MetaFilter posts tagged with Blues and rock

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

nebulawindphone — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:51:03 -0800

"She was a rock star," recalls Ira Tucker Jr., who grew up watching Tharpe with his father's gospel group in the 1940s and '50s. "You know, like Beyonce today and people like that. That's what Rosetta was to us." Sister Rosetta Tharpe wasn't the first one to bring black popular music into the church. (Here's the great Arizona Dranes playing barroom honky-tonk piano on the gospel side I Shall Wear a Crown in 1927.) But her fierce stage presence and her original blend of gospel, boogie-woogie, swing and smoking hot blues guitar was a crucial forgotten influence on what we now recognize as rock and roll. (Many more recordings inside. Enjoy!) If you're here for the electric guitar action, you'll want the Red Foley duet and the '60s TV appearances. My personal favorites are the stunning acoustic duets she recorded a decade or two earlier with the Sanctified gospel shouter Marie Knight — try "Up Above my Head" and "Daniel in the Lion's Den." But her range was incredible, everything she recorded was excellent, and comparing her late electric recordings with the earlier versions is a hoot if you're into that sort of thing. Early success with Lucky Millinder's big band: The Lonesome Road (scantily clad dancing girls at 0:45!), Four or Five Times, Trouble in Mind Mid-40s boogie-woogie gospel mega-hit: Strange Things Happening Every Day With Marie Knight in the late '40s: Up Above My Head, Beams of Heaven, My Journey to the Sky, Daniel in the Lion's Den [scroll down to the 7th set] With jubilee singers The Dependable Boys: Everybody's Going to Have a Wonderful Time Up There, My Lord's Gonna Move This Wicked Race, Down By the Riverside Her SCANDALOUS! return to blues in the '50s: Don't Leave Me Here to Cry Duet with country and rockabilly star Red Foley: Have a Little Talk with Jesus Straight-up church choir gospel from the '60s: I Do, Don't You, Seeking for Me, Lily of the Valley TV appearances from the '60s blues revival: Didn't It Rain, Trouble in Mind, Up Above My Head, Down By the Riverside Bonus — the Harmonizing Four singing at Tharpe's stadium-concert-slash-wedding in '51: Mighty Long Way. Sadly, no video. But how rock-star is that?

クレイジーケンバンド!

ardgedee — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:25:56 -0800

The Crazy Ken Band! Cool and Hot! Swinging horns! Groovy chicks! Fast cars! Danger! Crazy! CRAZY! Respect! Otosan A fan's Apple iTunes commercial parody, plus a cat jumping out of an orange For a dozen years they've been mining rich veins of rockabilly, jumping jive, Henry Mancini's jazz soundtracks, Detroit muscle cars and trad Japanese music. But nevermind that right now. Even their product endorsements are cool: Hallelujah Xmas! Hemi Hemi Dodge Cruising! Crazy Ken even digs hip-hop: m-flo loves Nomiya Maki & Crazy Ken Band Cosmic Night Run! (and again, live!) Apologies for my not knowing the slightest bit of Japanese. Hover over the links for whatever info I could make up.

The Green Manalishi with a two prong crown

445supermag — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:48:26 -0800

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, formed with some former members of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers played some amazing blues-rock from 1967-1970 (long before Fleetwood Mac's descent into '70s wuss-rock). "Like it this way", "Oh well", "Rattlesnake Shake", "Shake your moneymaker" and the original version of "Black Magic Woman". Peter Green struggled with drugs and mental problems, penning "The Green Manilishi with the two prong crown" shortly before leaving the band. From the wiki entry on "Green Manalishi": Green has explained that he wrote the song after experiencing a drug-induced dream, in which he was visited by a green dog which barked at him. He understood that the dog represented money. "It scared me because I knew the dog had been dead a long time. It was a stray and I was looking after it. But I was dead and had to fight to get back into my body, which I eventually did. When I woke up, the room was really black and I found myself writing the song." He also said that he wrote the lyrics the following day, in Richmond Park. Supposedly, he was unable to record Robert Johnson's 'Hellhound On My Trail' following the incident; having conflated Johnson's hellhound with Green's demon. This is supported by his discography, in which Green's sole post-Manalishi cover of 'Hellhound' was sung by band mate Nigel Watson. Tragically, Peter Green's fellow Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan also suffered from alcohol and health problems, leaving him homeless in the '80s and '90's. "The Green Manalishi" was famously covered by Judas Priest (many Priest fans probably have no idea it's a Fleetwood Mac song), but also the Melvins. If you haven't had enough blues, here's Peter Green and the Bluesbreakers, "World keep on turning", Danny Kirvan with Tramp.

