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Par DJDemonAngel le 3 Mai 2010 à 14:00
Note :
++
http://www.myspace.com/simonjoyner
Origine du Groupe : North America
Style : Blues , Folk , Rock
Sortie : 2006
Tracklist :
1. Open Window Blues
2. You Don`t Know Me
3. Answer Night
4. Medicine Blues
5. Only Living Boy In Omaha, The
6. Epilogue In D
7. My Side Of The Blues
"The only thing worse than blacking out is waking up just where you are," Simon Joyner sings on Skeleton Blues, his tenth proper album, and it's certainly not the first time that Joyner has made it sound as though he's best not left alone with his own thoughts.
It seems fortunate then, for him and for us, that on this album he's rarely left alone, but has instead the full-time backing of his veteran Omaha band the Fallen Men. On such earlier works as 1998's Yesterday, Tomorrow and In Between or 2004's Lost With the Lights On, Joyner's sparse arrangements could cast his long-winded confessionals with an almost sickly, florescent-bulb pallor. Here, though, the Fallen Men feverishly work the bellows, pumping these seven overcast tracks full of unruly rock dynamism. Though their spirited presence virtually ensures Skeleton Blues to be the noisiest album in Joyner's catalog, it also leavens the bleakness of his visions enough to also make it his most approachable.
Anchored throughout by Michael Krassner's sturdy piano and Lonnie Eugene Methe's additional keyboards, Joyner's chief foils here are the pedal steel and guitars of Dave Hawkins and Alex McManus. On expansive tracks like "Open Window Blues" or "Medicine Blues", this group announce themselves with a vengeance, their furious electric interchanges naturally calling to mind Crazy Horse, as well as the most raucous of Steve Wynn's post-Dream Syndicate work, or perhaps a looser, more countrified Television.
But at the center of the commotion is Joyner and his dense, poetic narratives. For several long stretches on Skeleton Blues he writes urgent transmissions in the third person, yet this song cycle is too uniformly dire and desolate for any real authorial distance. On the apocalyptic "Open Window Blues" he piles desperate image upon desperate image ("The cicadas forever throb on the fringes of the lens/ While I dance upon this shifting pile of skeletons") so thickly his tongue can barely keep up. In doing so, he boldly mirrors the breathless cadence of Bringing It All Back Home-era Dylan, with the Fallen Men's splintered guitars doing their best to keep the comparison flattering.
"Medicine Blues" returns again to these same darkened territories, with one eye fixed on the newspaper headlines ("What color is the ocean after the oil?"). But Joyner's dread lifts uneasily on tracks like the tender country lament "Answer Night" and on the album's dramatic centerpiece "The Only Living Boy in Omaha". Buoyed by cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm's graceful string arrangements, this latter track is likely the most gorgeous piece Joyner's ever created, a bittersweet hymn to the imperfect homesteads we're never fully able to abandon. It's a vivid portrait of a place and the lives it contains as a recurring dream, as Joyner sings, "Parades, alcohol, and love's swinging phantoms/ If everything rolls around again, does that mean we are free?" over a veil of strings and pedal steel as pure and aching as a late Great Plains rainstorm.
As always with a Joyner release, the biggest obstacle for many listeners will be his voice. Although at this point he sounds at peace with his vocal restrictions, his narrow range leads to melodies that seem like shadows or suggestions; as usual, his work practically begs to be re-interpreted by a more adventurous or powerhouse vocalist. After the rich opulence of "Only Living Boy", the album's closing two ballads feel somewhat anti-climactic, Joyner's narrators searching once again for a brief respite from their downcast isolation, those quiet moments when "a soft light lit in a bedroom can bring a tired traveler to his knees." Yet with the reliable assistance of the Fallen Men, on Skeleton Blues Joyner is once again able to devise a good number of such transfiguring moments.
