Author: Hallgeir Olsen

Classic song: The Promise by Bruce Springsteen

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

The Promise

The first time I heard The Promise (the song)  was when “18 tracks” was released in april 1999. I had read about it and had very high expectations, I was not disappointed. The 1999 release is great and it is a new recording of a song written much earlier. Bruce said he couldn’t find a version he liked enough to release on “Tracks” and re-recorded it for “18 Tracks”. This new recording had just Bruce Springsteen and his piano, and he does a toned down but intense version. The sombre  performance enhances the stark qualities of the song.

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January 5: Bruce Springsteen released Greetings from Ashbury Park NJ in 1973

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

“This boy has a lot more of the Dylan spirit than John Prine. His songs are filled with the absurdist energy and heart on sleeve pretension that made Dylan a genius instead of a talent.”
– Robert Christgau, Creem magazine

Greetings from Asbury Park NJ is the first studio album by Bruce Springsteen, released in 1973. It only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release, but had significant critical impact. It was ranked at #379 by Rolling Stone on its list of 500 greatest albums of all time. The album also hit the number sixty stop on the Billboard 200 albums listing.

The re-release that is part of the box-set (released autumn 2014) sounds amazing!

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January 5: The late great Sam Phillips was born in 1923

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen
Sam Phillips, the founder of the label Sun Records, poses with Elvis Presley.

Sam Phillips was not just one of the most important producers in rock history. There’s a good argument to be made that he was also one of the most important figures in 20th century American culture.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)

Please check out the new book:

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll
Written by Peter Guralnick

COVER Guralnick_SAMPHILLIPS

Rock ‘n’ roll was born in rural Alabama, 1923, in the form of Sam Phillips, the youngest son of a large family living in a remote colony called the Lovelace Community. His father had a gift for farming, which was brought to an end by the Depression. His mother picked guitar and showed the kind of forbearance that allowed her to name her son after the doctor who delivered him drunk and then had to be put to bed himself. And yet from these unprepossessing origins, in 1951 Phillips made what is widely considered to be the first rock ‘n’ roll record, Ike Turner and Jackie Brenston’s ‘Rocket 88’.

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Hallgeir’s 2016 part 2: Best Music Books and other readings

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These are some of the things I’ve read in 2016, it’s been a very busy reading-year. More novels than usual, less music books and less graphic novels. A lot of classics and a few photography books.

Here are my favourites.

The Best music books 2016:

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Hallgeir’s 2016 part 1: Best Concerts

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

It’s hard to sum up a whole year of cultural input. What does it mean to be best? For me it means, the stuff that moved me most, shook me, made me happy, made me sad, made me feel alive.

It’s been an eventful year. With ups and downs. This post will be “all over the place”, i will put in lists about a lot of things. But let us start with the traditional concert list.

These are the 20 best concerts I attended in 2016: Continue reading “Hallgeir’s 2016 part 1: Best Concerts” →

The Best Albums 2016: Top 10 (part 3/3)

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

1 The Rolling Stones – Blue & Lonesome

Released 2 December 2016
Recorded 11, 14 & 15 December 2015
Studio British Grove Studios
Genre Electric blues, Chicago Blues, Blues-rock
Length 42:36
Label Polydor
Producer Don Was & The Glimmer Twins

–
The all-covers song selection reflects a lifetime of Chicago blues crate-digging, with the band breathing new life into obscure, left-field picks by Magic Sam and Memphis Slim. By going back to their roots, the Stones found a way to grow up.
– Rolling Stone Magazine
–
The Rolling Stones released their latest album December 2nd 2016, their first album in over a decade is a return to the blues. It is a great blues album, and a tremendous return to form by The Stones.

The album is fresh and spontaneous and was recorded in just 3 days last December (2015) with co-producer Don Was. It really sounds like band enjoying themselves. (Read more)
– Hallgeir
Best songs: Ride ’em down, Little Rain, All of your love
–
End Year List
(due late release date, this album was not part of most “End Year List´s”)
# 44 – Gigwise
# 7 – Rolling Stone
# 7 – Rolling Stone (Australia)
# 40 – Sound Opinions
–
Ride ‘Em On Down (official video):

 

Continue reading “The Best Albums 2016: Top 10 (part 3/3)” →