Thursday, October 31, 2013

bug








Dinosaur Jr. were coming apart during the sessions for this post-core freak folk noisefest.  Their second album 'You're Living All Over Me' had established the band as a major force in the underground music scene; but there was tension building within the trio.  The sessions for  'Bug' were fraught with conflict as producer J. Mascis attempted to control everything that Lou Barlow and Emmett Patrick Murphy did.  

Barlow recalls:   "It’s a record that is sort of a lost record of the original lineup. Although it was our most popular record when I was in the band of the first three records, it was a record that I don’t think either J, or I, or even Murph remembered that fondly. There were quite a few songs off of Bug that we didn’t play. We always favored the 'You’re Living All Over Me' record...I just remember it not being a particularly good time. J wasn’t in a particularly good spot. He was kind of a monster and wasn’t really into the band. It seems like making the record was a total chore for him. It was just a very negative time period as I remember. Actually, going back and listen to the record I am like 'Wow, what a really good record. We did a great job!'... J hated me and I hated him. I hated him because he hated me. Generally, the only reason I really hate anyone is that they hate me first. We had kind of reached our peak already. We had put out 'You’re Living All Over Me'. We were on SST Records, so there was nowhere else to go for as far as we were concerned. We had filled every possible career goal we could have. It sort of left us with this empty feeling like, 'Now what do we do, just tour until we all hate each other for the rest of our lives?' It was strange. We didn’t have any aspiration beyond what we had reached."



Mascis considers:  "I dunno. It's kind of like, it has bad connotations to me. I don't really like it that much ... It’s my least-favorite record ...  It just felt like 'You're Living All Over Me'  was well-received and we started just kind of getting bigger and bigger. And 'Bug' was just kind of building off that, a kind of upward momentum or something. But at the same time the band ... was kind of falling apart. I guess our goal was to get on SST Records (home of the Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü and Rollins' first band Black Flag), and we did that with 'You're Living All Over Me' – so we didn't really have another goal particularly. We were just kind of falling apart, but we decided to ... somehow try and keep going. But we weren't in the best place as a band, and it wasn't so fun to hang out together...I just kind of think of all albums as snapshots of the time when they were made, so it's just chronicling a bad time in my life...We got banned from all the clubs in Western Mass. And I remember in Boston a sound guy throwing a bottle at me.”

'Bug' became a sensation in the UK, where the album went to the top of the independent chart.  'Freak Scene' went to number four on the UK independent singles chart and became a staple on US college radio. When the tour was over, Barlow was ousted from the band and devoted himself full time to his side project Sebadoh.  






http://www.dinosaurjr.com/









"Freak Scene"





'Bug' 

full album:



1. "Freak Scene"   3:36
2. "No Bones"   3:43
3. "They Always Come"   4:37
4. "Yeah We Know"   5:24
5. "Let It Ride"   3:37
6. "Pond Song"   2:53
7. "Budge"   2:32
8. "The Post"   3:38
9. "Don't"   5:41
10. "Keep the Glove" (Bonus track) 2:52




