2/17/2010
1/29/2010
Ice on the Humber
Hey... I'm still here just swamped .. keep hiting the links and I will post somthing soon.
Keep well
12/23/2009
ReGift for Christmas 2009 - Christmas Covers 2008 (Re-Post)
Horrible photo, I know, but I wanted to show you what my neighbours house looks like. We have tour buses, cars, police cars, and pedestrians on our street just to see this Christmas display. They do it for charity, I think they are raising funds for Sick Kids Hospital. It is overpowering but not to bad, it's just that when you drive up to the house your blinded by the lights of the display and cars that are parked looking at the house.
Anyway, I wanted to regift from last year one of my favorite Christmas songs and covers of it.
Enjoy:
This year I have decided to be the evil dad who wraps the gifts so no one can figure out what they got. Each one of the links above is a cover of Fairytale of New York, in my opinion one of the most powerful Christmas song to come out of the last thirty years. It expressed the love/hate that we all have for this time of year.
Enjoy the season, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and whatever else you might be celebrating.
12/22/2009
Give it all you got, or forget about it - Joe Strummer (1952-2002).
Bhopal disaster, Montreal Massacre, the 2004 Tsunami, John Lennon's death and the death of Joe Strummer. I know, I know, their deaths can't compare to these horrible tragedies, but they were turning points on how people looked at the world and defined were they stood at that time.
All I can say is I miss Joe's talent.
When you listen remember Joe.
The Clash - Hateful
Kid Dynamite - Hateful
The Clash - Career Opportunities (Live)
? - Career Opportunities
The Clash - London's Burning
Silverchair - London's Burning
The Clash - Spanish Bombs
We Have Ears - Spanish Bombs
Strummerville.com Winter Sessions - Free Download, Check the website
12/06/2009
John Lennon
This is a day that sucks, 29 years ago .. John Lennon was shot and killed, a normal guy who got famous because he was a poet. A nutcase became jealous of him , a stalker who shot John for no better reason than he wanted to be more famous then his victim.
John Lennon was a poet, an artist, a catalyst for a generation/generations to question the ways and whys of how things are supposed to be done. He was no saint, he was a regular guy who was able to find words what we all felt.
It just sucks that he is no longer here.
Take a few minutes and remember the first time you heard a Lennon song.
Los Lonely Boys - Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
Television Personalities - Fashion Conscious: The Little Teddy Years Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
John Lennon and Elton John - Walls And Bridges (2005 Re-Master) Whatever Gets You Thru The Night [Live]
12/02/2009
The Originals & The Covers
(9:03 am all broken links are fixed, sorry about that.)
I just finished watch The Ed Sullivan Show (the show - Ed Sullivan Rock 'n Roll Classics: the 60's) was on PBS, they are on their cash drive again. So of course they have programs I want to watch. Anyway they showed Tommy James and the Shondells doing Crimson & Clover and how the next day it hit #1 on the US music charts. This got me thinking of a bunch of different things. Programs like Sullivan's really did promote record sales, it was free publicity for the artist and the record company. The program would draw a large audience, especially if they promoted the hell out of it during the week, and the advertiser sponsoring the show would be happy with the reach of their adds. The audience would get their fix of the favorite rock acts. A nice complete circle where everyone gets what they want.
Do we have any variety shows like this now. In Canada we don't, I don't think the states does either. Not sure of the rest of the world. I know, I know ... Saturday Night Live, Letterman, Jimmy Fallon and the other late shows have bands on. But not like it was with Sullivan, Sonny and Cher or Donny and Marie. We sat around the TV as a family watching these shows and the music reached a larger audience, it wasn't narrow casted to a limited audience. I think the TV market has become to saturated with shows to have the kind of effect that Sullivan once had on the music industry. It's a shame.
Also while watching the show I got to thinking... Damn, Joan Jett covered most of these tunes. So for your listening pleasure, The Originals & The Covers.
Enjoy.
Tommy James and the Shondells - Crimson & Clover
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - Crimson & Clover (live in NY 1982)
Sly & The Family Stone - Everyday People
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - Everyday People
The origional is not from the Ed Sullivan show time period, I just like it a lot.
The Arrows - I Love Rock & Roll
Joan Jett - I Love Rock & Roll
11/12/2009
Wolfmother - The Kool Haus - 11/11/09
The show lasted just over two hours, if it had gone any longer I don't think I would hear ever again. They closed the encore with Joker and the Thief , which really got the audience going out on a high note.
