Elvis Costello-Almost Blue

Almost Blue

Elvis Costello-Country Rock????, You got to be kidding!!. Ive listened to this one 3 times now, and it is country music with the Elvis Costello voice and twist, so here goes...

First off I love the Warning! label in the liner notes: "This album contains Country & Western Music & may produce radical reaction in narrow minded people". Further more, I'm afraid I disagree with any previous reviewers who cite this is the 1st misstep in a career that was consistantly on the rise. On the contrary, I think Almost Blue was the 1st time Costello completely stumped his audience. He's certainly done it a few times since.

It takes real balls to put your own stamp on a Hank Williams tune. Albeit, a relatively obscure one. Opening with "Why Don't You Love Me" Costello & company immediately put a spin into their own conceit. Throwing themselves into the proceedings with the same hyper, punked out abandon found on This Year's Model. This is your 1st indication that this isn't going to be your typical Country standards album. Or at worse a joke.

Fact of the matter is, he truly goes for the throat on this one. His take on "Sweet Dreams" may make Patsy Cline fans cringe in their beehives, but any Gram Parsons affecionado will appreciate Costello's heartfelt renditions of "Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy)" or "How Much I Lied". Both are just as touching as the originals, sung as if he'd written them himself.

"Good Year For The Roses" was the big surprise hit on this album. In England at any rate. Personally, I never get sick of hearing it. Perhaps because I've never heard the original.

As bonus discs go, Rhino & Mr. Costello have once again given you an all too generous assortment for your buck. Infact, there's more than twice as many tracks than on the original album. It starts off with his legendary duet with George Jones on "Stranger In The House". It doesn't disappoint. Followed by an even odder pairing with The Man In Black. I won't comment on the results, but the moment is to be cherished.

Besides some live tracks from his infamous gig in Aberdeen, there's not one, but 2 chilling versions of Leon Payne's "Psycho". Where others have milked the tune's black humor for all it's worth, Costello wisely takes it all too seriously. A welcomed restraint that will send a shiver up your spine, if you're in the right mood.

The bonus disc also features some very touching versions of "Too Far Gone" & "He's Got You". Not to mention real gems like "Wondering" & "Blues Keep Calling". His version of "I'll Take Care OF You" is to die for. Then there's "Your Angel Steps Out of Heaven". I'll bore you if I go on (if I haven't already).

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Original Lineup

Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced /ˌlɛnərd ˈskɪnərd/ LEN-ərd-SKIN-ərd) is an American rock band best known for popularizing the southern hard-rock genre during the 1970s. Originally formed in 1964 as the "Noble Five" in Jacksonville, Florida, the band rose to worldwide recognition on the basis of its driving live performances and signature tunes "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird." At the peak of their success, three members died in an airplane crash in 1977, putting an abrupt end to the band's most popular incarnation.

Surviving members re-formed a decade later for a reunion tour with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother Johnny as frontman. A version of the band continues to tour and record, with only Gary Rossington of its original members remaining. Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.

Peak years (1973–1977)

In 1972 the band (now Van Zant, Collins, Rossington, Burns, Wilkeson, and Powell) was discovered by musician, songwriter, and producer Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, who had attended one of their shows at Funocchio's in Atlanta. They changed the spelling of their name to "Lynyrd Skynyrd" (Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd), and Kooper signed them to his Sounds of the South label that was to be distributed and supported by MCA Records, producing their first album. Leon Wilkeson temporarily left the band during the early recording sessions for the album only playing on two tracks. Wilkeson rejoined the band shortly after the album's release at Van Zant's invitation and is pictured on the album cover. Strawberry Alarm Clock guitarist Ed King joined the band and played bass on the album (the only part which Wilkeson had already written being the solo section in "Simple Man"), along with some tasty Stratocaster work. King stayed in the band and switched to guitar after the album's release, allowing the band to replicate the three-guitar mix used in the studio for their live performances. Released August 13, 1973, the album featured the hit song "Free Bird," which received national airplay, eventually reaching No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

New Version of the band

Tom Petty

Tom Petty

Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty (born October 20, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr. and Muddy Wilbury.

He has recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. His music, and notably his hits, have become popular among younger generations as he continues to host sold-out shows. Throughout his career, Petty and his collaborators have sold 60 million albums In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.   One of his first guitar teachers was Don Felder, a fellow Gainesville resident, who would later join the Eagles. As a young man, Petty worked briefly on the grounds crew for the University of Florida, but never attended as a student. An Ogeechee lime tree that he planted while employed at the University is now called the Tom Petty tree.

