old school

new reissue of classics, or revisiting nuggets from the vault

‘bear: the life and times of augustus owsley stanley III’

q: what do you get a deadhead for christmas?

a: this book.

‘there’s nothing wrong with bear that a few billion less brain cells wouldn’t cure’

-jerry garcia

there is no separating the history of the grateful dead and the life story of this man. you can try by arguing that they moved in separate parallel psychedelic universes, and that might be true, but it could also be argued that they might be entirely irrelevant to musical history without each other.

to paraphrase the introduction from the book’s cover, bear was one of the most iconic figures in the cultural revolution that changed both america and the world during the 1960’s (both good and bad).

an early pioneer in the production and distribution of lsd (when it was still legal), his product helped drive ken kesey and his merry prankster’s acid tests. by most accounts, a vast majority of the crowd and musicians at the monterey pop festival were served his latest batch (‘monterey purple’). the shipment he sent to john lennon shortly after the festival was instrumental in the production of the beatles’ ‘magical mystery tour’ album and film.

convinced that the grateful dead were destined to become one of the world’s greatest rock bands, owsley provided the money that kept them going in their early years. as their long time soundman, he also faithfully recorded many of their early live performances. he also designed the massive pioneering sound system known simply as the ‘wall of sound’.

of the approximately 2300 shows the dead are known to have performed in their thirty years, it is estimated that close to 2000 of them have some remnant of them recorded in some form. there is good reason to believe bear was largely responsible for initiating this phenomenon. at first it was for his own enjoyment, but then the band also starting listening to see how they sounded to the audience. on top of that, bear would also record the various bands from the era that played in the shows with them on a given night. his ‘sonic journals’, as he called them, still exist. all on analog tapes, they are reaching the end of their shelf life and there is a push by the surviving family to get them digitallized before they degrade any further.

from a child born to a kentucky blueblood political dynasty, to his death on a road outside his ranch in the outback of australia, this is the story of a very unique and intelligent individual. i have heard many stories about bear in the various books and articles i have read about the dead over the years, but this spins a lot more tales (and dispels a few myths). a must read for any one interested in the evolution of the counter culture of the sixties.

the last waltz

long time follower and commenter ‘drc’ reminded me that yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of ‘the last waltz’ – the band’s farewell concert presented at the legendary winterland ballroom in san francisco on thanksgiving day in 1976. promoted and organized by bill graham and filmed by martin scorsese, it is widely considered to be the one of the greatest rock films of all time. personally, i know of none finer. i bought the 25th anniversary release, and i never grow tired of watching it. the band runs through their long list of classic tunes, but also plays back up band for some of the musicians that had inspired them throughout their 17 year career – ronnie hawkins, muddy waters, bob dylan, joni mitchell, neil young, eric clapton, van morrison, and so many more.

the concert footage is broken up by scenes of band member interviews that were shot at their shangri la studios in malibu. apparently there is now a 40th anniversary edition with 4 cds and a dvd of the original movie, and i may have to splurge for that. in the meantime, i may break out the one i have and watch it on this thanksgiving weekend. at the bare minimum, i would need to watch levon sing ‘the night they drove old dixie down one’ one more time. it really doesn’t get any better than this.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/why-the-bands-the-last-waltz-is-a-concert-movie-classic-w452066

http://www.npr.org/2016/11/24/503048226/robbie-robertson-on-the-last-waltz-40-years-later

van morrison ‘it’s too late to stop now volumes II, III, and IV’

there are few artists who can challenge the musical legacy of van morrison. he is an alchemist of musical styles – jazz, folk, blues, r&b, country and pop, amongst others. he is of course a very talented songwriter as well and has been prodigious in his recordings for nearly 50 years. he is arguably the best white r&b singer ever.

the original ‘its too late’ was a live release issued in 1974 which chronicled his 1973 tour and is considered one of the best live albums ever. a double album culled from eight performances from a trio of cities and featured the appropriately dubbed caledonia soul orchestra – an 11 piece band with horns and string section. it has just been remastered and repackaged. more importantly, the artist has also chosen to complement this release with an additional compilation from these same shows. three cd’s with 15 songs from those three venues – the troubadour in l.a., santa monica civic auditorium, and the rainbow in london. there is also a dvd taken from the rainbow on july 24, shot as a documentary for the bbc, but never released till now. there is no overlap, as there are cuts that are on both releases, but not from the same venues, and they are different enough to make it worthwhile.

van morrison is on top of his game here, easily switching from a jazz interpretation of ‘moondance’ to a country hoe down version of ‘moonshine whiskey’. maybe more importantly, he fleshes out a great deal of the shows with covers from a wide range of artists, showing his appreciation for various genres that have influenced him. we get hank william’s ‘hey good lookin’, louis prima’s ‘buona sera’, and some standard blues and r&b selections from willie dixon, sam cooke and ray charles. there is also at least one version of ‘bein’ green’, made famous by kermit the frog.

