Including Joe Viglione's review on Tower Records.com, Oldies.com, Barnes and Noble.com, AllMusic.com, TMRZoo.com, Somerville/Medford News Weekly.com etc. etc. etc.
1)Sean Walshe
American Son
Artist: Sean Walshe
CD Title American Son
Review Joe Viglione
The January 2023 release of Sean Walshe’s American Son is an easy accessible listen which brings back melody, strong lyrics and musical entertainment on record. It, hopefully, will reach that wider audience that it so richly deserves. The musicians who interpret these compositions with producer/engineer Rob Fraboni’s guiding hand certainly know how to make hit records, and American Son is chock full of potential hits.
“Fortune Favors the Brave” rips like “Brown Sugar” launching from Sticky Fingers, and who better to fine-tune such an adventure than the fellow who partnered with the great Jimmy Miller to blast “Heartbreaker” from the Rolling Stones’ Goats Head Soup into the top 40, Rob Fraboni. A splash of Mott the Hoople to round it out, this rocker has staying power clocking in at a compact 3:46.
Epiphany #4 has Walshe working with Fraboni to evoke shades of Bob Dylan’s Planet Waves, you can’t help but go looking for the past inspirations that makes this new work so comfortable, compelling and fun. “If I Could” clocks in at 3:22 with a dense yet elegant collection of sounds …is it a lost Beggar’s Banquet track? Or early Glimmer Twins making a flip side to “Dandelion” or “She’s a Rainbow.”
The album’s contributions are many, the Beach Boys singer from Holland’s “Sail on Sailor,” Blondie Chaplin on guitar and vocals, Ivan Neville on piano and B-3
“Small Price to Pay” flips genres again, but as Carlos Santana’s 1999 Supernatural album defied the odds with so many different flavors becoming a worldwide smash, Walshe’s lyrics and chord changes create a feeling that allows the listener to go with the flow. “Small Price to Pay” pulls you in, the lyrics reflect and offer solutions rather than admonish. At the end of the day it’s about freedom, and the players cement the dance vibe with relish. It’s truly remarkable and demands repeated spins …spins you’ll be delighted to make.
“B Who U R” has percussionist Kenny Aronoff obviously having fun while hard at work. It’s a big sound, halfway to Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and that’s the party aspect of these thirteen tracks. Simply bursting with energy and delight. James Perkins’ saxophone rocks along with the backing vocals that feel like the gals from the Stones’ “Tumblin’ Dice” exited that room to enter this room and continue their endless party. “B Who U R” shimmers and like “Small Price to Pay,” begs to put it on an endless loop.
During the recording of Keith Richards’ legendary Talk is Cheap record in 1988, the rock virtuoso bounded across the room while this writer stood with his other producer, the great Jimmy Miller and said “Joe….Joe….you must meet Rob Fraboni.” Maybe that was so thirty-five years later I would get to review another Fraboni disc that rocks with the same authority as Talk is Cheap, that speaks from the grooves, not the hype. Miller and Fraboni, who crafted Goats Head Soup, brought their presence into the room where Talk is Cheap was made. Rob Fraboni brings his trademark roots rock into the equation, (and some of his friend Jimmy’s timeless vibrations) for thirteen tracks that deserve to be heard around this world and beyond.
Recorded at Rax-Trax Studio, Chicago, IL on January 24-February 3rd, March 20 – 21, 2022, the construction – from composition to performance delivers on every level, with world class production values you rarely hear on radio today.
2)Alice Cooper Live I'M 18
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3)Cher - Joe V review on Wikipedia
(my personal Wikipedia was hacked when I shut down TV 3 Medford....retaliation!)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher
Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times writes, "There were a lot of great records by female singers in the early days of rock ... None, however, reflected the authority and command that we associate with rock 'n' roll today as much as [Cher's] key early hits".[285] Some of Cher's early songs discuss subjects rarely addressed in American popular music such as divorce, prostitution, unplanned and underaged pregnancy, and racism.[283] According to AllMusic's Joe Viglione, the 1972 single "The Way of Love" is "either about a woman expressing her love for another woman, or a woman saying au revoir to a gay male she loved" ("What will you do/When he sets you free/Just the way that you/Said good-bye to me"). Her ability to carry both male and female ranges allowed her to sing solo in androgynous and gender-neutral songs.[286]
4)"Won't Be the Same" Phil DaRosa
A new single from Phil DaRosa is always a good thing, and the extravagant chant in "Won't Be the Same" is surrounded by soft percussive sounds, guitar lines and a terrific chorus. "Wish upon a star and pray..." Wonderful cover of Coldplay's "Trouble in Town" also up on his website. https://www.phildarosa.com/
5)RIP Jeff Beck
JIZZ WHIZZ FROM BECKOLOGY
Jizz Whizz
Beck, Bogert & Appice
Song Review by Joe Viglione [-] https://www.allmusic.com/song/jizz-whizz-mt0011921462
With an instant, slamming opening borrowed from the Jimi Hendrix tune, "Manic Depression" - revved up and mutated, of course - this rare instrumental track from the fabled Jimmy Miller sessions with Beck, Bogert & Appice lives up to its legend. The 1973 take's got that smooth edge Miller put on Motorhead when that band's Overkill and Bomber albums received the producer's midas touch six years after these sounds made it to tape. The big difference, though - Motorhead's "Fast" Eddie Clarke is no Jeff Beck, and Mr. Beck's guitar prowess is absolutely on fire here. Recorded at CBS Studios in London, the jam composition by Jeff Beck, Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice runs four minutes and twenty-four seconds and contains many of the elements which made BBA such a great jazz/rock powerhouse. With George Martin having worked on the Blow By Blow (1975) and Wired (1976) discs, this one cut puts Beck in the enviable position of having been produced by the two legendary men who made some of the greatest records by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Outside of the long ending to The Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", there are few instrumentals recorded by Miller, a man known for polishing and directing songs like The Move's "Blackberry Way", Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and over a hundred Jagger/Richards classics. That it took 1991s Beckology box for this epic to make its worldwide debut speaks volumes about the industry - great Hendrixian sounds from Beck locked up for eighteen years deprived fans of some extraordinary stuff. A real find for those who appreciate both Beck and the legendary Stones' producer.
