The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Part One)
Title track from the critically acclaimed 2002 release from the Lips. Click here for a 2002 show with Beck.
Grateful Dead — Rocking The Cradle: Egypt ’78
I just wanted to remind folks about the CD/DVD set that captures the Dead at this historic show.
From Dead.net:
Good things come to those who wait! First, it took 30 years to produce this ultra-cool 2CD/DVD set from the Dead’s legendary September 1978 run at the Sound & Light Theater, outside Cairo, nestled in the dunes just a short mummy-walk from the Great Pyramid and the mysterious Sphinx. Then, Dead Heads had to endure the long, restless weeks between the announcement of the release and when they could actually order it. Well, ring them bells, because the wait is over! Dead.net is NOW accepting preorders for this beautiful and historic package, Rocking the Cradle: Grateful Dead, Egypt 1978, Continue Reading…
Phish — You Enjoy My(Blog)
Since Phish’s reunion at Brad Sands’ wedding, Scott Bernstein, Hidden Track‘s editor, has started a site that compiles all Phish and Phish related items at You Enjoy My Blog. Check it out.
Phish — The Albums
We all have differing opinions on what is our favorite Phish album (well, most of us do). Some like the studio sheen of Hoist or the broad musical ground that Farmhouse covered. Others like the concert-in-the-studio feel of Lawn Boy or the textured sparkle of Junta. While still others are drawn to the concept album, Rift or the breath of fresh air that Billy Breathes brought. Noise To Signal has reviewed the albums one by one and leave out the “Grateful Dead wannabes” tag that inevitably comes in every Rolling Stone/Maxim/Entertainment Weekly review.
B.B. King — Happy Birthday
Riley B. King was born on this date in Indiola, MS, in 1925. Here’s the background on his guitar, Lucille:
In the mid-1950s, while B.B. was performing at a dance in Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B.B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, then realized that he left his beloved $30 acoustic guitar inside, so he rushed back inside the burning building to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give the name to his guitar to remind him never to do a crazy thing like fight over a woman. Ever since, each one of B.B.’s trademark Gibson guitars has been called Lucille.
Here he is on Ralph Gleason’s Jazz Casual in 1968:
Part two:
“The Thrill Is Gone” with Eric Clapton and Phil Collins:
STS9 — Morrison, CO (9/6/2008)
Set 1:
01 New Soma
02 PeaceBlaster ’68> PeaceBlaster ’08
03 Ramone & Emiglio
04 Beyond Right Now
05 Looking Back On Earth
06 Tooth
07 EHM
Set 2:
01 Unquestionable
02 ABCees
03 Evasive > Kamuy
04 Metameme
05 Aimlessly
06 Moonsockets
07 Shock Doctrine
Encore
08 Murph
09 Baraka
Ray LaMontagne — Manchester, TN (6/11/2005)
Burn, Trouble, Shelter, Empty, Jolene, Forever My Friend
“Trouble” from Abbey Road:
Jerry Garcia — AMA’s President Award
The Americana Music Association is proud to announce plans to celebrate the legacy of the Grateful Dead at this week’s ninth annual conference and music festival in Nashville. At Thursday night’s Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium, Jerry Garcia will be named the recipient of the 2008 AMA President’s Award, a posthumous lifetime achievement recognition for innovation in American roots music. Following the awards, the AMA and Relix magazine co-host a huge tribute show with San Francisco’s The Waybacks and The American Beauty Project, featuring Ollabelle, Jim Lauderdale, Larry Campbell, Buddy Miller and several surprise guests.
Derek Trucks — Already Free
From RS:
“The great thing about having a studio right at home,” guitarist Derek Trucks says with a grin, taking a break from mixing the new Derek Trucks Band album at Electric Lady Studios in New York, “is that if you need somebody to play or sing something on a track, you can just call ‘em” — he mimes talking on a cell phone — and say, ‘Get your ass over here.’ ”
It has been a busy commute. The record, titled Already Free and set for release by Columbia’s Legacy Recordings in January 2009, was made at Trucks’ new studio, behind his home in Jacksonville, Florida, and features songs Trucks wrote there with fellow Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes, and guitarist Doyle Bramhall II, Trucks’ bandmate in Eric Clapton’s touring group over the last two years. Bramhall also sings and plays on the album. The Trucks-Haynes acoustic hymn “Back Where I Started” is a geniuine family affair: Trucks’ wife, singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi, is the featured vocalist, Trucks plays the Indian sarod in a striking Delta-blues bottleneck style and Trucks’ brother Duane plays cardboard-box percussion.
Derek & The Dominoes — New York, NY (10/24/1970)
After spending months touring with Delaney and Bonnie and collaborating with them on his first solo album, Clapton took the nucleus of that band (Whitlock, Radle, and Gordon) and formed Derek and the Dominos. By 1970, Clapton had an impressive catalogue on which to draw, and these musicians gelled in a way that brought out the best in the material. For many fans, this quartet was the most consistently exciting group Clapton ever toured with, and these concerts feature some of the most passionate live playing of his career.
Kicking things off with “Got To Get Better In A Little While,” a track from an unreleased second album, Clapton and the group immediately begin jamming at a level far more refined than his days with Cream. The ferocious battles for dominance in Cream are replaced by a more cohesive and thoughtful mode of playing that lets everyone in the band shine.
Next up is “Blues Power,” here rocked out to over twice the length of the studio version. They slow things down with “Have You Ever Loved a Woman,” a song Clapton redefined back in his days with John Mayall‘s Bluesbreakers, and which exemplifies his enduring passion for pure blues. A relaxed “Key to the Highway” follows, and then more intriguing jamming on “Tell the Truth.” A rather short “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out” is a return to pure blues and a song this band rarely played, a welcome addition here. Continue Reading…
RIP — Marc Bolan
Marc died on this day 31 years ago from injuries sustained in an auto accident. Here’s Marc and T. Rex performing “Cosmic Dancer”:
