Month: November 2017

Classic concert: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at Rockpalast 1977

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen


This was the first time I saw Tom Petty on the TV, and it blew me away! I was 11 years old and just started to discover music beyond Abba, Beatles and The Eagles.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers was formed in Gainesville, Florida in 1976 and soon started churning great rock songs. Rockpalast from Germany was one the few things worth watching in our “one-channel Tv-world” back in the late 70s in Norway. It was shown in the middle of the night, because you now, rock’n roll could deprave the minds of children. Some of us, stayed up all night to catch these few glimpses of what was happening in the great exciting world of rock’n roll.

Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Ron Blair, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch opened their June 14,1977 taping at WDR Studio-L in Cologne with Surrender, a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Jaguar and Thunderbird” came next. The setlist was a wonderful mix of originals and great cover versions. The world was changing.

We miss Tom Petty deeply. Continue reading “Classic concert: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at Rockpalast 1977” →

November 4: The Allman Brothers Band released their eponymous album in 1969

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

allman_brothers_band

 “It might seem strange to apply the adjective “lovely” to a heavy-white-blues album, but that is what this record so paradoxically is. Sometimes it sounds like what Led Zeppelin might have been if they weren’t hung up on gymnastics. Sometimes it sounds like the more-lyrical Louisiana cousins of Johnny Winter. But what it is consistently is subtle, and honest, and moving. “
– Lester Bangs (Rolling Stone Magazine)

The Allman Brothers Band, released in 1969, was the debut album of  the Allman Brothers Band.

“Dreams” and “Whipping Post” would become the basis for two of The Allman Brothers’ most famed epic concert numbers.

In April 1969 the Allman Brothers Band moved from Jacksonville, Florida to Macon, Georgia. They first rented a house at 309 College Street. The front album cover photo was taken at the entrance of the College House (now owned by Mercer University) right next door at 315 College Street. The back cover photo of the album was taken at the Bond Tomb at Rose Hill Cemetery located at 1091 Riverside Drive in Macon. “Don’t Want You No More” is a cover of a 1967 song by The Spencer Davis Group.

Continue reading “November 4: The Allman Brothers Band released their eponymous album in 1969” →

Watch The Rolling Stones @ The Fonda Theatre, Hollywood – May 20, 2015

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]In 2015, committed to performing the newly reissued Sticky Fingers in its entirety for the first time ever, they had to deal with the 1971 album’s often-serious topics and occasionally hushed dynamics.
–ultraclassicrock.com[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

DVD/Blu-ray released as Sticky Fingers: Live At The Fonda Theater 2015 – 29 September 2017.

Setlist

Continue reading “Watch The Rolling Stones @ The Fonda Theatre, Hollywood – May 20, 2015” →

November 1: Grateful Dead Released American Beauty in 1970

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

grateful-dead-american-beauty

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Taking notes on vocal harmonies from friends Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Dead used the softer statements of their fourth studio album as a subtle but moving reflection on the turmoil, heaviness, and hope America’s youth was facing as the idealistic ’60s ended. American Beauty was recorded just a few months after its predecessor, both expanding and improving on the bluegrass, folk, and psychedelic country explorations of Workingman’s Dead with some of the band’s most brilliant compositions.
– Fred Thomas (Allmusic)[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

It took me a while to get into Grateful Dead, but when they hit me, they hit me hard! This is my second favorite of their albums (my number one is Workingman’s Dead) I should say studio albums, because I really love their early 70s live stuff.

American Beauty is the sixth album by the rock band the Grateful Dead. It was recorded between August and September 1970 and originally released in November 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. The album continued the folk rock and country music explored on Workingman’s Dead and prominently features the lyrics of Robert Hunter.

grateful dead

In 2003, the album was ranked number 258 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Continue reading “November 1: Grateful Dead Released American Beauty in 1970” →