Wolfgang's Vault Top Ten Streams For 2006: Not Your Usual Year-End List

For those of us who write about music, this time of year is all about one thing. And for those of you wondering, it isn't holiday parties or hopeful encounters underneath the mistletoe.

Nope.

The end of the year for us music scribes means one thing and one thing only. Time to do the year-end top ten list. Which brings me to my problem this year.

You see, for the life of me, I haven't been able to come up with a list of ten new CDs I heard this year that I felt were great enough to warrant inclusion on such a list.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I heard a lot of good music this year. I just didn't hear that much that I thought was truly great. That's as in great the same way some of the CDs I've put on such lists in past years still hold up.

Take the list I compiled last year for example:

My #2 choice was Neil Young's Prairie Wind, which I felt represented a return to form after disapointing recent efforts like Are You Passionate and Greendale. This year Neil Young gave us Living With War, his politically charged, and heavily amplified call to arms against Bush.

Living With War was certainly topical enough, and if you like the cranked to eleven sound of Neil shredding away on Old Black (which I do), it also has some really good music. But it's just not a great Neil Young album. Rust Never Sleeps is a great Neil Young album. Living With War, in my opinion at least, is simply a really good one.

My #1 choice for last year was Bruce Springsteen's Devils & Dust, which for my money contains the most vivid lyrical imagery to come from the pen of the Boss since Nebraska.

This year Bruce gave us We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, an album whose concept of folk-based cover songs had me skeptical going in. Happily, those same misgivings were just as quickly disspelled once I heard the joyous noise of these great songs (especially "O Mary Don't You Weep").

So Bruce makes my very short top three list this year.

He joins Bob Dylan's Modern Times which is my choice for best album of 2006, and possibly the icon's best overall release since the classic Blood On The Tracks.

Rounding out my very short top three this year is Johnny Cash's final (?) posthumous release in the American series, American V: A Hundred Highways, an album which finds The Man in Black coming to terms with his mortality in his final days.

So after going over all the music that I've written about this past year, I realized that in 2006 I wrote an unusually high number of reviews about reissues. Maybe it's just because there were so many of those "remastered versions" of classic albums this year.

I'd hardly consider myself an exclusively classic rock type of guy, but the evidence doesn't lie. From ELO to Alice Cooper to Jeff Beck, I wrote about a lot of repackaged oldies this year.

So that's when it hit me. As I considered compiling a Top Ten reissues list, I realized that the coolest thing I'd come across this year in music period was Wolfgang's Vault. Even better, breaking events just this week may also make it among the year's most topical music news stories.

On it's surface, Wolfgang's Vault is merely just about the coolest rock memorabilia site on the Internet, period. Especially if you are a fan of the late sixties and early seventies psychedelic rock era. Basically home to the collection of the late concert promoter Bill Graham, it houses rare, hard to find items like original artwork from the legendary Fillmore East and West. But as of November of this year, it also became home to something much bigger, and--if you are a seeker of rare music from that same period--something way, way cooler.

At the Concert Vault, which links from the main site, you can stream hundreds of previously unheard concerts from the same period from the top artists of the day. Right now. And they are pretty much all there, from the Airplane to Hendrix to Miles to Zeppelin.

Apparantly Bill Graham himself recorded just about everyone who ever played such venues as the Fillmore (East and West) and Winterland, and the files are now on the Internet for anyone to hear absolutely free.

At least for now anyway.

Earlier this week, representatives of several of the bands whose previously unavailable concerts can be heard there--bands like Zeppelin, Santana, and the Grateful Dead--filed suit to stop the free streams on the grounds that they are unauthorized.

Now if history tells us anything about "free music" on the Internet, it is that such unrestricted access is rarely legal, and that it even less rarely lasts. The difference here is simply that the streams themselves do not involve any type of ownership.

Why? Because they can only be played, rather than actually ripped or downloaded. Unlike the Peer To Peer sites of the past, the user risks nothing legally because ownership--in the form of "stealing" an artists work--cannot be claimed simply by hearing it.

