Live At Birdland

Time to Jazz the blog up some. Yes bad puns aside, the next couple of posts will feature some Jazz legends. First up we have the great Sax legend in John Coltrane. Most people who don't really enjoy Jazz will still know the name Coltrane. A legend who basically turn the Jazz world on its ear. Recording several great pieces over the years and playing with other legends like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. This is a bit of a different Live album in the sense that it does feature two studio tracks in addition to the four Live cuts.

'Live At Birdland' marks Coltrane's fourth Live record. Recorded Live on March 6, 1963 and October 8, 1963 at the legendary Birdland Jazz Club in New York. Originally just 5 tracks, 3 Live cuts and 2 studio pieces, 'Live At Birdland' got an extra Live cut when issued onto CD. It also includes a false start at the start of the opening cut "Afro Blue". At just under 44 minutes, this Live album captures everything the Coltrane was, a great player with an even greater band. Just listen to the intense opening cut and you'll see what I mean.

For people not that big into Jazz I tend to recommend Coltrane as a starting point for listening. Albums like 'Settin' The Pace', 'Blue Train' and 'My Favorite Things' are three great albums to pick up. Each showing a different period if you will. As all three were released on different labels. Don't be afraid to give Jazz a try, I love the genre and it does take some time to get a like for it, but it's worth it.

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Live From MSG

Quite a large Live album for this post. Double Live album to be exact, with well over two hours of simply great rock and blues. Take two musical giants in Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, throw them on tour and what do you get? An awesome night of music for one, but you also get a killer double Live album. Simply titled, 'Live From Madison Square Garden', this album captures two giants of rock and blues doing what they do best.

Recorded over the nights of February 25th-28th 2008 at New York's Madison Square Garden, this '09 release showcases two legends. Pulling material from their days in Blind Faith together, to solo material, to covering rock/blues classics. Two plus hours that only leaves you wanting another encore. The show in addition to being released on CD was also issued out on DVD. I was lucky enough to catch this tour when it rolled through Phoenix. This was one of the best shows I've ever seen. If you get the chance to see either Clapton or Winwood before the call it day, do yourself a favor a go, you will not be disappointed.

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Gig

We leave the Land Of The Rising Sun to go back to our DIY roots and Punk Rock. This time it's the Circle Jerks. I have previously profiled the Circle Jerks here, as well as some related bands, namely Black Flag and OFF!. The band is citied as one of the more influential Punk bands of the first wave of Punk. Featuring in its ranks original Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. The band is currently on hiatus, but pretty much split up again. They have reformed a few times with various members over the years. Fun fact, former Megadeth Guitarist Chris Poland was briefly a member of the band after his dismissal from Megadeth. But for this one we feature the bands only official Live release, the aptly named, 'Gig'.

Released in '92, even though tracks were recorded during the bands final tour in '90, 'Gig'  is simply 22 tracks of Punk that clocks in at just under 40 mins. This Live album captures the band in what would be their final form before their first hiatus. Capturing the band still in fine form and showcasing material from all the albums to date. The band would disband for a few years with Hetson continuing to play with Bad Religion and Morris taking up everyday jobs for a bit. The band reunited briefly to turn out another album, but has been pretty much inactive since the decades start. Nevertheless the Circle Jerks remain influential for a whole new generation of Punks.

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Tokyo Warhearts

Staying in Japan for this post. Noticing a theme yet? This time we'll go with some wild and crazy Fins. Children of Bodom have been making a name in the thrash/melodic metal circuit for a good fifteen years now. Perceived by same as some what of a joke band due to their tendency to cover songs and put the Bodom spin on it. See my post on 'Skeletons In The Closet' for proof on that. The band has put out two live albums to date. For this one though I'm going back to their first one, 'Tokyo Warhearts'.

