Five years ago today was my first experience seeing Roger Waters play at the Xcel Energy Center here in St. Paul and of course, as readers and followers of this blog know, I did review his recent show here back on June 3rd highlighting, "The Wall". I remember distinctly, from that first show though, all the pyrotechnics and showmanship that went into it as well as the whole of the set list. Waters' band lineup was slightly different back then, too. But, the show was a perfect illustration of what "Dark Side" and some of the other great Pink Floyd albums of the '70s including "Wish You Were Here", "Animals", and parts of "The Wall" were all about.
The set list as I recall was:
Set 1:
1. In The Flesh
2. Mother
3. Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun
4. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts II through V, abridged)
5. Have a Cigar
6. Wish You Were Here
7. Southampton Dock
8. The Fletcher Memorial Home
9. Perfect Sense
10. Leaving Beirut
11. Sheep
Set 2: (Dark Side of the Moon)
1. Speak To Me/Breathe
2. On The Run
3. Time/Breathe (reprise)
4. The Great Gig in the Sky
5. Money
6. Us And Them
7. Any Colour You Like
8. Brain Damage
9. Eclipse
Encore:
1. The Happiest Days of Our Lives
2. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)
3. Vera
4. Bring The Boys Back Home
5. Comfortably Numb
An incredible show to be sure and one I will always remember.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Jean Luc Ponty "Renaissance"
This is probably my favorite track that Return To Forever played in their whole set when I saw them last summer at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis and also in hearing the whole set again on their new live record that was just blogged recently. The original version of "Renaissance" by jazz violin maestro Jean Luc Ponty. Check it out.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
record collection revisited: Miles Davis "Sketches of Spain"
Miles Davis released what is arguably one of the greatest jazz recordings in 1959 with "Sketches of Spain", saying that he really trusted collaborator and orchestrator Gil Evans who he was working with at the time. It is a masterful display of how jazz and classical music can be blended together. The whole idea for blogging this record actually came from hearing (on the recently blogged new Return To Forever album), their interpretation of "Concierto d'Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo which is probably the centerpiece of "Sketches of Spain" as a musical idea or project to begin with. The beauty in this record is surely in the arrangements and it has captivated jazz and surely classical fans (to an extent), and, it was one of the significant records in 1959 when jazz was at a peak in it's popularity.
The particular version of the record that is in my collection is the 50th anniversary edition. It is timeless and is a joy to listen to as I found it while I was still delving into Miles' groundbreaking electric fusion work which came a decade later. Here is the whole track listing for "Sketches of Spain". Jazz fans and music lovers, it cannot be overstated how important this album is in terms of Miles Davis' legacy. Definitely check it out if you haven't already. It is a listening experience in itself, the grandiose and yet beautiful arrangements that Davis and Evans came up with. So, that alone merits the record being listened to, rather than overly talked about.
The deluxe version of this record actually has alternate takes of different arrangements of the pieces, especially for Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" which is this centerpiece of the entire record. Rodrigo's piece is accompanied mostly by pieces arranged and written by Gil Evans except for "The Maids of Cadiz" starting off disc two, written by Leo Delibes, and, the closing track, "Teo", likely written by Davis himself.
Definitely check it out.
Disc 1
1. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)
2. Will O' the Wisp
3. The Pan Piper
4. Saeta
5. Solea
6. Song of Our Country
Disc 2
1. The Maids of Cadiz
2. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: rehearsal take)
3. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: alternate take)
4. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: alternate take #2) (this one has a real fanfare feel to it)
5. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: alternate ending)
6. The Pan Piper (take one)
7. Song of Our Country (take nine, without intro)
8. Song of Our Country (take fourteen, slower tempo)
9. Saeta (full version of Master)
10. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio) (live)
11. Teo
The particular version of the record that is in my collection is the 50th anniversary edition. It is timeless and is a joy to listen to as I found it while I was still delving into Miles' groundbreaking electric fusion work which came a decade later. Here is the whole track listing for "Sketches of Spain". Jazz fans and music lovers, it cannot be overstated how important this album is in terms of Miles Davis' legacy. Definitely check it out if you haven't already. It is a listening experience in itself, the grandiose and yet beautiful arrangements that Davis and Evans came up with. So, that alone merits the record being listened to, rather than overly talked about.