6)I've Been Drinking - Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart
I've Been Drinking
Jeff Beck Group Song Review by Joe Viglione [-]
https://www.allmusic.com/song/ive-been-drinking-mt0011918839
Doris Tauber and Johnny Mercer's classic "I've Been Drinking" appeared on the British import Best Of Jeff Beck and was also the "B" side of Columbia 45 RPM DB 8359 in 1968. Produced by Mickie Most, it was not released on an album in America until 1989's Storyteller: The Complete Anthology Rod Stewart, rumor has it, because of a flaw on the master tape. Well on 1991sBeckology it sure sounds wonderful, Rod Stewart's ghost-echo voice behind his main vocal (which comes in after the guitar break, maybe that was the alleged tape flaw?) has a haunting effect next to Jeff Beck's fuzztone leads. In fact, Beck's guitar comes off like Python Lee-Jackson's "In A Broken Dream", a regional 1972 hit with Stewart on lead vocal. "I'm drinkin' again/ Thinkin' of when/You left me" sums it up. Rod's making the rounds, and is totally believable here, knowing that "there's no second time around", the broken-hearted vocal a total turn around from the explosive singer on "I Ain't Superstitious". The great Madeline Bell shows up on backing vocals, the Blue Mink singer an ever present voice during this explosion of rock/blues that happened towards the end of the 60s. But "I've Been Drinking" relies as much on Nicky Hopkins' pop piano as it does Rod Stewart's vocal, Beck's guitar more restrained here than perhaps at any time on work where he's the marquee name and not playing the role of session man. His fuzztone waits almost half a song before the guitar break, and only comes back before the fade out. The guitar playing is, of course, exquisite, but its quiet presence through most of the tune allows Rod Stewart the opportunity to stand front in center. The interplay with Madeline Bell is great and the three minutes and sixteen seconds of this once-rare (in America) Mickie Most 1968 recording from London's EMI Studios has always been a favorite of this writers and really deserved a chance to be a hit on its own. https://youtu.be/xCzhpcM0saw
7)JOHN CALE NEW ALBUM, MARCH 2023
8)Bachman Turner Overdrive
Bachman-Turner Overdrive [1984] Review
by Joe Viglione [-] https://www.allmusic.com/album/bachman-turner-overdrive-1984--mw0000594240
Eleven years after their 1973 eponymous debut on Mercury, Randy Bachman brings brother Tim Bachman, C.F. Turner, and original Chad Allan/Guess Who drummer Garry Peterson together for this very decent set, also self-titled Bachman-Turner Overdrive, on a Mercury subsidiary, Nashville's Compleat Records. Though Randy's final album with the group, 1977's Freeways, is the collectors item, this record has more punch, more direction, and lots more energy. The singer/songwriter seems somewhat revitalized, "For the Weekend" opening things up with the vocal hooks and singing guitar lines that made for great radio singles. C.F. Turner's "City's Still Growin'" bogs things down a bit -- it could have just as easily fit on the post-Randy Street Action and Rock N' Roll Nights albums, and been just as easily forgotten. For that matter, Tim Bachman and C.F. Turner's "Just Look at Me Now" almost qualifies for that distinction as well. There's no Blair Thornton here, no Jim Clench, and, as stated, drummer Robbie Bachman gets easily replaced by the original drummer for the Guess Who, but here's where these guys missed the boat: had Chad Allan from Brave Belt softened up the attack a bit with his contributions, which work so well with Randy Bachman, the album could have bridged the gap between the various versions of the Guess Who and BTO which were floating around confusing the public. "My Sugaree" is no doubt Randy Bachman's answer to Jerry Garcia's '70s FM hit "Sugaree." It is this, Bachman's cleverness and ability to cop riffs and disguise them, after all, which make these recordings worthwhile. "Another Fool" opens up side two with the same riff-heavy energy. Writer William Ruhlmann's original AMG essay on this album had it right when he stated: "By 1984, the band was a '70s nostalgia act, and there really was no audience for their new music." As good as it is, the 1995 Garry Peterson/Jim Kale adventure which they labeled the Guess Who, an album called Lonely One, might have fit into this time frame much better. With that album, as with this, they were ten years behind the times. Pioneer released a 1983 Guess Who reunion of Burton Cummings, Randy Bachman, and Garry Peterson (Peterson appearing to be the most amiable of the bunch, even showing up on Burton Cummings' solo discs) and 1986 saw the release of Compleat's Best of the Guess Who Live, so this BTO "reunion" of sorts fell right in the middle of those two Guess Who releases/class reunions. "Lost in a Fantasy" has those sparkling little guitar nuances that Randy does so well, a song that could find its way onto a Randy Bachman boxed set retrospective, but though it is a notch higher than the revered Freeways, there's nothing extraordinary enough to bring it over the top. C.F. Turner's "Toledo" is yet more ZZ Top-style diesel rock while the closer, Randy Bachman's "Service with a Smile," is "Taking Care of Business" redux. You can almost sing the original hit over this music. A fun adventure for fans, but no "Looking Out for #1," no "Hey You," no "Roll on Down the Highway." Just a little bit more effort and 1984's Bachman-Turner Overdrive could really have been fun. Too bad they didn't do a metallic version of "Shakin' All Over" or tried their hand at covering Burton Cummings. A little more flavor would have done the trick.
9)Tom "Satch" Kerans "Silhouette"
Lost in that land of time, one silhouette in the moonlight, with a slinky, smart approach in the arrangement. Very dramatic and compelling, with Sal Baglio and Jon Butcher in the WMWM listening to the song while it made its 91.7 fm debut.