Wednesday, October 30, 2013

nazz











Nazz mixed up a syrupy psychedelic stew of styles with the grungy glam glimmers of their power pop premiere.  Todd Rundgren formed the group in Philadelphia with  Carson Van Osten on bass guitar, Thom Mooney  on drums, and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni on vocals and keyboards:   "When I got out of high school, I joined a local blues band in Philadelphia—Woody’s Truck Stop. After about eight months or so, the rest of the guys in the band all discovered the Grateful Dead and the whole West Coast acid-music thing and decided that they, instead of playing blues, wanted to go to the country and get their heads together, if you know what I mean.    So they all left Philadelphia and went out to some farmhouse somewhere and started doing drugs non-stop and writing music. And at the time, I was not into such pursuits. I was still pretty much interested in the broader music scene, I guess, and decided that I would try to put a band together out of local musicians, people in other bands, essentially a Philadelphia super-group, as it were.    First, I got my roommate, Carson van Osten, who was the bassist in Woody’s Truck Stop. He became the bass player, and then we looked for a couple of other guys. A drummer, of course, and we found Thom Mooney in a band called The Munchkins. And Stewkey (Antoni) was playing with another band. I can’t remember the name of them. But, essentially, we asked them all if they’d like to start a new group, and since Woody’s Truck Stop had been kind of the most popular band in downtown Philadelphia at the time, it was pretty easy to convince everyone to stop what they were doing and start a new group with us that was musically based on a combination of The Who and The Beatles and The Yardbirds, mostly English bands that were influential. Particularly on me, since I wound up doing most of the writing.  But we were all into these English bands, and also there was a little bit of Beach Boys mixed in there as well, in terms of the harmonies. And that was probably something we had in common with The Who, because The Who were big Beach Boys fans as well...There was certainly a riff aspect to ['Open My Eyes']. There was a calculation behind the whole thing, to try and, within one song, introduce all of the stylistic elements that we were aiming for. So it had the big kind of Beach Boys vocals—at some point, we were hitting four-part harmonies, which was even beyond The Beatles at the time—and at the same time, there was a very aggressive kind of guitar figure going on, all of it with a general sort of pop structure. And in addition to that, the production gimmick of having the flanging going on during the choruses—yeah, it was definitely some sort of master plan there.   So it was hugely disappointing when the single came out and they flipped it over and played Nazz’s version of 'Hello It’s Me' instead." 

'Nazz' peaked at number one hundred and eighteen in the US, with the single 'Hello, It's Me' going to number sixty-six in the US and forty-one in Canada.  It would become Rundgren's biggest hit when he re-recorded it for his 'Something/Anything?' album in 1972.  Rundgren considers:    "When I started the Nazz, I had this thing about being eclectic. Like the Beatles had no style other than being the Beatles. So the Nazz used to do, like heavy rock, and also these light, pretty ballads with complex ballads.  And at the time that was something that people just didn't do. You were supposed to have an easily associable style. And that's always been part of my problem. I've always had this incongruity of style and influence.  A lot of people still find it remarkable that I have a penchant for the conventional and pretty and the weird and abstract. That's because I don't make divisions in terms of music. I never have.  If I hear something I like, that's it. It's mine. The thing about music is that if you're a good listener you can go window-shopping and own everything you see."








http://www.todd-rundgren.com/







"Open My Eyes"





'Nazz' 

full album:




All songs written by Todd Rundgren, except where noted.

Side one
"Open My Eyes" – 2:48
"Back of Your Mind" – 3:48
"See What You Can Be" – 3:00
"Hello It's Me" – 3:57
"Wildwood Blues" (Rundgren, Thom Mooney, Robert "Stewkey" Antoni, Carson Van Osten) – 4:39
Side two
"If That's the Way You Feel" – 4:49
"When I Get My Plane" – 3:08
"Lemming Song" – 4:26
"Crowded" (Mooney, Stewkey) – 2:20
"She's Goin' Down" – 4:58



Tuesday, October 29, 2013

hemispheres









Rush spent months in the studio working out the battle between heart and mind on the complex extended suites of their final purely progressive proclamation.  Continuing to build on the achievements of  'Caress of Steel', '2112', and 'A Farewell to Kings'; 'Hemispheres' shows them improving their production and complexity.  The album was arranged and produced by Rush and Terry Brown at Rockfield Studios in Wales and Advision Studios in London with Geddy Lee on vocals, bass guitar, Oberheim polyphonic, Mini Moog, and Moog Taurus pedals; Alex Lifeson on electric and acoustic guitars, classical guitar, guitar synthesizer, and Moog Taurus pedals; and Neil Peart on drums, orchestra bells, bell tree, timpani, gong, cowbells, temple blocks, wind chimes, and crotales.

Lifeson recalls:    "It was the longest time we'd ever spent on an album.  By the time we got to Trident studios in London for the mixing, we'd been in Britain for two and a half months, one month longer than we'd expected. But the thing is that Hemispheres was a different album altogether and it headed off in various directions."