The deluxe version of this record actually has alternate takes of different arrangements of the pieces, especially for Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" which is this centerpiece of the entire record. Rodrigo's piece is accompanied mostly by pieces arranged and written by Gil Evans except for "The Maids of Cadiz" starting off disc two, written by Leo Delibes, and, the closing track, "Teo", likely written by Davis himself.
Definitely check it out.
Disc 1
1. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)
2. Will O' the Wisp
3. The Pan Piper
4. Saeta
5. Solea
6. Song of Our Country
Disc 2
1. The Maids of Cadiz
2. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: rehearsal take)
3. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: alternate take)
4. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: alternate take #2) (this one has a real fanfare feel to it)
5. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio: alternate ending)
6. The Pan Piper (take one)
7. Song of Our Country (take nine, without intro)
8. Song of Our Country (take fourteen, slower tempo)
9. Saeta (full version of Master)
10. Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio) (live)
11. Teo
Thursday, June 21, 2012
record collection revisited special edition: Return To Forever "The Mothership Returns"
This is a special article on a brand new album. Return To Forever "The Mothership Returns" has been released, documenting their 2011 tour from a couple of concerts. It's very sentimental for me in a way. Sorry to editorialize. But, if readers go back to the August 2011 section of this blog and look at the article "Returning To Forever" describing my experience with seeing the concert RTF played at the Orpheum Theater and meeting the band in a meet and greet afterward, they'll know why the music of this band is so important to me.
Listening to this album, all those fond memories come flooding back. The instrumental virtuosity between Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Frank Gambale and Jean Luc Ponty was stunning and listening to this record (if anyone had a chance to see RTF on their tour last year), will put a listener right back into the experience of the concert. ...And, for those who may be listening to the band for the first time, it will illustrate why they are still relevant in the music world today even though they've existed in one form or another since 1973, so, nearly four decades.
The discs were compiled by the band and took their best performances from the tour, putting them together into two CD's and a behind the scenes interview DVD. Listening to the record at least put me in a time machine all the way back to their concert in Minneapolis on August 24th, 2011. The set list is pretty much exactly the same as it was at that concert except for the addition of another tune the band played on their European leg and also later in the U.S. tour called "Beyond The Seventh Galaxy". Words cannot do justice to the music this band plays. It has to be experienced live or on record and I am not just making that claim for posterity or to brag. I wouldn't say that for no good reason.
So, not to give anything else away. But, here's the track listing for "The Mothership Returns" and again, if anybody reading this blog happened to see RTF on their tour, it will be VERY familiar.
Disc 1:
1. Medieval Overture
2. Senor Mouse
3. The Shadow of Lo/Sorceress (the first song was actually misprinted by the record company on it's original release and is supposed to be called The Shadow of Io).
4. Renaissance
Disc 2:
1. After The Cosmic Rain
2. The Romantic Warrior
3. Concierto de Aranjuez/Spain
4. School Days
5. Beyond The Seventh Galaxy
Listening to this album, all those fond memories come flooding back. The instrumental virtuosity between Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Frank Gambale and Jean Luc Ponty was stunning and listening to this record (if anyone had a chance to see RTF on their tour last year), will put a listener right back into the experience of the concert. ...And, for those who may be listening to the band for the first time, it will illustrate why they are still relevant in the music world today even though they've existed in one form or another since 1973, so, nearly four decades.
