Edgehill Avenue - Off the Edge: Live at the Highlands Festival (2010)

Edgehill Avenue, the mighty fine Southern rock band from Louisville, continue to search for some much deserved attention for Rambler, their first full length studio CD. In the meantime they just released a brand new live EP, Off the Edge: Live at the Highlands Festival, that includes three songs from Rambler. There are two more from their currently out of print, self-titled EP ("All I Need" and "60 Days") and two previously unreleased tunes ("Corduroy" and "Summer Rain").

While band leader Drew Perkins calls Off The Edge an EP it's not one of those short, twenty minute, overpriced disappointments. At thirty-seven minutes it would have been a full length album in the pre-digital age so, because it's priced economically at $7 for a CD and only $5 for a download of all seven songs, it's worth every penny, especially because the band proved they are just as comfortable playing live as they are in the studio.

While the quintet embraces improvisation, and there is a very nice guitar battle between Perkins and lead axeman Mike McLaughlin on "Corduroy," they don't bore you with interminable jamming. Sonically, the recording is excellent. Perkins vocals are more up front allowing the listener to understand the lyrics easier than on the original versions.

If your a fan of Rambler this CD is a nice companion disc that will only encourage ticket sales if the band ever decides to visit your town.

Los Lonely Boys - 1969 (2009)

Forgiven, Los Lonely Boys third full length studio CD was loaded with more great roots-rock that continued to cement their reputation as one of our best current American bands. One of its highlights included a cover of The Spencer Davis Group/Chicago Transit Authority hit "I'm a Man." It showcased a lot of what the trio does best. I don't know if that song became the band's inspiration to record more classic rock oldies but if an educated guess has to be made I'd say it laid the foundation that eventually gave birth to 1969, a five track EP full of songs from that great year in rock 'n roll history.

On Santana's "Evil Ways," a song that is perfect for these Texans, the brothers created a whole new groove with their usually fine harmony vocals and guitarist Henry Garza's blazing solo. On "Polk Salad Annie" they can't match Tony Joe White's deep baritone voice that was a huge part of the song's appeal but Henry again rides the coda into the sunset with another powerful, bluesy solo. It may be impossible to capture the raw power or the emotion that was always a part of Jim Morrison's singing with The Doors but on "Roadhouse Blues" Los Lonely Boys come mighty close. They also borrow part of the medley from side two of The Beatles' Abbey Road to re-invent "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window." Finally, Buddy Holly's "Well Alright," later covered by Blind Faith, rounds out the set. It too receives the group's funky treatment.

All five are good songs whose originals are hard to top but if you've never heard the old classics you may think that the covers featured on 1969 are ideal. In the end, the versions you prefer may depend solely on which ones are the most familiar to your ears.

Paul McCartney - Good Evening New York City (2009)

Paul McCartney's Good Evening New York City celebrates the opening of Citi Field, the brand new baseball stadium of the New York Mets, that was built right next door to old Shea Stadium. If you're a Beatles fan (and maybe even if you're not) then you know about the Fab Four's historic night at Shea in 1965. It was rock 'n roll's first outdoor stadium concert.

It's easy to dismiss Good Evening as a clone of McCartney's last live album, Back in The U. S. Live 2002, and that is because seventeen of it's thirty-five tracks appear on both of the double disc sets. The two releases even sound alike at times so the best way to get the full effect and most enjoyment out of Good Evening is to watch its accompanying DVD on your home theater system. The sound is amazing and you'll believe you're right there fighting the crowd for a place in the front row.

Despite the repetition Good Evening does have a few surprises. "A Day In The Life," "I've Got A Feeling," "I'm Down," "Helter Skelter," and Mrs. Vanderbilt are all featured here. "Let Me Roll It" has a hot rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" tacked onto the end. Because of the supersized venue the band leaned toward the harder rocking stuff yet there were still enough McCartney ballads to keep those fans happy too. Billy Joel paid the ex-Beatle back for his appearance at Joel's concert that closed Shea by helping McCartney out on "I Saw Her Standing There." The songs needing strings or an orchestra (most notably "A Day In The Life" and "Eleanor Rigby") suffered because keyboard player Paul "Wix" Wickens replaced them with a synthesizer instead but that is a minor complaint.

Overall, it was an enjoyable two and a half hours of non-stop music. For a little while Beatlemania was back in New York.

Words About Music

The quote by writer and music critic Tom Moon posted under this blog's banner is from the cover of his excellent book 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die. It's probably my favorite quote about music. Moon's words got me thinking about other musical quotes I've read. So today, instead of writing a CD review, I thought I'd post some of my favorite musical witticisms, complaints, and observations.