Legal and moral issues aside, if your experience with Peer To Peer servers has been anything like mine, frying your hard drive with all of the spyware hidden in downloaded files isn't worth the risk anyway.

Still if history is any indicator, outside of an unlikely settlement being worked out, the goldmine of rare, historic performances now available free at The Concert Vault isn't likely to last.

Which means one thing. Get it while you can.

And remember, you are only "listening" to this amazing music, the same way you would on a radio. It's not possible to rip yourself a copy. So even if fear of arrest or a hard drive fried by spyware overload never scared you away before, your conscience can remain free here. There is nothing here to steal. But there is a motherlode of previously unreleased stuff to hear, with new shows being added every week.

These are the ten best performances I found at The Concert Vault:

1. Pink Floyd: 04/29/1970 Fillmore West

Described on the site as extending to the "outer reaches of exploration," this amazing set recorded before an absolutely rapt audience finds Pink Floyd at their most raw and experimental, and pre-Dark Side Of The Moon glossy best. It includes a rare, live performance of the complete Atom Heart Mother Suite that sounds nothing like the recorded studio version. Greatly extended versions of the psychedelic masterpieces "Saucerful Of Secrets" and "Careful With That Axe Eugene" likewise show an intensity only hinted at on the official live versions found on Ummagumma.

2. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: 12/15/1978 Winterland

A legendary performer captured on the legendary Darkness tour, performing what hardcore fans already know to be one of his best shows ever. You get the full three hour plus performance here with surprisingly great sound quality. The highlights are numerous, but fans still talk about the amazing version of "Prove It All Night" preceded by a blistering several minute long guitar/piano intro here. "Backstreets," here includes an amazing middle part where you can hear the early, improvised genesis of the song that eventually became "Drive All Night."

3. Genesis: 10/22/1978 Hofheinz Pavilion

This was probably the last tour where Genesis were still doing the sort of multi-layered progressive rock that earned them their original cult-like following, before Phil Collins took them once and for all in the more commercial direction of the eighties model. The recording is stunning, as Genesis put on a musical clinic of prog-rock virtuosity. Highlights here include the intense duel drumming on "Dance On A Volcano/Los Endos," and a gorgeously layered version of "Cinema Show" that segues into a majestic sounding "Afterglow."

4. David Bowie: 03/23/1976 Nassau Coliseum

Between the futuristic soulman of the Diamond Dogs tour and the Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno, Bowie adopted the cool European "Thin White Duke" persona for the Station To Station tour. This show finds one of Bowie's best bands barnstorming their way through hits from both Diamond Dogs and Station To Station as well as Ziggy Stardust era glam rock like "Suffragette City."

5. The Who: 04/06/1968 Fillmore East

There are a couple of amazing Who performances here, but I especially loved this pre Tommy show from the Fillmore because of the way the band plays so ferociously. Townshend sounds like Hendrix in places here, and Keith Moon plays with an intensity I didn't think even he was capable of. It often sounds like the wheels are about to come off the wagon here. But for all the punk-rock like abandon, the Who always maintain a sort of control amid the musical chaos here.

6. Cold Blood: 06/30/1971 Fillmore West

This pioneering San Francisco funk-rock outfit never quite got their due despite having the tightest rhythm and horn sections this side of Tower of Power, and the gutsiest female blues shouter this side of Janis Joplin in the pint sized Lydia Pense. There's your reasons why right there I guess. In an amazing performance here, the band plays so tight it hurts. But when Pense is singing her ass off, man does it hurt good.

7. Big Brother And The Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin: 06/16/1968 Fillmore Auditorium

Speaking of Janis, this Cheap Thrills era performance with Big Brother features the rarely heard "Catch Me Daddy' and some great call and response between Janis and the rest of the boys. From there they segue their way right into the more familiar "Combination Of The Two," and a version of "I Need A Man To Love," that while not quite matching the version found on Cheap Thrills, still features the same great duel guitar interplay between Sam Andrew and James Gurley. Janis herself is in top form here.