the orchestra is a well oiled machine that was able to follow him anywhere, and did. they could easily pivot from a jazzy elasticity to full tilt boogie. it has been written that the early version of springsteen’s e street band was heavily influenced by the original album.

i can’t say that the remastered version is worth buying to replace the original (except for really devoted fans), but it is worth considering if you don’t already have it. the extended box set is a great value, and i have highly enjoyed it. i have been known to come home from work with it playing in my car at very high volumes. it just sounds great. the dvd is well done and a must have for a fan of van.

bob dylan 1965-1966 the cutting edge

volume 12 of bob’s always reliable bootleg series focuses on the incredible 14 month period surrounding the recording of three of his best albums – bringing it all back home, highway 61 revisited, and blonde on blonde. it is arguably one of the highest creative streaks for any musical artist ever, and this compilation does a great job of chronicling the whole affair. there are actually three versions of this – the 2 disc ‘best of’ version, a 6 disc option that comes with 2 books (one being a track listing with extensive liner notes, the second being a great collection of photographs), and the third is only available through his website, an 18 disc tour de force that has every single track. the casual bob fan will find great value in the 2 disc version, both in the material and the very reasonable price. i opted for the 6 disc deluxe version, due in large part to the fact that this my favorite period of his career, and i just had to have it.

the significance of this period on pop culture includes two parallel strands. the first is his evolution as a lyricist from the greenwich village folk singer to the stream of consciousness beat poet style of cascading imagery. the second is his decision to break from the ranks of the traditionalists and incorporate the use of a band, and more importantly, introduce the element of electrical guitars to the recordings. it was during this period that he famously went electric at the newport folk festival, and began touring with the hawks, later to be known as the band. this compilation seeks to explore the mechanics behind the process, as well as to shed light on the evolution of the artistry and the creative process. it does this in two ways. the first is to provide alternative takes on songs from those three albums, plus feature outtakes that never made it on one of the finished albums. the second way is to use the sequence of multiple takes on a song to show how it developed, both musically and lyrically, in the studio. ‘visions of johanna’ gets 5 takes here, all with the band, with various changes to the key and tempo, and they never quite get it right. bob scraps it and doesn’t approach the song again until he gets to nashville months later with a bunch of local session musicians and does it in one take. disc three is entirely comprised of 20 different attempts at ‘like a rolling stone’. throughout the collection he is constantly changing lyrics, musicians, studios and producers to get it to sound like it does in his head.

i was already in awe of his output during this time, but i am so much more impressed now that i have thoroughly digested this. very informative, and a pleasure to listen to, especially the 2 disc version.

sticky fingers, reconsidered

the rolling stones decided to reissue their classic 1971 masterpiece, ‘sticky fingers’, by remastering once again, and then adding a bonus disc comprised of outtakes and alternate versions, plus a half dozen songs from a 1971 gig from the promotional tour. their recent tour focused heavily on this material. it is my second favorite stones album, and the one i think that they came closest to studio perfection. as such, i had to pull the trigger. the original album has been remastered a couple of times, and i have read reviews that are not favorable to this version. many prefer the 1994 virgin records issue instead. i am not enough of an expert to weigh in on this debate, only to say that it does sound different than what i have, which is the original cd pressing. i can say that there is more separation in the instruments, and the sound is brighter and grittier, if that makes sense. i am not sure it is worth the effort to buy this on the first disc alone, but that is not what really prompted my curiosity anyways. the second disc starts off with an alternate version of ‘brown sugar’ and has eric clapton on guitar. you will be happy to own this. the second cut is what they call an acoustic version of ‘wild horses’ which seems to my ear merely to be the original track with the electric guitar stripped off. what is interesting about it is the renewed prominence of the second acoustic guitar part, in the original, but overpowered by the electric. third is a weak sauce ‘can’t you here me knocking’. the original, with the massive coda at the end featuring the seamless interplay between mick taylor, keith, and bobby keys on sax, is just simply one of the finer moments in rock history. no such luck here, and very disappointing. ‘bitch’ is next, and it is a very good alternative, and mick really stands out here, almost james brown like at times. the last outtake is ‘dead flowers’, always one of my favorite all time tunes of theirs, and it is well done and different enough to be worth owning. in my mind the country aspect of this song was a big influence on an awful lot of musicians (seek out townes van zandt’s version, for example), and for whatever reason i hear uncle tupelo and the jayhawks when i hear this version – mick almost sounds like jay farrar at times (or vice versa). the rest is non sticky material played at the roundhouse in 1971, the last gig on the tour i believe. nicky hopkins on piano, keys on sax, jimmy price on trumpet. good stuff.