Bloggerhythms

Americana rockers Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters eponymous, debut album hit the streets in 2018 and their new digital 45, "The Lion & The Lamb" with "Six Feet Apart" as the modern day version of the b-side," is the first followup to that set of music. Flynn has also released five albums on her own before starting this all female septet whose name honors Rosie the Riveter - the woman on the fictitious, iconic, poster from 1942 representing the American women of World War Two who worked in the war production industries because their men were fighting overseas. Some sociologists will tell you this was the beginning of the movement that allowed modern women to live on a more equal footing with their male counterparts. The band's name should give you a strong hint about their music. It's not too aggressive yet it packs a punch that fits squarely into the Americana  or country-rock genre. I'll let you decide if the record is more rock or more count

If you accuse me of writing this article as an excuse to feature Robert Lamm's composition, "A Hit By Varèse," a song that opened Chicago   V in 1972, you would be right.  Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) was an avant-garde, classical composer whose atonal music had a major affect on rock musicians - particularly Frank Zappa. The composer's "Ionisation" for thirteen musicians is the first ever all percussion piece written for a concert hall and it's a work that motivated Zappa to pursue a musical career. The eccentric rocker readily acknowledged he became obsessed with the composer's music. Lamm was apparently a fan too and Varèse's music was also an inspiration for two early Pink Floyd albums:  Ummagumma  and  Atom Heart Mother . Varèse was also a pioneer in the field of electronic music and the usage of tape loops. His trailblazing work in two areas that are quite mainstream today helped him to acquire the moniker "Father of Electronic Music.&quo

Gerry Marsden, leader of Gerry & The Pacemakers passed away today at age 78. The Pacemakers were one of many British Invasion bands that quickly followed The Beatles stateside after the Fab Four hit it big in America. They Liverpool group was the second act signed by The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. Marsden was a pleasant singer and the focal point of the quartet. They had some talent and rivaled The Beatles in popularity for awhile in their hometown, but after late 1965 they stopped having hits and broke up a year later. Unlike both The Rolling Stones and The Animals, The Pacemakers - like Hermans' Hermits - resided in the non-threatening side of the Invasion. Most of their best known American hits were ballads that featured string sections that often drowned out the band behind Marsden's vocals, but one of the rockers has an interesting backstory.  "How Do You Do It" was a song written by an English songwriter named Mitch Murray. The Beatles' produce

" Badge" is one of Cream's most famous songs even though it never got higher than #60 on the Billboard Hot 100. All these years later it's still played on both classic rock and oldies radio stations. In Cream's homeland it climbed all the way to #18.  The short single (2:35) appeared on the power trio's final LP, Goodbye , in 1969 and was written by Eric Clapton with one of his best buddies, George Harrison, partially as repayment for the blues-rocker's assistance on The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." "Badge" was originally untitled on the original sheet music. Harrison had written the word "bridge" indicating that is where the midsection of the song belonged. Looking at the sheet music upside down, Clapton misread it as "badge" because of Harrison's handwriting. Here is how The former Beatle remembers it happening as quoted in Wikipedia. " I helped Eric write "Badge" you know. Each o

For several years in the early life of this little blog I would compile end-of-the-year "best of" lists. They were fun to do but I haven't posted one for several years now because the series was canceled due to poor ratings. Almost nobody read them.   I'm not posting a list this year but 2020 deserves a short year end review because some very good, new music was released. In addition, there was some amusing, blog related stuff that I'd like to share. Recently, I posted a review of Kind of Blue , the 1959 album by Miles Davis that true jazz fans have adored for decades. It has often been called the greatest jazz record ever made. I dislike it and said so in a review that you can read here . It's still on my iTunes account but the CD is going into my reject pile for possible resale. The reason I'm mentioning  Kind of Blue  again so soon is because when I posted the blog link on Twitter it generated two of the best responses I've ever seen about one of my

"The Rebel Jesus" is a Christmas song composed by Jackson Browne and performed with The Chieftains, the eclectic, veteran Irish folk band on  The Bells of Dublin,  their 1991 holiday album. Browne wrote the song specifically for his guest appearance on this record. The singer-songwriter, who is deservedly in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, can be a bit preachy when he wants to be, and he is again here, but no one can dispute what the man is saying.  The last two verses are the key to the song. Browne points out that people often feel more generous at Christmas so they'll give to those who were less fortunate than themselves during the holidays. But, if anyone tries to dig deeper and root out the poverty that envelops the downtrodden they are often scorned like Jesus was. This message is coming from a man who is admittedly a "heathen and a pagan," but on this occasion he is "on the side of the rebel Jesus." At the same time Browne doesn't want to sp

This is the first entry in an occasional series in which Bloggerhythms will feature some interesting greatest hits or "best of" compilations. Today's initial post is about Jefferson Airplane, a group that may only be a distant memory to many baby boomers. The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane is a fifteen song, single LP or CD with a great title that covers most of the group's best songs and biggest hits from their inception in 1965 through the end of the decade when their classic lineup started to disintegrate. This anthology covers the psychedelic, San Francisco band's first five studio albums and one live record. It went platinum and reached #12 on Billboard's album chart in 1971. The Airplane only had two top 40 hit hits: "Somebody to Love" (#5) and "White Rabbit" (#8). They are both here along with a few other notable singles - "The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil" (#42), "Volunteers" (#65), and "Crown of Creati

After music baseball has always been my number two passion in life with the possible exception of a few Octobers when the Philadelphia Phillies made the playoffs. Both the sport and the art form have been a huge part of my life since childhood with the Phillies functioning as my primary obsession only until February 9, 1964. That Sunday evening, an unknown rock quartet from Liverpool, UK appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Music took over my life quickly after that and I never looked back. That same year, after The Beatles blew up all around America and the rest of the world, The Phillies were making what was then an extremely rare run for a National League pennant that seemed inevitable until September when they blew a 6 1/2 game lead with only twelve to play. They lost ten games in a row before winning the last two of the season. Sadly, by that time it was too late. Unfortunately, there are still fans who haven't gotten over it.  This team's roster included future Kentucky Sena