High quality blog focusing on Country Rock, Folk, Southern Rock, Progressive Sounds and some Krautrock.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Kraftwerk - Die Mensch-Maschine / The Man-Machine (Remaster)
The Man-Machine is the seventh studio album by Kraftwerk, released in 1978. It was released in Germany as Die Mensch-Maschine. It features the song The Model which was a #1 single in the UK in 1982. It was the first album to see Karl Bartos co-credited with song-writing along with Hütter & Schneider. Emil Schult co-wrote the lyrics for The Model. The share includes both the remastered German release Die Mensch-Maschine and the remastered International release The Man-Machine.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Beach Boys - Christmas Album
Beach Boys' Christmas Album is the Christmas Album released in 1964. Containing five original songs and seven standards, the album proved to be a long-running success during subsequent Christmas seasons, initially reaching #6 in the US album chart in its year of release and eventually going gold. Christmas Day is noteworthy for being the first Beach Boys song to feature a lead vocal from Al Jardine.
This is the last Christmas album for this year, so we go back to our normal activities...
This is the last Christmas album for this year, so we go back to our normal activities...
Friday, December 11, 2009
Johnny Cash - The Christmas Spirit
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Neil Diamond - The Christmas Album Vol. 2
Neil Diamond's first Christmas album was a million-seller, but even so, it seemed a little bit soon to be releasing another one only two years later in 1994. Not that it much matters which Christmas season you release a Christmas album in. Working again with producer Peter Asher, Diamond addressed 15 seasonal songs that hadn't made it onto the first album, sometimes coming up with unusual arrangements, such as a barbershop quartet version of a medley of Deck The Halls/We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a reggae version of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer complete with exhortationsmore… to children everywhere. But, especially toward the end of the album, Diamond took a more traditional approach, singing some of the more religious Christmas songs with an orchestra and chorus.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Neil Diamond - The Christmas Album
Neil Diamond's The Christmas Album were released in 1992. He plays it relatively straight on Silent Night and The Christmas Song, but really lets loose on a version of White Christmas that recalls the doo-wop of his teen years in the 1950s. He even expands his palette to include a choir-accompanied take on John Lennon's classic Happy Christmas.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Johnny Cash - Country Christmas
Friday, December 4, 2009
Beatles - The Ultimate Christmas Collection
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Moody Blues - December
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Brian Wilson - What I Really Want For Christmas
What I Really Want for Christmas is Brian Wilson's ninth official solo album and his first seasonal release. It was released by Arista in October 2005 and features many traditional Christmas songs, as well some of Wilson's originals, including remakes of the Beach Boys Little Saint Nick and The Man with All the Toys. As a bonus, Wilson elected to include a sampling of seasonal recordings initially available on his website a few years earlier.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Linda Ronstadt - A Merry Little Christmas
A Merry Little Christmas is Linda Ronstadt's Christmas album, released in 2000. It was the final release under Ronstadt's recording contract with Elektra.
It was the biggest-selling Christmas album of the 2000 season. It peaked at #179 on Billboard's main album chart and has continued to sell year in and year out. Among the highlights of this disc are Ronstadt's duet with the late Rosemary Clooney on the perennial track White Christmas and her ultra-somber interpretation of Joni Mitchell's River.
It was the biggest-selling Christmas album of the 2000 season. It peaked at #179 on Billboard's main album chart and has continued to sell year in and year out. Among the highlights of this disc are Ronstadt's duet with the late Rosemary Clooney on the perennial track White Christmas and her ultra-somber interpretation of Joni Mitchell's River.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
White, Clarence - Tuff & Stringy
In the CD Booklet you can find the following information:
Clarence White needs no introduction.
This is a collection of rare singles, demos and studio outtakes. It's not claiming to make a definitive statement upon his career or to represent his best work. The purpose of this collection is to shed some light on two short years that were a pivotal stage in his development as a guitarist but also as an artist. This is also the story of a group of musicians, producers, family and friends- Kentucky Colonels, Reasons, Byrds, Gary Paxton, Gene Parsons,Gib Guilbeau et al. that surrounded Clarence White.
Requested by user
Clarence White needs no introduction.
This is a collection of rare singles, demos and studio outtakes. It's not claiming to make a definitive statement upon his career or to represent his best work. The purpose of this collection is to shed some light on two short years that were a pivotal stage in his development as a guitarist but also as an artist. This is also the story of a group of musicians, producers, family and friends- Kentucky Colonels, Reasons, Byrds, Gary Paxton, Gene Parsons,Gib Guilbeau et al. that surrounded Clarence White.
Requested by user
Monday, November 23, 2009
Update Kraftwerk - Computerwelt/Computer World
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Poco - Cantamos
Poco's 1974 release Cantamos is their 8th and the main album of Poco's Timothy B. Schmit phase. Both Ritchie Furay(1973) and Jim Messina(1971) already had left the band. So some changes took place, but again Poco were able to release a fine country rock album.
Line-up:
Rusty Young(v,g,steel) Paul Cotton(v,g)
Timothy B. Schmit(v,b) George Grantham(d)
Line-up:
Rusty Young(v,g,steel) Paul Cotton(v,g)
Timothy B. Schmit(v,b) George Grantham(d)
Friday, October 30, 2009
McGuinn, Roger Limited Edition
Roger McGuinn is well known as ex-leader of the Byrds and his trademark the electric twelve string guitar.
