Waiting to get into the men’s room at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Oregon, I noticed a tall (relative to me, anyway), attractive young lady with a guitar standing quietly by. She was soft-spoken, seemed kind of shy, and turned out she was also visiting from California. Based in Arcata at that time, Lila Nelson was playing an early set before Rachel Taylor Brown that Spring night in 2008, and was about to completely rip apart my initial impression of her.
Lila Nelson described herself to me as shy, even after I had already determined that she was anything but. One thing was for certain though – she was “on” the entire time during my visit to her home in April of ‘09, a year after I first encountered her in Portland. (more…)
A little over a year ago, the possibility of a Phish reunion was the stuff of parking lot rumor and message board postings. When they took the stage at Hampton back in March and played those opening notes to “Fluffhead,” 2009 officially became the year of Phish.
Somehow, between jamming with Bruce Springsteen at Bonnaroo and playing consistently sold-out nights, they managed to record a new album with old friend Steve Lilywhite. Joy is their first studio outing since the weary Undermind back in 2004. (more…)
Oh, don’t give me that disappointed look, you jerks. The whole idea behind this series is “listening to new music from artists who aren’t supposed to have any,” and who fits that description better than a dead man?
Dan Fogelberg died on December 16, 2007, after a three-year battle with prostate cancer — a date I’m painfully aware of, because his music has been featured twice in Mellowmas. The first year, we gleefully trashed “Same Old Lang Syne,” coining the word “Fogelfuck” and generally tinkling all over one of the greatest hits of an all-around nice guy who was fighting for his life, which, as you can imagine, didn’t go over well with the Fogelfans. This only encouraged us to go back for more the next year, and we hated on Fogelberg’s “At Christmas Time” in a column that posted just a few days before Fogelberg’s death. Whoops!
Naturally, when I found out Fogelberg’s widow was arranging for the release of this posthumous album, my thoughts immediately turned to You Again? — and because nobody else understands the wrath of the Fogelmasses as well as Jason, I quickly e-mailed him to ask him what he thought about me featuring the new album in this column. Jason, being a nice guy, totally freaked out and insisted that it was a terrible, terrible idea, at which point I called him a pussy, got the affirmation I needed from Michael Parr and David Lifton, and set about writing this column.
Moral of the story: Jason Hare is a sensitive man, and whatever you read here isn’t his fault. He really tried to stop me. (more…)
Last week marked the final edition of Tom Werman’s run on our Producers column and, in the course of his finale, he mentioned a special mixtape disc he made for his family and friends. Many readers replied wanting to know which songs he chose as his most indicative productions, the work he was most proud of. We’re hoping maybe to get Tom’s input for a future Friday Mixtape based on those requests.
But overall, it’s not a bad idea, is it? A mix themed not so much on a topic, artist or concept, but on the producer involved in the project gives insight to that producer’s choices, inclinations and “sound” and there hasn’t been a producer of recent time as prodigious as Brendan O’Brien.
His first high-profile job came with Stone Temple Pilots’ debut disc Core. After that he became Pearl Jam’s de-facto producer for life, starting with Vs., their second offering. He also mixed The Jayhawks’ Hollywood Town Hall and Soundgarden’sSuperunknown. Recently he has found himself behind the boards for Mastodon and Bruce Springsteen. Music fans are mixed on O’Brien, some believing he’s the quintessential producer of the ’90s into today, while others are put off by his signature ‘dry’ sound, lacking reverb and sparkle. This miniature capsule of a very small part of his output serves as an opportunity to decide for yourself. (more…)
When I conceived this post, I had actually planned to broaden the category to “Demolition” so I could include classics like AC/DC’s “TNT” and the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House.” The only two songs I knew of that were about wrecking balls were the ones by Neil Young and Creeper Lagoon. I had stumbled across a few more – when I mentioned a “crowded field” last week I was aware of maybe five additional songs – but nothing had me prepared for the overwhelming number of songs musicians have recorded about this iconic piece of construction equipment. I mean, it’s not like the category was “love” or “war.” So how many songs did I find?
Twenty-five songs. TWENTY-FIVE SONGS! And most of them are original songs. And there’s plenty more that I found out about but I wasn’t able to track down the mp3’s. There’s all kinds – some are indie tunes from recent years, there’s a few alt-country entries, there’s even one from a collection of National Socialist Black Metal bands (see if you can guess which one! I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised…). Since there’s so many songs, I’ve changed the voting a bit – you can vote for three different songs, and we’ll see who comes out on top.
Last week, Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits came from behind to finish with 44% of the votes, beating Buffalo Tom’s 33% and Metallica’s 22%. Next week we’ll dip back into Delilah’s well as we tackle the subject of Biblical Wives. If there’s anything you’re absolutely dying to see included, leave a note in the comments.
