Nels Cline Singers: Draw Breath
Many people heard of Nels Cline for the first time when he accepted Jeff Tweedy’s offer to become Wilco’s new lead guitarist in 2004. But Nels’ stature in the improvisational music community was already well established. One of his ongoing side projects (I guess you’d call it) is the Nels Cline Singers – a misleading moniker if there ever was one because, well, ain’t much singing goin’ on in the Nels Cline Singers. What the Singers do is assault the listener with sounds you don’t often hear emanating from a guitar, a bass, and a drum kit. Accompanying Nels’ guitar is Devin Hoff on stand-up bass, and Scott Amendola on drums and assorted electronic gizmos.
These aren’t carefully crafted pop songs. These are wild, spontaneous, very in-the-moment improvisational pieces that range from 3 to 16 minutes.
If you want to explore the outreaches of your musical horizons, and hear Wilco’s guitarist completely unrestrained and in his element, pick up Draw Breath, the new CD from the Nels Cline Singers. This one is the most rock-oriented of the bunch.
- Buy Draw Breath
- Visit Nels Cline’s web site
- Visit Wilco’s web site
And a Bang on the Ear
A look back at more of the music that makes me tick. This is my favorite Waterboys song. From their great 1988 album, Fisherman’s Blues, it’s a bittersweet, nostalgic look back at the singer’s past loves. He sends them all his love, and a bang on the ear. No, not a wack upside the melon, but simply a kiss (according to Wikipedia)…
“And a Bang on the Ear”, in which Scott summarizes a past romantic attachment in each verse, finishing the song with a current “woman of the hearthfire”, was released as the second single from the album… Confusion amongst listeners about what a bang on the ear might be among prompted The Waterboys’ Frequently Asked Questions page to note, more than ten years later, that it was “a term of affection”. A ‘bang’ means a kiss…
Buy Fisherman’s Blues.
Visit their Official Site | MySpace
Live Earth Moment: Gimme Shelter
So I spent many a minute yesterday clicking around, checking out the different Live Earth performances around the globe. Kudos to MSN for their webcast coverage. They even made it user friendly for us Mac users (though you did need IE to be able to click around from city to city). One of my favorite moments yesterday was a Keith Urban / Alicia Keys performance of the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” during Keith’s set. Color me impressed, they rocked hard…. (and Alicia, you weren’t lookin’ so bad either).
By the way, did you guys see the Police play “Message in the Bottle” with John Mayer, and – uh – Kanye West? “Uh! Yeah! Uh. Uh. Uh. Yeah.” Um, no.
Highly Recommended: Tom Dowd and the Language of Music
About a month after I started this blog, my then-boss recommended the documentary Tom Dowd and the Language of Music. Two and a half years later, I finally took his advice (thanks to my new subscription to Netflix).
Tom Dowd (1925-2002) was a legendary engineer and producer for Atlantic Records and worked with some of the greats in recorded music. Let’s name a few: Eric Clapton (Cream / Derek and the Dominos), the Allman Brothers, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Led Zeppelin, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, the Drifters, and countless others.
The documentary follows his life, in Dowd’s own words, from his work as a nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project (while he was a teenager!), to his emergence as a technical (not to mention musical) genius in the studio.
By the end of the film, you’ll be blown away by his warm and personable character, the childlike enthusiasm he has for music, and the love and respect that some of the biggest names in music have for him.
The end of the film shows him late in life, in front of the console at Criteria Studios in Miami, playing around with the mix for “Layla”, which he produced for Derek and the Dominos. He isolates the guitar parts played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman (whom he introduced), fools around with the levels, and is like a kid in a candy store.
If you have a Netflix account, put this one at the top of your queue now, or buy it below. As a music lover, this one will affect you.
Check out the staggering list of Tom Dowd’s production and engineering credits on AllMusic.
Dowd was the recording engineer for Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”. But he was also the engineer when Otis Redding recorded it a couple years earlier than Aretha. Here it is…
Listen here:
From: Otis Blue – Otis Sings Soul.
The Sandinista! Project
If London Calling was the Clash’s masterpiece, Sandinista! – a three-LP, multi-genre assault on the senses (and the follow-up to London Calling) – was its stoned out red-headed stepchild. Thirty-six songs strong, Sandinista! was their chance to completely let loose and record whatever it is they felt like recording. I like the way The All Music Guide review puts it…The Clash sounded like they could do anything on London Calling. For its triple-album follow-up, Sandinista!, they tried to do everything, adding dub, rap, gospel, and even children’s choruses to the punk, reggae, R&B, and roots rock they already were playing…
As loose and scattered as it is, there are some killer tracks on the album: “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Call Up”, “The Leader”, and Eddy “Electric Avenue” Grant’s “Police On My Back”.
So music journalist Jimmy Guterman had a vision as a Clash fan: a tribute album. What he pulled together with The Sandinista! Project is pretty damn impressive. There are some well-known names involved: The Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jason Ringenberg (Jason & the Scorchers), Katrina Leskanich (Katrina & the Waves), Matthew Ryan, Wille Nile, and the Mekons’ Jon Langford (who also designed the album cover).
Many of the artists I had not heard of: Sex Clark Five (great name!), The Hyphens, Haale, the Coal Porters, and many more. So I thought I would share a couple from the tribute album, paired with the Clash originals.