Lee says:  "We've had long pieces of music on three straight studio albums.  'Hemispheres' is well-paced, a little more bouncy than 'A Farewell to Kings'.  Certainly we're satisfied with it; but I miss writing tunes...Our last albums have been weighty works to digest; but they've been necessary in our evolution as a progressive rock outfit.  Still, I miss singing songs...After recording 'Hemispheres' we all felt so drained and sapped of our energy.  The album required a lot more attention than we have ever given to recording.  The title song was a dense piece of music.  With the exception of 'Xanadu'(on 'A Farewell to Kings' , it was the first time we tried to layer the sound on our albums ...We don't think in terms that we have to make this album better because the last one was good or sold well.  This is another album of ours and every album in a point in Rush's history and if it'snot getting better, something's wrong.  Every album has to be the perfect Rush album."

Peart came up with the lyrics after reading Adam Smith's 'Powers of Mind'.   Peart considers:   "The initial focus of our music has to always change to keep us interested ...  It depends really on what we're coming at it with. Often times. Alex and Geddy will have a musical idea, maybe individually. They'll bring it into the studio and we'll bounce it off one another, see what we like about it, see if we find it exciting as an idea and then we get a verbal idea of what the mood of it is. What the setting would be. If I have a lyrical idea that we're trying to find music for, we discuss the type of mood we are trying to create musically. What sort of compositional skills I guess we'll bring to bear on that emotionally. The three of us try to establish the same feeling for what the song should be. Then you bring the technical skills in to try to interpret that properly, and achieve what you thought it would...I came into [being the band's lyricist] by default, just because the other two guys didn't want to write lyrics. I've always liked words. I've always liked reading so I had a go at it. I like doing it. When I'm doing it, I try to do the best I can. It's pretty secondary. I don't put that much importance on it. A lot of times you just think of a lyrical idea as a good musical vehicle. I'll think up an image, or I'll hear about a certain metaphor that's really picturesque. A good verbal image is a really good musical stimulus. If I come up with a really good picture lyrically, I can take it to the other two guys and automatically express to them a musical approach."

'Hemispheres' went to number forty-seven in the US, and fourteen in Canada and the UK.  







http://www.rush.com/








'Hemispheres'
full album:



Side one
1. "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres" 18:08
    I. Prelude - 0:00
    II. Apollo (Bringer of Wisdom) – 4:30
    III. Dionysus (Bringer of Love) – 7:00
    IV. Armageddon (The Battle of Heart and Mind) – 09:06
    V. Cygnus (Bringer of Balance) - 12:00
    VI. The Sphere (A Kind of Dream) – 17:02"

Side two

2. "Circumstances"   3:42
3. "The Trees"   4:46
4. "La Villa Strangiato (An Exercise in Self-Indulgence)"  9:35
    I. Buenas Noches, Mein Froinds! - 0:00
    II. To Sleep, Perchance to Dream... - 0:27
    III. Strangiato Theme - 2:00
    IV. A Lerxst in Wonderland - 3:16
    V. Monsters! - 5:49
    VI. The Ghost of the Aragon - 6:10
    VII. Danforth and Pape - 6:45
    VIII. The Waltz of the Shreves - 7:26
    IX. Never Turn Your Back on a Monster! - 7:52
    X. Monsters! (Reprise) - 8:03
    XI. Strangiato Theme (Reprise) - 8:17
    XII. A Farewell to Things - 9:20"


Monday, October 28, 2013

traffic









Worlds collided when Traffic brought back their original lineup for the dichotomous recording of their eponymous second album.   Dave Mason had left the group after the success of their debut album 'Mr. Fantasy' to pursue a solo career, producing 'Music in a Doll's House' for Family before being invited to join Winwood, Capaldi, and Wood for the recording of 'Traffic'.  Mason recalls:  "Our sound started to come together, and started to gel, on that second Traffic album. I think it was great. My writing was really naive and trite. But sound-wise, and in terms being experimental, musically, there's a lot of shit in there. The second was more straightforward and more song-driven, really cool material. That one song, "Feelin' Alright," just never stopped."

