Turn Around

This merry little tune from 1977, written by Band bass player Rick Danko with Louisiana cult hero Bobby Charles, echoes my current sentiments exactly. Or to quote the famous Catalan politician Josep Tarradellas: ja sóc aquí!

Rick Danko - What A Town

Givin' It All

Surprisingly found my copy of the Complete Basement Tapes in the mail yesterday. Not half bad, considering its official November 4 release date. Lo and behold indeed! Don't you weep and don't you moan, you need this treasure trove in your life pronto.

Bob Dylan & The Band - 900 Miles From My Home

Fat Of The Land

Yesterday's big news was of course the imminent arrival of the complete Basement Tapes, as volume 11 of the ongoing Bootleg Series. Which means an amazing 138 tracks on 6 cd's of Dylan and the Band having fun in a Woodstock room back in '67: what a wealth. Out early November, so better start saving up... Open that door!

Bob Dylan & The Band - Open The Door Homer

Filled With Rubble

On first listen, we're not too impressed by Zimmy's tenth Bootleg Series installment to be honest. And that's not even counting the fact that the renowned rip-off merchants of Sony are asking top dollar for a deluxe edition, which includes the great-sounding 1969 Isle of Wight gig with the Band. On the regular two disc version, only a couple of tunes really stand out: in particular the flawless Pretty Saro and two cool versions of Time Passes Slowly. And that solo piano demo of When I Paint My Masterpiece is an unexpected gem for sure.

Bob Dylan - When I Paint My Masterpiece (demo version)
Bob Dylan & The Band - I Pity The Poor Immigrant (live Isle Of Wight '69)

Play All Night For You

Just got word that Levon Helm, pride of Arkansas, died today. My fave singing drummer was 71 years old. Miss him.

The Band - Jemima Surrender

Run Paint Run

Tomorrow night, I'll be spinning the tunes at the opening of a cool exhibition in exposition space Quarantaine in Amsterdam. Definitely a prole art threat, so do drop by if you happen to be in the area. "Someday, everything is gonna be different, when I paint my masterpiece..."

Bob Dylan & The Band - When I Paint My Masterpiece

The Fall - Prole Art Threat

Fever Tree - Man Who Paints The Pictures

Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Run Paint Run Run

Sweeter Than Ever

Recently surfaced: a fine, although somewhat distant sounding audience tape from The Band in their prime. Recorded live at the Philadelphia Academy Of Music back in '69, it mainly features songs from Music From Big Pink and The Band, though they can't resist the odd cover of course, like a sharp version of that old Motown chestnut Lovin' You (Made My Life Sweeter Than Ever). Find the complete show over at Music Ruined My Life.

The Band - Lovin' You MP3

Summer Wine

Some Japanese wiseguy named Hokekyo Sho once proclaimed that ´at the third cup, wine drinks the man´. He got pretty famous with that one, and he just may have been right, too. Which hardly ever stops me from pouring said cup, but that´s another story... Here´s a grand cru, slightly country-flavoured tenpack with a velvety aftertaste about a mighty fine drink. "Strawberries, cherries and an angel´s kiss in spring, my summer wine is really made from all these things..." Salud!

Charlie Walker - Who Will Buy The Wine MP3

The Stanley Brothers - The Little Glass Of Wine MP3

James Luther Dickinson - Wine MP3

Gene Simmons - Drinkin´ Wine MP3

Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Summer Wine MP3

George Jones - Yesterday´s Wine MP3

Michael Hurley - I Like My Wine MP3

Merle Haggard - Little Ole Wine Drinker Me MP3

The Band - Strawberry Wine MP3

Jerry Lee Lewis - Wine Me Up MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 22

Back right at the end of another Wild Weekend, after a week-long hiatus caused both by a short trip abroad and some quite irritating computer problems. My router had re-programmed itself all on its own for some reason, and it took a while to get it to function again. But finally, here´s edition # 22, and once more the shuffle function of my iPod decided what goodies you´re going to enjoy. I know it's all been done before, and it's all been written in the book, but let´s carry on regardless, before the waters of oblivion come rushing in.

