Grateful Dead

A day of eclecticity - it's a word? No se. Duke Ellington "The OK Ellington" 6/12/30 Anita O'Day "Anita" 6/12/55 Oscar Pettiford "Deep Passion" 6/12/56 (This one grows on you) Dinah Shore "Dinah Sings, Previn Plays" 6/12/59 What? Grant Green "Solid" 6/12/64 Hot, hot, hot!!! Grateful Dead Boston Music Hall 6/12/76 (the savory snippet from the Road Trips)

Mission In The Rain Jerry in sweet voice - possibly the best Mission the Dead ever did... 36 years ago today! (Hey GDean, did you get your ticket yet for Bobby, Zimmy and MMJ yet? Sounds like heaven for you!)

Southeastern On first blush, more singer-songwriterly than his previous albums. Isbell was always going to be the George Harrison songwriter in Drive-By Truckers, I think, so busting out of the band is looking like a pretty good career move for him and for us.

So I was in the record store over the weekend (an actual "record" store; this place only carries CDs for local artists) and came across something that caught my eye: "1 2 3" by Serge Gainsbourg. The name rang slightly as something I've heard before, but what really caught my attention is the following description: "A collection of Serge Gainsbourg's legendary first three albums, originally released in 1958 (Du Chant à la une!), 1959 (N° 2), and 1961 (L'Étonnant Serge Gainsbourg), and all hailing from a time when Gainsbourg was still just another struggling chansonnier. In fact, success initially eluded the young Gainsbourg, but early classics like "Le Poinçonneur des Lilas," and "La Chanson de Prévert," give listeners a taste of the immense talent that was still lurking in the shadows of a smoky cabaret. Bonus CD of the albums!" The 12" 45 RPM LPs themselves are on 180 gram high-quality vinyl, though I have yet to play them on my turntable. The bonus CD does indeed contain all 3 albums, and they are absolutely magnificent albums. I'm a huge jazz fan and have been since I was a kid, and Gainsbourg's early work is very reminiscent of that music. If you can find this one and you're into that style of music, get this release. I can't speak a lick of French much less understand the language, but the music itself is out of this world!

Listening to "Live at Hull 1970," which, if what I'm reading is correct, was recorded two or three days after the legendary "Live at Leeds" album. I love this band, and I have since childhood. My mom actually got to meet the original members of the band back in the late '60s when they played Louisiana, and she has all their autographs. She's been a fan for YEARS. I used to have "Live at Leeds," which legitimately earned its title of "Best Live Album of All Time," and "Live at Hull 1970" captures that same level of energy that was heard at Leeds a few days prior. Where I feel this album falls a tad short is it provides a complete performance of 'Tommy' from beginning to end. The more I go back and listen to the Who's catalogue, the more I realize that Pete wrote a lot of great songs, a lot of really good songs, and a lot of songs that are just good. 'Tommy', while epic as one of the first "rock operas," has a lot of "good" songs that strive for greatness and, as a collective, come close to achieving said greatness, but make for a slightly awkward and rather disjointed live show as a whole. And the show concert gets off to a slow start, taking three or four songs to build up steam. Regardless, this is yet another powerhouse performance from one of the greatest bands on the planet. Probably not an essential show for the average fan, but collector's will want to get their hands on this one, especially those who crave any and every live performance they can get their hot little hands on. This was released previously, though, on the super deluxe edition of "Live at Leeds"; it's discs three and 4our, I believe. I guess someone decided it needed its own release (though I would disagree)....

It took me about 30 years, but I've come to love the music of Pink Floyd. The quirkyness of their early Barrett days, the murkiness that led to "The Dark Side of the Moon" and their subsequent superstardom, and even up to their demise in the mid '90s. When you think about it, the band had a lot of staying power in spite of all the inner turmoil, and they came darn close to celebrating 30 years together before they finally retired the floating pig. David Gilmour is without a doubt amongst my Top 10 Guitarists of All Time, but I feel like he was a bit in over his head taking over the band after Roger left. To me, Mr. Waters is an underappreciated songwriter, and while Dave got to hang around with the core member of the band for a LONG TIME, I don't think he ever fully understood what the character of Pink Floyd was all about. He was, after all, primarily a blues guitarist, and "A Momentary Lapse of Reason" and "The Division Bell" have a distinct blues feel to them. For Pink Floyd, anyway. Don't get me wrong, they're solid records, and better than "The Final Cut," but they have a hard time bookending the band's overall catalogue. Personally, I almost prefer their earlier albums where the band was more prog and less rock, where they like to experiment with various sounds and how it all came together. "Meddle" doesn't get enough credit for its sheer grandeur. I just love those Side 2-long jams!

http://www.dead.net/features/gdhour To Wednesdays~ Clink, ahhhhhhh

The 40th anniversary edition of "Aqualung" to be precise. I recently came across a beautiful little windfall of free vinyl a couple weeks back--one of the houses in my 'hood had a bunch of old LPs on the front lawn (among other stuff that failed to catch my eye) with a sign that said "Free, Please Take!". Which I did and came home with a nice armful of nigh-mint condition records (not the sleeves, though). Amongst my haul was 2 Tull LPs, "Aqualung" and "A Passion Play." I snagged the 40th anniversary edition from the library but haven't listened to the actual record yet. I should list the haul in its entirety in that new "vinyl fanatics" thread. And I should get back to listening to them when I have the time. To see these records, you'd think they were brand new!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8aEvRJPwE0

6/03/76 Paramount Theatre What a perfect time to resume their odyssey - it seems I'm always listening to '72, '69, '77 at this time of year, and then this rascal comes along for the old knuckle-curve-splitter!!!