hippy, sung by bassist Chris Chew. The song was actually co-written by their father Jim with Champion Jack Dupree. It's an amazing slow blues tune that always gets the crowd pumped up.

It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock N' Roll) is easily my favorite AC/DC song. How cool is the bagpipe/guitar solo!? Yes, bagpipes!! In addition to being a one of the baddest frontmen of any band, Bon could play a mean set of pipes. High Voltage is the blueprint of AC/DC albums.

Week 19

I'll save the intro for the week and Let The Music Do The Talking:

Metallica - Garage, Inc.

Medusa Stone - Ghosts

Taj Mahal - Giant Steps & De Old Folks At Home

The Flying Burrito Brothers - Gilded Palace Of Sin, The

Rolling Stones - Goats Head Soup (CD & Vinyl)

The Sword - Gods Of The Earth

Bob Dylan - Good As I Been To You

Gov't Mule - Gov't Mule

Soul Asylum - Grave Dancer's Union

Bruce Springsteen - Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.

I've made reference to Medusa Stone in previous posts, but this week i finally get to expand on their work as their EP - Ghosts made it into the set. This band from Wilmington, NC has been one big break away from blowing up for a few years now. The only thing missing is a label big enough and smart enough to promote them. Ghosts is an EP they released a few years back between their debut release and their latest Shaking Hands. These guys just flat out blow the doors off every place they play. The true test of a successful band is being able to pull off live what you lay down in the studio, which makes these guys worth the price of admission.

Gram Parsons makes another appearance this week with his work in The Flying Burrito Brothers on The Gilded Palace Of Sin. This version of the band features Gram and Chris Hillman working together again fresh off their departure from The Byrds. While G.P./Grievous Angel are the pinnacle of Gram's solo work - The Gilded Palace Of Sin is the pinnacle of his work in a band. Christine's Tune, Do Right Woman, Hot Burrito 1 & 2, all classic tunes from this epic album. If you like country-rock and haven't heard this album, then mark your name in the pretender column.

Bob Dylan returns as well with a full cover album of traditional folk numbers in Good As I Been To You. Released in 1992 this album sounds like something that was recorded to wax cylinders nearly a century earlier. Notably this is the first album Bob ever released not to feature on original, but make no mistake the sound is pure Dylan.

This week two albums shared a common thread. John Popper of Blues Traveler is featured on the track Mule from Gov't Mule's debut self-titled in addition to the Metallica cover of Lynyrd Skynard's Tuesday's Gone on Garage, Inc. As stated early in this blog, I am always in to finding these linkages between artists and having heard both these albums without realising the connection was like uncovering a hidden gem of a music fact. Music is a giant tapestry full of inter-woven parts and this thread is yet one more which ties many bands together.

This week's musical trifecta will be the three contrasting albums Gods Of The Earth, Gov't Mule, and Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. each of which took me several listens to appreciate. All three albums share a common theme - great story-telling through music, fine musicianship (each in their respective genre) and solid listens throughout the entire album without containing one "radio" single. Sometimes the best music has to be sought out instead of force fed. These three albums are full of delectable tastes.

Week 18

What a good week of music!? This week saw a return to the complete eclecticism: R&B, country rock, indie, mainstream rock, classic rock, folk, blues. I didn't realy listen to any "bad" albums either. I will say that Wilco's A Ghost Is Born wasn't up to par with what I expected it to be, but all around the entire week was solid. Got to see a live show as well which exposed me to a new local band - Mount Moriah. They will be playing June 9 at Duke's Music In The Gardens with Lonnie Walker. Summer shows are in the air - time to for the music to share:

Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies
Gram Parsons - G.P. / Grevious Angel
A Rooster For The Masses - Gallo Rojo
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Gate Swings
Megafaun - Gather, Form & Fly (CD & vinyl)
Aerosmith - Get A Grip
JET - Get Born
Aerosmith - Get Your Wings (CD & vinyl)
Al Green - Gets Next To You
Wilco - Ghost Is Born, A
Bruce Springsteen - Ghost Of Tom Joad, The

Gram Parsons is perhaps the single most influential person in Alt-country/Country Rock. He spent time in The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Byrds, but his two solo albums G.P & Grevious Angel contain some of the best work ever recorded in the genre. A Song For You, She, The Streets Of Baltimore, That's All It Took, Love Hurts, and the eerily surreal closer of his recordings and life - In My Hour Of Darkness. Both albums prominately feature Emmylou Harris, which was where her career took off. As lyrics from the the aforementioned state - some say he was a star/but he was just a country boy/his simple songs confess/and the music he had in him so very few possess.