First up is Polly Jean Harvey, with a menacing plea from To Bring You My Love, her excellent third album. "Come home to your son, tomorrow might never come..." If I were Billy, I´d come running. Time to say hello to Valery and Vivien now, who in real life were the wives of poet TS Eliot btw. One of my fave tracks from the Basement Tapes. It´s about time all existing tracks from these intimate Woodstock sessions, false starts and all, were released properly. A new Bootleg Series installment perhaps Bob? And now that we´re at it, how´s Chronicles pt. 2 coming along?

PJ Harvey - C´mon Billy MP3

Bob Dylan & The Band - Too Much Of Nothing MP3

J.A. Caesar was certainly one of the weirdest exponents of the Japrock genre. His piece de resistance was the Kokkyou Junreika album from ´73, which you really should track down somewhere. An aural trip if there ever was one. Here´s a fine taster. More weirdness, in krautrock disguise this time, comes courtesy of Faust. These adventurers from the tiny town of Wumme really were years ahead of their time. "Who is satisfied? Who wouldn't sell his mind?
Who can really say?" Indeed.

J.A. Caesar - Haha Koishiya Sangoshou MP3

Faust - It´s A Bit Of A Pain MP3

Soul scorcher anyone? Try Mable John and an intense adulterers ballad from ´67 called Same Time Same Place. From the Stax stable of course. These understated horns and that swirling organ get the job done majestically. And we´ll conclude this Wild Weekend with a short but sweet ditty by Gumball, that fine early nineties noisy pop trio led by Don Fleming of B.A.L.L. fame. Hasta la proxima!

Mable John - Same Time Same Place MP3

Gumball - This Town MP3

Bobby and The Band

No, not that Bobby. I´m talking about Bobby Charles here, spilling water melon juice all over his orange sweater in the picture above. His self-titled debut album from ´72 was finally re-released (and for a nice price at that) by Rhino Records UK recently. A rootsy, near-forgotten minor masterpiece with a relaxed but always funky Louisiana feel. "I saw a butterfly and I named it after you..." That´s producer and ´6th member of The Band´ John Simon on piano on the exquisite I Must Be In A Good Place Now.

Official members of The Band make an appearance here too: Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Rick Danko all play on assorted tracks. Grow Too Old was written by Charles with Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Good company, but hey, Charles just happened to be the author of See You Later, Alligator back in the fifties, so he could throw some weight around I guess. That saxophone´s way too bland though, which is what you get when you hire David Sanborn for the job. Strange choice, but as it´s the only flaw here we can easily live with it.

Bobby Charles - I Must Be In A Good Place Now MP3

Bobby Charles - Grow Too Old MP3

While we´re on the subject of The Band, let´s hear it for Danko/Manuel, a beautiful and heartfelt ballad by the Drive-By Truckers from their much recommended ´01 Southern Rock Opera album.

"Can you hear that singing, sounds like gold...
Maybe I can hear poor Richard from the grave,
singin' where to reap and when to sow...
When you've found another home you have to leave."

Drive-By Truckers - Danko/Manuel MP3

And to wrap this up, here are the two Band members in question, both sadly no longer with us. Whispering Pines was the showpiece of pianist and sometime drummer Richard Manuel (´43-´86). Find it on The Band´s eponymous second album. "Foghorn through the night, calling out to sea..." Amazing vocal. Grow Too Old (yup, same one) hails from a posthumously released album called Whispering Pines, Live At The Getaway Saugerties NY, recorded on 12 October ´85. Check out that piano. Bassist Rick Danko (´42-´99) sings lead on The Unfaithful Servant, also from that classic ´brown album´. "It´s no ones fault, makes no difference if we fade away, it´s just as it was, it´s much to cold for me to stay..."