Mason wrote and sang on half of the songs on 'Traffic' and contributed very little to the rest of the album.  His songs are more pop oriented, while the compositions brought by the rest of the group have a more experimental jazz feel.  By the time it was released he had left the band for good.  Winwood expressed at the time:  "We're not too bothered about singles because in the future we'd like to concentrate more on LPs. In the past, a lot of things have relied on our singles being in the charts and we want to get over that. In some ways popularity can rely on the charts, and I don't think it is a good thing. It is for some people maybe, but it isn't for us...I don't think any group has really been so far from rock 'n' roll. It's never been that far away...This rock thing is progression itself in its own way. There is still room to go ahead. There are lots of ways to go ahead and some of the ways can involve rock 'n' roll. We might do some rock, but I think we are on our own road...When we started and were living in the cottage we began by talking together and getting to know each other's ideas on music before we actually did anything. What we really wanted to do was to take things that were going on around us and just express them in musical terms. Not necessarily political things, just things that were happening around us. We have reached some of these achievements but there is still a lot we have to do...We work on basic structures. Practically every number is improvised from there. And we've found that since there's only 3 of us, since Dave left, it has been easier for us to do it that way. We can get a lot more spontaneity on stage. But because so much of it is improvisation, you must have bad nights as well as good nights. At the Speakeasy we thought we weren't much good, but afterwards, friends were coming up and saying we'd been the best they'd seen us for ages. You can easily get all screwed up thinking about it and probably the best thing to do is just go out and play. You can think too deeply about it at times. Unfortunately we have got this thing in America where everybody has heard of us and everybody is going to be there watching. And if we thought about that too much it could screw us up. I suppose really it is a matter of nerves and you should just go out there and do it."




Mason reveals:   "I was trying to figure out what it was I was doing. I had never really written until that band formed. It basically formed with four guys, and we just hung out for a year. Partied, and fucking late-night shit, playing records. And that's really how Traffic came about, that and Stevie's desire to stop being tagged as the young Ray Charles. He was bored with doing the Spencer Davis thing, and wanted to try something new. It started out that way, a group of people, and for me it was, 'Well, shit, this is a great opportunity to be as original as we can.' So my focus was on writing.  When we started, they were looking at doing covers of stuff, too. I mean, Stevie's written enough catchy melodies on his own. My sensibility is a pop sensibility. I look for the melody that will stick, and the lyric, and the hook. "Hole in My Shoe" is the first thing I ever wrote. Looking back at all that early stuff, I think a lot of it is really trite and banal. It's very naive, let me put it that way. Which, in a sense, was where I was at anyway. I was just a kid from the country, basically. I grew up well, but I grew up in a very rural setting. Steve formed an alliance with Jim [Capaldi] because of Jim's lyrics — Jim was great with lyrics, and that's not Steve's forte. But music and playing and melodies, yeah, and singing. That just happened. To me, it was more of a strength to have those differences in there. And then my stuff started getting picked for all the singles. To me it was like, so fuckin' what? Who cares who writes a hit single? That means that more people are gonna listen to the album, and get drawn more into the other music you're doing. It's like having a Lennon and McCartney together — together, they're great. Separately, Paul's a little sappy and John can get a little too over the edge. I always looked at Traffic that way. The problem was that what I was doing became, for them, a monumental fucking problem, to the point where they didn't want me in the band any more. That's why I basically just up and went, "You know what, fuck it, I'm gonna go where this music started. I'm going to America."

Capaldi says:    “This is why Traffic has such an eclectic shape, because there wasn’t much we couldn’t get into. Steve could basically go in any direction, really, that you needed to go...[It] gave us the freedom to be able to be so musical, we could go anywhere. There aren’t many bands I can think of that could really go to the places we went to musically.”

'Traffic' traveled to number seventeen in the US, fifteen in Canada, and nine in the UK.  









