Good Rockin' Tonight

All right. Been a few days, but here we are. Lots of modern music news but right now,I am stuck in a time warp and couldn't be happier. So, the first truly rocking r&b hit was today's song, "Good Rockin' Tonight" originally written and recorded by Roy Brown in 1947. Later that year Wynonie Harris recorded a version that was off the hook! you decide which one you really like better, it's a hard choice. What you have in this song is Roy Brown being the first popular blues singer to really emphasize his gospel roots. Later, Elvis recorded a great version of this too. There was no one moment of course, or one song, or even one style that was born in the early, mid-fifties but, (like Robert Palmer has said)it was a bunch of rocking music from across the U.S. that got put under one name, plus the technology of amplification and last, the marketing and realization that there was money to be made in packaging this previously non-commercial (meaning not for all races) music to all races. To my mind, this is give or take, 1955. Is it a coincidence that the civil rights movement is considered to have begun around this time too?

In this first version, you can hear the heavy jazz influence in the trumpet. The saxophone plays what later becomes the guitar's territory. The vocals are pretty smooth and are, honestly the most dated sounding thing (aside from the lyrics) on the song to my mind. Pretty fun tune though
This one is the best of the three to my mind. The gospel soul claps, the hopping, pulsing rhythm section, and the better recording quality all combined with the much hipper, powerful vocals of Wynonie. Dig how he changes the part from the first one to the good old call and response move, "Hoy Hoy Hoy Hoy"!, on the fadeout.

This is my runnerup for best of the three. Elvis definitely had something special. Although the rest of the band is really tight and has a really good sound, I feel like they definitely don't swing and bounce like the previous versions.

And if you are a fan of cheesy, tv miniseries' about rock n roll legends than here you go...:)




More to come soon. Including the battle for the "first" proper Rock N Roll song. Tune in next time!

Alberto

The Hustle is On

Pianos were naturally loud if you beat on it hard enough. But guitars had a limit to their natural loudness and it was hard to get heard above most other instruments. So, the next thing about Rock N Roll was being able to crank up the volume on the guitar. Before Amps were widely and (relatively) cheaply available, aside from a few exceptions (such as Eddie Lang or Lonnie Johnson notably), the guitar was relegated to forming part of the rhythm section. Two guys that were in on the whole amping up of your guitar sound early on were T. Bone Walker and Charlie Christian. Today we will get a healthy anti-oxidizing dose of T-Bone Walker. T-Bone was the first to record electric blues. He got into amplification because of Charlie Christian. He was the original link between rural blues and contemporary blues. He was a nasty guitarist who was smooth as a babies bottom but still had some dirty to 'em, some grit. He came out of the Dallas blues scene that was such a fountain of inspiration for blues music. Enjoy!


T-Bone Walker - "The Hustle Is On"




He was mostly known for slow, burnin' blues numbers. Take a look and a listen.



Peace

Okay, Rock and Roll, you soothe my soul

Here is my promised first installment of seminal rock and roll tunes. The first tune I am going to post is one that actually came out way before the official rock and roll era started. It is a boogie woogie. Boogie Woogie is a bass line originally,early on a piano playing style, something that started way back who knows when but probably the early, early 1900's. Rent parties were parties people had in order to raise money for their rent, and the term was used then. Boogie Woogie eventually became a fad and lasted till the formal birth of rock n roll in the early 50's. It influenced jump blues and therefore made a major contribution to rock n roll. The first boogie woogie hit was a song by Pinetop Smith called Pinetop's Boogie Woogie, which was a hit in 1928. (This mp3 is actually from a live Muddy Waters album with Pinetop Perkins playing the piano. The original version is below in a kind of cool You Tube video).



Pinetop's Boogie Woogie



Peace

Ooh, Daptone records free remixed tracks!

Look what I found! Daptone records (Budos Band, Sharon Jones, etc.) and Scion records partnered to remix some excellent funky stuff. Definitely check it out. There are 9! count them, 9 free tracks! Get it while it's hot!


Daptone Records Remixed

Peace!

Vampire Weekend

Ok, so if you haven't read something somewhere about these guys your head has been under the internet rock. (What does that even mean?) They have gotten the pretty obvious Paul Simon comparisons, and deservedly so since they are tapping into that funky afrobeat thing, but they also channel 80's pop and not so angry punk as well. Why they are singing about Harvard Commas when they go to Columbia though... Anyway, one of my favorite sitesDaytrotter.com back in october had them in their studios and here is the link


And two songs for you:
Vampire Weekend - Walcott

The Clash - Police on My Back

Enjoy!

Peace

Man, Keith Richard's kicks ass...

I am too tired to post what I want to post, but look soon for posts about seminal rock and roll singles and also one of my new favorites Vampire Weekend, who are coming out with their debut album soon. This here video though is a priceless 14 seconds. The bomb...