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Par DJDemonAngel le 27 Avril 2010 à 19:45
Note :
http://www.myspace.com/theblackkeys
Origine du Groupe : North America
Style : Alternative Rock , Blues , Psychedelic
Sortie : 2010
Tracklist :
01. Everlasting Light
02. Next Girl
03. Tighten Up
04. Howlin' for You
05. She's Long Gone
06. Black Mud
07. The Only One
08. Too Afraid to Love You
09. Ten Cent Pistol
10. Sinister Kid
11. The Go Getter
12. I'm Not the One
13. Unknown Brother
14. Never Gonna Give You Up
15. These Days
Ceci est un album des Black Keys ; le nom de cet album est « Brothers ».
La pochette a le mérite d’être claire. L’incontournable duo blues rock de l’Ohio a récemment annoncé la sortie de son 6ème album, le 18 mai prochain chez Nonesuch Records, son label depuis 2006. Il s’agit là d’une nouvelle plutôt réjouissante car les multiples occupations de Dan Auerbach comme de Patrick Carney ne laissaient pas penser que les Black Keys pourraient de sitôt se consacrer à un nouveau projet commun, enregistré dans le célèbre Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, en Alabama.
« Brothers », donc, comme deux frères, qui se retrouvent, après l’album solo d’Auerbach « Keep It Hid » et la tournée qui s’ensuivit, la formation d’un nouveau groupe – Drummer – pour Carney, accompagnée de la sortie de « Feel Good Together », et leur collaboration à tous deux avec Damon Dash sur le projet rap/rock BlakRoc ; le tout en 2009 !
Toujours adeptes de la reprise, ils ont choisi dans cet opus de donner leur version de Never Gonna Give You Up du chanteur soul Jerry Butler. Enfin, ils ont assuré la quasi production de leurs 15 titres, n’en confiant cette fois qu’un seul, Tighten Up, aux bons soins de Danger Mouse, qui s’était chargé en 2008 d’ « Attack And Release ». On ne chôme pas chez les frères Keys.by Céline M.
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Par DJDemonAngel le 15 Mars 2010 à 12:00
Note :
http://www.tinogonzales.com
http://www.myspace.com/tinogonzales
http://www.losreyesdelko.com
http://www.myspace.com/reyesdelko
Sortie : 2010
Style : Blues Rock , World
Tracklist :
- Funky Tortillas
- How Lucky Are We?
- I Ain`t Gonna Pray
- Cloak of Misery
- We All Lose
- Last Time, The
- Trying To Stop Thinking About You
- Da Boy Can Play
- We Gonna Paint the Town Red
- Lord My Friend ...
Après pratiquement 6 ans d’absence discographique voilà donc Tino Gonzales de retour. Toujours aussi énergique, funky ou soul, avec orgue et cuivres, selon l’humeur. Los Reyes Del K.O, on connaît moins ou pas du tout. Il s’agit d’un duo espagnol composé de Marcos Coll (harmonica) et Adrian Costa (guitare et chant). Brillants duettistes, très dynamiques, les deux acolytes anglophones dispensent un Chicago blues débridé de belle qualité. On penserait à première vue qu’il s’agit d’un enregistrement conjoint de Tino Gonzales et de Los Reyes Del K.O, et bien non. Voilà la réalisation étonnante d’un projet artistique de musiciens qui veulent faire un disque ensemble mais qui présentent à tour de rôle leurs propres productions. A part égale le disque affiche donc 5 titres signés Gonzales et 5 titres du duo Ibérique. Si les styles sont différents, l’ensemble est varié mais pas incohérent. Enregistrées en Allemagne où le Latino de Chicago a rencontré Coll et Costa, les sessions sont faites avec des musiciens locaux. C’est ça l’Internationale du blues !