Satch on WMWM 12:38 pm Saturday Jan 14 2023 https://www.facebook.com/tom.kerans
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see 2009 Boston Globe article: http://archive.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/05/22/blast_from_the_past_is_ready_for_second_act/
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10)YOU KNOW ME / JACKIE DESHANNON
https://www.allmusic.com/album/you-know-me-mw0000095235
You Know Me / Jackie DeShannonReview by Joe Viglione [-]
It takes a few spins to understand, and it is one of this prolific singer's many, many recordings, but when you spend some quality time with You Know Me, it starts unraveling its secrets in ways that only a truly great recording can. "Any Heart" is pure power, with the band weaving textures around Jackie DeShannon's distinctive vocal, the guitar relentless as it sustains the wall of sound. A true labor of love, few artists can produce a song this strong, and the fact that it follows three equally powerful compositions is evidence of the majesty that sweeps across all 14 tracks. "Steal the Thunder" opens the album with authority -- the resonating grandeur Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes" contained, with a better hook. DeShannon places everything in perfect order, the vocal gliding over a groove that is rock-solid. "Wing Ryder" changes the pace, and you get the idea that this major songwriter is building an album more complex than Carole King's Tapestry -- sheer art for art's sake. It ebbs and flows with an elegance younger musicians are too impetuous to seek out. The keyboards and guitars in "Wing Ryder" fuse styles that Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles were employing. And that's the secret here: DeShannon hasn't made another singer/songwriter album, she has shouldered a project akin to filming a major motion picture. "Somewhere in America" has a smart guitar riff and a wailing sax in the distance for one of the few ecology songs that isn't hampered by bulky words. "Song for Sandra Jeanne (Rites of Passage)" is for the singer's poet mom. It's just beautiful, the album changing moods like a photo album with pages turning before you on the silver screen. Each song is an episode, with the title track a defiant affirmation of someone who has been with listeners through the years, from "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" to "Bette Davis Eyes." While Lou Adler's sparse production on Tapestry allowed Carole King to bare her soul, DeShannon gives us a dense production, thick and rich, a wide range of sounds that could reinvent AAA radio if given the chance to be heard with the same presence as her best-known tunes. "Just How Right You Are" and "Red Montana Sky" are both driving and two of the more commercial tracks, with subtle hints of past work slipping into the lyrics. At close to 60 minutes, the 14 tracks are very much like a double LP. "There Goes the One" is a pensive recommitment, as graceful saxophone blends with the keyboards and the charming line, "I love the books that he reads." "Vanished in Time" is clear and measured, a youthful exuberance embracing the wisdom of years. This is a transformation for the veteran songwriter, and she seems to be driven more by her incredible instincts than by record company mandate. Where You're the Only Dancer, To Be Free, and earlier albums had an agenda most artists have to deal with, "Raze" is sound and performance, which shows real control. The drums drive the vocals and guitar backs DeShannon up with more dominance than maybe any album she's ever made. "Red Montana Sky" keeps surfacing as the tune that should be embraced by radio. "Here On" seems out of place, the reggae too dramatic a departure for all the elements that came before. It throws the listener for a loop and has a different character than all the other tracks on You Know Me, but that's either the luxury or the downside of artistic freedom, take your pick. Covering the Beach Boys' "Trader," however, is a perfect conclusion, and a perfect vehicle for Jackie DeShannon's timeless voice on an album that may take years before it is fully appreciated.
11)JANIS JOPLIN 'TRUST ME"
Janis Joplin "Trust Me" from Pearl
https://www.allmusic.com/song/trust-me-mt0008311314
Song Review by Joe Viglione [-]
Songwriter Bobby Womack released this superb tune on his 1975 Safety Zone album, but in its form as the sleeper track on Janis Joplin's 1971 Pearl album, "Trust Me" emerges with great power, a performance that is Janis at her absolute best. Her voice goes from sweet in the first couple of lines to raspy when she so knowingly issues lines like "the older the grape, the sweeter the wine." Ken Pearson's organ works wonderfully alongside Bobby Womack's acoustic guitar and John Till's electric. Paul Rothchild's production work is simply amazing, choreographing this thick array of sounds and piecing them together perfectly, Brad Campbell's bass and Richard Bell's piano lines both dancing inside the changes. Listen to Clark Pierson's definite drums as the song fades out, a solid team effort recorded on September 25, 1970, just a week and a half before Janis would leave us. In a small catalog of work, "Trust Me" shows what truly gifted art Janis Joplin brought to this world. Having Womack participating is a treat, the element of the songwriter working with the interpreter and their camaraderie as a major contribution to this definitive version cannot be overlooked. The creative energy is in these grooves and one doesn't have to imagine how magical the room must have been when this music was made. It translates very well. As "Me & Bobby McGee" has been overplayed, "Trust Me" has been underexposed. This key piece of the Pearl album concisely shows Janis Joplin as the equal of Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Billie Holiday, Otis Redding and her other heroes. At certain moments during this song Joplin eclipses even those gods.
12)Lesley Gore Ever Since
Review by Joe Viglione for AllMusic.com, Oldies.com
https://www.oldies.com/product-view/74289O.html
13)Billie's Bones Janis Ian
Review by Joe Viglione
https://www.allmusic.com/album/billies-bones-mw0000335391
Decades after their initial burst on the pop scene certain serious artists conjure up special recordings deserving of extra attention. A Jackie DeShannon will deliver something stunning like her wonderful You Know Me disc while Ian Hunter strikes hard with his powerful Rant. Janis Ian takes a more restrained approach, but the result is just as masterful on Billie's Bones, a collection of 13 songs recorded over three days in Nashville at Sound Emporium from June 9-11, 2003. Dolly Parton adds a complementary vocal to "My Tennessee Hills" as Janis takes the listener all over the world -- the beautiful "Paris in Your Eyes" preceding the instrumental "Marching on Glasgow," the poet taking the journey from the Southern states to Amsterdam as well. This is not a "folk" album, the always creative Janis Ian finding different melodies on her guitar giving a distinct flavor to each tune and the bevy of thoughtful lyrics. The title track is inspired by a previous work the artist published in her 1968 book Who Really Cares, Poems by Janis Ian. The lyrics to it open up the 14-page booklet while the original poem closes out the insert. "Billie is my idol, I wander through the desert of her later years," she writes in the earlier version concluding with "Tell them I am ash...and I have no tongue." The song has another perspective for the story: "All these years and all I've learned is just how brilliantly I fail." There is no failure here on this successful light rock collection displaying all sorts of musical elements -- the touch of country in "My Tennessee Hills," a jazz feel on "Matthew," the soft introspection of "Amsterdam." As the great Jimmy Miller put the Blind Faith album together in three days after the supergroup tried for months to record, Ian takes her paint brush and in three days creates an album that contains multiple ideas that entertain as they unravel in a unique and impressive fashion. It is a beautiful and fulfilling disc from her vast repertoire.