'Traffic'

full album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8-EFlkVTok




1."You Can All Join In" (Mason) -- 3:34 Dave Mason -- lead vocal, guitar; Steve Winwood -- electric guitar, bass, backing vocal; Chris Wood -- tenor saxophone; Jim Capaldi -- drums, backing vocal
2."Pearly Queen" (Capaldi/Winwood) -- 4:20 Winwood -- vocal, Hammond organ, electric guitar, bass; Wood -- flute; Mason -- harmonica; Capaldi -- drums
3."Don't Be Sad" (Mason) -- 3:24 Mason -- vocal, harmonica, electric guitar; Winwood -- vocal, Hammond organ, electric rhythm guitar, bass; Wood -- soprano saxophone; Capaldi -- drums, backing vocal
4."Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring" (Capaldi/Winwood/Wood)-- 3:11 Winwood -- vocals, Hammond organ, guitars, bass; Capaldi -- drums, percussion, backing vocal
5."Feelin' Alright?" (Mason) -- 4:16 Mason -- lead vocal, guitar; Winwood -- piano, bass, backing vocal; Wood -- tenor saxophone, backing vocal; Capaldi -- drums, percussion
6."Vagabond Virgin" (Capaldi/Mason) -- 5:21 Mason -- vocal, guitar; Capaldi -- vocal, drums, percussion; Winwood -- piano, bass, backing vocal; Wood -- flute
7."(Roamin' Thru the Gloamin' with) 40,000 Headmen" (Capaldi/Winwood) -- 3:15 Winwood -- vocal, guitar, organ, bass; Wood -- flute, Coke tin, sleigh bells; Capaldi -- drums
8."Cryin' to Be Heard" (Mason) -- 5:14 Mason -- lead vocal, bass; Winwood -- Hammond organ, harpsichord, backing vocal; Wood -- soprano saxophone; Capaldi -- drums, backing vocal
9."No Time to Live" (Capaldi/Winwood) -- 5:10 Winwood -- lead vocal, piano, bass; Wood -- soprano saxophone; Mason -- Hammond organ; Capaldi -- drums
10."Means to an End" (Capaldi/Winwood) -- 2:39 Winwood -- vocals, piano, electric guitar, bass; Wood -- drums, percussion

Sunday, October 27, 2013

infidels







Bob Dylan regrouped and redefined his sound with the prophetic political palaver of this intense and emotional return to form. After his conversion to Christianity in 1978, he had released three evangelical albums ('Slow Train Coming', 'Saved', and 'Shot of Love') and seen his sales and fanbase gradually dwindle.  When it came time to record his next album, Dylan was ready for something different.  The sessions as the Power Station in New York featured Bob Dylan on guitar, harmonica, keyboards, vocals, and production with Mark Knopfler on guitar and production; Mick Taylor on guitar; Alan Clark on keyboards; Robbie Shakespeare on bass guitar; Sly Dunbar on drums and percussion; and Clydie King on vocals on "Union Sundown". 

Knopfler remembers:   "You see people working in different ways, and it's good for you. You have to learn to adapt to the way different people work. Yes, it was strange at times with Bob. One of the great parts about production is that it demonstrates to you that you have to be flexible. Each song has its own secret that's different from another song, and each has its own life. Sometimes it has to be teased out, whereas other times it might come fast. There are no laws about songwriting or producing. It depends on what you're doing, not just who you're doing. You have to be sensitive and flexible, and it's fun. I'd say I was more disciplined. But I think Bob is much more disciplined as a writer of lyrics, as a poet. He's an absolute genius. As a singer—absolute genius. But musically, I think it’s a lot more basic. The music just tends to be a vehicle for that poetry."


