“I have been carefully restoring my Rock Photographs and you have seen many posted here on my page. Snap Galleries has just announced my first Exhibition in 33 years. It runs from March 15th to April 26th at their Gallery in the Piccadilly Arcade. More info to follow…”
Four years ago rock nyc was a much looser place than it is now, not only did we have more energy but we were also convinced nobody was reading us and were free to write any piece of silliness we felt like. One memorable day, Mike Nessing, Helen Bach and I spent a day writing as many posts as we could think up reaching an astonishing 32!!
Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) – Stevie Wonders – Stevies scream that opens this song is so good he coulda sung anything after and it would have worked but what he sang was one of the great Motown tracks -a real slippy funk belter in the chorus, and a soulful chorus.
You get the feeling it is going to be wretchedly terrible self congratulations for four hours seen from miles away, Just the thought of Dave Grohl’s acceptance speech for Nirvana terrifies me. And yet, yes, for the chance to see Cat Stevens in person I just don’t feel like I have any choice in the matter
Wasting My Young Years – London Grammar – This band is a little special, the lead singer has a deep moving voice and the sound is all indigo and moodiness; it gets old at some point but not yet – B+
Here at rock nyc we do what we always do when we want to get close to somebody. We check out their IPOD (or do I mean Spotify lists) in the hopes we might gleam some insights into the leader of the Civil Rights movement.
I’d bet money that Elyar Fox, a youtube cutiepie who the little girls will understand, breaks Stateside. Maybe now Scooter is about ready to give up on Bieber lightning can strike twice. After that, this is a darn good list and bublling under at 22? McMurow!!!
I just checked it out again, I’ll give Bruce four out of the twelve tracks, plus two we know so well they don’t really count but let’s call it six tracks. In other words a not untypical batting average for Bruce in the 10s. Or in other words, the EP remains King.
“Anything in the music business that’s not actually music is something else. It’s a competition, a great big competition. And that’s fine. It’s just not the reason I got into music.”
Chuck D wants a national holiday for MLK and will win this one: “Talking MLK, gonna find a way Make the state pay, I’m looking for the day” from 2002 and still an accurate reminder why Hip Hops golden age is over because that should be enough for any song except PE were going after the anti-immigrant Arizona bill as well – A-
Definitely a rebound and as annoying and dreary as Drake can be on stage, he is self-deprecating enough to make up for the hugely frustrating Justin Timberlake episode last year. Mazel tov, Drake. You won out
This is exactly what I was hoping for but then the set derails for 20 minutes with the band taking over for a song, Morris singing from behind the stage (costume change) and then an endless and stupid piece of business where all”the sexy” girls in the audience get on the stage
Not a bad week and if we have many more albums as good as Adventures In Bluesland and Post Tropical, it might end up being a very very good year. If you include the yet to be released Half-Life and last years Bernie Worrell and Angel Haze it is absolutely a better year than last year.
This week belongs to Against Me, while I wasn’t crazy about Laura Jane Grace’s solo performance at Bowery Ballroom (and ignorantly claimed she didn’t look much like a woman) I am assuming huge things for Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
I’ve been planning to see Monica Passim for around six months now but something keeps getting in the way of my chance to catch New York’s gift to country music. But NO MORE. A Saturday night gig and in Midtown must be seen
Cool – The Time – Near the start of their career, Morris and the guys came out with this ten minutes of pure groove which sounds so like early Prince, the DNA is the exact same; the call response hasn’t changed since then – A
before their ridiculous four and a half star review of Bruce Springsteen’s High Hopes, they printed yet another exclusive interview with Bruce and this is what Bruce had to say about unreleased songs: “I take them out just to amuse myself. Very often, if I have nothing to do late at night, I’ll take them out and look at the different bodies of music.”
Him and Bruce and Jack and Bono: they all hate people, they hate em even when they are playing charity gigs for em, they’ve all been around for so long it is too hard to even feign indifference. Indifference is too much for Neil Young, Jack won’t even speak to the audience at an encore. Neil does it through gritted teeth but Jack just wants to deal with the proles when they are delivering his pizza after the show.
When the mood takes me, I visit Direct Currents website (“they know music better” -English, not as well) and see what new releases we can look forward to and then painstakingly cut and past it for you and here it is. Here are my highlights: Doug Paisley, Quilt, … Paul Rodgers?
Now that was a pretty good week of music: I count two excellent albums, McMorrow and Gammage and one pretty good album Cash, a Springsteen album that sucked but had a coupla good tracks a great Real Estate song and a great Shakira song and a great Chanel song and a great Jennifer Nettles song
Coming Of Age – Foster The People – Poppier than Imagine Dragons but that textured drum sound is familiar to both and Foster The People have better songs; this is above average indie pop with an eye on the charts – A
“You can also check out individual ballots and read essays on Kanye, Miley, R Kelly, the emo revival, and others, not to mention loads of pithy blurbs and pie charts.”
On Adventures In Bluesland, along with producer Kevin Tooley, Don Fiorino on lap steel guitar and banjo, Richard Demler on bass, Tooley on drums and percussion, and Joseph Nieves on backing vocals, Phil doesn’t have a bad song on in the bunch on this perfectly executed faux-blues album
I went to visit Joseph and Donna and they had changed hospices by then and the new one was quieter, but it had the quiet of neutral, a place where everything was grounding out of time, where it felt like you had falled down a trap door, where you were floating in a sea of grief
At the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the band were honored with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award (an oxymoron if ever I hear one) all know that a vision without a promise is just a fantasy,’ said Bono. ‘We’re not interested in that.’