Limited Edition is a CD rich in Rickenbacker " Jingle Jangle",including five electrified folk and blues songs,seven new songs written by McGuinn and his wife Camilla and a tribute to his inspiration George Harrison, If I Needed Someone.
This CD came out after the compilation of some of his favorite Folk Den songs.
Roger McGuinn has been recording traditional folk songs for his on line project The Folk Den since 1995.(http://folkden.com) The songs are available for free download with lyrics and stories about the songs.
On Limited Edition are the next musicians:Roger McGuinn,Pedro Araujo,Delyn Christian,John Jorgensen,Curt Keidser,Kammy Kolorado,Bill Lee,Stan Lynch.
The album was produced by Roger and Camilla Mcguinn.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Blues Band - Part III
Kraftwerk - Autobahn (Remaster)
The release of Autobahn in 1974 saw the band moving away from the sound of their earlier albums. They invested in newer technology such as a Minimoog, helping give them a newer, disciplined sound. Autobahn would also be the last album that Conny Plank would engineer. After the commercial success of Autobahn, the band invested money into updating their studio. At this time the painter and graphic artist Emil Schult became a regular collaborator with the band, working alongside the band. Schult designed artwork in addition to later writing lyrics and accompanying the group on tour. The now regarded classic line-up of Kraftwerk was formed in 1975 for the Autobahn tour. During this time, the band were presented as a quartet, with Hütter and Schneider joined by Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos, hired as electronic percussionists. This quartet would be the band's public persona for its renowned output of the latter 1970's and early 1980's. Flür had already joined the band in 1973, in preparation for a television appearance to promote Kraftwerk's third album.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Emmylou Harris - Gliding Bird
Emmylou Harris typically omits 1970's Gliding Bird from her discography; her first album was issued on the folk label Jubilee, which filed for bankruptcy within weeks of the LP's release. Cut before her tenure with Gram Parsons, it's a straightforward folk effort, owing more to Joni Mitchell than anything else; although most of the songs were composed by Tom Slocum, Harris' first husband, there are also a number of ill-suited covers, including Hank Williams' I Saw the Light and the Bacharach/David composition I'll Never Fall in Love Again.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Blues Band - Part II
1983 Brand Loyalty
1986 These Kind of Blues
1989 Back for More
1995 Wireless
In 1982 Hugh Flint left, and ex-Family drummer Rob Townsend filled the gap. They briefly disbanded later that year after recording of 1983's Brand Loyalty and a live album, but reformed soon afterwards. The Blues Band have remained a constant factor on the music scene ever since, unfazed by lack of chart success, happy to combine a regular schedule of touring and recording around their other commitments.
Paul Jones, Tom McGuinness and Rob Townsend are also members of The Manfreds, a virtual reincarnation of Manfred Mann, though because of the non-participation of the eponymous keyboard player of the 1960's outfit, legal reasons and courtesies require them to assume the name The Manfreds. Jones and Kelly sometimes play gigs as a duo, and Kelly performs with the Dave Kelly Band.
PS: Manfred Mann, Paul Jones & Tom McGuinness in one lineup again would be the nicest thing to have.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Blues Band - Part I
The Blues Band were formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead singer and harmonica player with Manfred Mann in the 60's, and guitarist Dave Kelly. Also in the band’s first line-up were bassist Gary Fletcher, Jones’s former Manfred Mann colleague, guitarist Tom McGuinness, and drummer Hugh Flint, the two latter having been the mainstay of McGuinness Flint before.
Their first album, The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, a mixture of blues standards and original songs – notably the Paul Jones-Tom McGuinness cut Come On In, and their long-standing stage favourite Flatfoot Sam - initially attracted no interest from major labels, so they pressed a limited run of 3,000 themselves, hand-stamped their logo on the cardboard sleeve, and signed them all. After unqualified endorsement from BBC Radio 1 and others, media interest resulted in a contract with Arista records, who gave the album an official release.
Their first album, The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, a mixture of blues standards and original songs – notably the Paul Jones-Tom McGuinness cut Come On In, and their long-standing stage favourite Flatfoot Sam - initially attracted no interest from major labels, so they pressed a limited run of 3,000 themselves, hand-stamped their logo on the cardboard sleeve, and signed them all. After unqualified endorsement from BBC Radio 1 and others, media interest resulted in a contract with Arista records, who gave the album an official release.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Linda Ronstadt - Don't Cry Now
Don't Cry Now (1973) is Linda Ronstadt's fourth release. The tracks on Don't Cry Now were produced individually, some by John Boylan; some by John David Souther; and by British arranger Peter Asher, former member of the 60's folk duo Peter & Gordon. Asher was the head of A&R for Apple Records prior to his move to USA.
The album contains three songs composed by Souther, one by Randy Newman, a cover of a Neil Young ballad, one originally from the Flying Burrito Brothers, and a version of the Eagles' Desperado, which the band had released earlier that year.
The album contains three songs composed by Souther, one by Randy Newman, a cover of a Neil Young ballad, one originally from the Flying Burrito Brothers, and a version of the Eagles' Desperado, which the band had released earlier that year.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Mother Jane - Comes Alive
Klaus Hess, German guitarist known from Hannover based 70's act Jane, formed Mother Jane in 1993. Comes Alive is their 2002 live release. The CD features Klaus Hess (guitar, vocals) - Klaus Henatsch (keyboards) - Kai Schiering (bass,vocals) - Jaye (drums). In 2009 Mother Jane released a all new CD In Dreams.