The discs were compiled by the band and took their best performances from the tour, putting them together into two CD's and a behind the scenes interview DVD. Listening to the record at least put me in a time machine all the way back to their concert in Minneapolis on August 24th, 2011. The set list is pretty much exactly the same as it was at that concert except for the addition of another tune the band played on their European leg and also later in the U.S. tour called "Beyond The Seventh Galaxy". Words cannot do justice to the music this band plays. It has to be experienced live or on record and I am not just making that claim for posterity or to brag. I wouldn't say that for no good reason.
So, not to give anything else away. But, here's the track listing for "The Mothership Returns" and again, if anybody reading this blog happened to see RTF on their tour, it will be VERY familiar.
Disc 1:
1. Medieval Overture
2. Senor Mouse
3. The Shadow of Lo/Sorceress (the first song was actually misprinted by the record company on it's original release and is supposed to be called The Shadow of Io).
4. Renaissance
Disc 2:
1. After The Cosmic Rain
2. The Romantic Warrior
3. Concierto de Aranjuez/Spain
4. School Days
5. Beyond The Seventh Galaxy
Monday, June 18, 2012
concert revisited: Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, Xcel Energy Center June 18, 2009
I had a chance on this date back in 2009 to see Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton perform at the Xcel Energy Center as part of their tour. It was the second time respectively that I'd seen both of them in concert. However, I had previously seen them on separate occasions. I saw Eric Clapton on his 2006/2007 world tour at the Xcel and Steve Winwood had opened for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at a show I saw them play at the Target Center in July, 2008.
The band they put together had five core members including Clapton on guitar, Steve Winwood on Hammond B3, piano, guitar, and vocals, Chris Stainton on B3 and piano, Willie Weeks on bass, Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums, and backing vocalists Michelle John and Sharon White. The set list that night was varied with many highlights including an acoustic set which Clapton always includes in his shows, and Steve Winwood playing "Georgia On My Mind" solo on the B3. Clapton and Winwood also tackled a great rendition of Jimi Hendrix' bluesy "Voodoo Chile" (not the classic guitar anthem "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", but rather, a blues tune.
The show was great in the sense that having a quintet format for the band made their sound very listenable and there were no distractions of extra instruments getting in the way. I previously reviewed on this blog, a live CD Clapton and Winwood did in 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City which had an identical set list. But this particular show was memorable because of the choice of songs that Clapton and Winwood decided to use, pulling from their own solo careers as well as from their short-lived super group, Blind Faith, and even some of Winwood's numbers from Traffic.
The set list that night was:
1. Had To Cry Today
2. Lowdown (J.J. Cale cover)
3. After Midnight (J.J. Cale cover)
4. Presence of the Lord
5. Sleeping In The Ground
6. Glad
7. Well Alright (Buddy Holly cover)
8. Tough Luck Blues (Big Maceo Merriweather cover)
9. Pearly Queen
10. Crossroads
11. No Face, No Name, No Number
12. Forever Man
13. Georgia On My Mind
14. Driftin'
15. How Long Blues
16. Layla (acoustic)
17. Can't Find My Way Home (acoustic)
18. Split Decision
19. Voodoo Chile
Encore:
20. Cocaine
21. Dear Mr. Fantasy
A great show mainly because of how Eric and Steve chose the songs to perform. Will the two of them collaborate for another tour in the future? That remains to be seen.
The band they put together had five core members including Clapton on guitar, Steve Winwood on Hammond B3, piano, guitar, and vocals, Chris Stainton on B3 and piano, Willie Weeks on bass, Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums, and backing vocalists Michelle John and Sharon White. The set list that night was varied with many highlights including an acoustic set which Clapton always includes in his shows, and Steve Winwood playing "Georgia On My Mind" solo on the B3. Clapton and Winwood also tackled a great rendition of Jimi Hendrix' bluesy "Voodoo Chile" (not the classic guitar anthem "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", but rather, a blues tune.
The show was great in the sense that having a quintet format for the band made their sound very listenable and there were no distractions of extra instruments getting in the way. I previously reviewed on this blog, a live CD Clapton and Winwood did in 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City which had an identical set list. But this particular show was memorable because of the choice of songs that Clapton and Winwood decided to use, pulling from their own solo careers as well as from their short-lived super group, Blind Faith, and even some of Winwood's numbers from Traffic.
