i have had a few things marinating on my desk here in the redeyegin studio for the last month or two, and so instead of doing an in depth review of them individually, i thought i would just take this cloudy sunday morning and do a blast post on a number of them. there is no particular theme here, and they are in no particular order.

first aid kit – ‘palomino’

as i have mentioned numerous times before, i get recommendations from various places for things to listen to, and mrs. redeyegin is no exception. she will often send me a picture of something on sirius radio of a song that catches her pretty little ear. this was one of those. first aid kit is a swedish folk duo that has been around for a while, comprised of sisters johanna and klara soderberg. i had their last album, but had not heard their latest – ‘palomino’. they are very good writers, with gorgeous harmonies. they tend to land on the pop side of styles, but get a lot of play in the americana circles. i felt the album was very good overall.

tom petty and the heartbreakers – ‘live at the fillmore 1997’

in january of 1997 petty and his band took a break from the big venue shows and did a 20 night run at the fillmore auditorium in san francisco. of the 20 shows, six were professionally recorded, and they used some of the best of those sets to put out a four cd box set with great liner notes and pictures. they used the opportunity of 20 shows to not only run through some of their hits, but also cover some songs of artists that had inspired them over the years. one small issue i have is the references, both in the videos below and the liner notes, to the venue being legendary and steeped in history. of course the fillmore auditorium has been around for a long time, but they were thinking of the fillmore west, which was it’s more famous cousin, but was only open from 1968-1971. a really great release for the petty fans out there.

billy strings – ‘me/and/dad’

billy has skyrocketed to bluegrass fame in the last few years, and it is nice that he took some time in the studio (and occasional live events) to pay tribute to the person who taught him how to play guitar – his dad. they hunker down in a nashville studio with some bluegrass legends and work through a number of bluegrass and country standards. the playing is great, although the vocals struggle at times (terry’s best singing days might be behind him). but i found it a worthwhile addition to my collection.

charley crockett – ‘the man from waco’

i first started hearing charley’s name and music just a couple of years ago, but never leaned into it very much. but then i started hearing cuts from his new release, and decided to take the plunge. he is a great writer, and the styles presented here are varied, but with a texas theme to them. it is somewhat of a ‘concept’ album, as many of the songs’ subjects tie together as they move along. definitely someone to keep our eyes on.

david bowie – ‘moonage daydream’

this is a film about bowie’s contributions to not only the field of music, but other art forms as well. although there are some details of his upbringing and personal life, this in your face production spends most of its time on his lifelong obsession with pushing cultural norms and exploring, in his words, his quest of understanding ‘chaos and fragments’ that most of humankind overlooks. it is a fascinating montage of live musical footage from most of his major tours, along with interviews, personal philosophical musings, and other archival footage never seen before. at times it gets very intense, so be prepared for that. but if you dig bowie, this is a must see.

bob dylan – ‘fragments’

and last, but not least, i have to give some mention to dylan’s newest addition to his bootleg series – ‘fragments – time out of mind sessions 1996-1997’.

it is hard to believe that ‘time out of mind’ has been out 25 years now. many dylan fans cite this album as one of their favorites (including myself), and in some ways it was a turning point in his career. he had not released anything in nearly seven years before this, and was widely considered to have his best years behind him. but this album laid waste to that notion, and won him a grammy for best album of the year.

for some reason (unrelated to the release of this box set) i had pulled this off the shelf a few weeks back and sat down in the man cave with a piece of bourbon and listened to it all the way through. i had forgotten how good it was, and how much i remembered every nuance. i must have really burned it down to the ground when it came out. and then, by chance, i heard a dj mention this box set and i ordered it immediately.

i am going to insert a pathetic but funny story here. i ordered it through amazon, and it was supposed to get here last saturday. i got an email alert that my package was undeliverable – likely because my dog was barking at him in the driveway. i was so desperate to get the package that i jumped in my car and tracked down the driver up the block aways.

by sunday afternoon i had gotten through all five discs of the box set. the first disc is a different mix of the original album. the next two are outtakes of the original songs, plus of the three or four songs that did not make the cut. the fourth is a compilation of live versions of these songs, and the last one is a reissue of some of these songs that were originally released on another box set ‘ tell tale signs’. the book that came with it is really well done, and provided for good reading and insights as i was listening to the music.

likely only of interest to the most hard core dylan fans, but i know i have quite a few of those in my subscriber list, so this one’s for you.

enjoy.