14)Ian Hunter Rant
Review by Joe Viglione
https://www.allmusic.com/album/rant-mw0000002649The musical statement that is Rant includes textures and ideas that pick up where Brain Capers by Mott the Hoople left off. "Still Love Rock and Roll" ignites this set; it rocks with an authority that "All the Way From Memphis" only hinted at. As Dion DiMucci's Shu Bop album redefined the position of a '60s artist and delivered the goods, Hunter's Rant reveals a '70s artist refining his philosophy. Rant he does, with eloquence and a new fire. Every track works, entertaining and enlightening, taking the listener through curves and turns, reaching the zenith in track ten, "Ripoff." From the "that's all you've got to live for" lyric to the song title itself, this song is a perfect pop tune, full of anger, passion, slashing guitar sounds, a condescending vocal, and hooks that are real magnetic grabbers. With production that is absolutely topnotch, Hunter bids adieu to his homeland. Although "Ripoff" is guaranteed to keep "Sir" from being added to Hunter's name, he should still be knighted for delivering a kick-in-the-pants rock & roll song that every car radio should be blasting. The Rolling Stones haven't injected this much majesty into a single tune, let alone an album, in over a decade. R.E.M. could learn a thing or two from "Knees of My Heart"; it has the jangle jangle guitar, but where R.E.M. seems stuck in some past groove, Hunter utilizes that Nick Lowe/Bob Dylan/Byrds melancholic musical essay to great and satisfying effect. This album smartly moves sounds from guitar to keys, shifting moods, making a grand musical statement. "No One" is Hunter delivering a ballad with drive. This isn't "Ships," his Barry Manilow hit, nor is it Mad Shadows' pre-"All the Young Dudes" composition "You Are One of Us"; this has flavors of early British pop, guitar sounds from the George Harrison textbook, and a meaningful vocal from this rock & roll troubadour. Rant is a record that transcends so much of what is going on right now in music, a record that is much too good for radio today. The Columbia/Legacy compilation Once Bitten Twice Shy delivered 38 Ian Hunter solo titles in the year 2000, giving the world a clear picture of his post-Hoople work and paving the way for this sensational recording.
15)Strings Attached, DVD
Ian Hunter
https://tower.jp/item/3630276/Strings-Attached
The DVD of Strings Attached could also be called Ian Hunter Lite, a nice bookend to the singer's Just Another Night: Live at the Astoria, London disc. The orchestration here, recorded in Oslo back in January of 2002, doesn't have (or require) the bombast found on Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull, but it is fun to see the always serious Hunter actually indulging in a more spirited, humorous, and playful mode. Of course, "Twisted Steel" is all business, and with more distance in time and space from the 9/11 tragedy, how many outside of Hunter's hardcore fans realize that this artist is effectively articulating the insanity of that day? The R.E.M.-style delivery works well in this setting, as does the rise and fall of the accompaniment in "Boy" and the pure pop of "23A Swan Hill." As with the Just Another Night DVD, there are some delicious soundcheck cuts and valuable interview material. And while Rod Stewart is selling millions of "Songbook" albums like a Columbia House special in the 1960s supermarket racks, one might think it parody for Ian Hunter to follow suit. Remarkably, the Mott the Hoople frontman successfully dips into that arena, providing a pleasant diversion from the mission at hand. Brook Benton, Bobby Darin Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney, and Bing Crosby have all sung the Eric Maschwitz/Manning Sherwin classic "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," and that gem provides a nice segue into Hunter's own "Michael Picasso." Def Leppard's Joe Elliott keeps showing up on Hunter's DVDs, and he provides the intro on a collection of orchestrated folk-rock that touches upon key moments in the songwriter's prolific career. The haunting approach to "Roll Away the Stone" breathes new life into a song that has never received the appreciation it deserves. To see this Oslo audience mouthing the words to "Saturday Gigs" provides another clue to what the U.S.A. missed when the song wasn't pushed in America, and when Mott the Hoople couldn't rejuvenate themselves with the addition of Mick Ronson. The insightful interviews add much and the rendition of "All the Young Dudes" is so campy gay that it could be considered politically incorrect in this era of Brokeback Mountain, when gay without the glitter is definitely the trend. Perhaps because Hunter is merely acting the part (where Gyllenhaal and Ledger might not be -- acting, that is), Strings Attached reminds viewers that the times they are a-changing. ~ Joe Viglione
more Ian Hunter reviews on Joe V's Rock and Roll Central
https://clubbohemianews.blogspot.com/2021/05/ian-hunter-strings-attached-by-joe.html
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16)The Danny Gallagher Band
"A Little Hard Work and Time" 4:27
https://www.facebook.com/Dgbmusic
Danny Gallagher's smooth voice over this pop/blues ballad issues a terrific sentiment on a second time around, believing in companionship that the singer wants to be eternal. Like the sentiment from Neil Sedaka's hit for 5th Dimension "we'll take it slow" (as in "it's gonna take some time" here.) It's a song of commitment and what it might take.