The set list that night was:
1. Had To Cry Today
2. Lowdown (J.J. Cale cover)
3. After Midnight (J.J. Cale cover)
4. Presence of the Lord
5. Sleeping In The Ground
6. Glad
7. Well Alright (Buddy Holly cover)
8. Tough Luck Blues (Big Maceo Merriweather cover)
9. Pearly Queen
10. Crossroads
11. No Face, No Name, No Number
12. Forever Man
13. Georgia On My Mind
14. Driftin'
15. How Long Blues
16. Layla (acoustic)
17. Can't Find My Way Home (acoustic)
18. Split Decision
19. Voodoo Chile
Encore:
20. Cocaine
21. Dear Mr. Fantasy
A great show mainly because of how Eric and Steve chose the songs to perform. Will the two of them collaborate for another tour in the future? That remains to be seen.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Larry Carlton & Lee Ritenour "Take That"
Another HOT performance from their concert in Japan in 1995. This is Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour performing the tune, "Take That". The leads on this one are wicked! Check it out.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
record collection revisited: "Wanted: The Outlaws"
"Wanted: The Outlaws" was a revolutionary album in the world of country music when it was released in 1976. It marked a turning point in the genre where the artists were rebelling against the Nashville recording establishment wanting to record their own songs with their own bands instead of relying on Nashville arrangers and producers or studio bands to make the music that they created. There were four artists who recorded on this album who had the guts to say, "OK, we're going to do things our own way". Waylon Jennings, his wife Jessi Colter (a singer/songwriter in her own right), Willie Nelson, and singer/songwriter/producer Tompall Glaser who was in a group with his brothers called the Glaser Brothers.
This album was a monumental statement in the history of country & western music that paved the path to what a lot of the music has become in the last 30 years or so. It was Waylon and Willie along with other artists that came before them like Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Buck Owens, who wanted to pave their own way in country music in order to become stars, without a record executive telling them what to do. The business of country music was far behind that of other popular genres like rock and roll, or jazz, where artists could do what they wanted, whereas the country music community was controlled by a few different people at certain labels saying, "you've got to play the music a certain way, or you won't be successful."
1. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (Sharon Rice) Waylon Jennings
2. Honky Tonk Heroes (Billy Joe Shaver) Waylon Jennings
3. I'm Looking For Blue Eyes (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
4. You Mean To Say (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
5. Suspicious Minds (Mark James) Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter *this was also a hit song for Elvis Presley.
6. Good Hearted Woman (live) (Waylon Jennings) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
7. Heaven or Hell (Willie Nelson) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
8. Me and Paul (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
*This song was one Willie wrote about traveling with his longtime drummer, Paul English, out on the road.
9. Yesterdays Wine (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
10. T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1) (Jimmie Rodgers) Tompall Glaser
11. Put Another Log On The Fire (Shel Silverstein) Tompall Glaser
*Yes, this IS the same Shel Silverstein who also wrote poetry. It's called "the male chauvinist national anthem".
12. Slow Movin' Outlaw (Dee Moeller) Waylon Jennings
13. I'm A Ramblin' Man (Ray Pennington) Waylon Jennings
14. If She's Where You Like Livin' (You Won't Feel At Home With Me (Jessi Colter)
Jessi Colter
15. It's Not Easy (Frankie Miller) Jessi Colter
16. Why You Been Gone So Long (Mickey Newbury) Jessi Colter
17. Under Your Spell Again (Buck Owens) Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter
*This song was written and first made popular by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos.
18. I Ain't The One (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
19. You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
20. Healing Hands of Time (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
21. Nowhere Road *Bonus track (Reno Kling) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
*Steve Earle was the artist to make this song well known with his alternative country rock band, Steve Earle & The Dukes.
