What are you listening to? (6 Viewers)

jbutler

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Good suggestion from Toby, so here we go with this thread again.

For the last 5 or 6 years I've usually been too busy to keep up with the releases week by week, so my practice has been to sit down in December with a dozen or so top ten/twenty/hundred lists and buy a few dozen albums and see what sticks. I love getting turned onto stuff from this thread (or its prior incarnation at the other place at least).

My first contributions are a few tracks I've loved for years, but which I can't seem to not play over and over again lately.

First, Cat Power's elegy for Kurt Cobain:


Second, Gillian Welch's amazing Radiohead cover:


Finally, Animal Collective's Peacebone:

 
Nice picks, J. For a few eclectic additions, how about the two albums from upstart Syd Arthur, or the new albums from old bands Yes and Chicago?
 
[video=youtube_share;0zhV99Bvrgg]http://youtu.be/0zhV99Bvrgg[/video]
 
Nice one courage.

I could do an entire blues thread and never run out of material. I got not into blues too late in life. Didn't even listen to Robert Johnson until college. Fortunately I had a friend/professor who had an encyclopedic knowledge and hipped me to basically everything from the Lomax field recordings to late electric Chicago stuff.
 
I saw Robert Cray in FL while traveling for work in the mid-90's, playing a free street gig. So I'm a late blues bloomer too, but enjoy all types. Buddy was on one of the HBO Foo Fighters Sonic Highway episodes lately. Awesome character.
 
I saw Robert Cray in FL while traveling for work in the mid-90's, playing a free street gig. So I'm a late blues bloomer too, but enjoy all types. Buddy was on one of the HBO Foo Fighters Sonic Highway episodes lately. Awesome character.

yeah i was lucky to catch buddy playing a free gig at Auburn while i was in college and he was fucking great. i remember going with a bunch of my friends who were all into punk and prog and enjoying seeing who actually picked up on how great the show was. no judgment - i was one of those punk only kids when i was like 13 so i'm not throwing stones. just fun seeing who's willing to open their ears.
 
Nice one courage.

I could do an entire blues thread and never run out of material. I got not into blues too late in life. Didn't even listen to Robert Johnson until college. Fortunately I had a friend/professor who had an encyclopedic knowledge and hipped me to basically everything from the Lomax field recordings to late electric Chicago stuff.

Now that is a thread I would follow with great interest.
 

i mean if we're looking for contemporary authentic blues, it doesn't get much realer than a motherfucker drinking whiskey from a plastic pint in mississippi.


most of the fat possum stuff from the 90s through the mid-2000s is solid imo. junior kimbrough, rl burnside, t-model, lots of that shit is amazing.

 

I posted a Chris Thomas King song over on the other forum the other day, but it doesn't work. A little more modern but I have liked him ever since seeing O Brother Where Art Thou.
 
Thanks for firing up this thread, Jack! :)

I've been listening to a Tru Thoughts 10th anniversary comp. Some good stuff on it.

This one from Belleruche tickled my trip-hop bone:



Whaaaaaa?!? No embed code required?! Witchcraft!!!

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.and because I've recently hit 40 I've been listebing to various tracks about old age!

Includes:

Middle Age - Steve Forbert
I Think I'm Going Bald - Rush
Hey Nineteen - Steely Dan
Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead
Losing My Edge - LCD Soundsystem


Pull on the hotpants and gyrate! [Gently]
 
This is a bad thing - it's much easier to inflict things on everyone now mwa ha haha ha!

While we're on the country/drinking tip...

 
and because I've recently hit 40 I've been listebing to various tracks about old age!

maybe the most realistic song about the morbid reality of getting old and realizing ever so gradually is:


i could listen to steely dan every day. so many of their records sound literally perfect.
 
Allman Brothers The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings, 6 CDs. Also Clapton et al Memorial tribute to J.J. Cale. On their way, but not yet here, several SRV DVD concerts
 
there are few "respected" musicians who make me sicker than eric clapton. i just can't stand the guy. unless he's playing with ginger baker or duane allman, i can't think of a single thing he's done that doesn't make me want to wretch.
 
Wow. That's pretty strong. My favorites are the Cream albums, but the sessions for Layla and the Blind Faith recordings are also good. Also liked his work on Roger Waters Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. That's one of my Desert Island albums. I bought "The Breeze" tribute more because I am a fan of J.J. Cale fan than because of Clapton. But the other artists were also a draw.

Did you see that Jack Bruce passed away a week or so back?



there are few "respected" musicians who make me sicker than eric clapton. i just can't stand the guy. unless he's playing with ginger baker or duane allman, i can't think of a single thing he's done that doesn't make me want to wretch.

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Probably the all-time best live rock or blues or bluse rock recording in history. It's not even close for me these days--speaking of the original LP release. There is loads of great stuff on the 6 CD release, but I can't say any of it is superior to the original release.