Initially released in 1999, the album was released on the Finnish label Spinefarm Records and was limited to 10,000 copies. More recently the album got the Picture LP treatment and was reissued. The album was recorded at Club Citta in Tokyo Japan on July 10th and 11th 1999. This album is 11 tracks of blistering guitar solo and keyboard solos from a young band. Young enough that just a year before the bands keyboardist virtuoso Janne Warman was still in school and couldn't tour with the band. The band perfectly captures their two albums to date, 'Something Wild' and 'Hatebreeder' on this Live album. This is where people began to notice the talent of such a young metal band. Of course the band continues to put out material pretty steadily despite issues with frontman Alexi 'Wildchild' Laiho. Not to mention the band has had one lineup change since releasing their debut in '97. That's pretty impressive. Even more impressive is the band actually dates back to '93 when they cut a few demos as Inearthed, before "splitting up" and "reforming" as Bodom. You can kinda see the tongue in cheek here as the Intro samples "Crockett's Theme" from the TV show Miami Vice and at the start of "Touch Like Angel Of Death" it opens with another Jan Hammer gem in "Hummel Gets The Rockets" from the '96 movie The Rock. And in a nod to Japanese Metal, at the end of the Guitar battle, you'll hear a bit of Loudness.

I've been lucky enough to see Bodom twice now. Well sort of. The first encounter was actually a meet and greet. Around the time the bands fourth record 'Hate Crew Deathroll' came out I was at the time on a Thanksgiving vacation with the ex wife to Arizona. Somehow or another I found out they were doing a signing before their gig out there at one of the local record shops. In some miracle of sorts I managed to convince the ex wife to go out and stand it line with a bunch of metal heads to get some CDs signed. She agreed and to this day I proudly display my signed copies of 'Something Wild' and 'Follow The Reaper'. The latter album was actually the first Bodom record I bought. Still love that record too. Forward to '08 and I'm now living in Arizona and the Gigantour Tour made stop in Phoenix, well Mesa, but no one knows where Mesa is, so it's easier to say Phoenix. Solid lineup that year with High on Fire, Job For Cowboy, In Flames, Children Of Bodom and Megadeth. Outdoor shows in Arizona are usually safe. You know it's gonna be hot and you know you gotta stay hydrated. Throw that out the window as that day it decided to rain off and on through out the show. The odd weather even prompted Alexi to quip, "I didn't know you had rain in Arizona". Highlight of Bodom's set that night though, the impromptu sing along to "Don't Stop Believing". Like I said tongue in cheek at it's finest. Despite the rain, which caused me to leave a few songs before the end of Megadeth's set, it was solid show.

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Tokyo Tales

Time to go back to the land of the Rising Sun with today's post. Japan as I said is a running theme through these posts. Power Metal, something I don't think I've really posted a whole lot of here. The mention of it brings to mind fantasy, Tolkien, and massive festival sing a longs. So lets go to where it started from, Germany. The Germans have pretty much perfected the art of Power Metal, churning out bands since the mid 80's. May as well be as the official music of the country. So let's pay homage to it with of the original German Power Metal bands. Blind Guardian tend to be the flag bearers for the genre. Doing it since '86, the band consistently delivers epic Power Metal. Although the band did start out like the other Metal import from Germany, as a Speed Metal band called Lucifer's Heritage. In fact the roots of the band go back to '84.

The band has officially released two Live albums thus far. I'm gonna focus on the first one. 1993 saw the release of 'Tokyo Tales'. Ten years later in '03 the band would release the Double Live record, 'Live'. The latter record is a more career spanning effort. While 'Tokyo Tales' focuses on their bands first four albums. The album is 12 tracks of epic sounding Metal. Simply showcasing what this still fairly young band could accomplish. The album was recorded over two nights in Tokyo. The first night was at Koseinenkin Hall in Tokyo on December 4, 1992 and the second night was at the NHK Hall in Tokyo on December 6, 1992. Japan in the mid 90's couldn't get enough Metal apparently. Nothing's really changed there either.

There's something about Power Metal in a Live setting that just makes you wanna put your arm over some random stranger and belt along to epic courses about Tolkien. It reminds you that being a Metal head is like being part of a bigger community and being part of something great.

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Live '84

In sticking with the controversy theme of sorts, we shift gears into some Live Punk. This time courtesy of Punk icons Black Flag. The band of course was at the forefront of the American Punk movement in the mid 70's and continues to remain a cult and iconic band today. Most Live Punk shows were circulated as bootlegs back in the day, as the tape trade scene was still a relevant way to hear new music. You know before the Internet killed it. In any case official Live releases tend to be a bit few and far between. With that being said, this release, 'Live '84' was initially only released on Cassette. The sound is a bit weak as it was remixed and released on CD in '98 by Guitarist Greg Ginn.