This is THE album that put country music on the map and helped to ensure it's popularity in the mainstream which still exists to this day. Today's country stars owe a debt of gratitude to the artists who recorded these songs as they cemented the genre's popularity. Check out, "Wanted: The Outlaws".
This album was a monumental statement in the history of country & western music that paved the path to what a lot of the music has become in the last 30 years or so. It was Waylon and Willie along with other artists that came before them like Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Buck Owens, who wanted to pave their own way in country music in order to become stars, without a record executive telling them what to do. The business of country music was far behind that of other popular genres like rock and roll, or jazz, where artists could do what they wanted, whereas the country music community was controlled by a few different people at certain labels saying, "you've got to play the music a certain way, or you won't be successful."
1. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (Sharon Rice) Waylon Jennings
2. Honky Tonk Heroes (Billy Joe Shaver) Waylon Jennings
3. I'm Looking For Blue Eyes (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
4. You Mean To Say (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
5. Suspicious Minds (Mark James) Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter *this was also a hit song for Elvis Presley.
6. Good Hearted Woman (live) (Waylon Jennings) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
7. Heaven or Hell (Willie Nelson) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
8. Me and Paul (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
*This song was one Willie wrote about traveling with his longtime drummer, Paul English, out on the road.
9. Yesterdays Wine (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
10. T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1) (Jimmie Rodgers) Tompall Glaser
11. Put Another Log On The Fire (Shel Silverstein) Tompall Glaser
*Yes, this IS the same Shel Silverstein who also wrote poetry. It's called "the male chauvinist national anthem".
12. Slow Movin' Outlaw (Dee Moeller) Waylon Jennings
13. I'm A Ramblin' Man (Ray Pennington) Waylon Jennings
14. If She's Where You Like Livin' (You Won't Feel At Home With Me (Jessi Colter)
Jessi Colter
15. It's Not Easy (Frankie Miller) Jessi Colter
16. Why You Been Gone So Long (Mickey Newbury) Jessi Colter
17. Under Your Spell Again (Buck Owens) Waylon Jennings & Jessi Colter
*This song was written and first made popular by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos.
18. I Ain't The One (Jessi Colter) Jessi Colter
19. You Left Me A Long, Long Time Ago (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
20. Healing Hands of Time (Willie Nelson) Willie Nelson
21. Nowhere Road *Bonus track (Reno Kling) Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
*Steve Earle was the artist to make this song well known with his alternative country rock band, Steve Earle & The Dukes.
This is THE album that put country music on the map and helped to ensure it's popularity in the mainstream which still exists to this day. Today's country stars owe a debt of gratitude to the artists who recorded these songs as they cemented the genre's popularity. Check out, "Wanted: The Outlaws".
Saturday, June 9, 2012
In memoriam: Les Paul
Inventor and musician Les Paul would be 97 years old today. Gibson guitar features an article all about his ten biggest hit songs he recorded with his wife of some time, and duet partner/vocalist, Mary Ford. Three of the songs featured in video in the article (which will be linked), are "Caravan", "How High The Moon", and "Vaya Con Dios". Music fans, peruse the article and check out the videos. I think you'll enjoy it.
http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/happy-birthday-les-paul-0608-2012.aspx
http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/happy-birthday-les-paul-0608-2012.aspx
Stanley Clarke & George Duke "Wild Dog"
This is a cool song. Stanley Clarke and jazz keyboardist George Duke collaborated in the 1980s for an album entitled "The Clarke/Duke Project" and this was one of the resulting tunes, entitled "Wild Dog". The combination of Clarke's bass playing and Duke's synthesizer mesh very well on this track. Might have to find more tracks that these two played together either in the studio, or, at live concerts.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Bering Strait: "Bearing Straight"
An interesting song from an interesting band. Bering Strait was a country music band from Russia who tried making it, but just released two or maybe three records before breaking up. I saw this video and immediately went out to buy their first record which I still have. This is a definite rarity. An instrumental song in modern country music. Way back when the genre first became popular in the 1920s and '30s, there were instrumental songs played by country bands, before the lyrics to the tune became the most important aspect. This track sounds a lot more like a rock and roll tune with some country elements thrown in like a fiddle and a resonator guitar. Will review the full album for Bering Strait in a future post. For now, enjoy this video.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
record collection revisited: The Highwaymen
Here I intend to look at three albums done by country music super group, the Highwaymen. This band is not to be confused with the folk group of the same name. It featured four legendary names. Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash. Three records were done by the group in the span of a decade along with them touring the world with a backing band that included some members of each musician's respective band.