Gilles Blampain
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Par DJDemonAngel le 3 Mars 2010 à 12:00
Note :
http://www.lonniemack.com
Sortie : 1999
Style : Blues
Tracklist :
1. Memphis
2. Where There's A Will There's A Way
3. Wham!
4. I'll Keep You Happy
5. The Bounce
6. Baby What's Wrong
7. Down And Out
8. Satisfied
9. Susie Q
10. Why
11. Down In The Dumps
12. Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu
13. Gee Baby
14. Chicken Pickin'
15. Oh, I Apologize
16. Say Something Nice To Me
17. From Me To You
18. Turn On Your Love Light
19. The Freeze
20. Farther On Up The Road
21. Cry, Cry, Cry
22. Save Your Money
23. Tension (Part 1)
24. Tension (Part 2)
Contains the Fraternity LP THE WHAM OF THE MEMPHIS MAN (1963) plus 13 rare singles and unreleased tracks.
At first glance, this might seem like nothing more than a retread of the classic The Wham of That Memphis Man, as the disc includes all 14 songs from that album. This is a quality upgrade/supplement to that record, though, adding 11 more tracks of 1963-1967 vintage from both rare singles and previously unreleased outtakes. This is hardly filler that only collectors will care about; it's good stuff, sometimes ace stuff, that's almost all on the same level of The Wham. "Oh, I Apologize," a cover of an obscure Barrett Strong track, is white soul singing on par with Mack's best vocal efforts, while "Cry, Cry, Cry" is a great instrumental version of a Bobby "Blue" Bland number; both of these cuts, unbelievably, were not released prior to this CD. The singles "Say Something Nice to Me" and "Save Your Money" (from 1964 and 1967) are more filet of white soul, and "Tension Pts. 1 & 2" (a 1966 single) another cool roadhouse instrumental. Some of the rare add-ons are less essential than others (like the instrumental reading of the Beatles' "From Me to You"), but taken together it's certainly the best Mack collection, enhanced by Bill Millar's informative liner notes. By the way, in one of those inexplicable occurrences bound to cause collectors to run around in circles, the song titled "Farther on Down the Road" on The Wham of That Memphis Man recording is here titled "Farther on up the Road" and listed as previously unreleased, although in fact it seems to be the same track as the one given a different title on the LP. (To cause further confusion, Mack definitely sings the lyric "Farther on up the road, " not "Farther on down the road, " as it was originally titled.) ~ Richie Unterberger
24 track compilation for the great American blues guitarist/ vocalist. Contains his entire 1964 debut record 'The Wham Of That Memphis Man', plus rare singles & unreleased cuts. Eight of the 24 included are previously unissued; 19 tunes are in stereo, the rest in mono. 1999 release.
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The Roots & Phil Lesh, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Keller Williams, Nelly McKay - Jammy Award 2005 (Live)
Par DJDemonAngel le 26 Février 2010 à 13:30
Thanks The
Roots
http://www.therootslive.com
Note :++
http://www.therootslive.com/archive/show_042605.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammy_Award
Date Recorded: 04/26/2005
Special Guests: Phil Lesh, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Keller Williams, Nelly McKay
Tracklisting: 
1.) I'm A Man 1
2.) Stormy Monday 1 - 8.2 MB
3.) Rock Me Baby 1 - 5.1 MB
4.) Superstitious ~ Whole Lotta Love ~ Bass Drum Jam ~ Word Up 2 - 12 MB
5.) Lively Up Yourself - 11 MB
6.) Crosstown Traffic - 11 MBNotes: 1f/ John Mayer, Buddy Guy and Phil Lesh
2f/ Keller Williams, Nelly Mckay
As soon as we got to the venue, I had doubts about it. The Theater at Madison Square Garden is not Roseland, and it's damn sure not The Wetlands. Even though the Jammys had been held in the room on one prior occasion, it just didn't seem like a comfortable fit. There's something about the concept of guys in tuxedos walking around the room selling cans of Budweiser for six dollars apiece to guys wearing homemade hemp pants that just doesn't sit right with me.
My doubt was reinforced, as I said, as soon as we got there. The first thing I heard was one of the security guards, who all were wearing those phony old Hollywood bellhop uniforms like you see in Disney World, making an announcement to the good folks on line. The announcement was, and I assure you I'm not making this up, "Ok guys, now you know, you can't bring anything inside." No you can't bring food, or drinks, or drugs. You can't bring anything inside. I was glad I got to bring in my notebook, after the announcement, I wasn't sure if paper was a banned substance.