I have to say this for his new backing band, we are not missing out by losing the original members. Its a shame to see them go. But the bassist/keyboard player, Ian Peres, was awesome. I swear the guy head banged more then the people in the audience, but never missed a beat, and what he could do with the Moog, WOW!!!
The drummer, Dave Atkins, is in the line of Bonham and Moon. A "Banger", huge meaty drum sticks banging and crashing down onto the head and cymbals, creating a deep dark bass thrum in the concert hall.
Enjoy the following
11/06/2009
11/04/2009
10/30/2009
10/14/2009
Hey welcome to mid month October, the air is colder, the leaves are changing colour, the Maple Leafs still suck .. So whats new.. nothing. No time to post, no time to research.
History behind "It Ain't Easy", I'd always thought it was a old blues song, who knew.
Enjoy.....
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust - It Ain't Easy
Dave Edmunds - Rockpile - It Ain't Easy
Long John Baldry - It Ain't Easy - It Ain't Easy
The Ranconteurs - Zane Lowe BBC Sessions 2006 - It Ain't Easy (Live BBC)
It Ain't Easy Lyrics - Ron Davies
When you climb to the top of the mountain
Look out over the sea
Think about the places perhaps, where a young man could be
Then you jump back down to the rooftops
Look out over the townT
hink about all of the strange things circulating round
It ain't easy, it ain't easy
It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down
Well all the people have got their problems
That ain't nothing new
With the help of the good Lord
We can all pull on throughWe can all pull on through
Get there in the end
Sometimes it'll take you right up and sometimes down again
It ain't easy, it ain't easy
It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down
Satisfaction, satisfaction
Keep me satisfied
I've got the love of a Hoochie Koochie woman
She calling from inside
She's a-calling from inside
Trying to get to you
All the woman really wants you can give her something too
It ain't easy, it ain't easy
It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down
It ain't easy, it ain't easy
It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down
9/29/2009
I haven't posted very much over the last few months so here's a gift, southern ontario punk rock from the late 1970's.
These bands all formed in '75/'76, the colonies/the poor northern cousins answer to DIY bands coming out the US and the UK. It seems that there was a seed in music in that time period that germinated at the same time in western speaking countries. Why?, (in Canada it was CANCON) who knows but the late 1970's was a very rich time for music and the creative spirit. Enjoy.
The Viletones - Screamin Fist.mp3
Forgotten Rebels - Surfing on Heroin.mp3
Diodes - Tired of Waking up Tired.mp3
The Demics - New York City.mp3
Teenage Head - Picture My Face.mp3
There is a heck of a lot more great bands from this time, all you have to do is dig for them.
9/22/2009
I know I haven't posted any music for a while .. sorry about that, but been busy .. I got this email a short while ago. You may want to log in a listen.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Last minute update... Bebel Gilberto, Brazilian singer-songwriter and daughter of the great songwriter Joao Gilberto, and Tom Moon, author of "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die" are joining WNYC's Soundcheck at the Greene Space for a discussion on the shrinking generation gap between parents and their children and the musical inheritances that are taking place.
Then... Rosanne Cash will perform songs from her new album The List. This takes place at 2 pm EDT Wednesday, September 23rd (yes, TOMORROW!). Here's the link you should post for the live videocast of the entire show:
http://www.thegreenespace.org/thegreenespace/
Thanks,
brittany lambertus publicist rock paper scissors, inc.
http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/... music of global significance...
This email was sent by: rock paper scissors, inc. 511 W. 4th St., Suite 2 Bloomington, IN, 47404, USA
8/24/2009
I have been working on this blog for like a year and I have only 48 posts, that sucks. But in all reality I have been downloading and listening to some great music. I enjoy posting music, and finding covers of songs that I like, and sometimes I might come up with something interesting to say about music. Cool. That's why I am doing this. Or at least I think that is why I am doing this.
Anyway here is something I'm going to try and work on for the next while. I put before you this hypothesis ....
Modern Popular Music (from Rock'n Roll, R&B, Pop, Metal, Death Metal, Rap, Hip Hop, Funk etc) Would Not Exist Without American Race Radio.