The Band - Whispering Pines MP3

Richard Manuel - Grow Too Old (live ´85) MP3

The Band - The Unfaithful Servant MP3

Grab bag belissima

Grab bags always get posted here on Fridays, but I didn´t make it home on time yesterday night. Got back just a little too late from a few wonderful days in Rome. It was the city of cities long ago, but nowadays it´s still an extremely pleasant place to wander around in. And the food is heavenly... The taste of pasta with truffels still lingers in my mouth while I type this. Add great wine and strong espresso and you know you´re in Italia la bella. But alora, as they say a lot in the streets of Rome, enough of that and on to the music. What did I enjoy this week? Mostly old stuff. The Son Volt anthology has been in heavy rotation, as was The Best Of Sandy Denny. And then there´s always Neil Young of course. Two live tracks from Tonight´s The Night? Yummy.

Here we go. I recently bought The Best Of James & Bobby Purify (Sony), and it´s got me hummin´ever since. Cousins James and Bobby scored a million selling hit with the immortal I´m Your Puppet in ´66, but all 25 songs collected on this disc are great. Soul with a capital S. Check out Wish You Didn´t Have To Go to see what I´m on about.

James & Bobby Purify - Wish You Didn´t Have To Go MP3

Sandy Denny was the figure head of the British folk scene in the late sixties and the seventies. All her music - with Fairport Convention, with Fotheringay and solo - is timeless. The Best Of Sandy Denny (Island) is a nice place to start exploring her music. Denny died on 21 April 1978, aged only 31, the consequence of a fall down a flight of stairs a month previously. Who knows where the time goes indeed.

Sandy Denny - Who Knows Where The Time Goes MP3

I´ve been playing the superlative Son Volt anthology A Retrospective: 1995-2000 (Rhino ´05) a lot recently. Of the two bands that rose from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo, I´ve always preferred Jay Farrar´s Son Volt to Jeff Tweedy´s Wilco. Do yourself a favour and listen to their beautiful interpretation of the old Leadbelly composition Ain´t No More Cane. Farrar knows the song from The Basement Tapes, so here´s that version - from The Band minus Bob - too. Has anyone got the Leadbelly original? Is Son Volt slowly becoming the new Band? Questions, questions.

Son Volt - Ain´t No More Cane MP3

The Band - Ain´t No More Cane MP3

Big Star´s third, better known as Sister Lovers (´75, reissued on Rykodisc) is one of the most intense albums I know. Powerpop on downers. It was produced by Jim Dickinson btw, featured in a recent post here. Holocaust is Alex Chilton at his most morbid, a man almost falling to pieces. "Everybody goes, leaving those who fall behind... Everybody goes as far as they can, they don´t just care.. You´re a wasted face, you´re a sad-eyed lie, you´re a holocaust". Heavy stuff. And guess what, Son Volt did a great cover of this song too... You just can´t beat the original, but this is one hell of a try. They almost sound like Crazy Horse here. Not so strange, as Sister Lovers has often been compared to Neil Young´s emotional masterpiece Tonight´s The Night.

Big Star - Holocaust MP3

Son Volt - Holocaust MP3

Ok, ok, I´ll play you some stuff from Tonight´s The Night too. Not from the regular album though, as you´ve got that already, right? Here are two tracks recorded live in ´73 in Manchester with the Santa Monica Flyers, who were basically Crazy Horse minus recently deceased guitarist Danny Whitten. Nils Lofgren replaced him. Young started his shows at the time with the announcement "Welcome to Miami Beach, ladies and gentlemen, everything is cheaper than it looks". Often drunk on tequila, he then proceeded to play the whole album (which wasn´t out yet) from start to finish, alienating audiences expecting old favorites. In retrospect these shows were ragged but utterly brilliant of course.

Neil Young - Mellow My Mind (live in Manchester 3-11-´73) MP3

Neil Young - Tired Eyes (live in Manchester 3-11-´73) MP3

We´re signing off with Texas Gladden, a pretty unique singer who was born in 1895 in Saltville, Virginia. Alan Lomax recorded her ballad singing both in the field and in a studio quite a few times between ´41 and ´59. Find them on Ballad Legacy (Rounder records). The Devil And The Farmer´s Wife is a good - and very funny - example of her greatness. These ancient folk songs never go out of style now, do they? "The old woman went a-whistlin´over the hill, saying: the devil won´t have me, I wonder who will". Ciao for now.

Texas Gladden - The Devil And The Farmer´s Wife MP3