Following the notification that nothing was allowed, a small battalion of guards began making their way through the crowd with handheld metal detectors, screening people at random. After getting my phone, palm pilot, keys, wallet, and change out of my pockets, I was of course not wanded down. As we finally entered the theatre, I found myself wondering what all the security was about. Then I realized it made perfect sense considering the unspeakably violent crowd that is usually attracted by acts like The Grateful Dead, Mavis Staples and of course, Huey Lewis.
Anyway, we got inside and headed down to the general admission floor section. It didn't take long to make the executive decision that we would do everything in our power to obtain some type of seat for the majority of the five hour event. We walked up to the "tapers section" a.k.a. the first row of seats beyond the standing room only section, and sat down. Apparently, the deal was that if you asked if you could sit there, the usher would tell you no and kick you out, but if you just sat down, as we did, no one would bother you. So there we sat, watching people getting thrown out of the section that we shouldn't have been sitting in and waited for the show to begin.
At eight o'clock sharp, the music began with the appearance of "washboard man." Washboard man, who actually turned out to be the drummer of the North Mississippi All-Stars, was joined almost immediately on stage by North Mississippi, with Chris Myers from Umphrey's McGee on drums. They played one song in this configuration and then Myers left. Washboard man took to the drums and Mavis Staples, of The Staples Singers, joined the band on voice.
Mavis was awesome. She sang "Freedom Highway" and the whole room marched along with her down that road. This marked the first great moment of the 2005 Jammy Awards. It was followed by a slight disappointment. The disappointment was not Buddy Guy who joined North Mississippi next . . . that was actually pretty great. The disappointment was that Mavis left after only one song. My experience with Jammy's past has always been that artists would pair up and jam together for a while. I've never seen a collaboration last for just one tune. Bummer.
Buddy Guy
Photo: Adam FoleyAs I mentioned, Buddy Guy, the blues legend and recent inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, took the stage next. Whoa! Buddy's guitar was so raw I felt like it might cut me in half. What an incredible tone. It really tears through the bullshit and declares that this guy is the real deal. They played the Muddy Waters tune, "Got My Mojo Workin" and then, DAMN IT, Buddy Guy left the stage after just one song. It was the second time in as many songs that I wanted to see more of what was going on and it was abruptly cut short. I hoped that wasn't the new format of the show. It proved not to be.
At this point, there was a quick break in the action while producer Peter Shapiro welcomed us to the show and said he was glad that they pulled the event off with no sponsors. I'm sure the good folks at American Spirit, D'Addario, Evans, Planet Waves, Linden Travel, Red Hook, Palm Pictures, A View Of You, eMusic, Techistry and the rest of the show's sponsors which I found on the Jammys website under the heading "Sponsors," were happy to hear him say that. Anyway, he then invited Phil Lesh, the Grateful Dead's bassist and host of the show, to the stage. Phil said hi, and announced the next musical performance.
Yonder Mountain String Band with Bruce Hornsby and Vince Herman, did absolutely nothing for me. It was one of only two sections of the evening that I didn't enjoy; the other, which I'll get to, was actually one step worse because not only did I not enjoy it, I found it actively irritating. I'd like to blame my dissatisfaction with Yonder/Hornsby/ Herman on the fact that the sound was terrible, complete with a constant buzz, a few gunshot-like pops, and a keyboard that was completely inaudible for an entire half of the set. But honestly, I think the lack of energy following two great high intensity performances was more to blame than anything. Onwards.
Up next was the beginning of the award show side of the Jammys. Okay, lets be honest people, up next was the beginning of the self-serving bullshit side of the Jammys that no one on earth cares about other than the people giving out the awards and the people getting them. Am I just cynical? I think not. Case in point: Phil Lesh who gave out the first award, held up the award at one point and said "This is cool, I've never seen one of these." Phil has won at least three of the awards to date, getting at least one at each of the past three Jammy Awards. EVEN THE PEOPLE WINNING THESE THINGS DON'T CARE!! But I digress, the awards are part of the show and I'll report on them accordingly. The first award was for best song. Umphrey's McGee won for their tune, "In The Kitchen."