How is that for a statement. Do you think I can prove it? Well I am going to try, because I do believe that it is a fact. Now onto research, I will post my findings over the next while.
I received two emails today that made me feel kind of good, I have been asked to review some new music. I've received a few in the past but have never done anything about it. I know, I know, every music blog receives these emails. Some Record company PR guy grabs as many emails as he can, then mass mails requests for reviews. but I think I will give it a try. Let me know what you think when I'm done.
I seem to have a following of people coming by, not for my post, but to find out what other music bloggers I link to are doing. Kind of funny isn't.
Enjoy the covers!
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Down By The River Live at River Bend Music Center, Cincinnati Ohio, Hordefest mp3
Buddy Miles - Down By The River
Low - Down By The River
Indigo Girls - Down By The River
8/19/2009
7/22/2009
Covers Collection of Summer
(I really am just a lazy bugger and have been downloading audio books (mp3) like crazy. I do have a moral dilemma about this, I am only downloading copies of books that I already own {I read a book 5 or 6 times before I can say I am happy with it, its like watching a movie over and over again because you really enjoy it.} The dilemma is that I have already paid for the book, I can go to a library and borrow these audio books anytime I want, but should I be downloading them as the company that owns the rights to the audio book are not being paid and therefore the Writer who wrote the book is not getting their royalty cut. Moral dilemma)
Anyway, my Eldest (He is 17 years old and really likes Children of Bodom, and is really impressed that they are going to release a covers cd), he and I had a really interesting conversation the other day about how in the beginning of the record industry that records were sold and recorded mostly on a regional basis. A record company would pay for the rights to a popular song (look up Tin Pan Alley for the US and I'm not sure what the UK/Australian/European comparisons would be, I am so Americanized in my history of popular culture, even though I am Canadian.) and then hire a regional artists to sing and play on the recording. The song may have been made popular on a national radio show (look up the history of radio) , or a piece that had been in the market place for a number of years and a arranger coming up with a new take on it.
Anyways, you could end of having multiple versions of the same song being played all over the continent and what would happen was that one version would embed it self in popular culture. There were definite examples of this in what was called Race Music and Popular Music in the states. Anyone know what it was like in other parts of the world?
You can see this happening again with musicians, take a look at the track list from that Children of Bodom album, or go and do a search of cover blogs. I think its interesting that Paul McCartney has to pay Michael Jackson (now his estate) every time he wants to play a Beatles song that is in that library of music that the estate owns, it must really burn a hole in his guts. What will happen in 30 years when some band wants to do covers of the Black Eyed Peas, Backstreet Boys or Jonas Brothers .. who owns the rights to their music?
Enjoy your summer, if your having one! It's been cloudy and cold here. Enjoy the covers.
Eddie Cochran -> Summertime Blues
Bobby Fuller -> Summertime Blues
Blue Cheer -> Summertime Blues
The Who -> Summertime Blues
T-Rex -> SummerTime Blues
Levon Helm -> Summertime Blues
Joan Jett -> SummerTime Blues
Rush -> Summertime Blues
The Ordinary Boys -> Summertime Blues
Guitar Wolf -> SummerTime Blues (thanks Nazz Nomad)
7/01/2009
Happy Canada Day
A wide and varied collection of Canadian artists for you on Canada Day 2009, One Hundred and Forty Two years old... Happy Birthday Canada.
Viletones - I hate You-Without You
The Real McKenzies - Ceilidh
Cancer Bats - Sorceress
Die Mannequin - Do It Or Die
Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown
Neil Young - Tonights the Night
The Diodes - Tired of Waking Up Tired
Forgotten Rebels - Homosexual Murder
The Demics - New York City
Avril Lavigne - Imagine
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
Steppenwolf - Sookie Sookie
Rush - The Spirit Of Radio
OLP - Naveed
Teenage Head - Top Down
Sum 41 - Fat Lip
Payolas - China Boys
Trooper - Raise a Little Hell
Martha & the Muffins - Echo Beach
Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
Jeff Healey Band - All Along The Watchtower(live)
The Guess Who - American Woman
Pursuit of Happiness - Cigarette Dangles
Great Big Sea - Mari-Mac
Tragically Hip - New Orleans Is Sinking
Spirit Of the West - Home for a Rest
Doug & the Slugs - Making it Work
Barenaked Ladies - If I Had $1000000
Enjoy! Raise a cool one to Canada.