BPDG

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 08:06:50 -0800

Baby please don't go, baby please don't go, baby please don't go down to New Orleans, I love you so, baby please don't go.

Rockabilly Rundown

Miko — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:24:09 -0800

Whole Lotta Shakin' - a PRI documentary series on the history of rockabilly, hosted by Rosie Flores.

"Put your boob in my scotch. Come on, put your tit in my drink."

6am — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:44:03 -0800

Bob Log III plays distorted trash grimey blues slide guitar with his hands, he drawls through a telephone attached to the bubble face of the motorcycle helmet he wears, and he drums with his feet. He is known to ask women to stir his scotch on stage with their breasts, which is sadly Not currently Safe for Work. Sometimes he asks them to sit on his knee, bouncing up and down on the blue glittery jump suit he wears whenever he plays. Bob Log III has an official site. The official site has officially NSFW videos. Of course Bob Log III has a wiki, some content of which is pretty amusing. Bob Log III is just generally not safe for work, and as such is absolutely fantastic.

Nick Cave, the Black Crow King, is fifty today

the_very_hungry_caterpillar — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:59:54 -0800

NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day, Nicholas Edward Cave [previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot. At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the Boys Next Door [Shivers]. This in turn mutated into the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [Release the Bats | Nick the Stripper]. The Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze. Shortly after Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song - video & solo live | The Mercy Seat - video & live | Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a best selling book, a great screenplay, some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong. But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006, grew a huge moustache and formed Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [No Pussy Blues | Honey Bee]. Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet. The Boys Next Door released a couple of singles and an album, Door, Door (1979) [although the early Birthday Party singles and debut LP were originally credited to the Boys Next Door]. Not much remains except for the LP (re-released on CD), the promo video for the single Shivers, an interview and one decent live recording (1977). The Birthday Party were a tour de force, fuelled primarily by booze and drugs. They made three stunning LPs, the eponymous Birthday Party (later re-released with two singles as Hee-Haw ), Prayers on Fire and Junkyard. The band imploded in 1984 with Mick Harvey leaving the band temporarily. Check out: Junkyard, Sonny’s Burning, Deep in the Woods [discography]. (Mick Harvey gets an honourable mention as he is ever present in Nick Cave’s music, 24 years to date, playing drums, bass, guitar and keys at diferent times. He has also release several critically acclaimed solo LPs.) Cave re-surfaced straight away with Mick Harvey, Barry Adamson and Blixa Bargeld as the Bad Seeds. (Blixa Bargeld of Einsturzende Neubauten also gets an honourable mention, playing guitar with the Bad Seeds from 1984 to 2003.) The Bad Seeds hit hard with From Her to Eternity (1984), taking up the primeval growl where the final Birthday Party EPs left off [ From Her to Eternity | I Put a Spell On You]. They also released a cover of In the Ghetto. (Elvis and Johnny Cash are strong influences in Cave’s music, along with John Lee Hooker, the Stooges and Nina Simone.) They followed this with The Firstborn Is Dead (1985), with a more laid back, bluesy edge (although Cave dislikes this being referred to as bluesy) [ Tupelo | Wanted Man]. 1986 saw two LP releases: Kicking Against the Pricks (an LP of cover versions, including Hey, Joe) and Your Funeral, My Trial (a really dark LP with a dense sound) [The Carny, featured in Wim Wenders “Wings of Desire”, and also Scum, for the journos] [Interview] 1988 saw Tender Prey released (selfIndulganceFilter: my personal favourite, along with Henry’s Dream). The album has a fantastic Elvis-esque sleeve and contains The Mercy Seat (widely regarded as Cave’s signature tune and played at most of his shows since 1988, and covered by Johnny Cash) [Deanna | Mercy]. Cave, Bargeld and Harvey scored the soundtrack to Ghosts… Of the Civil Dead, in which Cave acted as well as co-writing the screenplay. The Good Son [1990] was Cave's first release after kicking his heroin addiction, and he produced his most accessible music to date. Songs such as the Weeping Song saw Cave attract a new audience with a mellower sound [Jack the Ripper]. In 1991 a road movie filmed in B/W on Cine 8 called The Road To God Knows Where was released. Henry’s Dream (1992) is an intense LP [Straight to You | I Had a Dream, Joe] which is captured vividly in their Live at the Paradiso video. 1994 saw Let Love In [Red Right Hand], and in 1995 Cave dueted with Kylie Minogue on Where the Wild Roses Grow. [Written interview]. This single was included on Murder Ballads (1996) [Stagger Lee], which also included Henry Lee (with PJ Harvey). He also rejected his MTV Award. 1998 saw the release of The Boatman’s Call - a really beautiful, chilled piano led LP [Into My Arms | Lime Tree Arbour | Far From Me | People Ain’t No Good ]. Cave’s debut novel, And the Ass Saw the Angel was released in 1999. In 2000 he released Secret Life of the Love Song & The Flesh Made Word – two philosophical lectures [transcript]. 2001 saw the mellow No More Shall We Part released [God is in the House | Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow], followed in 2003 by Nocturama (not their finest, best left alone) The double LP Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus was released in 2004. A truly beautiful LP, characterised by a lush production (and featuring members of The London Community Gospel Choir) [Nature Boy | Breathless | Abbatoir Blues | Oh My Lord]. The film The Proposition was released in 2005 (a gritty Western, set in Australia) and as well as writing the screenplay, he and Warren Ellis also recorded the soundtrack. 2006 saw Cave form Grinderman, a raw, stripped down four piece recording and mixing their debut (Grinderman, 2007) in 12 days [Grinderman | Electric Alice | interview]. Cave is joined by Martyn P. Casey, Warren Ellis and Jim Sclavunos – all from the Bad Seeds. Even at 49 Cave was kicking against the pricks. Their debut live performance was at the All Tomorrows Parties festival (2007) and... (selfIndulganceFilter:) I was there! [And finally... Other Cave YouTube Interviews, and other performances: John the Revelator, I feel so Good, Mack the Knife]