While researching this article I was surprised to learn there have been multiple books published devoted to nothing more than quotes about music. One of them, pictured here, explores classic music quotes from Texas. I doubt if anything posted below is from Rave On but it could be a very interesting read due to all of the outstanding and varied musical personalities who have called the Lone Star State their home. The very cool cover features four famous Texans in Sgt. Pepper outfits.

I hope you enjoy the "wisdom" you're about to read.

Music Never Lies. - Jimi Hendrix

Your horn players are like one set of lungs and your guitar player is better than me. - Jimi Hendrix talking to Walt Parazaider, woodwind player for The Chicago Transit Authority

I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start getting the urge to conquer Poland. - Woody Allen, comedian, actor, director

A painter paints pictures on canvas but musicians paint their pictures on silence. - Leopold Stokowski, conductor, 1882 -1977

Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence. - Robert Fripp, leader of the prog-rock band, King Crimson

Country music is three chords and the truth. - Harlan Howard, country music singer-songwriter, 1927 -2002

I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else. - Lily Tomlin, comedienne, actress

The scratches in Yoko Ono records are moments of relief. - S.A. Sachs

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it. - John Lennon

I love Beethoven, especially his poems. -Ringo Starr

You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. - Oscar Levant, pianist, actor, comedian, 1906 -1972, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket

I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie [Ray Vaughan] missed on both counts, but I never noticed. - B. B. King

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning. - B. B. King

If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music. - Gustav Mahler, classical composer

Music is what feelings sound like. - Unknown

An intellectual is someone who can listen to the "William Tell Overture" without thinking of the Lone Ranger. - Dan Rather, TV journalist

The Irish gave the bagpipes to the Scots as a joke, but the Scots haven't got the joke yet. - Oliver Herford, American writer, 1863 - 1935

I hate music, especially when it's played. - Jimmy Durante, comedian, actor, 1893 - 1980

For those about to rock, we salute you. - AC/DC

Rock 'n Roll: The most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression it has been my misfortune to hear. - Frank Sinatra

I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. - Elvis Presley

This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway. - Bob Dylan

If you talk bad about country music, it's like saying bad things about my momma. - Dolly Parton

Talking about music is like dancing about architecture. - Steve Martin

Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist. - Gilbert K. Chesterton, English Writer, 1874 -1936

The '60s was one of the first times the power of music was used by a generation to bind them together. - Neil Young

Jazz will endure just as long people hear it through their feet instead of their brains. - John Philip Sousa, American conductor and composer of military marches, 1854-1932

By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with. - Duke Ellington

If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know. - Louis Armstrong

There are two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind. - Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington. Take your pick.

Do I listen to pop music because I'm miserable or am I miserable because I listen to pop music? - John Cusack, film actor

A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it. - Sir Thomas Beecham, British conductor, 1879 - 1961

Edgehill Avenue - Rambler (2009)

Southern rock is still alive and kicking and the vessel supplying its nourishment is a five piece unit from Louisville, Kentucky, Edgehill Avenue. They just released their first full length CD, Rambler, and it's a dandy. To these ears the group sounds more like The Marshall Tucker Band than anyone else but they are influenced by The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws, and more. Some music scribes have even cited Tom Petty, The Black Crowes, and R. E. M. as influences.

While not employing the dual lead guitar attack common to many Southern rockers they do have a top notch organ player in Paul Nevitt. Lead electric guitarist "Hurricane" Mike McLaughlin also doubles on acoustic. His work makes the listener wonder where he has been hiding all these years. Rhythm guitarist Drew Perkins is the fine, earthy vocalist. The rhythm section of Lamont "Phatbeat" Melson on drums and John Poole on bass provide a solid backing that works cohesively with the guys on the front line. The CD was produced by William Bartley, who once worked with Robbie Robertson, and Nick Stevens.

Not only are Edgehill Avenue outstanding players Perkins can write songs that pack a wallop. On the acoustic ballad, "I'll Be Leaving Now" he makes you feel really sad for the protagonist while singing "I'm a man and sometimes my intentions come out wrong." He is also capable of conjuring up the ghosts of folk music's great protest singers. The title track is about abolitionist Frederick Douglas and "Justified" laments the horrors of genocide. Having said all of that please don't think this quintet is a big downer because they can boogie with any of Dixie's best bands. All you need to do is listen to "Just Don't Care Anymore," "How You Really Feel," and the very radio friendly "With These Hands" and you'll know what I mean.

It took more than one listen for Rambler to sink in so I ask you to be generous with both your time and your ears. You won't be disappointed. Call this music Americana, call it roots-rock, call it Southern rock, call it whatever you like, just as long as you call it "great."

