Bloggerhythms

When people think of 1967 in the world of music the discussion almost always starts and ends with The Summer of Love and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . However, the year wasn't all about San Francisco, wah-wah pedals, and psychedelic rock. The proof is that one of the most highly regarded bands in jazz history was still playing at its full strength even though it was nearing the end of its eleven year run. Drummer Joe Morello, bassist Eugene Wright, and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond were all still working together with their leader, pianist Dave Brubeck, for a series of concerts in Mexico City. The Dave Brubeck Quartet was quite eclectic. When a sweet and quiet passage almost lulled you to sleep Brubeck's piano playing would suddenly turn frenzied and then just as quickly he would return to more traditional territory. Desmond's sax work was never as intense as Brubeck's playing so he often was able to make the music more palatable for those listeners ...

I'd like to make one additional comment regarding my post of of September 9, 2008 titled Are The Beatles Really The Greatest Of All Time? I acknowledge that The Beatles are not everyone's favorite artist. When I posed the question of whether or not they are the greatest act of all time it wasn't only because their music is so loved by so many people. It's because of their undeniably huge influence on pop music that continues to this day. Even if you like someone else a whole lot more than The Beatles it isn't a stretch to say they are the most influential and most important artist of the last half of the Twentieth Century. If you don't believe me read your music history. But enough of living in the past. Let's move on to the the new millennium. It's been a couple of months since I got my first ipod, a charcoal, 3rd generation, 8 GB nano. So far I've loaded over a thousand songs onto it and there is still a lot of space left. Maybe it...

The Beatles are acknowledged to be the greatest musical act of the rock & roll era. Thirty-eight years after the release of Let It Be , their last official original album, let's take a look at their lofty status, as well as some of their huge accomplishments, and ask ourselves why. Were they really better than everybody else? The Beatles were the first rock band to make writing and performing their own music fashionable. The only other rock band to regularly record their own original songs were Buddy Holly and The Crickets about a half a decade earlier, but tragedy cut short their leader's career. No one else seemed to follow suit until The Beatles who almost made it a requirement for an artist to write their own music in order to receive any kind of critical approval. The Liverpool quartet had three outstanding composers. A lot more has been written about the much-loved duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney but George Harrison was no slouch either. He didn't really sh...

When I first heard the latest CD from the quintessential 70s soft-rock band, America , I was surprised to learn that one of the co-producers of their 2007 comeback, Homecoming , was James Iha , co-founder and guitarist for the 90s rock band, Smashing Pumpkins. It's not because I'm a big fan of the Pumpkins. To the contrary, I barely know their music. The surprise was discovering that a member of a critically acclaimed modern rock band would work with an artist who was not even considered cool back in their own heyday of the 70s. Iha and his co-producer, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains Of Wayne, worked with the band famous for "A Horse With No Name" without trying to update America's sound. They simply used their talents to enhance what Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell always did best. Iha must have a strong affection for America, and the genre they represent, because in 1998, years before he produced Homecoming , the ex-Pumpkin released his one and only solo ...

The Mother Truckers are back with their third CD, Let's All Go To Bed . The thirteen song set offers us a heavy dose of rock n' roll that often makes you forget The Truckers have frequently been described as a country-rock band. Even the quartet's official web site doesn't believe they are a country band because it brands them as "a kick-ass rock 'n' roll band from Austin, Texas." As their high octane music moves further and further away from country with each succeeding release they sound tighter and more alive than ever before. Teal Collins excellent, full throttle vocals wail, Josh Zee's electric lead guitar scorches, and the new rhythm section of drummer Dan Thompson and bassist Danny G. provides a backbeat that would make any rock band proud. Call them whatever you want: rock, country, or Americana. Fans of all those genres will find something to love on this excellent collection. One of the new CD's strongest tunes, "Streets...

Those Australian mates known as The Cat Empire are a hard bunch to categorize because there is nothing traditional about their rock n' roll. The band's best known CD, Two Shoes , did not have a single guitar lick on the entire sixty minute disc. A solo trumpet is one of their featured lead instruments, and on their latest CD, So Many Nights , they may be the only band featuring a turntable accompanied by a string section. They also are lucky to have keyboardist Oliver McGill who is possibly the best unknown jazz-rock pianist in the business. Every solo he plays is absolutely amazing. So Many Nights is a party disc that is just as much fun as the sextet's earlier work. It's also a little more traditional in both its songwriting and arranging without sacrificing any originality or quality. There are even a couple of tunes that someone may want to classify as ballads. The band offers us a taste from a full buffet of musical genres, including pop, rock, funk, jaz...

On his second solo effort, the very compelling baritone of Darius Rucker is front and center on this pleasant CD of contemporary country music. That is how it should be because Rucker's voice is the reason to listen to Learn To Live . The twelve songs are loaded with fiddles, banjos, and steel guitars, but they're buried deep enough in the mix to allow the electric guitars and drums to have their say. The latter gives the proceedings a rock 'n roll feel that downplays the country aspects of the music. At times Learn To Live doesn't sound like a country record and I'm sure that was a deliberate decision made in order not to alienate the singer's original fan base. Rucker co-wrote all of the songs and they're good enough for repeated listens even if they're not classics. In fact, the tunes don't have to be great because his voice, one of the most pleasing in rock, carries the disc from beginning to end. Whether it's a ballad, up-tempo co...

It finally happened. The cross-generational band Chicago have finally issued their previously unreleased Stone Of Sisyphus (SOS) sessions from 1993. It's an honor that belongs to Rhino Records. My view of these songs is very much the same as it was when I first heard them four years ago. The music is far better than anything Chicago released during their Warner Brothers years with the possible exception of 1982's Chicago 16 . However, SOS does not rank with their classic albums from the seventies. So, why am I writing about SOS again? The answer is mostly to point out the differences between the unofficial version many fans have owned for years and the new Rhino disc hitting the shelves this week. Most importantly, and shamefully, one of the songs originally slated for release on the CD back in 1993 has been eliminated. "Get On This," composed mostly by former band member Dawayne Bailey, was dumped. Is it because the song is arguably the most lyrically co...