This week saw the reissue of Paul and Linda McCartney‘s album, RAM, originally released on May 21, 1971. It speaks to the period of Paul and Linda’s life when they spent a simple, happy time together on their farm on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland.
As I listen to the original twelve tracks many warm feelings come flooding back to me. Rosemary played this recording all the time when we were dating in 1971. It was an 8-track favorite in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo audio system.
Reel forward to 2012 where you now have the 24 Bit 96 kHz High Resolution digital edition which contains 8 bonus tracks plus 2 digital only tracks.
For the ultimate collector you also have the prized deluxe box set edition.
Sir Paul McCartney and the MPL Communications Ltd. team have performed a stellar job in unarchiving and packaging the McCartney catalog. RAM makes a fine addition to the deluxe box set series as Sir Paul explains:
Did you ever have one of those days that was as much a contact high as it was richly fulfilling. May 22, 2012 has been that day for music appreciation.
The day started on a high note and has been playing strong ever since. I was waiting for the morning coffee to kick in as The Howard Stern Show began its Rock Day over the Sirius/XM wireless radio. I quickly learned that Slash was coming into the studio to talk to Howard Stern to promote his new CD, Apocalyptic Love (5/22). His interview was as compelling as it was intimate. I’m listening to the replay of the interview as I write this post. Amazing musical career. I especially like his vocalist Myles Kennedy, their juxtaposition is striking
Slash’s interview was followed by Gregg Allman‘s in-studio appearance and interview in support of his new autobiography, My Cross to Bear.
Today was also the release date of the Tedeschi Trucks Band Live double CD, Everybody’s Talkin. I have my copy in my hot little hands and I can’t wait to start listening to it on the Bose Sound System after the Gregg Allman interview.
I am eager to relive some of the live tracks that were recorded at the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s concert we attended last year on October 29th in Bridgeport, CT along with all the other tracks. I have also downloaded the extra track, “Simple Song / Take You Higher”.
Here is the video of Everybody’s Talkin filmed at The Klein in Bridgeport, Ct.
We’re going to take a chance on the Queen Extravaganza event. I like what I am reading and seeing about this Queen Tribute Show. It’s rare when original members of a rock superstar group go to this length to arrange for this level of extravaganza. Never having seen Queen when they performed together, back in the day, its nice to have this opportunity to witness this event. Plus the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, CT is just a stones throw away so we must attend
The pairing of Roger Taylor and Brian May with American Idol proves to be a striking combination. If this segment is just a hint at the 2 hour, 40 song tribute show, then we’re in for a fascinating entertainment experience.
Two of Queen’s original band mates and songwriters—legendary guitarist Brian May and iconic drummer Roger Taylor—are the masterminds behind The Queen Extravaganza. Roger Taylor, Queen’s drummer is the show’s producer and music director.
To guarantee that the touring show matches the fabled design and excitement of Queen at its live best, Taylor has enlisted a heavyweight production team headed by stage designer Mark Fisher. Fisher has been responsible for some of the most memorable rock concerts ever staged, including The Wall for Pink Floyd and every Rolling Stones show since 1989.
“The Queen Extravaganza will not be like a traditional tribute show,” says Taylor. “It is a brand new show specially designed to enable these new fans, together with fans of old, to celebrate the music of Queen in a heart-stopping event. It’s going to be very spectacular, it’s going to be very visual, there are going to be some shocks and some tremendous surprises. It will be a rock celebration in the Royal tradition.”
The track on this compilation that I was unfamiliar with until the concert is “St. Charles”. I have come to appreciate this song immensely now.
Last week in concert an audience member shouted out “St. Charles” as a request and Paul Kanter and company went right with it. I love impromptu moments that take on other orders of magnitude. The Starship ensemble gave us a beautiful rendition of that song. I was swept along with the melody, vocals and the visual lyrics of this epic tale.
I find myself reaching for Neil Young’s Greatest Hits recording due to the simplicity of how it is put together.
Neil Young was methodical in his approach to his greatest hits. He long resisted the urge of Reprise Records to publish a greatest hits recording until 2004. The sequence of his hits has such a natural, evolutionary flow. It’s a prime example of how effortless a greatest hits recording should be for the listener.
I can’t wait to play it again on the way home from work today
I recall those halcyon days of pulsating hard rock in 1968 pounded out by the band Blue Cheer. I must admit that I could only tolerate so much of their sound at a time. It’s interesting what the mind rejects but the universe accepts.
Looking back on what Blue Cheer established has helped me to appreciate their role in the annals of rock music. Sprung from the loins of the psychedelic era in San Farncisco, the band is said to have been named after a street brand of LSD and promoted by renowned LSD chemist and former Grateful Dead patron, Owsley Stanley.