Dean Budnick, editor of the Relix-owned website Jambands.com, took the podium next and announced that it was time to hand out the lifetime achievement award. A hush fell over the crowd. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2005 had been kept a big secret. All the press for the show would run down the line-up and then add the as yet to be announced Lifetime Achievement award winner. In the past, the announcement was made early, and for at least the past two Jammy's, the winner headlined the show. It was odd that they were not telling anyone who it was this time around. As he was in town the night of the awards, there had been much speculation that Bob Dylan was going to receive the award, and they were keeping it a secret at his request so as not to hurt ticket sales of his shows at the Beacon. Alas, this was not to be. The top secret recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award was . . . Buddy Guy. What? Buddy Guy? But he's been on the ads for this show for months, and they all said "plus the as yet to be announced Lifetime Achievement Award winner." It was simultaneously pleasing since Buddy surely deserves the award, and would more than likely now play a little bit more for us, but also disappointing because the audience was promised a surprise and wasn't given one.
Pigheaded Les Claypool, Mike Gordon and Phil Lesh
held a bass summit at the Jammys.
In my mind, one of two things happened. Either, the Jammys were trying to secure a big name to accept the award, like Dylan, and it fell apart at the last minute so they just gave it to Guy, or they had this planned all along and just screwed over the fans in an attempt to sell out the room, which, if that was the plan, did not work. I would bet it was the former, since the Jammys seem to be fairly fan friendly, but it seems like we'll never know the truth behind the move.
Anyway, Buddy graciously accepted his award and made a great speech about how guys like Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and T-Bone Walker really deserved the award and he considered it theirs as well as his. Then he strapped on his guitar and kicked off what to me was the highlight of the show; a jam session featuring Guy and John Mayer on guitar, ?uestlove of The Roots on drums, and Phil Lesh on bass.
The quartet played as if they'd been in the same band for years and ripped through the blues classics "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Stormy Monday" and "Rock Me Baby". The biggest surprise was when Guy and Mayer started battling on guitar, and Mayer held his own with the legend! Who the hell knew that guy could do anything other than the fluff pop he's known for? Apparently, Buddy Guy did. At one point he said Mayer was "the kind of guy who could keep the blues alive." I was impressed and clearly had been underestimating John's ability.
It was also a cool little bonus to see John Mayer jamming with ?uestlove; a collaboration that hadn't to my knowledge actually existed in real life, but had occurred during a comedy sketch on the Chapelle's Show.
Two more awards came next. The Duo won the Best New Groove Award and Phish won the Best Tour award. As Mike Gordon was accepting Phish's award, I began to ponder the fact that the line-up of the show had been announced a month and a half before the fan-based internet voting for the awards concluded, yet so far everyone who had won an award, had been on the show. As the night progressed, there were only two awards which were won by artists not performing at the event, and one of those was won by Jerry Garcia. In case you didn't know, he's dead . . . but I'm sure he was grateful.
The suspicions I was harboring and will not say out loud here, were increased when Keller Williams, who was at the event, beat out Widespread Panic, who were not. When Keller Williams plays in New York, he plays in a club the holds roughly 1,000 people. The last time Panic were in town they sold about 40,000 tickets when they sold out Madison Square Garden for two consecutive nights. 40,000 fans vs. 1,000 fans, and the little guy wins. Seems a little too David and Goliath to be believable, but what do I know?
Now, I'm almost 2,000 words into this review, and I've actually only covered the first hour of what was to be a five hour concert! I think I have to pick up the pace a little. Let's get a few of the performances out of the way, chronology be damned!