Upon the release of their first album in the late '70s, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were shoehorned into the punk/new wave movement by some observers who picked up on the tough, vibrant energy of the group's blend of Byrds riffs and Stonesy swagger. In a way, the categorization made sense. Compared to the heavy metal and art rock that dominated mid-'70s guitar rock, the Heartbreakers' bracing return to roots was nearly as unexpected as the crashing chords of the Clash. As time progressed, it became clear that the band didn't break from tradition like their punk contemporaries. Instead, they celebrated it, culling the best parts of the British Invasion, American garage rock, and Dylanesque singer/songwriters to create a distinctively American hybrid that recalled the past without being indebted to it.

Site:
http://www.tompetty.com

Black Oak Arkansas-High on the Hog

High on the hog

The main thing about Black Oak Arkansas was either you love them or hate them, there was little room in-between. "High on the Hog" was their first album with a certified hit, "Jim Dandy", a sort of ego-anthem of the lead singer, Jim "dandy" Mangrum. But the remaining songs on the album all had something for the Black Oak fans to love. As a result, you'll find that almost every song on the album was named by a Black Oak fan as their favorite. My personal favorite is "High and Dry", a simple little diddy about escaping a flood. It was a simple acoustic guitar and Jim Dandy's "ornery" voice, but it will always be a classic for those "dyed in the wool" Black Oak Arkansas fans. HIGH ON THE HOG was the biggest hit album for Black Oak Arkansas, obviously the nastiest, dirtiest, funkiest band to come out of the whole "Southern Rock" scene. The band lacked the musical skills of the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Marshall Tucker Band, the Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, and Blackfoot, yet more than made up for it with a deep funk and a wicked sense of humor that hasn't dated at all. This CD belongs in any serious rock & roll collection.

Rick Medlocke

Rick Medlocke

Rick Medlock & Gary Rossington

Rickey Medlocke (born February 17, 1950) is an American musician best known as the frontman/guitarist for the southern rock band Blackfoot and, more recently, as a guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Being of Blackfoot ancestry, Medlocke was inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame in 2008. Rickey Medlocke was born on February 17, 1950, in Jacksonville, Florida. He was raised by his paternal grandparents. His grandfather, Shorty Medlock,was a well-known delta blues musician and he taught his grandson to play a miniature banjo. Medlocke started performing onstage at age three, and his musical abilities increased over the years. He began teaching himself to play the guitar by age five and playing drums in Shorty's band at age eight. Over the next several years Medlocke mastered the banjo, guitar, drums, mandolin, dobro and keyboards. He had a melodic singing voice and had taught himself to sing and play guitar at the same time. After graduating high school, Medlocke formed his first band, Blackfoot, where he was lead vocalist and lead guitarist.
Medlocke grew up with the founding members of Lynyrd Skynyrd. When Blackfoot failed to show substantial momentum for Medlocke. He was never actually a member or even asked to join Skynyrd by Ronnie Van Zant.He very briefly played the drums and sang lead on a few songs for them in 1970; "White Dove", "Ain't Too Proud to Pray", "The Seasons", and You Run Around. Sometimes, Medlocke played alongside the band's original drummer Bob Burns but came to desire the energy of a guitarist at the front of the stage. This resulted in his 1971 decision to reform Blackfoot. The band began touring incessantly, producing hit songs that included two written by his grandfather: "Train Train" and "Highway Song", amongst songs written by others, until he finally decided to disband the group in the early 1990s.

For a while in the 1990s, Medlocke thought about pursuing other careers(he mowed yards for a living) until he received a phone call in 1996 from Gary Rossington inviting him to rejoin Lynyrd Skynyrd as a lead guitarist and primary songwriter. Rossington asked Medlocke if he remembered how to play "Free Bird", "Tuesday's Gone", and "Workin' For MCA", among others. Medlocke rejoined Skynyrd and has been a member since. Occasionally, Medlocke will step away from Skynyrd briefly to join musicians like Shooter Jennings on stage. He joined American Idol finalist Bo Bice on stage for a rendition of "Sweet Home Alabama" when the top three finalists from season four returned home.

Blackfoot

Molly Hatchet

Molly Hatchet

Molly Hatchet is an American southern metal band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1975. They are known for their hit song "Flirtin' with Disaster" from the album of the same title. The band, founded by Dave Hlubek and Steve Holland, took its name from a prostitute who allegedly mutilated and decapitated her clients Most of Molly Hatchet album covers feature heroic fantasy inspired art, some of which were painted by artists Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo.

Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Molly Hatchet shared influences and inspiration with the most well-known act in the southern rock genre, Lynyrd Skynyrd, as well as another up-and-coming southern-rock act, .38 Special, who referred them to manager Pat Armstrong. Armstrong with partner Alan Walden had briefly been co-manager of Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1970. Armstrong signed Molly Hatchet and garnered the group a recording contract with Epic Records, bringing in Tom Werman as a producer. Werman had already worked with acts such as Cheap Trick, Stranger and Ted Nugent. Ronnie Van Zant was slated to produce Molly Hatchet's first album, having helped in writing arrangements and directing rehearsals prior to his fatal airplane crash. Molly Hatchet actually cut their first demos in Lynyrd Skynyrd's 8-track recording studio using their equipment.[3] Other demos were cut in Jacksonville's infamous Warehouse Studios and "shopped", and Warner Brothers expressed interest. Warner Brothers' A&R could not decide whether to sign Molly Hatchet or another promising band they had been working with at that same time. They ended up being turned down by Warner Brothers and would later discover that the competing band was none other than Van Halen. Within six months they signed to Epic Records.Prior to the band's signing with Epic Records, they often toured the Florida roadhouse and bar circuit. Dave Hlubek was the band's vocalist prior to Danny Joe Brown, and wrote and co-produced many of the band's songs. Hlubek has stated that the demise of Lynyrd Skynyrd – who were at the height of their success – opened the door for Molly Hatchet.

The result of the teaming of Tom Werman, a producer known for working with straight hard rock acts, with a Southern-influenced band led to a new development in the Southern rock genre. Combining boogie, blues and hard rock, Molly Hatchet's sound was different from more country-influenced acts such as Outlaws. Like the area's other Southern rock acts, their music typically expressed the values, hopes and excesses of 1970s-era young adults in a Southern metropolitan area like Jacksonville, in addition to Southern ("Gator Country", "Sweet Dixie") and Western themes ("Edge of Sundown", "Bounty Hunter", "Gunsmoke").

The band recorded and released their first album, Molly Hatchet in 1978, followed by Flirtin' with Disaster in 1979. Molly Hatchet proceeded to tour behind the record, building a larger fan base. Danny Joe Brown, whose gruff voice and tough yet amicable persona had defined the act to that point, left the band in 1980 because of his chronic diabetes and other reasons, only to return two years later.
Website
http://www.mollyhatchet.com

Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson, OC (born Jaime Robert Klegerman; July 5, 1943) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and primary lyricist within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. The Band has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. As a songwriter, Robertson is credited for such classics as "The Weight", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Up On Cripple Creek", "Broken Arrow" and "Somewhere Down the Crazy River", and has been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.

By 1958, Robertson was performing in various groups around Toronto, including Little Caesar and the Consuls, Robbie and the Robots, and Thumper and the Trambones. By 1959 he had met singer Ronnie Hawkins, who led a band called The Hawks. In 1960 Hawkins recorded two early Robertson songs, "Hey Boba Lu" and "Someone Like You" on his Mr. Dynamo LP. Robertson then took over lead guitar with The Hawks and toured often, before splitting from Hawkins in 1963. Robertson's skill on his instrument continued to increase, leading Howard Sounes to write, "By twenty-two, he was a guitar virtuoso."

After Robertson left Ronnie Hawkins, along with Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson, the quintet styled themselves Levon and the Hawks, but, after rejecting such tongue-in-cheek names as The Honkies and The Crackers, as well as the Canadian Squires—a name the record label called them and that they immediately hated—they ultimately called themselves The Band.


Bob Dylan hired The Hawks for his famed, controversial tour of 1966, his first wide exposure as an electrified rock and roll performer rather than his earlier acoustic folk sound. Robertson's distinctive guitar sound was an important part of the music; Dylan famously praised him as "the only mathematical guitar genius I’ve ever run into who doesn’t offend my intestinal nervousness with his rearguard sound." Robertson appears as one of the guitarists on Dylan's 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.

From their first albums, Music from Big Pink (1968), and The Band (1969), The Band was praised as one of rock music's preeminent groups. Rolling Stone magazine praised The Band and gave its music extensive coverage. Robertson sang only a few songs with The Band, but was the group's primary songwriter, and was in the later years of the Band often seen as the de facto bandleader.

In 1976, at the urging of Robertson, The Band decided to cease touring; they gave their final concert in November of that year. Robertson's friend, filmmaker Martin Scorsese, captured the event on film, released in 1978 as The Last Waltz. The concert featured The Band's friends and influences: Ronnie Hawkins, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Ron Wood, and Ringo Starr. Since Robertson was the only one in the group who had seriously wanted to stop touring, The Band resumed touring in 1983 with a revolving door of musicians filling his place.

His website
http://www.robbie-robertson.com

Dyland and the Band

Harp Guitar