“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.”—Sergei Rachmaninov
“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul.”—Plato
“A wop-bop-a-loo-bomp. Alop-bam-boo.” —Little Richard
It’s not something that I’m particularly proud of, and in retrospect, it was remarkably short-sighted, but when Laura Nyro, unhappy with attempts to market her as a celebrity, announced her retirement from the music business in 1971, I lost track of her until many years later. This despite the fact that she came back five years later with a brand new album called Smile *. Hell, five years is no retirement at all these days. It’s merely the normal recording cycle for major artists.
All through the late ’60s and early ’70s there was no more important musical voice in my life than that of Laura Nyro. For me, she was right up there with the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Joni Mitchell. Still after her 1971 covers album Gonna Take A Miracle (recorded with Labelle), an album I adore, Laura left the music business, and when she came back I had moved on to other artists. It’s a damn shame, really. After Smile there was the live album Season of Lights in 1978, and Nested in 1978, and then another long break before Mother’s Spiritual in 1984. Then came Laura: Live at the Bottom Line in 1989 *, and Walk the Dog and Light the Light * in 1993. As I said, I missed a lot of great music. What’s worse is that Laura was no longer on my radar when she died of breast cancer in 1997. She was only 49 years old. Hers is a death that haunts me to this day. (more…)
I was too young to experience many of the groups and performers featured here when they were in their prime. Sure, I heard the music of Led Zep, Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Who, et al growing up, but I didn’t own any of their albums until the ’80s when I starting my serious record collecting phase — which tends to happen when you get older and get a job.
Musicians, like everyone else without a trust fund, have to make a living, too — even those who made millions in the ’60s and ’70s. By the late ’70s/early ’80s, many “older” rockers tried to stay relevant by incorporating stylistic flourishes that later became known as New Wave. New Wave often (though not always) meant that that soulless contraption known as the synthesizer would find a way to weave itself into the fabric of a song. Sometimes having synth sounds or electronic drums would be great; other times it would miss the mark and sound kind of, well, crappy. Whatever the case, here are six songs from very well known artists whose music was caressed by “The New Wave Effect.” (more…)
In the wake of Graham Nash’s box earlier this year, and of course Neil Young’s behemoth Archives, Crosby, Stills & Nash (Neil Young appears only on one song) Demos is a pretty modest little disc. A cross-section of hits in their embryonic, home recorded states. It almost feels like a missing chunk of the old CSN box set. Almost. Nothing here feels too oblique, nothing too archaic or for-completists-only. Crosby’s early takes on “Almost Cut My Hair” and “Deja Vu” are especially interesting in their early arrangements. Graham Nash’s “Sleep Song” and Stephen Stills’ “My Love Is a Gentle Thing” crank up the intimacy factor on these recordings and “Be Yourself” and “Music is Love” retain their summery sing-along feel. (more…)
In his long and (not necessarily positive) storied career, Stephen Stills has constantly been overshadowed, in the press and in the court of popular opinion, by his longtime friend, band mate, and occasional sparring partner, Neil Young. While it’s certainly true that Stills has brought a lot of this on himself, it’s a shame that some very fine music has been overlooked as a result.
By 1972, Stills had already had a career that any musician would envy. Beginning with the seminal folk-rock band the Buffalo Springfield, where he sent his classic song “For What It’s Worth” to the top of the charts, and then on to Crosby, Stills, and Nash (and later Young), where he had enjoyed enormous success, Stills seemed to have a golden touch. His early solo work, including the hit “Love the One You’re With,” was very well received.
Stills’ next move was to form what by today’s standards would be a supergroup. It was an assemblage of some of the finest musicians working at the time. The band included such stalwarts as ex-Byrd and Flying Burrito Brother Chris Hillman, CSNY drummer Dallas Taylor and bass player Calvin “Fuzzy” Samuels, Blues Image percussionist Joe Lala, master steel guitar player Al Perkins, legendary fiddler Byron Berline, among others. (more…)
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. After that he became Pearl Jam’s de-facto producer for life, starting with Vs., their second offering. He also mixed The Jayhawks’ 
and Soundgarden’s 
. Recently he has found himself behind the boards for Mastodon and Bruce Springsteen. Music fans are mixed on O’Brien, some believing he’s the quintessential producer of the ’90s into today, while others are put off by his signature ‘dry’ sound, lacking reverb and sparkle. This miniature capsule of a very small part of his output serves as an opportunity to decide for yourself. 
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In his long and (not necessarily positive) storied career, Stephen Stills has constantly been overshadowed, in the press and in the court of popular opinion, by his longtime friend, band mate, and occasional sparring partner, Neil Young. While it’s certainly true that Stills has brought a lot of this on himself, it’s a shame that some very fine music has been overlooked as a result.