8. Quicksilver Messenger Service: 11/07/1968 Fillmore West

With an absolutely pristine sounding recording, another one of the great, but largely forgotten San Francisco bands is caught here during the same string of performances where their live Happy Trails album was recorded. The version of "Mona/Maiden Of The Cancer Moon" here matches the psychedelic blues intensity of the one on Happy Trails nearly note for note. The rarely heard "Cowboys And Indians" and especially "Smokestack Lightning," meanwhile find guitarist John Cippolina playing the sort of raga runs on guitar that Jefferson Airplane's Jorma Kaukonen later made famous.

9. Traffic: 11/18/1970 Fillmore East

As always a mixture of understatement and improvisational exploration, this performance by Steve Winwood and Traffic finds Winwood sounding particularly strong on vocals. Meanwhile Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi and Blind Faith bassist Rick Grech stretch out musically with the jazzier songs of the then still new John Barleycorn Must Die album. Hands down, the best Traffic show I've ever heard.

10. Neil Young 03/23/1975 Kezar Stadium

Of anything you'll find at the Vault, this one is definitely the wild card. The sound quality is not that great. But as an historic meeting of giants, you'd be hard pressed to beat this. How about Neil Young and Bob Dylan together, backed by members of The Band and the Stray Gators? The setlist? Well there's "The Weight" for starters. Then there's a seque of Neil's "Helpless" into Dylan's "Knocking On Heavens Door" with the curious chorus of "knock, knock, knocking on the dragon's door."

Just whose dragon? Your guess is as good as mine.

Nothing Says Christmas Like That Murderous Bastard Phil Spector And The Wall Of Sound

Music Review: Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

For several years now, me and my buddies have celebrated Christmas by having a modest little get together where we exchange gag gifts and enjoy ourselves a little Christmas cheer. Now it's nothing too fancy, mind you. I usually spring for an appetizer plate--cold shrimp with cocktail sauce is the perennial favorite--and maybe a twelve pack of beer. The guys will usually bring something to drink as well.

Anyway, the maybe three or four of us who gather in my living room will draw numbers to exchange goofy gifts with no more than a twenty dollar price tag tops. CDs and pro-wrestling videos have traditionally been the most popular gift choices. Occasionally somebody will get a little more creative such as in 2004, when I wound up with a case of Busch beer and a can of Bush beans (from one of my Republican friends).

I may just have to find a stuffed donkey for him this year.

Like I said, not a big deal. Nonetheless, I look very forward to these little gatherings each and every year at Christmas time. My favorite part about this my friends will also tell you is when I get to play Christmas DJ. I love picking the Christmas music out. My typical repetoire will consist of everything from The Beach Boys' "Merry Christmas Baby" to Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town," all leading up to the main event--Phil Spector's Christmas Album.

Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift For You is in my opinion, hands down, the greatest Christmas record ever made. What could be more perfect at Christmas time then the timeless innocence of the Ronettes doing "Frosty The Snowman" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"? Or the Crystals singing "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town," (in the very same arrangement still played by Springsteen in his great version with the E Street Band)?

Unfortunately, as great as this record is, Spector's Christmas album has become a tougher sell these past few years since he became the prime suspect in a certain Hollywood murder case you may have heard about.

To be sure, Phil Spector has always had a certain reputation for craziness. A meticulous perfectionist, Spector has been known to drive his studio musicians crazy spending hundreds of hours to get something like the sound of a tambourine just right. Some claim his involvement in the Beatles Let It Be hepled put the final nails in that group's coffin (and led to the revised "Naked" version a few years back). Then of course there was the time he's said to have threatened certain members of the Ramones at gunpoint during the recording of End Of The Century.

To know him may be to love him as the song says, but Phil Spector has become known as much for his reclusiveness and erratic behaviour over the years, as he has for the brilliant records he has produced.

But man, what records.

