Author: Hallgeir Olsen

March 10: Aretha Franklin released I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You in1967

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

(oo) What you want
(oo) Baby, I got
(oo) What you need
(oo) Do you know I got it?
(oo) All I’m askin’
(oo) Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home
(just a little bit) mister (just a little bit)

“While the inclusion of “Respect” — one of the truly seminal singles in pop history — is in and of itself sufficient to earn I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You classic status, Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic label debut is an indisputable masterpiece from start to finish.”
~Jason Ankeny (allmusic.com)

I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You (Amsterdam 1968):

Respect , Blues Brothers 2000 clip:

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March 8: Mississippi John Hurt was born in 1892

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen
Photo: Rowland Scherman

“The Blues ain’t nothin’ but a good woman on your mind.”
~Mississippi John Hurt

No blues singer ever presented a more gentle, genial image than Mississippi John Hurt. A guitarist with an extraordinarily lyrical and refined fingerpicking style, he also sang with a warmth unique in the field of blues, and the gospel influence in his music gave it a depth and reflective quality unusual in the field.
~Bruce Eder (allmusic.com)

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March 5: Steve Earle released I Feel Alright in 1996

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“With his new album, I Feel Alright, Texas-raised Earle turns a middle finger to Nashville and screams, ”Chuck it, I’m rockin’ out!” And that he does.”
– Alanna Nash (Entertainment Weekly)

“…like Train a Comin’, I Feel Alright shows Earle finding the courage and confidence to make a record just the way he wants, and this may be Earle’s finest hour in the studio — the production is tough, resonant, and a perfect match for the material, the players bring their A game without showboating, and Earle’s rough but passionate vocals are pure, honest, and direct on every cut.”
– Mark Demming (Allmusic) Continue reading “March 5: Steve Earle released I Feel Alright in 1996” →

March 5: Steve Earle released Guitar Town in 1986

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steve earle guitar town

The first two things I wrote were Guitar Town and Down the Road, because I was looking for an opening and an ending.  So I wrote ’em like bookends, and then filled in the spaces in the middle.  And the album’s kind of about me.  It’s kind of personal.
~Steve Earle (to Alanna Nash – May 1986)

Guitar Town was his first shot at showing a major audience what he could do, and he hit a bull’s-eye — it’s perhaps the strongest and most confident debut album any country act released in the 1980s.
~Mark Deming (allmusic)

Guitar Town:

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March 4: The Beatles released Real Love in 1996

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“Real Love” is a song written by John Lennon, and recorded with overdubs by the three surviving Beatles in 1995 for release as part of The Beatles Anthology project. To date, it is the last released record of new material credited to the Beatles.

Lennon made six takes of the song in 1979 and 1980 with “Real Life”, a different song that merged with “Real Love”. The song was ignored until 1988 when the sixth take was used on the documentary soundtrack Imagine: John Lennon.
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March 4: Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn Capitol Theatre Passaic, NJ 1978

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Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn March 4 1978 Capitol Theatre (Passaic, NJ)

This is a very fine set, good songs from Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn (who also played together in The Byrds) and some very fine covers, among them three Bob Dylan songs.

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