This week couldn't have been much better as Gather, Form, & Fly finally got here. It felt like waiting for Christmas for this album to arrive; even though I've listened to it many times since beginning the project. This album is phenomenal!!!! Not only was I able to listen to the album this week, but I got to catch Megafaun fresh off a European tour live at Cat's Cradle with Mount Moriah and Great White Jenkins. The first time I saw them they opened there for Vetiver just after recording this album and before it was released. Seeing how the songs have evolved shows the bands willingness to push boundaries which makes every performance truly unique. Back to the album, The Longest Day is by far my favorite tune from the album, but it's not the tight harmonies of Brad, Phil, and Joe that shine on this track; rather Christy Smith's hauntingly beautiful delivery that makes you feel the pain built into the prose. The entire album is never boring as digital looping mixes with lo-fi banjo/guitar twang to create a truly unique sound. Megafaun is a band that I hope sticks together for many years to come.

Rocks is regarded by many (Slash included) as Aerosmith's best album ever, but my personal favorite album is Get Your Wings. Lord Of The Thighs and Seasons Of Wither are two of my favorite Aerosmith songs. Someone recommended that I learn how to play something I listen to each week on guitar; while that task is daunting I did heed their advice and tackled Seasons Of Wither. It's not a terribly complicated song, but that's where the true joy lies in the song. The best songs are simple, stripped-down, minimalist, yet powerful. Get Your Wings is that album. If you want to take flight with Aerosmith roots, then this album is the perfect place to climb aboard.

Week 17

Last week I went past to the 200 album mark without even noticing. Perhaps it's because my input of new music at time exceeds my listen rate. Today it crossed my mind that my musical collection will make a good stockpile in case of a global nuclear musical meltdown. If I ever am forced into a bomb shelter with all of my music, I can survive for years without hardly listening to the same song twice. This week the Crosley CR246 (that's my record player with built in CD burner) was finally put to the test as the needle dropped on Pink Floyd's Meddle to transfer the large black vinyl to compact disc. Oh the joys of modern technology that bridge the gap from the old world to the new world. The sound quality is superb, but the mix of the vinyl is maintained leaving only a faint crackle or pop behind to preserve the nostalgia. The copied CD was even recognized by iTunes making the conversion process even more astonishing. Enough geeking out - on with the show (4/26-5/2):

Rolling Stones - Flowers
Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
The Pneurotics - Forty
Blues Traveler - Four
The Fray - Fray, The
Sarah McLachlan - Freedom Sessions, The
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin Bob Dylan, The
Eric Clapton - From The Cradle
Wes Montgomery - Full House
The Stooges - Funhouse
Pink - Funhouse
Justin Timberlake - Future Sex/Love Sounds

This week was the first to not feature a true classic/hard rock album. Flowers has some of the Stones hits from their pop sounds of the early 60's, one of Van Halen's  weaker albums, with the rest being blues, jazz, punk, folk, indie, and pop. Despite my strong palette of rock, occasionally I go off the chart with something poppy like Pink's Funhouse. Don't ask me why, but I like her music. Perhaps it's the rebel attitude in which she approaches the music scene (bashing other pop artists), but more than anything her lyrics speak more to broken homes, abusive relationships, and general mayhem which have a meaning beyond most pop artists. She has a very soulful voice and doesn't overdub in auto-tuned singing to clean up the slight off pitch note. Funhouse is exactly as the title suggest - a fun album with views from slightly distorted mirrors.

Local bands are a dime a dozen, especially bad ones. So when I come across a band like The Pneurotics it's nice to plant them on my local watch list and try to catch them whenever I can. The first time I ever saw them was when they opened for another band (Casuall Fiasco from VT which is no longer together). It was one of their first EVER shows, but a few years later this band has grown into a tight band with some great tunes. Second Skin is their second release and shows progressions over their debut. If you're in the greater Triangle region check them out. Husband/wife duo Rich and Mimi on guitar and bass lay down some great punk grooves. The drummer they have now isn't too shabby either.

This week we return again to Robert Allen Zimmerman's work. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is perhaps one of the most iconic albums Dylan recorded. The opening track Blowin' In The Wind might be his biggest hit, but the album contains plenty of other greats like Girl From The North Country and Don't Think Twice, It's Alright. The tunes Down The Highway and I Shall Be Free were my favorite from this album.

The juxtaposition of the three album run near the end of the week highlighted some great albums from blues, punk, and jazz. The Stooges second album Funhouse is a powerful sophomore release from punk pioneers. 1970, Dirt, Loose are my favorites from this album. Iggy may have been the front man and image of the band, but the Asheton brothers were the brain trust behind the sound. I got into The Stooges a few years ago as the news of Ron Asheton's death made music headlines on January 6, 2009. Contrast his style with the crisp jazz style of Wes Montgomery on his Full House album. Jazz is a music form that becomes more interesting to me each time I listen and Wes was one of the biggest names in jazz guitarists. Then when it comes to guitarists none is much more versatile than Clapton. On his first "true" blues solo album, From The Cradle hits some of the most well known blues standards while mixing in Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Freddie King and others into his own signature arrangements. These three albums were the triumphant trio of the week.