Stella Blue- Grateful Dead
Via Chicago- Wilco
Close Inside- Matthew Sweet
Never Going Back- Lovin' Spoonful
It's Not So Hard- NRBQ
Friend Of Mine- The Grays
I Love Paris- Frank Sinatra
Stella Blue- Grateful Dead
(I finished up my Dead binge last week with "Wake Of The Flood," after listening to five studio albums, one live set- a fave "Reckoning"- and two shows, one from 1966--boy did they stink live in '66--and the first set at Harpur College, 1970 found on Dick's Picks 8, the set that turned me around from hater to fan. Let's begin with this beauty.)
Via Chicago- Wilco
(This one is for David Handelman, who went home on August 15th.)
Close Inside- Matthew Sweet
(A bonus track from my favorite Matthew Sweet record, "Blue Sky On Mars.")
Never Going Back- Lovin' Spoonful
(That high harmony on the chorus always gets me.)
It's Not So Hard- NRBQ
(Pop perfection from Mr. Spampinato and the greatest live band of all time.)
Friend Of Mine- The Grays
(If there was ever a record that needed a deluxe vinyl remaster it is "Ro Sham Bo" by The Grays.)
I Love Paris- Frank Sinatra
(The band cooks. The arrangement kills. And Frank's vocal kicks ass. This all happens very quickly, so pay attention.)
9 comments:
Wake of the Flood is another underrated GD studio LP. Except for Let me Sing, it's a perfect album. May I recommend for live listening 72-74, and any show from 77. The 80's had some great shows to (it's the majority that I saw), but, for some reason, some weren't recorded well
@Keith35
I really like a lot of the '69 shows. And I know this is not a popular opinion but I think Cornell '77 is overrated. I was going to work my way through that 30 Trips box, but I may skip 67 and 68.
Sal, I LOVE 69! My favorite year next to 77. 68 is pretty good. 66 and 67 were too early. But so many good shows from 72-74; they were at the height of their songwriting. Plus they had incredible energy; so the shows are very long
like the obscure lovin' spoonful song. interestingly, the original band had broken up by this time and only the band's drummer joe butler remained, backed up by session musicians for this album. rs
Looks great! Thanks for including Stella Blue, because Dylan has been playing that song all summer long on Willie Nelson's Outlaw Tour - but I've never heard the original. Thanks man!
That Spoonful cover of the John Stewart song just kills me. Had the original 45……
Sinatra's "Come Fly With Me" is certainly top two or three most-played Frank Sinatra albums. It's terrific from start to finish and so much fun. Great road trip music, esp if you're tired and need a jolt of energy. "I Love Paris" is indeed great though I wouldn't call it a highlight just because the entire album matches it. Producer /Arranger Billy May at his best.
Butler and Yester played on the Never Going Back single session, which preceded the breakup. Boone was still in the band at the time NGB was recorded, but producer Chip Douglas plays the bass. Other musicians involved in the single session were Red Rhodes and John Stewart himself. The rest of the album is Joe and unknown session guys. Some say Zal might have been involved. But I dunno.
Great set of tracks. Every one is a winner.
Stella Blue is one of my many favorites by the Dead. Another good version is Take 5 on the Angel's Share release of Wake of the Flood. It's less adorned and more intimate. It's too bad Garcia never had the time or desire to do a solo acoustic storyteller type of tour. I saw him with John Kahn on stand-up bass several times but my shows were lackluster. Jerry didn't verbally engage the audience much if at all. The last time I saw that duo was in 1985. He looked really bad. Bloated, burned out, short of breath and sweating his balls off. The 1985 date was at the Beverly Theater early and late shows. The first show was pretty bad and very short. We thought they were taking a break, but five minutes later, the usher guys told every one they had to clear the place out for the second show. Fuck, he only played 8 or 9 short songs. Even though we had tickets for the second show, they made us leave and come back in with the rest of the punters.
The second show wasn't much better. He played five short songs and left. Thankfully there was a second set but it was only five short songs. Jerry looked like it was taking everything in him just to get to the end of the show. Another bummer was that he duplicated more than half of the songs from the early show. Very un-Dead like. Jerry looked terrible. It was fuckin' sad.
Next time I saw Jerry was at Irvine Meadows for two shows. He looked worse. In the second set he had to leave the stage in the middle of Terrapin. A few months later he fell into a diabetic coma.
Blue Sky On Mars isn't my favorite but it's really underrated.
Thanks for the Grays. It reminded me that I loaned mine to someone about two years ago and never got it back.
VR
Great choice from Wilco's Summerteeth
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