Blue Cheer clearly established heavy metal way before it had a moniker.
Vincebus Eruptum, Blue Cheer’s landmark 1968 debut, is widely regarded as ground zero of the heavy metal explosion. The album, featuring the classic Blue Cheer lineup of guitarist Leigh Stephens, bassist/vocalist Dickie Peterson and drummer Paul Whaley, includes the trio’s mind-melting reading of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues,” which became a Top 20 single.
I was watching the VH1 Classic channel today on cable. The series Metal Evolution produced and hosted by Sam Dunn, metalhead turned anthropologist produced lots of interesting video and interview footage.
My favorite interlude today was the episode ”Early Metal U.S.” which focused on Detroit, Michigan’s influence on metal music, in particular the significance of Alice Cooper.
Alice Cooper was signed by Frank Zappa for his Straight Records label. They produced surreal, experimental rock theater set against one of the tightest sounding rock bands ever. The band consisted of of Vincent Furnier (Alice Cooper) on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar and drummer Neal Smith. They were a monster of a band you immediately respected.
The recording that set me on my ear with Alice Cooper was Love It To Death. The hit, “I’m Eighteen” epitomized the dichotomy of being at 18 years old, both a boy and a man. I liked the irreverence of the cover photo where Alice Cooper stuck his thumb through the front of his pants to resemble a cock. The album played through so well you ended up loving it to death every time you played it. My second favorite song was the “Ballad of Dwight Frye“, being a melodrama film fan, I thought it was so cool that a band would perform a song about an actor who spent much of his life in an insane asylum. If you contrast Dwight Frye’s actual existence with the character, Renfield that he played in the Universal Studios class, Dracula, art imitated life. Who can forget that the hospital worker says, “He’s crazy” when asked about Renfield’s behavior at the asylum.
President Obama’s reelection team included Bruce Springsteen’s new single “We Take Care of Our Own” in the list of songs our President will use on the campaign trail.
Just the best song ever, Slash‘s opening guitar coda, Axl Rose‘s compelling vocal, is there any doubt why 36+ million people have listened to and viewed Guns and Roses‘s video, “Sweet Child O’ Mine“.
Yesterday would have been Janis Joplin‘s 69th birthday. Legacy Recordings took that opportunity to announce they will be repackaging a newly curated definitive two-disc edition of Joplin’s final studio album The Pearl Sessions. It contains newly discovered studio outtakes, live performances and other sonic rarities. It is due to be available on April 17, 2012.
The Pearl Sessions brings together, for the first time in one package, the original mono versions of the album’s 45s alongside the original LP tracks as well as the revelatory newly discovered alternate versions, outtakes and vocal takes of Pearl‘s classic tracks.
Disc One of The Pearl Sessions includes the original album as well as the original mono singles from the album.
Disc Two is a collection of behind-the-scenes recordings illuminating the Pearl sessions with highlights and insights revealed in candid studio dialogue, song demos and alternate takes including nine previously unissued tracks.
Columbia/Legacy Recordings recently announced the release of Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968, a previously unavailable live concert recording of Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, recorded June 23, 1968 by legendary sound man Owsley Stanley, a/k/a “Bear,” who supervised the mastering of this release before his fatal car accident on March 12, 2011, in his adopted homeland of Australia. Dedicated to Bear, the album will be released on March 13, 2012, marking the one-year anniversary of his passing.
The Pearl Sessions Track List:
Disc One
The Pearl Album
Move Over
Cry Baby
A Woman Left Lonely
Half Moon
Buried Alive In The Blues
My Baby Me and Bobby McGee
Mercedes Benz
Trust Me
Get It While You Can
Bonus Tracks – The Mono Single Masters
Me and Bobby McGee
Half Moon
Cry Baby
Get It While You Can
Move Over
A Woman Left Lonely
Disc 2 – The Pearl Sessions & more…
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 3) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 5) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Move Over (Take 6) (Previously unissued)
Move Over (Take 13) (Previously unissued)
Move Over (Take 17) (Previously unissued)
Me and Bobby McGee (Demo version)
Me and Bobby McGee (Take 5 – Alternate – Previously unissued)
Cry Baby (Alternate version)
A Woman Left Lonely (Alternate vocal)
Overheard in the Studio…
My Baby (Alternate take) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 3) (Previously unissued)
My Baby (Alternate take)
Pearl (Instrumental) – Full Tilt Boogie Band
Tell Mama (Live – June 28, 1970 – Toronto)
Just the best song ever, 
Columbia/Legacy Recordings recently announced the release of 
