Blow By Riff

Second posting focuses on some guitar wizardry. Jeff Beck is one of the best guitarists ever. Sadly doesn't get mentioned often enough in the same breathe as say Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Van Halen, etc. Of course he has played in a group that featured two of those above mentioned groups, that group was The Yardbirds. Along with the first LP from The Jeff Beck Group this album is prolly the most recognized and the best. 'Blow By Blow' is just that, 9 tracks of amazing guitar work. Doesn't help to have Stevie Wonder guest on the album either. Time to crank this one to 11.

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Surfs Up

Few days off with work and being sick, gonna double post here. Read that as work and drinking by the way. Going for some older stuff here. Mainly some surf rock if you will. The Beach Boys when I was younger were one of my favorite groups. Still are too. Something so simple about singing about catching the perfect wave or showing up the fellows with that sweet little ride of yours. Maybe it's cause I was born and raised in California and that surf culture somehow is instilled in me. So for the first post here I'm posting 'The Sights And Sounds Of Summer', the album is a newer best of collection. The album features mono/stereo mixes of the classics and spans the groups career. Perfect cruisin' music.

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The Thrill Is Still There

I'm going back and updating this post a bit in honor of the passing of BB King this past week. BB was a legend, the King of Blues influenced so many Guitarist and brought the sound of the Delta Blues into so many homes over the years. Not only could he play, he wasn't above of appearing in movies or spreading the news about Diabetes in TV ads. And no matter where he went, his trusty friend Lucille was there in tow. I had the chance to see BB play a couple years back at my job. Sometimes it pays to work in an entertainment venue. Leading up to the show I had read the reviews and heard the stories about BB only playing three songs and rambling on for an hour. I shrugged it off and said, dammit the man can still play, I'm like a five year old on Christmas. Day of show I got to talk to a lot of people before hand who had fond memories of seeing him in years past and who were like me excited to see him play. The sad reality of it was, the reviews were right. I saw a broken old man, who was barley able to hold a guitar and who's best years were well behind him. It was almost an hour before I heard the unmistakable guitar tone that was the legend. I watched the inevitable train wreck that was happening. Seeing people walk out in confusion and disgust was hard. It's always hard to watch someone try to continue on when you know the end was a while back. The end of the show marked him playing, which trailed into ramblings and a bunch of people going up to the stage as he signed albums.  The next day the press had a field day with the show. In fact it was still getting brought up the week of his passing. We were one of the last show he played. A co worker reminded me of that as we sat around talking about it the next day. That's pretty sobering to say you saw of one BB King's final shows ever. While it was the show I had wanted to see as a fan, it was cool to say you saw one of the greats on the Blues Mt. Rushmore. I found a clip of BB play with SRV, Albert King and Paul Butterfield. It's linked below. It's an amazing jam session and if you aren't familiar with any of those people, might I suggest checking out some of their works, so you can appreciate what music is.

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Music From...

Taking tonight's pick into a little bit of a different direction. The Band were a collective group of amazing musicians who at one point were the backing band for Bob Dylan. Hailing from the great white north of Canada, The Band released several critically acclaimed albums over their career. And what better way to go out than to have a movie/documentary made about you that features the like of Clapton, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ringo Starr and many more. The Last Waltz stands up to being one of the best concert films ever made, as well as providing some 'coke booger' jokes over the years. Instead of posting the 4 CD collection that is The Last Waltz, I'm opting for the classic 'Music From Big Pink'. This is the deluxe expanded edition feature several bonus cuts. Stand out tracks here include 'The Weight' and 'Chest Fever'. Great album for fans of classic rock.

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Banned Much?

So after seeing what's happened to the majority of music blogs, I've decided to lay low for a bit and consider keeping this up and going. After some thought I've decided to continue posting albums on a daily basis. Coming back to the A-Z thing, kicking this week off with B's. Once again a pretty diverse mix of stuff here. Starting things off with a punk attitude. Hailing from DC the Bad Brains were credited as being a major influence and player in the punk movement. The self titled debut is just non stop in your face punk at it's finest. This album should be in everyone's collection and if it's not well here ya go...

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Mechanic Hippies

...And Oceans were a Finnish metal band that evolved from a symphonic black metal act to a hodgepodge of industrial/electronic metal. An interesting band to say the least. Think along the lines of KMFDM meets Ministry. Today's selection is the album 'The Symmetry Of I - The Circle Of O'. Regarded as the bands best album, the album features some amusing song titles. Worth a listen if you wanna expand the metal horizons.

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Air

Continuing with the A-Z marathon of music with another week of A's. Starting this week off with some mellow rock. 'Air' is the debut record from Agua De Annique. Fronted by former The Gathering singer Anneke Van Giersebergen, the album isn't too far off from what fans of The Gathering have become used to over the years. A mix of beauty and heartfelt soul. Recommended for fans of The Gathering and mellow rock fans.

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