Bloggerhythms

The quote by writer and music critic Tom Moon, "The more you love music, the more music you love," 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 ...

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 gu...

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 exce...

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 ...

Most singer-songwriters seem to have a short shelf life. They issue three or four excellent albums early in their careers, win over the critics and much of the public, and then coast for the next twenty-five or thirty years. Perhaps they just run out of things to say. Finally, after they shake off all of the rock 'n roll demons, they return with a comeback album that almost rivals the quality of their early output. Such is the case with one member of the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, Jackson Browne. Running On Empty was Browne's fifth album and, for some, it was the beginning of the end of a great five year run. For other listeners, like me, it was the album that made me a big fan. Is this Browne's best album? Probably, not. Those honors are usually reserved for his 1972 self-titled debut or, my personal favorite, his superlative 1974 disc, Late For The Sky . Also included in that hitting streak are For Everyman (1973) and The Pretender (1976). Running On Empty w...

Luke and Mitch Meseke, the two brothers who are Woozy Viper, originally hail from Kansas and, unfortunately, that is virtually everything that is known about them. There is no biographical information anywhere online. Their MySpace page tells us nothing except that they are now living in New York City's outer boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. They are even giving their debut CD away for free on their one page website so apparently music is just their hobby. They only want to create it, not earn a living by it. Considering all of the above, why write about this new band? Because these boys are really onto something and they need to get their publicity machine revved up quickly. Their eponymous debut is a rock 'n roll breath of fresh air in a genre that has become increasingly stale. The disc is a sparsely produced and arranged set of songs that fits Woozy Viper's low profile. All twelve tracks sound like unfinished demos but the simplicity is part of the music's...