Phil Spector is one of a very small handful of record producers who, when you hear something he has produced--especially on his classic early recordings--you recognize it as much as belonging to him as the artist. Phil Spector's greatest creations--from the Ronettes "Walking In The Rain" to the Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin" to Ike and Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High" are characterized by a huge sweeping swirl of bells and strings that wash over you like being in the middle of a tornado. The drums alone on songs like "Be My Baby" and "Baby I Love You" are instantly recognizable with their signature cadence of boom...boom, boom...crash!

It's no wonder this has come to be uniquely regarded as the "Wall Of Sound" over the years. Recorded in glorious sounding mono, there is nothing in all of music quite like it.

The other thing Phil Spector does is coax magical performances from his vocalists--especially the female ones he is best known for--that at their best, capture all of the wonder and innocence of teenage love. The greatest of these was arguably Tina Turner on "River Deep Mountain High." His work with Darlene Love and The Crystals also produced some amazing records. But his greatest partnership was with Ronettes and the woman who became his wife, Ronnnie Spector. "Be My Baby," "Baby I Love You," and especially "Walking In The Rain" capture a moment in sound and in time that all of the most modern studio technology could never reproduce again.

A Christmas Gift For You contains thirteen performances, all captured during that incredible early sixties period when Spector was producing these amazing records. You already know all of the songs, as they have all become tried and true radio staples at Christmas time over the years. Song for song, the Wall of Sound production--with all of it's bells, whistles, and strings--captures all the magic and wonder of Christmas like very little music I can think of. When you hear these songs, it's like being instantly transported to a kinder, simpler time. It really does feel like Christmas.

In addition to the Ronettes and Crystals classics already mentioned, the standouts here include Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Home)" and a version of "White Christmas" so gorgeous you'll be checking your window for snowflakes. On Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans "The Bells of Saint Mary," the bells and the castanets ring gloriously amid a swirl of gospel charged backing vocals.

So the thing is, Phil Spector's recent legal troubles aside, this record just doesn't sound any different to me. For my money, it's still the single greatest Christmas record ever made. And tougher sell that it may be these days, it will definitely be on my CD player when the guys and I get together for some Christmas cheer next weekend.

For me, Christmas wouldn't be the same without it.

Big Mac's US DVD: Theres Family, Theres Religion, And Theres The Beatles

Music DVD Review: Paul McCartney - The Space Between US

There is a moment on this great DVD that sums up the way many of us who grew up with Paul McCartney and the Beatles feel. As a family spanning three generations prepares to go to the McCartney concert, "Dad" comments on how McCartney's music has been an influence on his life matched only by that of his family and his religion.

And that's how it pretty much is for those of us who grew up with the Beatles. My own life experience is defined in much the same way as that of "Dad" on this DVD. From the moment I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show at the tender age of seven, their music had such a profound effect on me that it would impact me for the rest of my life. It continues to do so to this day.

It's often been said that the music you grew up with becomes the soundtrack of your life. But in the case of the Beatles, this rings truer than perhaps with any music ever made. The Beatles music literally was that soundtrack for anybody who grew up in the sixties. It not only provided the backdrop to the events of that tumultuous decade, but in many ways it defined them. For myself growing up at that time, the Beatles music defined who I would become in my adult life every bit as much as my belief in God and family did.

As much as I love people like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen for example, and as much as I both respect and revere the contribution their songs have made to modern culture, I don't think there is anyone living or dead who can lay claim to an impact matching that of the Beatles.

So "Dad" was definitely onto something in his assessment as far as I am concerned.

But the other thing about that is the songs themselves are so timeless that they span generations. Watching this DVD, with it's many crowd shots this becomes especially apparent. You see middle-aged couples hugging each other, and kids singing along who know every single word to the songs just as surely as their Moms and Dads do.

With both John Lennon and George Harrison now gone, Paul McCartney is really our last link to the promise that the music of the Beatles gave us. And that is not to disrespect Ringo Starr--because lets face it, the guy's backbeat is simply unmatched in music. But it was the songs, mostly written by McCartney and John Lennon, that convinced us that the world could really be a better place. Thank God that Paul McCartney is performing so many of them live now.