In Weymouth Jan 14 at Next Page Cafe'
17)Vanilla Fudge with Jeff Beck (MYSTERY)
Mystery - Vanilla Fudge with Jeff Beck
Review by Joe Viglione [-]
https://www.allmusic.com/album/mystery-mw0000367495
Quiet Riot's producer gives Vanilla Fudge -- whom producer Shadow Morton discovered in the late '60s -- a "bang your head" onslaught of big hair drums, compressed guitar, and tired homogenization. The fun psychedelic distortion of Vinny Martell is totally stripped away -- he is relegated to rhythm guitar on one song and backing vocals on three. That is a total travesty. It is one thing to have the leader of Beck, Bogert & Appice, one Jeff Beck, funk up "My World Is Empty," even under the disguise of J. Toad (shades of George Harrison in his L'Angelo Mysterioso garb), but this version of the Supremes is so far removed from what made Vanilla Fudge so special that, really, it should be included as a bonus track on a reissue of the 1973 Epic debut Beck, Bogert & Appice. One Ron Mancuso is listed under Martell in the credits, but he is the hip guitarist recruited for this calculated disc to replace Martell. His name might be in small print, but his sound is what is splashed all over this veteran group's comeback attempt. Proffer takes the once angelic voices and puts them through his machinery to come up with something that could be Patty Smyth's Scandal or even 38 Special. Clearly, this wasn't an attempt at former glories, but a stab at reinventing the band instead of putting their trademark arrangements on familiar tunes. This is everything fans of '60s music hate about the '80s. Whether it is the first track, "Golden Age Dreams," or the decent cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By," or the song that took seven writers to compose, "Don't Stop Now," the drumbeat is incessant and is more Quiet Riot than Fudge. The worst track is probably "Hot Blood," which is Scott Sheets, Mark Stein, and Carmine Appice totally ripping off the chorus of Foreigner's 1978 hit "Hot Blooded." You can rest assured they would've been sued if this album sold, but where the covers are amusing, and some of the originals show sparks of ingenuity, "Hot Blood" is so bad that most bar bands would balk before sending it to an A&R man. That this was released on Foreigner's own label is even more appalling. The song that follows, "The Stranger," thankfully does not cop Billy Joel's riffs -- it is interesting because of the use of Vanilla Fudge's slow pace combined with metal of the day. Had the band gone totally heavy metal with this, perhaps taking a Black Sabbath signature tune like "Paranoid" and making it sound like their second Top 40 hit, the eternal "Take Me for a Little While," much of this could be excused. But "The Stranger"'s early promise quickly descends into a parody that makes it sound like a Spinal Tap outtake. For musicians who launched Cactus and who could lure Jeff Beck into this quagmire (maybe the reason he goes incognito here is for artistic rather than contractual reasons), it sure sounds like they took Ahmet Ertegun's money and ran. "Golden Age Dreams" is a clone of Loverboy's 1981 hit sound for "Turn Me Loose." So this new incarnation of Vanilla Fudge turned to imitating what was current rather than putting a refreshing stamp and change on contemporary records. What the original Fudge and Shadow Morton would've have done was take Fabian's 1959 hit, Turn Me Loose, and have it melt into an eight-minute-plus saga that contorts until it has a re-birth as a slowed down version of the Loverboy title. Someone should re-release this on CD with the Vinny Martell demos from this period. His demo tapes have a charm and sparkle that is absent on this disc. "Jealousy" might boast Jeff Beck, but it is flavored with the Jefferson Starship's "Jane" and "Find Your Way Back" riffs. Their success with this venture would have been assured had they given the Starship tune "Jane" that original Vanilla Fudge treatment, performed it at the pace of the title track here, "Mystery," and let Marty Balin sing the lead. Balin was practicing "Jane" before he jumped ship from the Starship -- it would have been a coup, and could have made all the difference in the world. It would have been a relief from the labor that listening to the track "It Gets Stronger" is. Nothing on early Vanilla Fudge is as difficult as this experiment.
18)Jimi Hendrix I Don't Live Today
This mesmerizing performance takes the studio rendition to another level. It is amazing. The production, the clarity of the band, all makes for a superb slice of Jimi from the Live at the Los Angeles Forum April 26, 1969 disc.
https://youtu.be/G5w3tbjUU4M
“I Don’t Live Today” from the new Jimi Hendrix Experience album Los Angeles Forum - April 26, 1969
Order the album: https://hendrix.lnk.to/ForumAY Los Angeles Forum - April 26, 1969 presents an extraordinary performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Before a raucous, sold-out house, Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding tore through a unique set featuring highlights such as "I Don't Live Today," "Purple Haze," "Red House," and an astonishing medley of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love". This pristine recording, newly mixed by Hendrix's longtime engineer Eddie Kramer, captures the original Jimi Hendrix Experience in their unrivaled, peak form. A portion of this performance was previously included as part of a short-lived Westwood One radio documentary box set [Lifelines 1990-1992] but has been unavailable in any form for two decades and this marks its first release on vinyl. The album - complete with liner notes from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons who witnessed the show first hand - is available on CD and 2xLP and the digital release marks the first Hendrix album available in spatial audio. Each format gives this seminal performance its proper platform, presenting the complete performance mixed directly from the original eight-track master tapes. Listen to Jimi Hendrix: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/listenYD Subscribe to the official Jimi Hendrix YouTube Channel: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/subscribeYD Watch more of Jimi Hendrix music videos: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/listenYD/y... Follow Jimi Hendrix: Facebook: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/followFI Twitter: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/followTI Instagram: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/followII Website: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/followWI Spotify: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/followSI YouTube: https://jimihendrix.lnk.to/subscribeYD #JimiHendrix #IDontLiveToday #Live19)Soulsucker Huck 2
"Soulsucker" (time: 4:15) is a dynamic, loud pop chant with intense guitars, pounding bass and drums with the title repeating throughout. Perhaps a hard-rock-pop update of John Lennon's "How Do You Sleep" rebelling against the rebel whose "blood runs cold." Wooly Mammoth's Dave Minehan and the band, Huck 2, do an amazing production job, a bit of Bob Ezrin's Alice Cooper work mixed with Todd Rundgren's Grand Funk/New York Dolls era sound.
