Indifference

Every so often, you hear a song done differently from the way you normally hear the song and it makes you look at it in a new light.  Recently I was listening to a bootleg that was given to me - David Lindley at the Freebird Cafe, Jacksonville Beach Fla. from 11/4/03. In this performance David plays Warren Zevon's 'Indifference of Heaven." Now I'm familiar with this song from Warren's "Learnig to Flinch" album, but I was ... well... indifferent to it. The guitar sound on that album doesn't really appeal to me. It's strummy 12 string with piezo pickup, which just sounds... in my opinion...bad. So I think that influenced my thoughs on the song which I wouldn't consider one of my favorite WZ songs..
When I heard Lindley play it, I said "Wow, that's a really good song."  It really put the song up a notch. Maybe not in my top 10 Zevon songs, but possibly in the top 20. (If I kept such a list) So here it is, first Warren's version, and then David's version. Which do you prefer?

Warren Zevon

 

 

David Lindley

 

and for something different, here's David playing it on Weissenborn.

 

 



Websites

Warren Zevon Forum

David Lindley Webpage

After Halloween

Well I'm a day late for Halloween. I was going to post Sandy Denny's "After Halloween", but couldn't find a video for it, so I'll post Fairport Convention's version of "Tam Lin" which occurs around Halloween.

Happy Halloween!

Original Audio - Sandy  - Vocals

 

 

Live from 2007 - Chris While - Vocals

...And We're Back...

So, shortly after my last post in August, the hard drive in the computer decided to crash.Everything on the old hard drive inaccessible. Had three tech people look at it to try and save the files, but no go. So two months later, new hard drive installed, old hard drive put aside in case we can get the files  off later, and we're back in business.
There were a lot of things I wanted to write about in those two months, (I should have kept a list), so if I remember I'll post about them.
 But right now, I want to mention that Bellowhead have a new album - Broadside.
Check out their website.
On the Spiers and Boden/Bellowhead Forum, there are a bunch of reviews of the new album in this link.

And lastly,  the first video from the new album.

10,000 Miles Away

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Certain music seems to fit certain seasons. In the summer, I tend to listen to ska and reggae. It just seems right. However, lately I've been listening to a lot of Sly and the Family Stone. This song kind of sums it all up. I love the vocals that they had, Sly, Rose, Freddie, Larry, and Cynthia all had distinctive voices, and I love they way they spread the lines out among the different singers.

Hot Fun in the Summertime




Sly and the Familly Stone started out by embodying the peace and love and unity of the 1960, with songs like Everyday People, not to mention that they were the first multi-racial, multi-gender rock band.Then as the 1970s became darker, they reflected that darker side with the album "There's a Riot Going On".
Sometimes I wonder what would they have done if they hadn't burned out on drugs and paranoia? But then I stop to think about what they gave us. A great body of songs, the start of a new style of music - funk, and of course Larry Graham's  developing of the slapping and popping style of bass playing.
So let's hear some Sly and the Family Stone!

Everyday People/Dance to the Music



Thank You (Fallentinme Be Mice Elf Agin)



Everyday People with Tom Jones (You HAVE to check this one out!)




Family Affair



I could keep going, but here's one more.

Stand

Paul McCartney

The last two posts were about bassists that had influenced me, but I should probably mention the one that had the most impact, Paul McCartney. Paul turned 70 recently, and is still out there playing his hits from the Beatles, and Wings, plus his solo material.  In addition, he is still putting out new music.

When I was a kid in the 1970s, my favorite band was the Beatles, I remember playing my older siblings albums and holding a little portable tape recorder up to the speakers so I could have my own copy. When I started playing upright bass in elementary school, I began to notice the bass in music, and to see what role it played. In Paul McCartney’s bass playing, you had more than the usual root – fifth style of bass playing. He played melodies, and countermelodies, although he wasn’t afraid of riding the root if need be.  Not to mention his singing, guitar playing and keyboard playing. He was one of the first musicians I noticed who played what the song needed, either a particular instrument, or part. And although I consider myself a bass player, I play a number of other instruments, and probably owe what multi-instrumental ability I have to Paul McCartney.