After three albums of explicitly Christian subject matter, 'Infidels' finds Dylan stepping back towards a more secular perspective in his songs; although he continues to borrow imagery from the Bible.  He would explain:  "Here's the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don't find it anywhere else...I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers,evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity ... I've never said I'm born again. That's just a media term. I don't think I've ever been an agnostic. I've always thought there's a superior power, that this is not the real world and that there's a world to come. That no soul has died, every soul is alive, either in holiness or in flames. And there's probably a lot of middle ground...I don't think that this is it, you know — this life ain't nothin'. There's no way you're gonna convince me this is all there is to it. I never, ever believed that. I believe in the Book of Revelation. The leaders of this world are eventually going to play God, if they're not already playing God, and eventually a man will come that everybody will think is God. He'll do things, and they'll say, "Well, only God can do those things. It must be him." ... I don't think it's at hand. I think we'll have at least 200 years. And the new kingdom that comes in, I mean, people can't even imagine what it's gonna be like. There's a lot of people walkin' around who think the new kingdom's comin' next year and that they're gonna be right in there among the top guard. And they're wrong. I think when it comes in, there are people who'll be prepared for it, but if the new kingdom happened tomorrow and you were sitting there and I was sitting here, you wouldn't even remember me...If I thought the world needed a new religion, I would start one. But there are a lot of other religions, too. There's those Indian religions, Eastern religions, Buddhism, you know. They're happening, too ... After the '78 gospel tour, I wanted to keep touring in '79. But I knew that we'd gone everywhere in '78, so how you gonna play in '79? Go back to the same places? So, at that point, I figured, 'Well, I don't care if I draw no crowds no more.' And a lotta places we played on the last tour, we filled maybe half the hall...I think when your time is your time, it don't matter what you're doin'. It's either your time, or its not your time. And I didn't feel the last few years was really my time. But that's no reason for me to make any kinda judgment call on what it is I'm gonna be. The people who reacted to the gospel stuff would've reacted that way if I hadn't done, you know, "Song to Woody."... I can usually anticipate that stuff — what's going on, what's the mood. There's a lotta young performers around. And they look good and they move good, and they're sayin' stuff that is, uh, excitable, you know? Face it, a lotta that stuff is just made and geared for twelve-year-old kids. It's like baby food ... I'm not a political songwriter. Joe Hill was a political songwriter; uh, Merle Travis wrote some political songs. "Which Side Are You On?" is a political song. And "Neighborhood Bully," to me, is not a political song, because if it were, it would fall into a certain political party. If you're talkin' about it as an Israeli political song — even if it is an Israeli political song — in Israel alone, there's maybe twenty political parties. I don't know where that would fall, what party ... Just because somebody feels a certain way, you can't come around and stick some political-party slogan on it. If you listen closely, it really could be about other things. It's simple and easy to define it, so you got it pegged, and you can deal with it in that certain kinda way. However, I wouldn't do that, 'cause I don't know what the politics of Israel is. I just don't know...I think politics is an instrument of the Devil. Just that clear. I think politics is what kills; it doesn't bring anything alive. Politics is corrupt; I mean, anybody knows that ... I just write 'em as they come, you know? They're not about anything different than what I've ever written about, but they're probably put together in a way that other ones aren't put together. So it might seem like somethin' new. I don't think I've found any new chords or new progressions, or any new words that haven't been said before. I think they're pretty much all the same old thing, just kinda reworked."

'Infidels' made its way to number twenty in the US, six in Australia, and nine in the UK.  Dylan admits:    "There were other titles for it. I wanted to call it 'Surviving in a Ruthless World'. But someone pointed out to me that the last bunch of albums I'd made all started with the letter s. So I said, 'Well, I don't wanna get bogged down in the letters.' And then 'Infidels' came into my head one day. I don't know what it means, or anything."





http://www.bobdylan.com





http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Infidels/215795





"Jokerman" – 6:12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XSvsFgvWr0



Standing on the waters casting your bread
 While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
 Distant ships sailing into the mist
 You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
 Freedom just around the corner for you
 But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
 Bird fly high by the light of the moon
 Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

So swiftly the sun sets in the sky
 You rise up and say goodbye to no one
 Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
 Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don’t show one
 Shedding off one more layer of skin
 Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
 Bird fly high by the light of the moon
 Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

You’re a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds
 Manipulator of crowds, you’re a dream twister
 You’re going to Sodom and Gomorrah
 But what do you care? Ain’t nobody there would want to marry your sister
 Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame
 You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
 Bird fly high by the light of the moon
 Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy
 The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
 In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed
 Michelangelo indeed could’ve carved out your features
 Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space
 Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
 Bird fly high by the light of the moon
 Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

Well, the rifleman’s stalking the sick and the lame
 Preacherman seeks the same, who’ll get there first is uncertain
 Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks
 Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain
 False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin
 Only a matter of time ’til night comes steppin’ in

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
 Bird fly high by the light of the moon
 Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman

It’s a shadowy world, skies are slippery grey
 A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet
 He’ll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat
 Take the motherless children off the street
 And place them at the feet of a harlot
 Oh, Jokerman, you know what he wants
 Oh, Jokerman, you don’t show any response

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune 
Bird fly high by the light of the moon 
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman




"Sweetheart Like You" – 4:31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpRKstHl7Y0



"Neighborhood Bully" – 4:33
http://www.popmodal.com/video/17195/Neighborhood-Bully-Bob-Dylan-Regarding-Israel--30th-Anniversary


"License to Kill" – 3:31
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkEx4BDhRjw


Side two
"Man of Peace" – 6:27
http://www.popmodal.com/video/4487/Man-Of-Peace--Bob-Dylan-Alternate



"Union Sundown" – 5:21
http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/oroark/clips/bobdylanunionsundown-5-38.mp4#


"I and I" – 5:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CVDoG9E_U8


"Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight" – 5:54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3DmbfdmS6c
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg2NDA3OTEy.html



outtakes

"Blind Willie McTell"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLzSi_pZVT4



'Foot of Pride'
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyhni7_foot-of-pride-bob-dylan-rare_music

http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/xyhni7">

/>http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyhni7_foot-of-pride-bob-dylan-rare_music" target="_blank">foot of pride Bob DYLAN [rare] by http://www.dailymotion.com/mystralgagnant95300" target="_blank">mystralgagnant95300

Saturday, October 26, 2013

you've come a long way, baby






Funk soul brother Fatboy Slim conquered the world with the adventurous breakbeats and diverse samples of this rave ready revolution.  Norman Quentin Cook had been the bassist for the Housemartins and then formed Beats International with engineer Simon Thornton before going on to work in various groups and guises like Freak Power, Pizzaman and The Mighty Dub Katz.    Cook considers:   "Most people don't get a fair crack of the whip; and I've had it four times over...After the Housemartins, I kept out of the limelight.  I was never on the record sleeves, never did any interviews ... I didn't want to be doing that kind of music any more.  I thought I'd have to go and get a proper job:   fireman. The uniform is quite nice. And you get laid a lot, apparently. But I'd probably have been useless. I wouldn't have saved people's children or dogs. I'd have probably saved their record collections...I became an arrogant workaholic. You know, not having time for my friends and basically pissing everyone off...I was taken over by it. I thought I was Prince...I'd try to knock myself out to get to sleep, by bashing my head against things - I tried to drink myself to sleep, which sometimes worked, and sometimes I'd just get very drunk. It was about hating myself and not wanting to be here. I suppose if my problem was an over-developed ego, then it was about bringing myself down to a gibbering wreck, with no ego at all, so I could build myself up again."




Cook took on the name Fatboy Slim and released his first album 'Better Living Through Chemistry'  to critical acclaim.  The follow-up 'You've Come A Long Way, Baby' was recorded at The House of Love in Brighton with Norman Cook as performer and producer and Simon Thornton on engineering and mixing.   'You've Come A Long Way, Baby' was an international smash hit, going to thirty-four in the US, twenty-nine in Finland, twenty-seven in Belgium and the Netherlands, twenty-four in Sweden, twenty-three in Switzerland, nineteen in Ireland, sixteen in Canada, fifteen in Germany, thirteen in Austria, ten in France, two in Australia, and number one in New Zealand and the UK.



 




















"Right Here, Right Now" 



"The Rockafeller Skank"  





"Gangster Tripping"  
 



 







'You've Come A Long Way, Baby'
full album:



1. "Right Here, Right Now"   Norman Cook, Dale Peters, Joe Walsh 6:27
2. "The Rockafeller Skank"   Cook, John Barry, Winifred Terry 6:53
3. "Fucking in Heaven"   Cook 3:54
4. "Gangster Tripping"   Cook, Josh Davis, Sam Brox, Ganiyu Pierre Gasper, Stephen Jones, Nicholas Lockett, Myke Wilson 5:20
5. "Build It Up - Tear It Down"   Cook, Patricia Miller 5:05
6. "Kalifornia"   Cook, Mr. Natural 5:53
7. "Soul Surfing"   Cook, Earl Nelson, Fred Smith 4:56
8. "You're Not from Brighton"   Cook 5:20
9. "Praise You"   Cook, Camille Yarbrough 5:23
10. "Love Island"   Cook 5:18

11. "Acid 8000"   Cook 7:28