Terri Lee Frozen Solid Official Music Video
Song
Review by Joe Viglione [-]
On his self-produced Words & Music release
from 1970 songwriter Jimmy Webb does a dramatically different version of this
tribute to Buzzy Linhart's ex-roommate,Phillip "Flip" Sloane. This is
a major colleague writing an ode to one of the quirky but brilliant West Coast
writers of song. Though Webb re-recorded this in 1977 with producer George
Martin, it is still The Association's version which gets much attention. Their
spacious and experimental production is interesting on a tune which relishes
the harmonies, but seems a bit too far out for that crew. It is Webb's original
rendition on the Words & Music album which is condensed and has some
staying power. He sings it with sheer enthusiasm giving a protest song feel to
a tune about a protest songwriter. Webb's original rendition is marvelous with
a sincere charm. Picture early Neil Young singing on key. It's four minutes of
a descending musical line and interesting hook which doesn't sound very much
like Sloan's own work - remember, it's about him. "Don't sing this
song...it belongs to P.F. Sloan...from now on." Enter harmonica. https://www.allmusic.com/song/pf-sloan-mt0004713970
allmusic.com
P.F. Sloan by Jimmy Webb - Track Info | AllMusic
Explore P.F. Sloan by Jimmy Webb.
Get track information, read reviews, listen to it streaming, and more at
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Review by Joe Viglione [-]
Hubert Sumlin's About Them Shoes is a refreshingly pure blues recording which comes at a time when others are distorting the genre with various "contemporary" elements. The songs are from the repertoire of Muddy Waters -- seven tunes written by Waters (McKinley Morganfield), four by Willie Dixon, one from Carl C. Wright, and a beauty by Sumlin to close things out. Dixon's "I'm Ready" starts things off with Eric Clapton on lead guitar and vocals, the drums of Levon Helm, and Paul Oscher's oozing harmonica filling in nicely with David Maxwell's piano. It's bouncy and shows a side of Clapton not often present on his own albums. Sumlin's lead is tasty, giving way to Oscher's equally gritty wail. Waters' own "Still a Fool" has Keith Richards on lead vocals and sharing the guitar chores with Sumlin. It's got that Rolling Stones-ish ragged edge that producer Rob Fraboni knows so well; Fraboni's guiding hand never gets in the way of the musical process that flows across the CD. James Cotton's harp comes in to spice up "She's Into Something," which features percussionist George Recile on lead vocals and Helm back on the skins. Helm plays drums on eight of the 13 tracks, Recile on four, with the final number, Hubert Sumlin's only original, "Little Girl, This Is the End," closing the set without percussion. "Little Girl" features a charming interplay between Keith Richards and Sumlin's guitars, while Paul Nowinski adds a full-bottom bass to round things out. It's Sumlin's only
vocal contribution to the disc, and that voice swims in Fraboni's mix of upfront guitars. This particular song was premiered on Holly Harris' Blues on Sunday program on December 15, 2002, a few months before the album's release, and played next to the remastered "Love in Vain" from Let It Bleed, one could see why the distinctive Richards style is such an important component of the Rolling Stones' success. The two Keith Richards tracks as well as the two contributions from Clapton will get immediate attention, and they do not disappoint, but Blondie Chaplin's vocal on "Look What You've Done" as well as Paul Oscher's on "Come Home Baby" deserve to not get lost in the shuffle. Nathaniel Peterson and George Recile also get to take the mic (with David Johansen about to add some vocals at press time), but none of the changing voices disrupt the vibe or take away from the fun. These blues aren't sad, they are charging, energetic performances from musicians who catch the groove and drive it for all it's worth. Maxwell's piano on Waters' "Come Home Baby" adds frills behind the guitars of Sumlin and Bob Margolin, while Oscher's harmonica just screams. It's a stunning blend of tension and dynamite, and one of the disc's highlights. About Them Shoes could have taken the marquee talent and gone for a glitzy platform to bring Hubert Sumlin into the mainstream. Instead, they dive headfirst into what this music is all about, and in doing so have come up with a mini-masterpiece. It's one of those records that can run endlessly in the CD player and keep entertaining. Hopefully it will expand the audience of this deserving virtuoso.
Cause We've Ended as Lovers
Jeff Beck Song Review by Joe Viglione [-]
https://www.allmusic.com/song/cause-weve-ended-as-lovers-mt0011943270
Five minutes and forty-three seconds of Stevie Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" speaks volumes without its lyrics from the late Syreeta Wright, just a sweeping instrumental produced by George Martin at AIR Studios, London, towards the end of 1974. The coy voice on Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta is replaced here by a guitar crying with heartbreak. Essential lines like "When a love has gone and past/why does the good exceed the bad" can't be heard as Jeff Beck with the assistance of Richard Bailey's very subtle drums and Max Middleton's smooth and compelling keyboards just lets the pretty melody tell the story. The tonal quality Beck and Martin employ is borderline acid rock over the consistent and cautious Phil Chen bassline. The tone stays the same as the mania subsides, the tune concluding with Jeff exploring thoughtful notes and spreading them out in a quiet goodbye. Recorded just a year after laying down the ferocious "Jizz Whizz" with Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller, these two instrumentals have the guitar virtuoso speaking to and through two of the finest creators of 70s recordings, Miller and Martin. That "Jizz Whizz" ends one of the CDs on Beckology with this title opening another allows for quick comparisons of vintage Beck as understood by the two veteran greats. Originally released on the Blow By Blow disc. https://www.allmusic.com/song/cause-weve-ended-as-lovers-mt0011943270
Song Review by Joe Viglione [-]
https://www.allmusic.com/song/led-boots-mt0009827079
An interesting component of the Jeff Beck catalog is the composition by keyboardist Max Middleton, a quirky and redundant riff called "Led Boots". Is this yet another acknowledgment that ex-YardbirdBeck ( and Middleton who joined shortly after the Truth and Beck Ola releases) could have taken on Led Zeppelin had they stayed the harder course - say Rod Stewart singing "You Shook Me" on Truth? If one takes Middleton's riff out of the jazz/fusion world Beck's music found itself in after his many evolutions, there's no doubt "Led Boots" would lend itself well to a "Kashmir"-type hard rock approach, and maybe tons of airplay years later on classic rock radio had they slowed the riff down and taken that road. But it is what it is, and as it stands, the George Martin produced track from Wired has become a musician's fave, covered by Vivian Campbell on the Jeffology tribute (a play on the Beckology boxed set title), Prashant Aswani on Rewired: A Tribute To Jeff Beck, as well as versions by Bunny Brunel and Ritchie Kotzen. It is four minutes of funk/rock from the 1976 Wired album which AMG's Mark Kirschenmann accurately describes as an "explosive opener ... where Beck erupts into a stunning solo of volcanic intensity." A compliment that is hard to re-phrase. The 1976 material seems light years away from the 1971 Steve Cropper produced Jeff Beck Group album and 1972's Rough & Ready and one also wonders if it wasn't a response by Middleton to - not only the success of the equally musical but less eloquent Led Zeppelin - but to the 1971 Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" which almost hit the Top 40 and eventually won a Grammy. "Heavy boots of lead" sang Ozzie while Max Middleton turned it the phrase around for his title and carved out a rock/funk/fusion tune which is just as influential in its circles as Tony Iommi's guitar lines are to the metalheads. There's even a cover band that took this song's title as their name.