Keith Richards kicks ass:




Peace

Lord I feel like blowin’ my old lonesome horn....

I remember living in the city, feelin' the blues (these things seemed to go hand in hand often, nothing like being in one the most crowded places to make you feel singularly alone)and smoking a cigarette, something that also seems to go hand in hand with the city that never sleeps. I used to put on some of the saddest blues, and I would turn off the light in my 25Th floor apartment and stare out the window, watching the cars and the people buzzing around purposefully. I would play Thelonious Monk or Charlie Parker ballads, but more often than not, it was Billie. Lady Day didn't have the most beautiful voice, her style was very personal and she was a wreck in real life. Sometimes there is nothing like letting yourself feel really sad to kick the blues. That is part of the magic of the blues. You can listen to it when your happy and it makes you feel happy, and you can listen to it when your sad and it can make you happy. Or, when you need to wallow a bit in your sorrow, it is just the right thing. I've got two songs for you tonight. The pairing may be a bit obvious, but I am putting them on here because both selections move me deeply. Enjoy!

Peace

Fine and Mellow from the video The Sound of Jazz:





Amy Winehouse "Love is a Losing Game" (Acoustic)


Love Is A Losing Game



Peace

This is what music is about!

Ahh. I love music. And some of the best musical moments are when you are walking down the street and you stumble upon music sailing along and entering your ears. You either go yikes and walk in the other direction or, like a bloodhound catching the scent, you hone in and there you are. People playing really for the love of music, often to get better or maybe they have a hat out and they are trying to earn some dough. Either way, it is far removed from the path a musician may get into once they get in a studio, record, maybe sign onto a label and maybe end up being the new hype of the moment. I remember once finding an old raggedy, old-timey jazz group where the leader of the group was playing a bass made out of an old metal wash-basin, a broom-stick and a thick rope. There was also a guy playing an old, beat up trumpet and the singer, man, the singer was a woman who was hypnotic. When I caught that musical scent it was the first thing I heard. Her voice, it sounded so much like Billie Holiday- sad and happy - kind of thin but their was some kind of magic. It was at The Cube in NYC. It was a magical moment that brought tears to my eyes and I don't really know why except it just moved me. Anyway, here is the video that inspired this drivel, a band apparently called The Wrong Trousers singing "Video Killed The Radio Star". (Not quite as moving as the one in my story but still brought a smile to my face):

Found on www.collegehumor.com Stumbling the Internet:





Peace

Tasty Tracks!

Just a link to a blog that hooked me up with

1) Al Green's leaked track from his upcoming album (collab with ?uestlove) called Thought it Out

2) Del the Funkee Homosapien's first single off his upcoming new album on DefJux "Bubble Pop"

link to Sit Down Stand Up:

http://gillmoreboy.blogspot.com/

Peace

Feeling screwed up at a screwed up time in a screwed up place does not necessarily make you screwed up.

So I was watching one of my favorite music related movies, "Pump Up The Volume" Starring Christian Slater and I remembered an article I read recently. The guy who is the FCC chairman right now Kevin Martin, was among other things, involved in the Florida recount and worked for Kenneth Starr during the Lewinsky trial, and his wife was a spokesperson for Cheney during the Plame outing stuff. Good Bush soldiers. Anyway, he was instrumental in pushing to get rule changes approved allowing ownership by the same corporation of a newspaper and a tv or radio station in the same market. Which just means more and more, all you will see, hear and read in most media publications and broadcasts are what very few want you to see, hear and read. To me, the biggest problem with our democracy is that Journalists don't do their jobs often enough to check the government when they are plainly manipulating us. Check the quote from Amy Goodman (and Thomas Jefferson)

There is a reason that journalism is the sole profession explicitly protected in the U.S. Constitution. As a check and balance on government, it is essential to the functioning of a democratic society. As Thomas Jefferson famously stated, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Go here for an article by one of the best journalists around.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20071224_the_fccs_christmas_gift_to_big_media/