Let’s give a listen to some of Sir Paul’s music.

Band on the Run

Let Me Roll It

Junior’s Farm

Mull of Kintyre

Coming Up

Okay, So I didn’t put any Beatles on here, I’ll get to it later…

Lloyd Brevett

Lloyd Brevett (Aug. 1, 1931 – May 3, 2012)

When I think of Jamacian music, I think of the “riddim”, or as most people would call it the rhythm, in other words, the bass and drums. There have been a number of important rhythm sections in Jamaican music, and  three immediately come to mind: the Barrett Brothers, Sly and Robbie, and Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibb.
Aston (Family Man) and Carleton  Barrett,  played bass and drums with Bob Marley and the Wailers; Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare played with Peter Tosh and numerous others; and Lloyd Brevett and Lloyd Knibb played with the Skatalites.
Jamaican music went through many changes. Starting with mento, it evolved into ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, and it continues to evolve. But with Lloyd Brevett, we will be looking at ska.
In the 1963-1964, a bunch of jazz musicians got together. They had been playing together on recordings in various configurations since the 1950s. The music was mostly blues shuffles, and boogie-woogie. As the music began to evolve, it became what we now know as ska. Lloyd Brevett, who had learned bass from his father, provided the bass for many of these early 1950s-1960s recordings. The Skatalites came together in June of 1964, and in a little over a year, they had broken up. In that time period they released a body of music that is still important today. They played on many of the early hits of Jamaican Music, including Bob Marley’s Simmer Down. Although the Skatalites were no more, the musicians formed a variety of other groups and kept on playing, eventually reforming in 1983. Lloyd Brevett played bass with the Skatalites until 2004 when he left the group. He also released a solo album called African Roots with many of the members of the Skatalites. When you listen to the Skatalites, you hear Brevett’s walking basslines, and ostinato figures driving the music.

Let’s hear some samples

Simmer Down

Guns of Navarone

Rockfort rock

Eastern Standard Time

Freedom Sound

Live at the Church House Inn - Concert and Interview Footage

Also check out this interview with Lloyd Brevett.

Donald "Duck" Dunn

So far this year we’ve lost a number of musicians from a variety of genres. Original rock and roller/blues musician - Johnny Otis, the World’s Oldest Teenager - Dick Clark, Disco Star - Donna Sumer, Bee Gee Robin Gibb, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, The Band Drummer Levon Helm, Guitarist Doc Watson and two that most people might not be familiar with but who meant a lot to me bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn,  and Skatalites bassist Lloyd Brevett.

Today we’ll look at Duck Dunn.

Growing up and learning bass, I became familiar with the work of all of the famous names in the rock bass world; Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, Jack Bruce, John Paul Jones, Jack Casady, Phil Lesh, Tony Levin… and on and on.

As I delved further into the history of the bass, and branched into other areas of music, you start to come across other names, names that aren’t familiar to casual listeners. Names like Carol Kaye, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Bob Glaub, and Duck Dunn. Names that most people won't recognize, but whose bass lines have been heard and have influenced musicians for years.

Even if you don’t know the name, you’ve heard Donald “Duck” Dunn. He played on a number of  Stax/Volt songs. If you’ve ever seen the movie “The Blues Brothers”, you’ve seen Duck Dunn. He was the bass player for Booker T. and the MGs, played with Sam and Dave, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Freddie King, Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley… and many more. Duck Dunn, along with Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr. and Booker T. Jones, (Booker T. and the MGs) were more or less the house band for Stax/Volt, and played on a lot of their hits.

 So here's to Donald "Duck" Dunn ...and his Fender Precision strung with flatwounds..

Let’s hear some of his tracks.

Booker T. and the MGs – Green Onions

Booker T. and the MGs – Bootleg

Booker T. and the MGs – Time is Tight

Blues Brothers – Jailhouse Rock

Neil Young with Booker T. and the MGs

Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn – Time is Tight