This is quite simply one great DVD.

When I saw the "US Tour" show in Seattle last year, hearing these songs--many of which I honestly never expected to see ever performed live--literally brought tears to my eyes. They took me back to when I first heard them in a way I simply did not expect. Watching this DVD, and seeing the similar reactions of many in the audience--hugging, kissing, and crying with each other to the music--brought those memories flooding right back.

Of course you've got the hits. From "Magical Mystery Tour," to "Drive My Car," to "Eleanor Rigby," they are all meticulously reproduced here. But what made the US tour truly special was the more obscure material McCartney brought out. Who could have imagined for example, ever hearing something like "I'll Get You" (first released as the B-side to the single version of "She Loves You") performed on a concert stage in 2006? Or how about forgotten chestnuts like "Till There Was You," "Please Please Me" and "Fixing A Hole"? Those great songs and more are all here.

The other thing I most remember from seeing McCartney live on the US tour last year was the incredible lighting and staging. When Paul takes the stage to "Magical Mystery Tour" here, the lights generated by the hundreds of LCD screens behind him are simply stunning.

Since much of this DVD was shot in Los Angeles, it's also interesting to see how celebrities from Jay Z and Beyonce to Bono and Steven Tyler line up to meet and greet Paul backstage in the same way every day fans like you and I would. During "Helter Skelter" you can even spot Jack Nicholson in the crowd throwing his hands in the air like he just don't care.

There are also personal insights on the impact of Paul McCartney and the Beatles offered up by notables ranging from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder to President Bill Clinton (who comes across as a major fan). If I have any complaint at all about this DVD, it is that "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be," two of the most powerful songs McCartney performs in concert, are basically cut short by the behind the scenes vignettes.

But that's small potatoes in the greater scheme of things. Simply put, this is a great DVD.

You can view a trailer from it by going here

Better yet, just go get it.

Not Your Mammy's Grammys: Handicapping the 2007 Nominations

As first reported on Blogcritics yesterday, the nominations for the 2007 Grammy Awards have been announced.

Which means that by the time you read this, it will no longer qualify as an actual news story.

So what follows here is instead going to be a bit of a rant about the institution known as the Grammy Awards.

But before I get started, I need to qualify things just a bit. It needs to be acknowledged that the organization who puts on the Grammys, NARAS (which stands for The National Academy of Recording Arts And Sciences), does do great work on behalf of those who make their trade in the recording industry.

One of their best charitable organizations, Music Cares, provides financial assistance in things like housing and medical care to members of that industry who otherwise couldn't afford it. I know this because when I lost my eye in an accident some ten years ago, Music Cares took care of a good chunk of my own medical bills.

So thank you NARAS for the great work you do through organizations like Music Cares. That being said, this year's Grammy nominations warrant comment.


For starters, you wanna tell me that Bob Dylan's brilliant Modern Times does not merit consideration for best album of the year? And the latest releases by Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, hell, even the Dixie Chicks (who get begrudging points for standing up to those evil Republicans) do?

I could go on for days about this glaring omission alone. But let's call a spade a spade here. Dylan got snubbed, plain and simple. And I don't even want to hear about Dylan's nomination for Best Solo Rock Performance (for "Someday Baby," a pleasing, but relatively minor track from Modern Times) either. That to me represents classic Grammy gratuitousness. It's the same sort of reasoning that got Springsteen a win in the best folk category for Devils & Dust, yet lost him the big prize a year or so earlier for The Rising (to Norah Jones for those keeping score).

And while we're on that particular subject, I didn't see Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions nominated anywhere in the Best Folk/Americana Album category. I did however see Dylan's Modern Times up for the folk prize. To anyone who has heard both, you tell me which one belongs where: Best Album or Folk/Americana? Seriously, you tell me.


After putting out mostly spotty releases for the better part of the nineties (some would say the eighties as well), Dylan's been on a roll since the turn of the millennium. While the album that started that creative resurgence, Time Out Of Mind, did get itself a Best Album Grammy, Modern Times is Dylan's best reviewed record since Blood On The Tracks. It has been universally recognized as one of the best records of his long and legendary career — a milestone from an artist whose catalog is loaded with them.

