Riding on a Tortoise down Thunder Road
This one’s been all over the mp3 blogs over the last few weeks, but as I always say, it’s my blog and i’ll post if I want to…
I’m always curious to hear new interpretations of Springsteen tunes. I posted one of my favorites, Patty Griffin’s version of “Stolen Car”, a while back. And The Mavericks do a good job on “All that Heaven Will Allow”. So I was alerted through a Glide Magazine review that “Thunder Road” was covered on a new release by Tortoise and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. When I see “Bonnie Prince Billy”, I picture a 50 or 60-something rastafarian reggae dude. Not sure where I conjure up that image from. It turns out BPB is Will Oldham, who looks more like a Civil War Union soldier than a member of the Wailers. BPB is a Louisville, Kentucky native who has also recorded under the names Palace Songs, Palace Brothers and Palace Music (as well as his own name).
Tortoise looks interesting: they “revolutionized American indie rock in the mid-’90s by playing down tried-and-true punk and rock & roll influences, emphasizing instead the incorporation of a variety of left-field music genres from the past 20 years, including Krautrock, dub, avant-garde jazz, classical minimalism, ambient and space music, film music, and British electronica.” (from All Music).
As you can tell by my thorough analysis, I’m not that plugged into the indie scene. You can get that thorough analysis at about a billion other mp3 blogs. Anyhoo, I’ll have to give these guys a more thorough listen. But I do claims dibs on all things Bruce, and as for this version of “Thunder Road”, they definitely give it a complete reworking. I like the instrumentation and the overall feel; a very unique take on the song.
Tortoise and Bonnie “Prince” Billy:
Thunder Road(mp3) – from The Brave and the Bold, an album of covers.See Marah Live
“It’s mind-boggling that here-today-gone-tomorrow bands with half as much talent have gone platinum, yet Marah’s crackers-for-dinner, starving-musician tale is still waiting for its happy ending. Radio success or not, the sold-out Iota crowd clearly knew what was up when the show was announced, and folks were being turned away at the door early in the evening. The lucky fans who arrived in time got everything they wanted and more: nearly two hours of sweaty, honest, heartfelt rock ‘n’ roll.” – Washington Times review of last week’s show in Arlington, VA.
I am gearing up for this
Monday’sduh – Tuesday Marah show at the Rhythm Room here in Phoenix. I haven’t seen them live since the summer of 2000, when they played the now paved-over Long Wong’s in Tempe. It was one of the finest, most exhilarating live performances I have ever witnessed. Dave and Serge Bielanko are something to see. Bare bones, spirited, genuine guys, they pour their heart and soul into their shows.They just started out on a tour, so check out the dates below, and if they’re coming to your town, do yourself a HUGE favor, and go see them. If the Phoenix show is any indication ($9!), tickets are ridiculously cheap.
Here are a couple tunes from the 2000 Tempe show…
Marah:
Faraway You(mp3)Sleepwalk (Santo & Johnny Cover) / Reservation Girl(mp3)Can’t Hardly Wait (Replacements cover)(mp3)
Live from Long Wongs, Tempe, AZ August 12, 2000- Check out their CD’s, including their latest, ‘If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry’, on Amazon.
- Marah’s Official Site
- Factoid: Marah’s fans include Stephen King, Nick Hornby, and Bruce Springsteen. Bruce brought Dave & Serge on stage for an E Street Band encore, where they joined in on “Raise Your Hand”.
Tour Dates
Wed 01/18/06 Houston, TX Continental Club
Fri 01/20/06 Austin, TX Continental Club
Sat 01/21/06 Dallas, TX Sons Of Herman Hall
Tue 01/24/06 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room
Wed 01/25/06 San Diego, CA The Casbah
Thu 01/26/06 L.A. Echo
Sat 01/28/06 San Francisco Cafe Du Nord
Tue 01/31/06 Eugene, OR John Henry’s
Wed 02/01/06 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
Thu 02/02/06 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe
Fri 02/03/06 Vancouver, BC Richard’s On Richards
Sat 02/04/06 Bellingham, WA Night Light Lounge
Wed 02/08/06 Minneapolis 400 Bar
Thu 02/09/06 Milwaukee, WI Mad Planet
Fri 02/10/06 Lansing, MI Temple Club
Wed 02/15/06 Indianapolis Birdy’s
Thu 02/16/06 Lafayette, IN Lafayette Brewing Company
Fri 02/17/06 Chicago, IL Abbey Pub
Fri 03/17/06 Austin, TX Antone’sMore Bruce? Yes, More Bruce.
Here are a few selections from Bruce?s Nov. 21st show at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey (his 2nd to last show of the tour). I go through ?all Bruce all the time? phases like this. You?re just going to have to work through it with me.Bruce Springsteen:
Song for Orphans
Bruce Springsteen:Dream Baby Dream(Suicide cover)
Bruce Springsteen:Two for the RoadAll live from November 21st, 2005, Trenton, New Jersey
Mo’ Live Boss
Here’s a treat for the Boss fanatics. Bruce is still churning along on his solo acoustic tour supporting ‘Devils & Dust’. Wednesday night in Philly, Bruce debuted a couple of oldies that came out on Tracks several years back.Here they are:
Bruce Springsteen:
Santa Ana and Thundercrack(mp3)(live – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 9, 2005)
I Love You Gypsy Woman
Not sure how long it will last, but all you Boss fans check out Amazon.com‘s home page as soon as possible. They have a great clip of Bruce & the E Street Pimps – er – Band performing “Born to Run” at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1975. It’s no doubt taken from the forthcoming 30th Anniversary ‘Born to Run’ box set (coming out No. 15th), which includes a DVD of the full show.
