Month: February 2017

dave’s picks volume 21, boston garden april 2nd 1973

entering the sixth year of this subscription series, we are offered a monster show that is the finale to their spring tour of 1973. by monster i mean that they play a total of 34 songs, with a run time of three hours and 37 minutes – it barely fits on 3 cds. the first set is comprised of 16 songs, heavily populated with their standard ‘cowboy songs’ of that era, but also peppered with a fine ‘china cat sunflower/i know you rider’, donna jean doing loretta lynn’s ‘you ain’t woman enough’, and capped off with a solid ‘playing in the band’.

the second set is a marathon, with a mix of established favorites but also some of their newer material (nearly every song from their ‘wake of the flood’ album is represented here, even though it wouldn’t be released for another 6 months). the ‘stella blue’ is pristine, maybe one of my favorite versions i have heard, and the ‘eyes of the world’ is fifteen minutes long, with the second half used as a foray into jazz fusion.

the overall playing is crisp and focused, and they are all on their game here. the recording quality is outstanding.

this was their first appearance at the boston garden, a place that they would return to another 24 times, more than any other band in the long history of that venue. they probably would have played more but they got banned for a few years because they got busted for grilling lobsters in a fire escape before a show. they had been intended to be the last band to play there and were scheduled for a run of six shows in september of 1995, but those shows were cancelled due to jerry’s death that august. previous to this release, the dead had also released two other shows from the venue – dick’s picks 12 (6/28/74) and dick’s picks 17 (9/25/91).

this was a great way to start off the 2017 series, and they have already announced the next release – the december 7th 1971 show at the felt forum in nyc. on top of that, they just announced that they have finalized a deal long in the making – the return of hundreds of reels recorded by betty cantor-jackson to the vaults. whether or not any of those become volume 23 or 24 is still to be determined, but it seems likely that at least one of them will be. stay tuned.

Dave’s Picks To Release Volume 21, Grateful Dead at Boston Garden 4/2/73

southern culture on the skids, ‘electric pinecones’

southern culture on the skids (also known simply as ‘scots’) is a trio hailing from north carolina and have been playing for over thirty years. this is the first album of theirs i have ever bought. the genres on display on this release run the gamut from rockabilly, surf rock, late sixties psychedelia, and campy punk. rick miller is the main songwriter and only guitarist, and he is a force to be reckoned with. he easily slides between all of the aforementioned styles, and does it with confidence and what seems like a natural lyricism. he can effortlessly switch from eddie cochran to dick dale to jorma kaokonen. witness ‘meximelt’ below.

if you left off the two campier songs (‘midnight caller’ and ‘rice and beans’), i would feel more comfortable giving this a more enthusiastic recommendation. but it is worth giving it a streaming test drive if any of this sounds intriguing to you.

http://www.scots.com/

sturgill simpson and the 2017 grammys

here are the current nominees for ‘album of the year’ for the grammys sunday night:

Album of the Year

Adele – “25”
Beyonce – “Lemonade”
Drake – “Views”
Justin Bieber – “Purpose”
Sturgill Simpson – “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”

what, never heard of sturgill simpson?

that’s ok, neither have a lot of people. he is not expected to win, but maybe he should. it was a solid release, and one that i didn’t write about at the time, but certainly listened to a few times early last year. it is a very good album. if i had one album to select to get the token ‘americana’ slot, it wouldn’t have been my first choice. but now that the powers that be have put him on the list, i think it is worth some time to shed some light on ol’ sturgill and plead his case.

hailing from lexington kentucky, this is his third solo release, and the first on a major label. he is a student of ‘outlaw country’, and he is often compared to waylon jennings, at least in regards to his vocals. he is also up for best country album, and he is much more likely to win that, although i don’t really consider it to be in the country category. sure, there is an underlying current of traditional nashville sounds, but sturgill also stirs in philosophical lyrics, psychedelic flourishes, strings and other effects that leave it overall hard to categorize. his previous recording – ‘metamodern sounds in country music’ – is just as good, in my opinion.

http://www.sturgillsimpson.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-guide-to-grammy-nominee-sturgill-simpson_us_589ce3d8e4b0ab2d2b138d93

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/feb/09/grammy-predictions-country-americana-categories

the devil makes three, ‘ruin and redemption’

the devil makes three is an interesting trio that i have been listening to for a few years. a curious blend of folk, bluegrass, old timey ragtime and the blues, they are a very enjoyable bunch. on their most recent release, they go a slightly different route and do a concept album of sorts. the first ‘side’ is six songs about ruin – tales of drugs and alcohol written by such legends as robert johson, muddy waters, kris kristofferson and townes van zandt. the second ‘side’ is six songs about redemption – gospel tinged nuggets by such luminaries as ralph stanley, tom waits, charlie monroe and hank williams sr.

i have a few of their previous albums and it is all pretty much original material, and so it is a little interesting that this release is all covers, but they are all well selected and well played. recorded at john prine’s studio in nashville, they round out their trio with a great backup band and some notable bluegrass stars such as jerry douglas, emmylou harris, tim o’brien, and darrell scott.

i love their enthusiasm for older genres and their ability to fuse them all for a new audience. this is a good starting point if you have never heard of them.

The Devil Makes Three: Redemption Songs

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/01/11/underneath-covers-devil-makes-three/96451634/

nathaniel rateliff, ‘a little something more’

nathaniel rateliff and the night sweats have been touring so incessantly promoting their breakthrough debut album from 2015 that they haven’t had proper time to write and record new material, so in the meantime they released some outtakes and live tracks from the original release. both are worth having. mix a little sam cooke with the asbury jukes and you get a modern version of a good old fashioned r&b party band. they just announced last week they will be the opening band for the kings of leon summer tour. i would rather see them in a smaller club, but hopefully this will help them get some traction for a larger audience.