Of course this wouldn't be the first time that Grammy didn't get it right. These are, after all, the same folks who have bestowed the Music Industry's "highest honor" on such past recipients as Christopher Cross, Milli Vanilli, and the Starland Vocal Band.

Anybody remember "Afternoon Delight?" Or maybe you just "selectively" forgot it like the rest of us. Or how about the year that Grammy chose Jethro Tull as Best Metal Act over then still trailblazing pioneers Metallica? At least that one was good for a laugh, such as when Melody Maker wrote a story about it with the priceless headline "For Whom The Bell Tulls."

But Justin Timberlake? I mean, come on. That's what God created the American Music Awards for. There's your popularity contest right there. I've got nothing against Justin. Nothing at all. But the AMA's is not only the awards show where he belongs, but the one where he actually deserves to win. At least until Jay Z's new record comes out or something. Past blunders aside, Grammy is supposed to be where we honor the best in artistic excellence for the past twelve months.


But I guess that is why we have a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Because even guys like Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed, and the Grateful Dead need somewhere to park their careers. Not that Grammy doesn't acknowledge the great ones. The Rolling Stones finally got some sort of "Lifetime Acheivement" honor something like 25 years after "Satisfaction" was released (and long after they stopped making landmarks like Exile On Main Street). I believe it was their first Grammy.

But Grammy is also all about the here and now. This year's nominees in the major categories, for better or for worse, represent what is happening in music today, rather than yesterday. In other words, these ain't your Mammy's Grammys. On that point alone, I will give the Grammy Awards credit this year. The unfortunate thing is that at least partially because of this, I'm taking even odds right now for Timberlake to win the big prize.

Speaking of which, what can we expect to see when the Grammys are telecast live on CBS February 11, 2007?

If you are anything like me, the awards themselves will probably have you hurling things at your TV screen. Still year after year, they keep me coming back because through the miracle of live television, the unexpected occasionally does occur.

Sometimes it's simply a great performance. Like when Prince blew the doors down with Beyonce on the eve of his Musicology comeback tour a few years ago with a scorching version of "Purple Rain." Other times, it's one of those weird, unexpected moments of spontaneity that remains forever etched in memory. Remember the "Soy Bomb" guy during Dylan's performance the year he performed?

The constants of course remain things like the endless stream of winners getting all religious and thanking God for bringing home the gold for hits like "Spank My Bootylicious Booty" (or something along those lines).

Or the boring ten minute speech by the president of NARAS warning us all about the evils of home taping, downloading, or whatever the industry is blaming sluggish sales on this time around.

Pssst — it's called putting out better records for a more affordable price guys.

As for the major awards themselves, I'm handicapping it like this with these very early predictions. Now mind you, please note these are just based on my opinion. In no way are they to be taken scientifically.

Album Of The Year Nominees: Taking The Long Way by the Dixie Chicks: St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley; Continuum by John Mayer: Stadium Arcadium by the Red Hot Chili Peppers; FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake.

Should Win: Chili Peppers
Should Win But Isn't Even Nominated: Dylan
Dark Horse: Mayer
Will Win: Justin Timberlake

Record Of The Year Nominees:

"Be Without You" (Mary J. Blige); "You're Beautiful" (James Blunt); "Not Ready To Make Nice" (Dixie Chicks); "Crazy" (Gnarls Barkley); and "Put Your Records On" (Corinne Bailey Rae)

Should Win: "Crazy"
Will Win: "Crazy"
Dark Horse: "Be Without You" or "You're Beautiful"

Best New Artist Nominees:
James Blunt; Chris Brown; Imogen Heap; Corinne Bailey Rae; Carrie Underwood.