So like a sign from the heavens, it must mean I should blog another Boss tune. Tonight’s journey takes us to the 1994 release ‘A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield’, which includes some greats like Eric Clapton’s “You Must Believe Me”, Lenny Kravitz doing “Billy Jack”, and this take on “Gypsy Woman” by one Mr. Springsteen. I love the Hammond B3 on this. That’s the work of Tommy Sims.
The Boss’ Lost Radio Show
It’s been a while since I’ve paid homage to the Boss, so tonight is the night. On March 9th, 1974, a 24 year old Bruce and the boys strolled into Houston’s KLOL-FM for a sit down interview and performance. The show made its way on to a bootleg entitled ‘The Lost Radio Show’. It’s an amazing snapshot of Bruce’s life at the time. ‘Born to Run‘ would be released a year later, and he had released his 2nd album ‘The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle‘ several months earlier (Sept. 11, 1973).
So here’s my picks. “The Fever” is a Bruce-penned tune that stayed in the vaults until it was finally released on 1999’s ‘18 Tracks‘. “Something you Got” was written by New Orleans native Chris Kenner (1929-1976), and was covered by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Dr. John, and Jimmy Johnson. Kenner is best known for writing “Land of 1000 Dances”.
Bruce Springsteen:
The FeverSomething you Got
4th of July – Alvin Style
Along with Springsteen’s “4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy)”, this song by Dave Alvin has worked its way into my July 4th music rotation over the years. This great song was released on Dave’s 1994 album ‘King of California’. Dave, along with his brother Phil, fronted the Southern California rockabilly band the Blasters. Since then, Dave’s been churning out some great solo material, including last year’s Ashgrove.
Happy Birthday, U.S.A. – though it’s been a rough ride the last few years, and those at the helm are steering us in a direction that many of us are extremely uncomfortable with – we’re still with you… most of us are a tolerant, even-keeled bunch. Much more than our government’s neo-conservative wack jobs would have you believe. No political party can claim to be more patriotic than the other. Sorry, we’re all in this together, we all love our country… even those of us who are against our young men and women dying in droves overseas for reasons that are less than clear, with no stop in sight (not to mention the scores of innocent civilians). *end of short rant*
So happy Independence Day.
Dave Alvin: Fourth of July
Chez Seychelles
So my wife and I are sitting in the Glendale Arena a few weeks ago, waiting for Bruce Springsteen to take the stage. The pre-show music that’s piping over the PA is great stuff, most of it I don’t recognize. One in particular gets my wife’s attention. She remembers hearing it as she grew up in Seychelles…. an old traditional folk tune.
So the other night, I’m checking out Bruce’s web site, and lo and behold, he mercifully has provided us with a list of the pre-show ‘walk-in’ music! It turns out the name of the tune is “Chez Seychelles”, as performed by the keepers of the Cajun sound, Beausoleil. It is indeed a traditional song, and Michael Doucet (of Beausoleil) gets writing credit on the tune (just wondering, does a person get composition credit by offering a new arrangement of a traditional song?).
Ah, the power of music. The way one song can take you back in time.. it’s an amazing thing. My wife hadn’t heard this song in years, and suddenly, waiting for a Springsteen show to start in the middle of the Arizona desert, she suddenly finds herself back in her homeland, a beautiful tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Beausoleil: Chez Seychelles
- Beausoleil’s Web Site
- Buy Beausoleil’s Music on Amazon
- Geography Lesson: Where is Seychelles?
Southside Takes You Home
For those of you who picked up the new Springsteen CD, Devils & Dust, you’ve heard “All the Way Home”, a song written by Bruce of course, but that first appeared on Southside Johnny‘s 1991 album ‘Better Days’ [Buy it here].
For those that have heard both versions, you know that the arrangements are drastically different. Southside’s version is a slowed down acoustic, more tender plea. Bruce played this acoustically at my very first live Bruce experience in September ’92 (at the World Music Theater outside of Chicago), and it blew me away. So when I saw the song listed on the track list for Devils & Dust, I got excited. Little did I know, Bruce reworked it in a major way, with a driving beat, a sitar, tambora, electric sarangi, among other things (Rolling Stone magazine compares it to ‘Street Fighting Man’, which I still don’t see). I love the new version, mind you, but still wish he would’ve stayed more true to the original arrangement. BUT, Brendan O’Brien produced his album, not me…. they could’ve at least asked…
So here’s the original from Southside, with backing vocals, and “various assorted keyboards and guitars” courtesy of the Boss.
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes: All the Way Home
Prine Time – Long Monday
I don’t mean to bring everyone down with a song called “Long Monday” at the very end of the weekend, but since I’m experiencing a Springsteen hangover from last night’s great show, and I’ve been wanting to showcase a tune off of John Prine’s brand new release, ‘Fair & Square’ [Buy it Here], well, it’s just right.
Though nothing in John Prine’s catalog has ever matched ‘The Missing Years‘ for me, this is a great CD, full of John’s witty & and often hilarious lyrics (e.g. “I felt about as welcome as a Wal-Mart superstore”), and laid back acoustic tunes.
“Long Monday” includes harmonies from Mindy Smith, who I know little about, but I’m about to jump into her web site. In a nutshell, she’s a country-folk songstress from Nashville whose debut album came out last year. Anyhow, yep, another week begins, take it away, John.
John Prine: Long Monday
