Month: January 2016

Great Spotify Playlist – Classic Rock & Jazz

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

small faces all or nothing

When my favorite Norwegian music magazine – BEAT – died for the 5th time back in 1997, the journalists were asked to create a playlist (or rather a C60 tape back then) containing the best music ever.. in their opinion. The time limit was 60min (C60 tape).

Some of the lists are really great and I will share them in a series of posts, starting with Arild R. Andersen‘s list which consists of classic rock and some jazz.

  1. The Rolling Stones – the last time 1965
  2. The Small faces – All or nothing 1966
  3. Led Zeppelin – Good times bad times 1969
  4. Frank Zappa – peaches en regalia 1970
  5. Miles Davis – Sivad 1971
  6. The Weather Report – The Moors 1972
  7. Birthday Party – Zoo-Music Girl 1981
  8. Nick Lowe – Soulful Wind 1994
  9. Jack Bruce – Folk Song 1995
  10. Bill Frisell – Gimme A Holler 1997

Spotify:

Spotify link -> Arild R. Andersen playlist

zappa hot rats

-Egil

Jan 26: Lucinda Williams was born in 1953

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Like so many, I discovered Lucinda Williams when she released the fantastic album, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. I went to the record store (yes, we actually did that in the old days) and bought as many of her albums as I could find. There were four albums before Car Wheels.., great albums, I love them all. Since then I’ve awaited all Lucinda Williams albums with great excitement. She’s always good, most of the time she’s great.

Half an hour of the wonderful Lucinda Williams live at Paradiso Amsterdam (2013):

Continue reading “Jan 26: Lucinda Williams was born in 1953” →

Great Song: Nina Simone – Backlash Blues

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Langston left us about a year ago.
Before he died made me promise to sing this song wherever I went, I told him that I would because he wouldn’t be around to say it anymore
-Nina Simone

Backlash Blues is the 6th track on one of my favourite albums, Nina Simone’s Nina Simone Sings The Blues.

This was Simone’s first album for RCA Records after previously recording for Colpix Records and Philips Records. The album was also reissued in 2006 with bonus tracks, and re-packaged in 1991 by RCA/Novus as a 17-track compilation under the title The Blues.

Sings the blues

Nina Simone Sings the Blues is a classic record that will stand the test of time; it is a true classic. The best version, in my not so humble opinion, is on the album Forever Young, Gifted and Black: Songs of Freedom And Spirit, a fabulous compilation released in 2006.

Continue reading “Great Song: Nina Simone – Backlash Blues” →

Jan 21: Them Again by Them was released in 1966

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

Them Again is the second album by Them, lead by singer and songwriter Van Morrison. The album was released by Decca Records in the UK on 21 January 1966 but it failed to chart. In the U.S. it was released in April 1966 where it peaked at #138 on the Billboard charts.

Released 21 January 1966 (UK), April 1966 (USA)
Genre Rock
Length 48:21Decca (UK), Parrot PA 61008; PAS 71008 (USA)
Producer Tommy Scott

It’s a great record and often overlooked and unfavourably compared to Them’s debut. It is allmost as good. You owe it to yourself to check it out.

Two of the original Van Morrison songs included on the album, “My Lonely Sad Eyes” and “Hey Girl”, can be seen as precursors to the poetic musings of Morrison’s later Astral Weeks album, released in 1968. “My Lonely Sad Eyes” begins with the words, “Fill me my cup, and I’ll drink your sparkling wine/Pretend that everything is fine, ’til I see your sad eyes.” The title implies that the sad eyes belong to the singer but the lyrics address the singer’s love interest. It reminds me of Rolling Stones at their most soulful.

My Lonely Sad Eyes:

The song “Hey Girl” has a pastoral feel to it, enhanced by the addition of flutes and in Brian Hinton’s opinion is a “dry run for ‘Cyprus Avenue'” from Astral Weeks.

Hey Girl:

Continue reading “Jan 21: Them Again by Them was released in 1966” →

Great Album: Dylan LeBlanc – Cautionary Tale

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

“The easy way out
is a dangerous path
and no one knows it like I do”
– Dylan LeBlanc (Easy Way Out)

Dylan LeBlanc released his new record, Cautionary Tale, January 15 2016.

Shreveport artist Dylan LeBlanc is still only 25 years old, he was considered a wunderkind when he released his debut, Pauper Field, to much well deserved acclaim in 2010. It was a great album and the fall on the follow-up, Cast The Same Shadow in 2012, was hard. Not that the album was so terrible, but the expectations were so high.

He spent his formative years surrounded by some of the region’s finest musicians. His father, James LeBlanc, is a longtime Muscle Shoals session player and a fine singer, songwriter (and guitar player) in his own right.

Continue reading “Great Album: Dylan LeBlanc – Cautionary Tale” →