Tennessee Jed- Levon Helm
Friction- Television
The Grip of Love- Tom Verlaine
It Would Be So Nice- Pink Floyd
Our Love- Donna Summer
The Last Ride- Todd Rundgren
Highway 51 Blues- Bob Dylan
Tennessee Jed- Levon Helm
No one plays as perfectly behind the beat at Levon Helm, and this track is one of the best examples. What a groove!
Friction- Television/The Grip Of Love- Tom Verlaine
Two more for Tom.
It Would Be So Nice- Pink Floyd
One of my favorite Pink Floyd albums is a 1970 collection called "The Best Of Pink Floyd," aka "Masters Of Rock. It was never released in the U.S., though it has been reissued numerous times in just about every other country. This album is a near-perfect overview of the Syd Barrett years, and plays much better than "Relics" as it has "Candy & A Currant Bun," a Top 5 Syd song in my book, "Apples & Oranges," another of Syd's best, and this track, an excellent bit of psychedelic twee from Rick Wright, all of which do not appear on "Relics." So there!
Our Love- Donna Summer
The first time I heard this song, an old pal from Brooklyn palyed it for me on his boom box. He was a drummer and refused to believe there was a drum machine on this track, and so he tried for weeks, unsuccessfully and hilariously, to recreate the bass drum pattern of 16th notes on the chorus, with just one bass pedal. I never laughed so hard. Poor guy. Anyway, I love the "Bad Girls" album, a genius work from Giorgio Moroder, and I love this song, which will always remind me of my friend.
The Last Ride- Todd Rundgren
A new CD/DVD set of Todd's autobiographical concerts of 2019 was just released. It is called "The Individualist, A True Star Live" and it is a must have. It is a dream set list. The performance is stellar, with Todd in fine voice throughout. The bonus footage features almost two hours of Q&A, where Rundgren answers fans' questions, some of which are painfully silly, but enough of them dig deep enough to get the star of the show to reveal some interesting things about his music. This track is not in the set list. I just felt like hearing it.
Highway 51 Blues- Bob Dylan
"All Time Great Guitar Player" lists never include Bob Dylan. Makes sense. He doesn't solo. That's what people want, guitar solos. But it isn't all about playing lead. Listen to Dylan's debut. He was only 20. It's pretty much a live album.What he is playing on the acoustic is no mean feat. This is a guitar album! Dylan is a badass guitar player!
8 comments:
Re Dylan’s guitar playing:
Six words.
Baby. Let. Me. Follow. You. Down.
First, I agree about Dylan's guitar playing - it's the most underrated part of his genius. I wish he hadn't stopped playing it in 2003.
Second, this is the first I'd heard about the new Todd Rundgren live album - can't wait. That tour was one of the only times I've seen the same (big) artist two nights in a row. It was worth every dollar.
But on the note of new releases - it always amazes me how even I - daily music listener my whole life, and read lots of magazines and blogs and receive emails, social media announcements, the whole bit - had no idea of this new CD by one of my favorite artists until I read it here.
That probably does not bode well for the music industry!
Of course, you could blame it on my own blind spots, etc., but honestly, I put a lot of time into music every day, so ... anyway ... just amazed how some releases slip by me. (Even tho' this just came out 2 days ago)
Also, he played Just One Victory and Drive at the end of one of the two shows I saw and I wish they'd ended up on this set, but oh well.
@ Noel,
First, don't feel so bad about not knowing the Todd was released. I only found out the day before because I regularly scroll through Amazon's pre-orders. Otherwise, this would have been completely under the radar.
Also,
As much as I love a Todd show to end with "Just One Victory," hearing "Fade Away," an all time fave and one he had never performed live until about 5 years ago, was a real gift.
Fade Away is a great one. That whole Hermit album is so good.
Thanks for the heads-up @ the Todd release. Impressive set list, indeed!
I agree that it is frustrating not to know about new releases - fortunately, I visit enough music websites that I usually find out about most, but still...
Sal, did you get to see this tour?
Randy
Randy,
I saw both nights at Town Hall. Excellent shows.
The Last Ride would be my inclusion for the perfect set list, too, but we can always watch the Live at Daryl's House version on youtube.
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