The interesting part was that the four of them really enjoyed playing music together, but like anything good, it had to come to an end at some point in time and did so with their last record. "Highwayman" recorded in 1985, "Highwayman 2" recorded in 1990 and "The Road Goes On Forever", released in 1995. These albums combine the best of traditional country music and the rock and roll influenced songwriting and musical ideas that all four of these musicians pioneered in the '70s. Jennings, Nelson, Cash and Kristofferson share vocals on most of the tunes on each album.
Here are the track lists for each album. If you are a fan of country music and want to learn more about some of the genres legends, this is a good starting point to work backwards from. The song choices are very interesting as a lot come from the four legends themselves, or, are well chosen covers of tunes by songwriters that are very well written in a lyrical sense.
Highwayman (1985)
1. Highwayman (Jimmy Webb)
2. The Last Cowboy Song (Ed Bruce)
3. Jim, I Wore A Tie Today (Cindy Walker)
4. Big River (Johnny Cash)
5. Committed To Parkview (Johnny Cash)
6. Desperados Waiting For A Train (Guy Clark)
7. Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) (Martin Hoffman & Woody Guthrie) (feat. Johnny Rodriguez: guest vocal) *Guthrie wrote the lyrics to the tune.
8. Welfare Line (Paul Kennerley)
9. Against The Wind (Bob Seger)
10. The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over (John Prine)
Highwayman 2 (1990)
1. Silver Stallion (Lee Clayton)
2. Born and Raised in Black and White (Don Cook)
3. Two Stories Wide (Willie Nelson)
4. We're All In Your Corner (Buddy Emmons)
5. American Remains (Rivers Rutherford)
6. Anthem '84 (Kris Kristofferson)
7. Angels Love Bad Men (Roger Murrah)
8. Songs That Make A Difference (Johnny Cash)
9. Living Legend (Kris Kristofferson)
10. Texas (Willie Nelson)
The Road Goes On Forever (1995)
1. The Devil's Right Hand (Steve Earle)
2. Live Forever (Billy Joe Shaver)
3. Everyone Gets Crazy (Kevin Welch)
4. It Is What It Is (John "00" Fleming)
5. I Do Believe (Waylon Jennings)
6. The End of Understanding (Willie Nelson)
7. True Love Travels on a Gravel Road (Dallas Frazier)
8. Death and Hell (John Carter Cash) *this tune was written by Johnny Cash's only son. 9. Waiting For A Long Time (Stephen Bruton)
10. Here Comes Thar Rainbow Again (Kris Kristofferson)
11. The Road Goes On Forever (Robert Earl Keen Jr.)
Bonus Tracks (this version of the album is a 10th anniversary edition released in 2005).
12. If He Came Back Again (Barry Alfonso)
13. Live Forever (Johnny Cash acoustic reprise) (Billy Joe Shaver)
14. I Ain't Song (Waylon Jennings acoustic solo) (Waylon Jennings) *a satire on modern country music in the '90s.
15. Pick Up The Tempo (Willie Nelson acoustic performance) (Willie Nelson)
16. Closer To The Bone (Kris Kristofferson acoustic performance) (Kris Kristofferson)
17. Back In The Saddle Again (acoustic outtake) (Gene Autry)
The album ends with a cover of "Back In The Saddle Again", a song written by legendary singing cowboy, Gene Autry. The Highwaymen had a brief career together. But it was a prolific one with the music that they created on record or on concert tours. Country music fans, and fans of any kind of music, check them out.