Should Win: James Blunt
Will Win: Carrie Underwood

Song Of The Year Nominees:"Be Without You" (performed by Mary J. Blige); "Jesus, Take The Wheel" (performed by Carrie Underwood); "Not Ready To Make Nice" (performed by the Dixie Chicks); "Put Your Records On" (performed by Corinne Bailey Rae); "You're Beautiful" (performed by James Blunt).

Should Win: "Not Ready To Make Nice"
Will Win: "Be Without You" (largely because "Crazy" didn't make this category).
Dark Horse: "You're Beautiful", "Jesus Take the Wheel" (tie)

As for elsewhere, look for these to win:

R&B Album: Mary J. Blige
Pop Album: John Mayer (unless Timberlake takes this one too).
Rock Album: Chili Peppers (though I'd love to see Neil Young get this for Living With War)
Rap Solo: Missy Elliott for "We Run This"
Rap/Sung Collaboration: Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z for "Deja Vu"
Best Producer: Rick Rubin. Between the Peppers and The Chicks, it's Rubin's year. Besides, in another life I actually briefly worked for him. Whaddup Rick?
Country Album: Dixie Chicks (unless a strong anti-Chicks vote gets Alan Jackson the award by default. Just for the record, Johnny Cash, yet another glaring non-nominee, would get my vote for the posthumous American V: A Hundred Highways)

Stay tuned for the Grammys on CBS February 11, 2006. And keep the glass items away from the TV.

My Personal Perceptions Of Jim Morrison And The Doors On Their 40th Anniversary: Still Hot, Still Sexy, And Still Dead

Music Review: The Doors - Perception (6CD/6DVD Limited Edition Box Set - Original Remastered Recordings)

To commemorate The Doors 40th Anniversary this year, the folks at Warner Music and Rhino are pulling out all the stops.

Here in The States, we have Perception. A deluxe box-set comprising some twelve discs, Perception constitutes the most ambitious, elaborate repackaging of the Doors original catalog ever undertaken.

All six original albums, from 1967's The Doors to 1971's L.A. Woman have been completely remastered by the three surviving members along with original producers Paul Rothchild and Bruce Botnick in double disc editions. In addition to the original remastered recordings, there is an accompanying second DVD disc for each album. Each DVD features the original album remastered in Dolby 5.1 surround sound, along with rare, often unreleased video content including live performances, video films, rehearsal footage and more.

If all of this weren't enough, each original CD also includes several bonus tracks (including both alternate studio takes and previously unreleased material), completely new liner notes for each album, and it all comes in this big ol' box that opens itself like--what else?--a door. Whew!

But that's just what we get here in the States.

Over in Europe, the Doors 40th Anniversary is apparently an even bigger deal. Take what they are releasing just in France--where Jim Morrison himself is "reportedly" dead and buried. Of course if you believe that, you probably think Elvis is really dead too.

In addition to the Perception box (with two extra tracks not on the stateside version no less), the French are getting something like ten or so additional new collections of rare and unreleased material. They are even getting at least one additional boxed set. Oh Yeah. You heard me right.

The reason I know this is because in my day job, I edit "content" for a digital music provider, or what we in that particular trade call "metadata." And earlier this week, I spent an entire day on a project entering data for the various Doors 40th Anniversary releases for a number of European countries.

Here's just a sample of what France gets:

For starters, there will be a boxed set devoted entirely to what are being called "bootleg recordings." There are also a number of new collections of live recordings. These include two complete early performances recorded at the Aquarius Theatre that can be bought either seperately or as (what else?) a multiple disc set. Another multiple disc set boxes performances from Detroit and other cities. These can also be purchased seperately but a bonus performance from what I believe was Philadelphia, can only be obtained by getting the complete boxed version.

Or how about this? Two volumes of Jim Morrison Interview discs? One entire disc is devoted completely to an interview Jimbo did for Circus Magazine back in the sixties covering among other things, the fallout from the infamous 1969 "Miami Incident" where a certain Lizard King is said to have indecently exposed said "Lizard."

Oh yeah, Jim Morrison is still hot alright. He is also still sexy. And he is also still dead.