The blues had a baby and they called it rock & roll

madamjujujive — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:19:00 -0800

John Lee Hooker performs Gloria and It Serves Me Right to Suffer with Van Morrison; I'm in the Mood with Bonnie Raitt; The Healer with Santana; Boogie Chilluns with the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton; and Roadhouse Blues with Jim Morrison & the Doors (audio only). [Also, Muddy Waters, Etta James and more blues legends & rock combos inside]

The Theiving Magpie: Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy

anazgnos — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:01:23 -0800

The Theiving Magpie: Jimmy Page's Dubious Recording Legacy [more inside]

my dear mother left me, when I was quite young....

jonmc — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 11:51:05 -0800

Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson was one of the more interesting characters on the 60's music scene. A contemporary (and fellow traveler) of John Fahey, and student of blues history and with Bob Hite, the founder of seminal 60's blues-rockers Canned Heat (youtube video of Wilson and the Heat featuring the Owl on vocals) . A painfully introverted man who suffered from depression and addiction throughout his life, Wilson had a light touch and lack of histrionics uncommon among his blues-revival contemporaries. He died by his own hand at 27. Blind-owl.net is a loving and comprehensive tribute, featuring many rare interviews and photos.

It was raining the day mama picked me up from prison

Miko — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 07:11:16 -0800

So You Think You Hate Country Music? Then listen to this. The roots of American country music may surprise you. In this series of NPR programs, trace the gradual development of real country music through the first half of the 20th century. Learn how a woman's instrument of the late 1800s, the parlor guitar, became the the central symbol of country and rock; see how African-American musical forms like gospel and blues meshed with the development of country and early rock and influenced the traditional forms in turn; listen to German-Mexican hybrids of accordian style; find out why women had so many honky-tonk torch songs to sing in the late 40s. The series contains hours of content (narrative, interviews, music tracks), and a multitude of excellent links for deeper digging.

mediareport — Wed, 10 Jul 2002 01:08:21 -0800

The King of the Jukebox who disturbed the status quo They called rock music jump blues during the World War II era, and this amazingly talented clown was its master, with over fifty Top 10 R&B hits -- eighteen reached #1 -- between 1942 and 1951. Chuck Berry identified with him "more than any other artist." James Brown said, "He was everything" and considered him one of the earliest rappers. A pioneer of music video, the first black artist to cross over from the "race" market to a white audience and a central link between big bands and rock, he was a primary influence on Bill Haley, Ray Charles and B.B. King, who once said, "I wanted to be like him." Rest in peace, Louis Jordan. [Dozens of one-minute song clips here]