The interesting part was that the four of them really enjoyed playing music together, but like anything good, it had to come to an end at some point in time and did so with their last record. "Highwayman" recorded in 1985, "Highwayman 2" recorded in 1990 and "The Road Goes On Forever", released in 1995. These albums combine the best of traditional country music and the rock and roll influenced songwriting and musical ideas that all four of these musicians pioneered in the '70s. Jennings, Nelson, Cash and Kristofferson share vocals on most of the tunes on each album.
Here are the track lists for each album. If you are a fan of country music and want to learn more about some of the genres legends, this is a good starting point to work backwards from. The song choices are very interesting as a lot come from the four legends themselves, or, are well chosen covers of tunes by songwriters that are very well written in a lyrical sense.
Highwayman (1985)
1. Highwayman (Jimmy Webb)
2. The Last Cowboy Song (Ed Bruce)
3. Jim, I Wore A Tie Today (Cindy Walker)
4. Big River (Johnny Cash)
5. Committed To Parkview (Johnny Cash)
6. Desperados Waiting For A Train (Guy Clark)
7. Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) (Martin Hoffman & Woody Guthrie) (feat. Johnny Rodriguez: guest vocal) *Guthrie wrote the lyrics to the tune.
8. Welfare Line (Paul Kennerley)
9. Against The Wind (Bob Seger)
10. The Twentieth Century Is Almost Over (John Prine)
Highwayman 2 (1990)
1. Silver Stallion (Lee Clayton)
2. Born and Raised in Black and White (Don Cook)
3. Two Stories Wide (Willie Nelson)
4. We're All In Your Corner (Buddy Emmons)
5. American Remains (Rivers Rutherford)
6. Anthem '84 (Kris Kristofferson)
7. Angels Love Bad Men (Roger Murrah)
8. Songs That Make A Difference (Johnny Cash)
9. Living Legend (Kris Kristofferson)
10. Texas (Willie Nelson)
The Road Goes On Forever (1995)
1. The Devil's Right Hand (Steve Earle)
2. Live Forever (Billy Joe Shaver)
3. Everyone Gets Crazy (Kevin Welch)
4. It Is What It Is (John "00" Fleming)
5. I Do Believe (Waylon Jennings)
6. The End of Understanding (Willie Nelson)
7. True Love Travels on a Gravel Road (Dallas Frazier)
8. Death and Hell (John Carter Cash) *this tune was written by Johnny Cash's only son. 9. Waiting For A Long Time (Stephen Bruton)
10. Here Comes Thar Rainbow Again (Kris Kristofferson)
11. The Road Goes On Forever (Robert Earl Keen Jr.)
Bonus Tracks (this version of the album is a 10th anniversary edition released in 2005).
12. If He Came Back Again (Barry Alfonso)
13. Live Forever (Johnny Cash acoustic reprise) (Billy Joe Shaver)
14. I Ain't Song (Waylon Jennings acoustic solo) (Waylon Jennings) *a satire on modern country music in the '90s.
15. Pick Up The Tempo (Willie Nelson acoustic performance) (Willie Nelson)
16. Closer To The Bone (Kris Kristofferson acoustic performance) (Kris Kristofferson)
17. Back In The Saddle Again (acoustic outtake) (Gene Autry)
The album ends with a cover of "Back In The Saddle Again", a song written by legendary singing cowboy, Gene Autry. The Highwaymen had a brief career together. But it was a prolific one with the music that they created on record or on concert tours. Country music fans, and fans of any kind of music, check them out.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Behind a Wall, Waters breaks down barriers through music
Pink Floyd’s 1979 record “The Wall” was their next to last
great, masterful composition with the full original band of Roger Waters, David
Gilmour, Rick Wright, and Nick Mason.
