Bloggerhythms

It took me awhile to become a Bruce Springsteen fan. I liked his songs but not his singing. There was a time when his voice really grated on me, and it didn't help that WMMR - Philadelphia's alternative rock station of the early 70s - played his first two albums,  Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ and The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle,  incessantly. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get past Springsteen's vocals. Otherwise, his singer-songwriter folkiness mixed with generous doses of rock, R&B and jazz were a perfect fit for me. Due to the hall-of-famer's exceptionally devoted fan base I learned about his legendary live shows, and on the evening of September, 18, 1984 I finally went to see him and his terrific E Street Band during their  Born In The USA tour. It was at this last of his six consecutive shows at The Spectrum that I became a Boss believer. That evening, the star and his band played for three and a half hours, an...

With the remaining members all well into their 70s and Charlie Watts already gone Blue & Lonesome is more than likely The Rolling Stones' last studio album, and it's their only full length record since The Bigger Bang  was released way back in 2005. It's also a surprise because there isn't a single Keith Richards / Mick Jagger original song anywhere. Instead, Blue & Lonesome offers up twelve raw covers of old blues tunes, many that predate the infamous British rockers' career. I've written here before that when an artist releases an album of all cover songs it's often because he or she has run out of inspiration while still having contractual obligations to fulfill. It is to the Stones' credit that they didn't fall into that fatal trap by releasing an album that often puts the nail in the coffin of many formerly great and productive careers. Blue & Lonesome sounds like a true labor of love. The blues are what inspired Jagger and...

Before "Sweet Caroline" became a fixture at Fenway Park prior to the Red Sox batting in the bottom of the eighth inning, and before he littered the landscape with "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" along with Barbra Streisand in 1978 - followed by "Forever In Blue Jeans" the next year - Neil Diamond was considered one of mainstream music's cooler dudes. As proof, Robbie Robertson, an elite member of rock's royalty, produced his 1976 LP, Beautiful Noise . Diamond was also one of the featured artists on The Last Waltz , a film directed by Martin Scorsese that became The Band's outstanding farewell to the world. Before that, many of Diamond's hit singles rocked, and the ones that didn't contained quite a bit of lyrical substance and musical complexity. One of those, "Solitary Man," is among his most memorable. This excellent single was Diamond's first one to chart in America. It was released twice, but it didn't crack the t...

Electric Beauty is a new trio of old friends and rock veterans from Minneapolis. The band's lineup includes Wayne Hasti on guitars, bass and vocals with Charlie Pine on vocals, piano, Hammond C3 and ARP Omni2. The group is rounded out by percussionist and drummer, Jim Tollefsrud. Pine was the original fourth member of Husker Du. He played on their very early gigs, and he was also the first manager and producer of The Jayhawks. Hasti played with a host of underground legends, and Tollefsrud is a respected drummer in the Twin Cities. Music writer and critic, Tom Moon wrote, " The more you love music, the more music you love." It's a quote I once used under the title of this blog that describes Electric Beauty well because they employ a wide range of rock & roll influences into their songs - everything from British Invasion to David Bowie, to modern rock. All twelve tracks on this eponymous debut album originated from within the band. They're not lyrically heav...