'Live '84' embodies the raw energy that Punk was. Loud, fast and downright angry at times. The album was recorded sometime in '84 at The Stone in San Francisco. The venue may sound familiar as that's where many of the Bay Area Thrash bands got their start playing Live. The album captures the rotating lineup that was Black Flag. The only constants at the time were Guitarist Ginn and vocalist Henry Rollins. Both Bassist Kira Roessler and Drummer Bill Stevenson had only been in the band for about a year at this point. The record isn't a typical short Punk record. In fact it opens up with the monster eight minute track "The Process Of Weeding Out". In fact there's only a handful of tracks that clock in at under three minutes. In fact instead of focusing on the bands earlier material which was praised by many, the album focuses on material from the albums, 'My War' and 'Slip It In'. It captures the band both at what could be described as their height and their fall. The band continued on for roughly another couple years before falling apart. The band has in recent years reunited with various members. There's of course been no shortage of mud slinging and lineup changes. So much so that Greg Ginn is now the only original member in the band.

The band of course spawned numerous members who went on to play and form different acts. Most notably Greg Ginn formed Gone and did some work with former Minutemen Bassist Mike Watt. Early vocalist Keith Morris went on to play in rival Punk band The Circle Jerks and is currently fronting a new Punk band, OFF!. Rollins of course is the most famous to come out of Black Flag. Releasing solo albums, as well as material with the Rollins Band. In addition to that he's a author, a spoken word master and occasionally pops up on TV, most recently on the History Channel. Rollins of course is one of those people I find in music that has a huge love/hate relationship among the masses. For all that's been done and said about the man, he did front one of the most iconic Punk bands ever. And no one can ever take that away.

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At The Arena Ov Aion

Controversy, it's a lot like milk. It can do you good or if you're lactose intolerant, it can back fire. And yes pun intended. Music in general despite the genre has never been a stranger to controversy. From The Beatles to Death Metal acts to Pop music. It's all been done before. Someone runs their mouth or does something stupid and it makes headlines. One genre perhaps makes more waves than others and that's Heavy Metal. It's got a checkered past and is no stranger to controversy. There are many sub genres, but Death and Black Metal seem to get a lot of attention when it comes to controversy. So for this post I've decided to go with some controversial Black/Death Metal in the form of the Polish band Behemoth.

Behemoth have been around since the early 90's when a couple of Polish teens decided to form a Black Metal band. Since then the band has tooled around in the underground before gaining some notoriety in the past few decade or so. Led by Bassist/Guitarist/Vocalist Negral, the band issued a few demos in the early 90's before releasing their first EP 'And The Forests Dream Eternally' in 94. The band continue to release material and tour largely unnoticed before 2002's monster of an album 'Zos Kia Cultus'. That's where things began to change. The band began to gain steam and gain some attention due to their crushing Live shows. With two Live videos under their belt, the band released 'At The Arena Ov Aion-Live Apostasy' in 2008. Culling material from their entire career, this Live album is, well brutal. The album was recorded Live at La Loco in Paris France on February 17, 2008 during the European Apostasy tour.

Never to one to hide opinions or mince words in the media. Negral has made it clear his and the bands dislike for organized religion. He's even gone as so far as tearing up a Bible on stage a few times. An act that's landed the band in court in Poland and on the watchdog list. However at current time the band is still free to play in Poland, but it comes with great protest by the state. In addition to that, Russia has recently barred the band from playing there, so far as detaining the band. In 2010 though Negral was diagnosed with Leukemia and was forced to take sometime off while Negral underwent treatment. Eventually Negral underwent a Bone Marrow transplant and has since recovered. Once again no stranger to controversy, Negral did do a stint on a Polish singing competition show that raised a few eyebrows.  In the end the band continues to record and tour, although the end may be in sight for the band as Negral has stated about the uncertain paths he wants to take regarding the band. Controversy, ever present no matter where you turn.

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