Since then, Gilmour and Waters have traveled very separate roads to
success despite a re-forming of Pink Floyd on a one-off occasion in 2005 for
the Live 8 concerts. Since that time,
Rick Wright has passed away and Roger Waters embarked upon two solo tours (The
Dark Side of the Moon, and his current tour, The Wall, which has spanned the
globe since 2010, making a return to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul to a
sold out crowd). The show was a musical
and theatrical spectacle, displaying an uncanny ability Waters has to tell a
story.
Three male backing vocalists sang the tracks originally sung
by David Gilmour on the album. Robbie
Wyckoff shared lead vocals with Roger Waters or sang parts originally done by
David Gilmour. On backing vocals were
John Joyce and, the Lennon brothers (Mark, Michael, and Kipp).
Guitarists Dave Kilminster, Snowy White and G.E. Smith
provided the fireworks originally laid down by Gilmour on the record and all
played with urgency, and soul, fitting the record to a T while showing their
own skill, and Roger’s son Harry took command of the Hammond B3 organ on the
whole list of songs but most notably playing the original organ line from the
song “Young Lust” in the first part of the set.
That was a highlight. The organ
parts rang through crisp, loud and clear while Waters on bass and Graham Broad
on drums held down the rhythm section.
The set list was the entirety of that album with its songs
about greed and the effects of it, alienation, loneliness, and the notion that
control in any way, shape or form (be it political manipulation by the
allegiance to ideologies of any kind and, manipulation of the corporatism that
takes hold in modern society), will build walls and ruin what a society could
or has become. There were signs flashed
on the makeshift wall reading slogans and messages like “your mother loves you”
during the performance of that song, “Mother” (the sixth track and end of the
first side of the album). Waters also sang a duet with himself telling the audience, "you are about to hear something we hope you like. It's me singing a duet with myself as you watch footage from "The Wall" tour in 1980."
The theme is that building walls will not help a society and
that using ideology to prove a point on political or worldly levels, can’t
always work and it will lead to chaos, war, and downfall of nations. Behind the pyrotechnics, the screaming guitars,
thundering drums, and the hypnotic whirling of the Hammond B3 and Leslie
speaker, this is the message of “The Wall” as an album which was brought home
in a major way through the live theatrical performance. Theatrical, because Waters intended for this
album to be a rock opera, and that’s what it turned out to be. There is a plot, a set of characters, and a
struggle for one character to overcome isolation in a world he cannot
understand.
Both government and corporatism are what Waters is railing
against in his angst as the album unfolds with the bombastic backdrop of a rock
and roll concert, pyrotechnics and flying pigs as the means to illustrate such
emotions. Take something to an extreme
to prove a point that this world can become way too extreme if people let it
and that politically manipulative views of any kind will build walls and tear
societies apart.
Despite the gloom of that reality portrayed in the recording
and in the live show, the music has a bright side to it through the technical
skill of the musicians playing it. So,
fans can appreciate and represent both sides of what the album is about and
that is what makes “The Wall” and its tour Waters is on right now, such a
rewarding experience. Here’s how the set
list and the album break down, so, this could also qualify as one of the
“record collection, revisited” pieces that are frequently posted in the blog,
but seen through an entirely different lens.
Set List
Set 1:
In The Flesh
The Thin Ice
Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
Mother
Goodbye Blue Sky
Empty Spaces
What Shall We Do Now?
Young Lust
One of My Turns
Don't Leave Me Now
Another Brick In The Wall Pt. 3
Last Few Bricks
Goodbye Cruel World
Set 2:
Hey You
Is There Anybody Out There?
Nobody Home
Vera
Bring The Boys Back Home
Comfortably Numb
Show Must Go On
In The Flesh
Run Like Hell
Waiting For The Worms
Stop
The Trial
Outside The Wall
At the end of the show,Waters introduced the band, thanking the crowd for accepting the music as it was played. Waters still has a passion for bringing the legend of Pink Floyd to life, and it showed on Sunday night in the whole production of "The Wall".
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