One of my favs:

 
Wow. That's pretty strong. My favorites are the Cream albums, but the sessions for Layla and the Blind Faith recordings are also good. Also liked his work on Roger Waters Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. That's one of my Desert Island albums. I bought "The Breeze" tribute more because I am a fan of J.J. Cale fan than because of Clapton. But the other artists were also a draw.

Did you see that Jack Bruce passed away a week or so back?

yeah blind faith is also decent, but not on the level of the cream and derek stuff, imo (i was referencing the layla sessions when i cited his work with duane allman).

getting into jj cale actually made me hate clapton more. it's almost like hearing the eagles do ol' 55 and thinking, "man, i hate the fucking eagles, but this song is pretty strong." then, you hear toms waits' first album and realize it's his song and your hatred for the eagles only grows. clapton's versions of jj's stuff strips basically all that is subtle and cool from the recordings and the songs.

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Probably the all-time best live rock or blues or bluse rock recording in history.

this is a good topic for discussion. my all time best live albums (excluding jazz, which otherwise would take up 90% of the list) would be:

the who: live at leeds
the allman brothers band: at fillmore east
jimi: band of gypsys
dylan: live 1975 - rolling thunder revue
dylan: live 1966 - "royal albert hall"
zappa: roxy and elsewhere
zappa: fillmore east, june 1971
the band: the last waltz
james brown: love power peace
johnny cash: live at folsom prison
little feat: waiting for columbus
talking heads: stop making sense

that's in a loose order. number one almost never changes, but the middle shifts around quite a bit. if we were talking concert films, stop making sense would demolish everything else and while it still comes through fantastic on the album, for some reason it never shot up to the top for me despite how much i love the heads. weird, really.
 
there are few "respected" musicians who make me sicker than eric clapton. i just can't stand the guy. unless he's playing with ginger baker or duane allman, i can't think of a single thing he's done that doesn't make me want to wretch.

That version of crossroads with cream has some of my favorite Jack Bruce moments ever:


There is a live version on the Clapton Crossroads box set that is my favorite version. Can't seem to find a version of that to link to.
 
I hadn't stopped to think much about it, but I've owned very little solo Clapton material over the years. It doesn't turn my stomach when I hear it; it just isn't something I am going to buy. Got into J.J. Cale from Skynyrd's cover of Call Me the Breeze. With few exceptions, I almost always end up gravitating towards the original versions of a song rather than its covers--jazz and traditional blues not with standing. I will say this for Clapton, he always has great musicians with him.

I'm having trouble coming up with live recordings right now. There's the Jimi Hendrix Winterland recordings. I've not heard it in 35 years or so, but maybe CSNY 4-Way Street. I don't think any live recordings exist for the original Journey, but that core group was a stellar group of players. For as much as I like live performance recordings, I own very few in the rock genre.

I agree with you regards jazz live recordings.


yeah blind faith is also decent, but not on the level of the cream and derek stuff, imo (i was referencing the layla sessions when i cited his work with duane allman).

getting into jj cale actually made me hate clapton more. it's almost like hearing the eagles do ol' 55 and thinking, "man, i hate the fucking eagles, but this song is pretty strong." then, you hear toms waits' first album and realize it's his song and your hatred for the eagles only grows. clapton's versions of jj's stuff strips basically all that is subtle and cool from the recordings and the songs.

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this is a good topic for discussion. my all time best live albums (excluding jazz, which otherwise would take up 90% of the list) would be:

the who: live at leeds
the allman brothers band: at fillmore east
jimi: band of gypsys
dylan: live 1975 - rolling thunder revue
dylan: live 1966 - "royal albert hall"
zappa: roxy and elsewhere
zappa: fillmore east, june 1971
the band: the last waltz
james brown: love power peace
johnny cash: live at folsom prison
little feat: waiting for columbus
talking heads: stop making sense

that's in a loose order. number one almost never changes, but the middle shifts around quite a bit. if we were talking concert films, stop making sense would demolish everything else and while it still comes through fantastic on the album, for some reason it never shot up to the top for me despite how much i love the heads. weird, really.
 
Ginger Baker is still turning out amazing music and has consistently for decades. His trio with Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden is really something.
 
Ginger Baker is still turning out amazing music and has consistently for decades. His trio with Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden is really something.

Was something. Charlie Haden passed away in July. :( Charlie's playing on Michael Brecker's self-titled debut was stellar. That is one of the few albums that I never get tired of listening to.
 
Was something. Charlie Haden passed away in July. :( Charlie's playing on Michael Brecker's self-titled debut was stellar. That is one of the few albums that I never get tired of listening to.

Oh yeah, right - RIP. Charlie played on a ton of classics, though my favorite is prob the most obvious: Shape of Jazz to Come by Ornette. Really mind-blowing. Charlie's solo stuff on ECM is in frequent rotation, too.
 
Baker is one of my all-time favorites. He was a prodigious early influnce for me. Have you seen the documentary on him? I think the title is something like Beware Mr. Baker. Bits and pieces are on youtube.

Ginger Baker is still turning out amazing music and has consistently for decades. His trio with Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden is really something.
 

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