So sure you’re going to Governor’s Ball and the weather is kind, then this is some line up . It is a lot of heavy digging done quickly and since the action is in I the bottle of middle, you can spend all day without necessarily spending all night
Tomlinson broke through as Mr. Banks in David Tomlinson, and cemented his position as the villain in “The Love Bug” and the flim flam man in “Bedknobs And Broomsticks”. The latter brought us this song for the best named UK patriot, a catchy little ode to a two way magic show – B+
Jahn Xavier And the Bowerytones will be back Wednesday, February 19th at Arlene’s Grocery. 8pm. I’ll be there for sure, do yourself a favor and check out a true American classic.
I would have bought a ticket on presale Tuesday morning if I could’ve but it was sold out and now I’ve seen the line up I am far from thrilled I must say
You are getting sleepy, sleepy, close your eyes and snap you’re asleep. The US Charts are as slow as molasses. It takes a miracle to get in but once you are in you are there for months. Like 12 – 14 weeks they mess around the top 10. Only the surprise(ish) appearance of Katy have kept me awae.
A little on the lame side right? I’ll give em Eminem and beyonce but after that, ugh, it seems to go one forever, talking loud but saying nothing. When does 2014 kick in here?
Talking Backwards – Real Estate – A consistently disappointing band who are so soft on the sides everything seems to slop over, come up with a killer melody and a tight arrangement ; it is like REM without the mushy lyrics – A
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Adventures is a great album and I plan to give it a full review soon but till then, Phil is playing Wednesday, January, 29th 9pm in New York at No Malice Palace 197 E 3rd St, New York, NY 10009 (212) 254-9184. I’ve yet to see Phil live but plan to get to this one.
Art’s voice was severely damaged and that was that except it isn’t that and now, four years later, Garfunkel is completely recovered and ready to sing everywhere… except nyc, ground zero to him. I am going to assume that this won’t hold.
The Golden Age – Beck – The lethargy is deathlike, the thing about death in a body is its lack of animation, it simply stops the body and then the body decays to dust. This decay, this rotting of the self, the inertness of life is the hidden subject matter of Beck’s masterpiece.
A Feather’s Not A Bird – Rosanne Cash – I am not sure the central conceit works because the metaphor is too mixed, but it is such a strong image (“a river runs through me”) on a certain level it doesn’t much matter – A-
The Crystal Method – Looks like time has run out on these EDM guys, but having said that this is so good it makes me feel nostalgic. And not just the Lee Ann Rimes song but rock nyc faves Afrobeta’s song as well. It beeps, it boops, it maintains the beat, it goes its own way – B+
Stephanie Rizzo and I quizzed Chanel and friends for an hour I pushed Chanel on the music; the album Now You Know, a Cash Money release, had dropped to pretty numerous acclaim and Chanel had opened for Lil Wayne on his summer tour
His favorite songs of all time and in return we have spotified it and all I have to say is, limited stuff. No country, no Broadway, no Polka… But plenty as in oodles of early 80s hardcore. I bet Thurston is fun at parties. Still this is “favorites” not best.
The academics hate Gladwell, they think he is dumbing down when not getting it all wrong, important questions about sociology but layman like me appreciate his storytelling and if he gets stuff wrong, he gets stuff right as well. I mean, David did beat Goliath, right?
Let’s Get Lost – Elliott Smith – Some obscure reference to the legendary Chet Baker –another guy gone before his time and another hard time druggy, and another little boy lost – A
the band turns the corner with a derailed “Tryin'” that they stop mid jam, fix the amp, and set off. They follow it with an excellent “Memory Screen” and a roof raising “Howlin'” with Mike diving off the stage and joining the audience.
The week belonged to Neil Young, whose four night stint at Carnegie Hall will be long remembered by any one who saw it as a journey through his greatest music and a treat for fans of the great rocker.
Are Haim touring the UK? Interesting they’re back on the charts as are Arctic Monkeys for some reason best known to the rest of the world, I never forgave them after a terrible set at MSG.
Fuse ODG is rubadub electronic dance music and Control is drums and bass in the modern world plus the rest of this chart shows why the UK remains an important breeding ground for truly great pop music.
Ride With Me – Schooner – It turned their set around Saturday night but is till better on record where the National tenor type voice shines through and adds depth to a pretty damn good song to start with – A
The concept here is simple enough, without searching out best songs of all times, I stumble upon them all the time, the A Plus List; songs that are so great if you haven’t heard them you’ve not lived a fulfilled. So I have started finding a place to put them and share em with you… because I like you.
The Front Bottoms deep feel acoustic folkie with wordy wordy heart wrenching words that spill out like Tourettes of the heart first came to Mary Magpie’s attention and she passed it along to me, but they were in the process of upping onto a national level
It has been nearly five years since “The List” and three more on top since her last album of original songs “Black Cadillac” so a new Rosanne Cash album is a reason to celebrate and The River And The Thread is our album of the week.