Two of my favorites from the album are “The Call Up” and “The Leader”. On the tribute, theremin – yes theremin – ensemble The Lothars take on “The Call Up”. This would fall under the category of totally and completely devoid of resembling the original. But there’s something very strange and alien about it that pulls me in. You want originality? Here you go…
The Lothars – The Call Up
On Sandinista!, The Clash pack a whole lot of rock, urgency, and great lyrics into the minute and forty-one seconds of “The Leader”. Amy Rigby offers up a respectable version true to the original. Though there’s something about her “on a Sundayyy…” lyric that I’d like to tweak, but nice overall…
Amy Rigby – The Leader
I can’t really say that someone not familiar with Sandinista! and the Clash would really “get” or appreciate this tribute. But if you’re a Clash-ophile who worships at the altar of Strummer, as I am, you should hear this album. And if you’re new to both, why not pick up both?
I recommend getting the CD itself just for the DIY punk packaging. It’s very well done, and includes a booklet put together by Guterman called “2007 – The Armagideon Times Update.”
Buy The Sandinista! Project on Amazon.
Check out Jimmy Guterman’s blog / site devoted to the project. Included on the sidebar are PDF’s of the CD booklet and the packaging.
Buy The Clash’s Sandinista!
Ford Pier goes Organ Farming
If you’re north of the border in Toronto or Vancouver, you may be familiar with Ford Pier. Ford plays a variety of instruments, and has played with a load of different bands up in Canada…the Hard Rubber Orchestra, the Buttless Chaps (yes!), the Sadies, the Rheostatics, and many others. He was actually a member of Vancouver punk legends D.O.A. in one of their incarnations in the 90’s.
I got a hold of Ford’s new EP, Organ Farming. While he plays most everything you hear by himself, also playing on the EP are members of Fembots, the Weakerthans, and the Ron Sexsmith Band.
This EP was released electronically on June 5th. Later this year, he’ll release a full length album entitled Adventurism.
Take a listen to Ford’s punk-indie blend.
Ford Pier –
Maybe It Came At the Wrong Time(mp3) – from Organ Farming (Six Shooter Records)Ford Pier’s MySpace
Wilco on World Cafe, June 15th
Unless Wilco books a date here in the Phoenix / Tucson area before September, I have a good two and a half months left until I see them at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. To tide me over, it’s nice to come across nuggets of Wilco goodness like this, their recent appearance on NPR’s World Cafe.
Fast forward to ’24. Can’t find the World Cafe performance from 2007, but here’s their Austin City Limits episode from that year!
The Wilburys Collection released Today
Attention Wilburys fans… Today, Rhino released The Wilburys Collection, a 2-CD / 1-DVD set which contains both Wilburys albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 3), four bonus tracks (“Maxine”, “Like a Ship”, Nobody’s Child”, and “Runaway”), and a DVD of five videos and a 24 minute documentary “The History of the Traveling Wilburys”.
Here’s a little snippet from the press release about how the Wilburys came about:
George Harrison needed a B-side song to accompany a European single release from his widely regarded Cloud Nine album. While in Los Angeles, George approached Jeff Lynne for help with the B-side, since he had co-produced the album. It happened that Jeff was working with Roy Orbison on the upcoming Mystery Girl album. Roy readily agreed to lend a hand in the musical effort. As fate would luckily dictate, George’s guitar was at Tom Petty’s house, and he too offered to join in and make some music. When the group showed up to record, Dylan also lent a hand to help complete the half-finished song George had written. George has often been quoted as saying, “And so everybody was there and I thought, I’m not gonna just sing it myself, I’ve got Roy Orbison standing there. I’m gonna write a bit for Roy to sing. And then, as it progressed, then I started doing the vocals and I just thought I might as well push it a bit and get Tom and Bob to sing the bridge.” The final result was a song called “Handle With Care.” George later said, “I liked the song and the way that it turned out with all these people on it so much that I just carried it around in my pocket for ages thinking, well what can I do with this thing? And the only thing to do I could think of was do another nine. Make an album.”
Both albums are fantastic, as many of you know. Have a listen to the eCard, check out the album on the Rhino site or iTunes, join the Listening Party … do your thing….
Traveling Wilburys eCard | MySpace | Rhino’s Listening Party
Check out the collection on
![The Traveling Wilburys - The Traveling Wilburys Collection (Remastered) [Bonus Video Version]](http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif)
or Rhino (Deluxe Edition or Standard Edition).If I Was an Angel
Here’s a nice tune by NYC-based Rogue’s March. Led by gravelly-voiced singer Joe Hurley, the band has been packing them in at the Mercury Lounge and the Bowery Ballroom for years with their fusion of Irish-country-punk. They take the tempo down a bit for this one…
Rogue’s March – If I Was an Angel
Check out Joe Hurley’s Bandcamp.
Heartbreakers Friday
I ask you, what better way to kick off a weekend than with vintage Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers? Here’s a nice little set from early 1980 during a two night stand at the Hammersmith-Odeon in London town.
It’s nice to hear such great quality footage of a young and vibrant Tom Petty. He and the Heartbreakers still put on an amazing show, mind you, and every music lover should make it a point to see them live at least once – but this Tom Petty: the young, angry smartass – this is the live Tom Petty to behold.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
March 7th, 1980
Hammersmith-Odeon, London
FM Broadcast (KBFH)Anything that’s Rock n Roll
Even The Losers
I Need to Know
Don’t do me Like That
Cry To Me
Refugee
American Girl
Breakdown
Too Much Ain’t Enough
ShoutYouTubin’ Petty
- Check out this 1980 footage of Petty and the boys working through Eddie Cochran’s “Sometin’ Else”.
- Singing “Listen to Her Heart” in 1978.
- Weird Al “interviews” Tom Petty.
- Finally, a man named Mark, who is missing both arms, plays “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” with his feet. I hate feet as a rule, but this is pretty cool.