Song Review by Joe Viglione
https://www.allmusic.com/song/rock-my-plimsoul-mt0005925176
The traditional blues classic often credited to B.B. King and Joe Josea is claimed by "J.Rod" here and entitled "Rock My Plimsoul", https://youtu.be/0agVtbLcq-I although Beck, Dreja, McCarty and Page laid claim to a rendition cut prior to this. It is still the tune that everyone from Tina Turner to Otis Redding, Gene Vincent and hundreds of others have recorded for the better half of the last century. While John Kay and Steppenwolf turned the concept into a new song and a 60s rock anthem, Stewart and The Jeff Beck Group give the standard Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup/Lightnin' Hopkins explanation a good workout. In Britain a "plimsol" is a "rubber-soled cloth shoe", a.k.a. a sneaker. As he changed the spelling of "plynth", Stewart adds the "u" to make it soulful, "Rock My Plimsoul". Beck's guitar playing is great alongside Aynsley Dunbar's drums and Ronnie Wood's bass. Recorded at De Lane Lea Music in London, June, 1967, and produced by Mickie Most, this close to four minute excercise in blues-rock was originally the flip side of the "Tally Man" single. It's Jeff Beck's guitar that is the most revealing element here, embellishing the standard with his obsessive/compulsive but controlled passion. The sound effects he gets out of the guitar around three quarters through are quirky, dynamic and quite original.
"We're coming to you live from Rio" the superstar says after "I Can't Stand the Rain...," "and you know what? Rio is Hot!" Tina Turner exclaims on Rio' 88 -- Live in Concert Rio de Janeiro, the full title of the Live at Rio '88 DVD. This January 16, 1988 performance from Brazil contains 13 tracks while her double-audio CD recorded and released that same year, Tina Turner Live in Europe, contains 28 titles, more than double the content. All the songs here are represented on the audio CD from half a world away and both documents do a good job of displaying Turner at the height of her power. On a purely musical level this is fantastic, but that's Tina Turner for you, one of the most consistent performers in music history. Whether it is her own hit, the terrific "Better Be Good to Me," done almost double time here, or an expressive reading of Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" as well as the sultry version of the Beatles' "Help" -- which is so original it almost sounds like a new song -- it's just more evidence that the vocalist brings her "A" game to the stage all the time. Compare the work here to 1971's audio LP from a New York concert, What You Hear Is What You Get, and you'll find that this gem from South America taped 17 years later has the same incredible energy the singer is known for. There is just no let up -- Turner is perpetually on fire -- and it's captured pretty well on this short but appealing DVD which contains typical '80s pans of the stage, long shots from the audience, and other visuals that hold up pretty well decades after being recorded. During "Better Be Good to Me," members of the phenomenal band get a few moments to vamp during the tune, and that backing crew sizzles. This was originally released on VHS in 1988 on Polygram, reissued on DVD in 2000 from Image, and is now part of the EV Classics catalog from Eagle Vision, a company that has multiple Turner titles available. The one criticism is that throughout these various incarnations, why is there no bonus material or liner notes? If a cult band like the MC5 with their Kick out the Jams film/DVD can include four solid pages of information, why not treat a bona fide icon with a little more respect by going the extra mile? Certainly with legends like John Miles on board as guitarist and Deric Dyer playing bass, some after-the-fact interviews would play nicely with this short but very uplifting footage from the rock goddess. Consider Live at Rio '88 a very good snapshot of an important artist designed to whet the appetite for more.
Editorial Reviews
The main concert coming in at under twenty-four minutes with "bonus material" at fifteen and a half minutes brings the total on this thin package to forty minutes of hardcore music, a fourth of it being an interview with band leader Mad Joe Black. It is especially distressing when the claim is that this DVD contains seventy-five minutes.
