Bloggerhythms

To most people guitarist and singer-songwriter Jonathan Edwards is a genuine one hit wonder. His first single, "Sunshine," an exuberant, acoustic tune, the kind that actually made the charts back in the era of peace and love, went to number four in the fall of 1971. After leaving a blues band in 1969 to play acoustic folk music as a solo act, Edwards recorded his only well known song, one of many popular tunes during the Viet Nam War era that gauged the temper of the times perfectly. The hit was a last minute addition to his eponymous, debut album , a very fine twelve song set of mostly original material. "Sunshine" is usually recognized by the lines "He can’t even run his own life/I’ll be damned if he'll run mine." The LP's opener, "Everybody Knows Her," a track just as uplifting as the single, also received some substantial airplay on FM radio and was definitely one of the LP's better offerings. Two songs came from th...

Yesterday, while perusing the best seller albums chart published weekly in Philadelphia's Sunday Inquirer I noticed that David Bowie's The Next Day , his first new album of original music in a decade, debuted at number one. The top ten albums also included recent releases by Eric Clapton, whose Old Sock landed at number five, and a man who passed away over forty years ago, Jimi Hendrix. The Seattle legend's new CD, People, Hell & Angels , placed just a couple of notches below Clapton's. Even though I'm not a Bowie fan I smiled, and for a fleeting second I thought, "WOW! The old classic rockers can still bring it." When I regained consciousness I quickly realized that the reason these guys are still selling complete albums well enough to make the top ten is because the young people of the digital age, who I almost gave a lot of credit to for listening to the old stuff, aren't buying full albums anymore. They've moved on to either buying...

I wish I had heard of the alternative, country-rock band Hacienda Brothers before last week because they're already gone. The short-lived group broke up when lead singer Chris Gaffney died of liver cancer in 2008. Gaffney's death meant the quintet had only a three year recording career. Between 2005 and 2008 they delivered three studio CDs and a limited edition live disc. Based out of Tucson, Arizona, Gaffney and lead guitar player Dave Gonzalez formed a talented outfit that combined their country roots with some top notch R&B to create what they called "Western soul." They were once described as the best of their genre since The Flying Burrito Brothers. Gaffney's voice was definitely soulful and he could have been an R&B singer if he had chosen that direction. By the time he and Gonzalez worked together the former had already earned a reputation as a fine songwriter who toured with The Blasters' Dave Alvin. He also led an outfit called T...

To celebrate George Harrison's 70th birthday here is part two of Bloggerhythms' analysis of the twenty-two songs he wrote, recorded, and released for The Beatles. You can read part one here . "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - The Beatles (1968) One of the Beatles' five all-time greatest efforts and another of Harrison's philosophical works. This one is based on the Eastern belief that nothing is random and everything that happens is related to everything else. George plays acoustic guitar and Paul McCartney added piano and organ. It's famous for Eric Clapton's sensational electric lead guitar solo. "Piggies" - The Beatles (1968) This short, social commentary ditty sounds cute enough to have dripped from the pen of McCartney but its totally counter-culture lyrics prove otherwise. Often thought to be about the Royal Family it's really a slam on the U. K.'s class structure and corporate greed. John Lennon was responsible f...

In 2006 Bloggerhythms posted a tribute to George Harrison, one of only two non-original articles ever to appear on this site. The essay was a good synopsis of the guitarist's role with The Beatles that was originally written back in 2001 for the Philadelphia Inquirer and reprinted here with the author’s permission. While the article was an overall discussion about Harrison being one of rock’s most celebrated second or third bananas it never discussed his songs in any depth. To make up for that oversight, and to celebrate what would have been the mystical Beatle's 70th birthday about two weeks ago, it's time to discuss the twenty-two songs he wrote and released for The Beatles while the band was together. We’ll cover the first eleven songs today.   "Don't Bother Me" – With The Beatles (1963) This is the first song George ever wrote by himself and he attempted it while sick in bed for no other reason than to see if he could write one. It's a fast p...