Ryan Adams was the first and only act of the night not to be involved in a major collaboration. He and his band, the Cardinals, played two songs and then invited Phil Lesh to join them on a mini-Dead jam of "Wharf Rat/Bird Song". The Dead thing was interesting, the rest kinda wasn't. Oh and Adams has a new look . . . Junkie. Interestingly enough as I write this, about a month later, it was just announced that Ryan Adams would be touring as part of Phil Lesh and Friends in the coming months. I guess they hit it off.
Keller Williams and ?uestlove did some really interesting stuff together which was quite enjoyable, until Nellie McKay joined them and provided the one moment of the entire night that I just couldn't stomach. I went to the men's room. Taking a leak proved to be much more enjoyable than listening to the next big thing absolutely butcher a Dylan song and then babble on for a few other nails on the chalkboard tunes.
The Roots' ?uestlove and Keller Williams
jam on "Whole Lotta Love."
Travis Tritt and the Disco Biscuits doing what Phil Lesh described as "Electronic Country" wasn't nearly as awkward as it sounds. In fact, it was pretty cool, and Travis came off great. It was no weirder than the 2004 Jammys collaboration between the Biscuits and old school rapper, Slick Rick.
Patti Smith would have been great if she showed up, as she was supposed to, but she didn't, so she wasn't.
Burning Spear and Sinead O'Connor
sing about "Marcus Garvey."Sinead O'Conner who didn't show up the first time I was supposed to see her, which was coincidentally the same day I did see Patti Smith for the first time, performed twice. Once with Huey Lewis, Mavis Staples and Umphrey's McGee which was really pleasurable - they did things like "The Weight" and "I'll Take You There" - and once later in the night with Burning Spear, Medeski Martin and Wood, and the Anti-Balas Horns which was kinda pleasurable, but way too long. The Sinead/Burning Spear thing consisted of not one, not two, but five different reggae songs, before everyone on stage along with Luther Dickenson, Les Claypool, ?uestlove and a few others, tore into the Hendrix classic "Crosstown Traffic."
Everyone's favorite pope hating skinhead did provide the most awkward moment of the night when she asked Burning Spear to begin the song "Jah No Dead" again because they were in "the wrong key". Sounded to me like he was just singing and she was just being way too full of herself. But again, what do I know?
Now, while "Crosstown Traffic" was actually the finale of the show, it wasn't the highlight. If that distinction doesn't go to the Buddy Guy/Phil Lesh/?uestlove/John Mayer jam from earlier in the night, it definitely goes to the jam between The Duo, with Mike Gordon of Phish, who were joined by Phil Lesh, Les Claypool, Gabby La La for Claypool's tune "D's Diner." If you know anything about this genre of music, you know that seeing a three way bass off between Phil Lesh, Les Claypool and Mike Gordon, is a once in a lifetime experience. It lived up to it's potential and more or less stole the show.
That's it for the music.
The other moment that I found interesting was when Headcount won the Community Service Award. Since Headcount, like many leftist organizations, failed to swing the 2004 presidential election even after giving it all their stoned little minds could muster, the "we changed the world" speech stayed in the guy's pocket and the "Headcount wasn't about the election" speech came out. He actually said that! "Headcount wasn't about the election." I have just one question for Headcount guy: Your sole purpose was registering people to VOTE and when the election ended you all but disappeared. What the hell did you think it was about? Fuckin' hippies.
Well that's about it. The show overall was fantastic, and I had a ball. The only thing I have left to mention, is an idea I had for next year's Jammy Awards. I got the idea when I noticed that one of the two guys in front of me was wearing a Woodstock jacket and the other was wearing a Slayer jacket. What the show really needs is a little metal to shake things up. Just about every other genre from Rap to Bluegrass is accounted for. How about next year you guys have the ultimate unexpected collaboration and put some Death Metal band . . . say, Morbid Angel on stage with a gospel group like the Blind Boys of Alabama! It would be incredible. You could bill it as a God vs. The Devil, then rig it so God wins, and finally - this is the kicker - give God the lifetime achievement award!! It would be the biggest thing in the history of music! Plus, it would be interesting to see who he thanked, since most people that win these corny-ass awards tend to thank him first and foremost.
But then again, what do I know?
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