All Movie Guide - Joe Viglione
LoudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies Review
by Joe Viglione
[-] https://www.allmusic.com/album/loudquietloud-a-film-about-the-pixies-mw0001032560
This is a well-deserved documentary film on the Pixies, though a bit ostentatious in its premise. The band is one of the greats that emerged out of the 1980s Boston scene, but the opening quip calling them "one of the most influential bands of all time" is the kind of overreach that takes away from the fun, and a philosophy that holds this elegant -- and at times gorgeous -- production back. What should be an important addition to their musical catalog quickly evaporates into a DVD fanzine -- not a bad thing in itself, but not the type of vehicle that will recruit many new fans or beg repeated plays. Frank Black (aka Black Francis) doesn't have the presence of a Willie "Loco" Alexander, a huge Boston cult figure who is a most intriguing and captivating character. As the first artist to perform at the Boston Tea Party, and later as a member of the Velvet Underground, Alexander has the "street cred" that would make a mere phone conversation compelling. Watching Black Francis engaged on the telly about the ego conflicts with Kim Deal is hardly as enlightening as, say, Ralph J. Gleason presenting a legendary 1965 Bob Dylan press conference. Therein lies the problem: David, Kim, Joey, and Frank (or is it Black?) are not John, Paul, George, and Ringo, nor does this film contain the supreme irreverence of A Hard Day's Night or Help! And just as one Boston area WZLX disc jockey asked on-air, in all seriousness, "Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starkey? Who is this Starkey guy?," few people on the planet could ever find the missing Pixies link, Charles Thompson. This film is not for the masses, but for Pixies fans, a cult that loves the sound and wants the music, and it's the music here that is the most powerful thing. Sadly, there's just not enough of it. The personalities don't jump off the screen, so the home movie's best footage outside of the snippets of music are some of the sights -- the band recording in Iceland, a hotel front in Chicago. The DVD becomes as frustrating as the group's breakup.
You can't put bald ego on tape and expect to find the magic. The magic with the Pixies has always been the music -- not their looks, not their persona -- but simply the sound they blasted from the stage of the Rat in Boston way back when. Gee, if only if only that fantastic set was what was inside this DVD case. Kelley Deal wielding a camera and asking a woman why she's there is supposed to be ironic. "My daughter Kim's in the Pixies; I'm here to see her." The home movie is great stuff, Kelley, of course, and being the woman's daughter is as well. But wouldn't it have been more fun to see mom running the camera and a great Breeders song appear from out of nowhere? Now, had these drawn-out moments been edited down and dropped into one of the many Pixies music videos out there -- for example, the December 15, 1986, appearance at WJUL (now WUML) in Lowell, MA, or the Los Angeles footage from October 30, 2004 -- this project would have taken on lots more meaning and historical importance. There is a cool 16-page black-and-white booklet with commentary from directors Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin, but what they fail to note is that many of the bands that the Pixies influenced, with the exception of Nirvana and perhaps a handful of others, never reached the level of Roxy Music, the Cars, R.E.M., or other latter-day pioneers that the Velvet Underground spawned. The Cars inspired many more bands than the Pixies, for example, and a quirky documentary on those personalities would be more entertaining. Without the Cars there would be no "Every Breath You Take" from the Police, arguably their greatest hit. Without the Pixies there's a very good chance Kurt Cobain would have still made his mark. The filmmakers do nothing here to dispute that, which renders Loudquietloud: A Film About the Pixies a great concept that misses. The group -- and these filmmakers -- need to borrow the Barre Phillips Live in Vienna DVD (on the same label, Music Video Distributors) to see pure genius, and a simple interview with more value than egos continuing to get in the way of the creation of intriguing sounds. One would think after all these years they'd get it.
Forever is an absolutely stunning double DVD on the British blues-pop band that reinvented the Rolling Stones' number one hit from 1969, "Honky Tonk Women," for their Top Five ticket to fame, "All Right Now," coming a year after the Stones classic. That half of this group, singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke, would form Bad Company and crank out hit after hit, chart action beginning in 1974, makes this compelling collection all the more valuable. There's so much great material on the two discs that one can spend hours exploring the restored archival footage, the new interviews, and perhaps the frosting on the cake -- multiple camera images from the Isle of Wight festival performance. You can literally remix your own version of "All Right Now" with all the footage made available from the cameras that captured the legendary festival. Five original videos from the band's early days along with material from The Beat Club in Germany and Granada TV from 1970 will keep the viewer happily busy. There are four different versions of "All Right Now" alone and commentary from Rodgers, Kirke, Andy Fraser, New York Daily News critic Jim Farber, and Simon Kossoff, brother of the late Paul Kossoff. The interviews were recorded in May and June of 2006 and fit nicely with the seven pages David Clayton writes about the group on the nine-page flip side of the deluxe poster that comes with this double disc. For historians, the package is the quintessential prototype of a musical presentation that is so deep and complex it would be pretty difficult to download from the Web, the collection of sound and pictures lovingly put together to satisfy the devoted. The ten-song Isle of Wight concert is predominantly audio with photos, press clippings, 45 covers, and other such memorabilia added as visuals to the soundtrack. Three songs -- "Mr. Big," "Be My Friend," and "All Right Now" -- contain video footage from the festival and also feature split-screen views, multiple angles, and an original black-and-white edit as well. Truly overwhelming, this compilation is a must-have for fans of Paul Rodgers, Bad Company, and Free, and captures their early history most effectively.
Ian Anderson talks about theater, the internet and Jethro Tull
impressed my article survived the Gatehouse/Gannett alleged merger.
M3GAN – In Theaters January 6
Official Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | #M3GAN
She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family.
From the most prolific minds in horror—James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man—comes a fresh new face in terror.
M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out’s Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to.
When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.
Produced by Jason Blum and James Wan, M3GAN is directed by award-winning filmmaker Gerard Johnstone (Housebound), from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant, The Nun 2) based on a story by Akela Cooper and James Wan.
The film also stars Ronny Chieng (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Brian Jordan Alvarez (Will & Grace), Jen Van Epps (Cowboy Bebop), Lori Dungey (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, extended edition) and Stephane Garneau-Monten (Straight Forward).
Universal Pictures and Blumhouse present an Atomic Monster production in association with Divide/Conquer. The film’s executive producers are Allison Williams, Mark Katchur, Ryan Turek, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath.
Genre: Horror
Cast: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Lori Dungey, Stephane Garneau-Monten
Directed by: Gerard Johnstone
Screenplay by: Akela Cooper
Story by: Akela Cooper & James Wan
Producers: Jason Blum, James Wan
Executive Producers: Allison Williams, Mark Katchur, Ryan Turek, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Adam Hendricks, Greg Gilreath
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