I'm Just An Addict, Addicted To Music

After posting my top albums, I felt a little bad because it didn't include any hip hop in it. I grew up listening to a lot of hip hop and I still listen. I was really impressed with the beats and the rhymes of the Clipse last album. I enjoy both American Gangster and Graduation as well. But, I feel like nowadays, at my age, the only rap I can really, really stand behind can't be overwhelmingly negative or overwhelmingly materialistic. So, what did I like this year? I dug Aesop Rock's album "None Shall Pass". As an example. I usually dig Talib Kweli's stuff. I love Blackilicious, although haven't heard anything new from them in a while. Common is dope. El-P is always coming up with strange and original takes on the Bomb Squad sound. MF Doom is always tight. So what happened to hip hop that now all you basically hear is about B@#$%es and H@*s, money and cars? Well, I remember way back, when NWA first came out with that Gangsta, gritty sound. You had balance. You had the Jungle Brothers, you had all those Native Tongues cats like De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest to balance all the LL Cool J's. Then, as usual capitalism reared it's ugly head. The major labels swooped in and bought up independents like Def Jam. And you went from Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" to "Gin and Juice" and nothing else. All Gangsta rap all the time. The majors made it possible to see rap on tv, buy rap at major retail stores and hear it on the radio, but they only allowed you to see,hear, and buy what they decided was rap. And that did not include any positive issues. You went from "Stop the Violence" to Bi@#*es with Problems. I think part of this is the stereotypical views of minorities. There is only a certain image of blackness or browness that they will allow. Another interesting thing is that, probably from that pre-major label era (87-91) the majority of buyers of this music were minorities or from poor segments of the population. Majors came in, sell 2 million records of a major label group as opposed to 1 million or less. Now, 60-70% I would guess of hip hop buyers are not from the areas were hip hop was born. Don't get me wrong, I dug Snoop's album and Ice Cubes album. But I don't dig the lack of diversity, the lack of consciousness. Sorry for this rant but here is something to bring a smile to our faces. A video from Eric B & Rakim. Notice how Rakim's flow kills, and yet somehow there are no curses. Just a thought. Before that is a little love for a track from Aesop Rock's album called "None Shall Pass" from the album of the same name:

None Shall Pass


I Ain't No Joke:


Peace

Best Albums 2007

So I know this is extremely late, but hey, whattayagonnado? These lists are always really difficult but I tried to do it by which ones were really durable, which ones I loved to listen to at first and haven't gotten sick of yet. So here they are:

Top 20 of 2007

The National – Boxer

Everyone posts "Fake Empire" or "Mistaken For Strangers" rightly so but I don't think I have seen this out there.


Menomena – Friend or Foe



Panda Bear – Person Pitch



Amy Winehouse – Back To Black



Radiohead – In Rainbows



Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha



Feist – The Reminder



LCD Soundsystem – Sounds of Silver



The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible



Lily Allen – Alright, Still




Beirut – The Flying Club Cup



Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga GA



MIA – Kala



Peter Bjorn and John – Writer's Block

Not an official video but I like this song and couldn't find anything else. The video is kinda terrible. Close your eyes and listen:


Andy Palacio – Wátina



Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings -100 Days 100 Nights



White Stripes – Icky Thump



Wilco – Sky Blue Sky



The Black Lips – Good Bad, Not Evil


Caribou – Andorra




I have been trying to weed down my favorite songs but it is a long slow process, especially when you have two kids and a staph infection. Don't ask. It will be out soon.


Peace

The Bird

Charlie Parker. I got into Jazz, (I mean really got into it, not just humming the tunes from Tom and Jerry unknowingly) about 15 years ago. And when I heard Charlie Parker, that was it. I couldn't stop listening. I came from listening to hip-hop in my early years growing up in NYC to being a closet G&R fan in high school (closet because anyone who digressed from hip-hop in my neighborhood was deemed a head banger and that was "white" music, which would have gotten you chumped) to all the alternative rock in the 90's to discovering classic rock in college. Charlie Parker came into my life as well in college. It was "Confirmation" recorded for Verve that did it for me. And it was his tone, the sound of his horn you know, brittle, kind of harsh and grimy in the best blues traditions. But mainly it was his flow. Flow is a term that is often used to describe rappers. But rap is just the latest manifestation of the musical expressions used by African-Americans in a long line of styles that have eventually become a part of U.S. pop music. Anyway, the way Charlie Parker "freestyled" over the chords of different melodies is akin to the best rappers out there. I remember DMX's first album, "It's Dark and Hell is Hot", a great album, and I always felt that his flow, where he played with lagging behind the beat and jumping in front was very similar to Billie Holiday's style of singing. Charlie Parker's rapid fire was more like Cannabis (a rapper who had a lot of potential but just faded, he stupidly decided to have beef with more established rappers and never reached his potential). Cannabis was a nasty freestyler, fast and quick with on the spot creations. That was Charlie Parker, only Charlie Parker did things no one had done before (except maybe Louis Armstrong).

All these years later, I have gone through A Lot of music, a lot of it was listened to intensely and then forgotten about. But 15 years later, I still don't get sick of listening to The Bird.

Confirmation:


Downbeat Award Performance with Dizzy Gillespie:

To tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world

This is my first post on a blog and I am not really sure what shape it will take. I am obsessed particularly with music but in general with popular culture. Right now is political season and I recently came across a speech given by Bobby Kennedy that has been running around in my mind since. I wanted to share it. It is the speech he gave when Martin Luther King was shot. But what has really stuck in mind lately is the words that he says about what we want our country to be.

Particularly these words:

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

(Interrupted by applause)

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

(Interrupted by applause)

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)

Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968

Audio of the Speech