The band, minus Nevitt, recorded their only other release, an eponymously titled acoustic EP in 2007, that is currently out of print. However, it is still available for download on their website where you can also purchase Rambler on CD or mp3. It's also available at Amazon.

The music player below has been posted with the knowledge and approval of Drew Perkins of Edgehill Avenue.

Rosanne Cash - The List (2009)

Is there anyone out there who still doesn't know that Rosanne Cash's father was the late Johnny Cash and her stepmother the late June Carter Cash? If this is breaking news to you then the singer's latest CD, The List, is probably not for you. Please stop reading right now and go back to listening to the latest scantily clad teenager spewing forth heavily processed vocals while she cavorts around the stage to synthesized instrumental tracks.

The List is a wonderful collection of songs given to the world by one of country music's best talents. It also has a very nice back story. Johnny Cash was quite dismayed that when Rosanne turned eighteen her musical frame of reference only included the songs she heard on the radio. So, the country icon sat down and wrote out a list of one hundred American country and folk songs he considered indispensable and gave it to her. She kept the list and, thirty-five years later, picked twelve songs from it for this CD.

Many excellent standards are included. Patsy Cline's "She's Got You," Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country," and "Long Black Veil," a duet with Jeff Tweedy, are all present and accounted for. One of my personal favorites,"500 Miles," an early hit for Peter, Paul, and Mary, is here too. Bruce Springsteen helps out on "Sea of Heartbreak," Elvis Costello on "Heartaches by the Number," and Rufus Wainwright duets on "Silver Wings." The album's sparkling arrangements were produced by Cash's husband, John Leventhal. Her alto voice is as beautiful as ever.

This is Cash's second deeply personal CD in a row. Black Cadillac (2006) was written as a catharsis to deal with the losses she suffered after the deaths of her father, her mother, Vivian Liberto, and her stepmother all within twenty-two months of each other. Fortunately for us the star has turned her sadness into some excellent music. Because The List is so deeply personal to Cash it's obvious that she doesn't view it as just another album full of cover songs and that accounts for her ability to effortlessly transfer those feelings to the listener.

The Beach Boys - Sunflower (1970)

It's quite possible that you've never listened to Sunflower. It quickly became the poorest selling and possibly the most obscure album in The Beach Boys catalog when it was released in 1970. According to Wikipedia, it was only on the charts for four weeks and reached #151 in the United States. In England, where the band was much more popular at the time, the album went to #29.

Sunflower contains some of the seminal band's greatest music ever and this isn't just some music snob trying to push the obscure stuff. Most people who eventually heard this astonishingly wonderful record will tell you the same thing. The album, the group's first for Warner Brothers, was released during the boys highly artistic period that began with Pet Sounds in 1966 and ran through Holland in 1973. That period proved the guys from Hawthorne, California were far more than Brian Wilson's backup band at a time when they still had the motivation to be one of the best outfits on the planet.

All six members contributed to the album as a unified team (the original classic lineup plus Bruce Johnston were all on board). Everyone had composing credits on this self-produced record that offered some of the best harmonies the band ever recorded together.

Sunflower was Dennis Wilson's best moment in the studio so far. He contributed the the mid-tempo rocker "Slip On Through," the upbeat "Got to Know The Woman," and the beautiful ballad "Forever." Only his 1977 solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, rivaled his work here.

Brian shook off his troubles long enough to write or co-write seven of the twelve tracks but it is not believed he was much of a studio force during its production. One of his co-written songs, the single, "Add Some Music To Your Day," is included here and it's one of the band's most outstanding works. It is unfair that this song never became a monster hit. Both the album and the song were released during a time when the Woodstock Nation considered The Beach Boys to be, at best, nothing more than quaint musical throwbacks. The band's popular revival, spearheaded by the double CD anthology of Endless Summer in 1974, was still a few years away, so America missed out on some great music because of it.

Carl shined on "This Whole World." Bruce Johnston turned in some of his best songs with "Deirdre" and "Tears In the Morning." Only the slightly weird Brian Wilson - Mike Love production of, "Cool, Cool, Water" and the harder rocking, "It's About Time" seem out of place with the rest of the record but they too have some very nice moments.

On Sunflower The Beach Boys modernized their sound while still playing to their strengths. Brian Wilson already proved with Pet Sounds that they were far more than gimmicky surf-rockers, and with this work, so did the rest of the band. You must make this music part of your life. It's not too late.

Here is some Sunflower music.

Listen to the original "Add Some Music To Your Day" and then, just to show you how well The Beach Boys could sing, here is an a cappella version of the same song.

Next, Carl sings "This Whole World" and, in a rare live performance, he and the band perform it in 1988.

Finally, Dennis sings "Forever" live. Watch him sneeze at the 2:07 mark and laugh about it a few seconds later.