Don't get me wrong here. I love the Doors. I loved them back then. And I still love them now. But this is nothing short of an onslaught for a band who, all told, recorded six albums proper over a period which only spanned five years.

I have some great memories of listening to the Doors as a kid.

The first time I heard "Light My Fire" for example, it was like nothing I had ever previously experienced. As a twelve year old boy whose ears should have been prepared by the steady diet of Jefferson Airplane, Sgt. Pepper era Beatles, and Good Vibrations era Beach Boys that Top Forty stations were already serving up at the time, the Doors still sounded absolutely surreal. There was this deep, resonant voice serving up dark lyrics about funeral pyres and setting the night on fire, over what sounded to me like a carnival organ. For this twelve year old adolescent, it was as instantly cool as it was hypnotic.



A few years later as a pre-teenager living in Hawaii, I remember getting stoned on pot and getting lost in the "seminary school where you cannot petition the lord with prayer" of The Soft Parade. I still have no idea what Morrison was actually talking about, but hell, I could've said the same thing about Dylan back then. All I know is that stoned out of my fourteen year old mind on Maui Wowie at the end of the sixties, it made complete nonsense.

In retrospect, I have since come to regard Jim Morrison as somewhat overrated though. At least as far as being a poet goes. The most memorable line of Morrison's spoken word poetry I can think of--besides that bit about petitioning the lord with prayer I listened to as a stoned teenager anyway--is something about true sailing being dead or something or another.

The posthumously issued album of Morrison's poetry An American Prayer loops jazz-fusion lounge music played by the Doors, over things like Jim Morrison rambling something about a "Lament For My Cock" of all things. He sounds like a drunk muttering into a Whiskey bottle at a cheap dive around closing time. Which, by all accounts, he basically was towards the end I guess.


Still, as overrated as Morrison may have been as a poet, in the mysterious, sexually charged persona of the Lizard King he carried with him a charisma that practically defined the words rock star. Morrison is the sixties template, along with Mick Jagger around the same time, for pretty much everything else that followed after his death in 1971.

Were the Doors important enough to warrant the 40th Anniversary treatment they receive on the Perception box here in America? Of course they were. And given what Rhino had to work with in terms of actual released material, they have done a superb job of repackaging it.

Perception is the sort of eye and ear candy that will draw collectors like a magnet. For audiophiles, the superb 5.1 surround sound mixes should ring a few more cash registers for those high-end hardware retailers.

For actual musicologists, the alternate takes and unreleased material are pretty limited when you consider the price tag. We music nerds are also notoriously tight with our wallets.

Since the last time I checked not too many of us were getting rich from passionately listening to and obsessing about music.

As for all the 40th Anniversary overkill in France and Europe, my guess is that will all be available here in America around this time next year. Which I guess is great news for all you Doors "completists" out there.

So do you think they'll do all this with Kurt Cobain in say 2044 or so?

I mean, Nirvana only released three albums proper right?

Nils Lofgren And Friends Put On A Guitar Clinic

Music DVD Review: Nils Lofgren & Friends Live Acoustic

Somewhere about midway through this great DVD, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, one of the numerous "friends" who join Nils Lofgren here--and no guitar slouch himself--offers the following assessment of Lofgren:

"There are three kinds of guitar people. There are guitar owners, and there's about a million of those. There are guitar players, and there's a few of those. Then there are guitarists," Baxter says turning to look at his friend Lofgren. "Nils writes great songs. He sings beautifully. But there are only a few people who can do what he does with a guitar."

To be sure, Nils Lofgren has written some damn fine songs over the years. It's possible you may have even heard a few of them. The funky "I Came to Dance," the lovely ballad "Valentine," or his ode to a Rolling Stone "Keith Don't Go" come to mind.

However it's far more likely you haven't, as Nils Lofgren is best known as a sideman. You know him for his fine work on Neil Young albums like After The Gold Rush. You even more likely know him as that guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band who looks like a sawed-off cross between Keith Richards and Joey from Friends.

You remember right? Nils was that guy who did the backflips off a trampoline on the Born In The USA tour. He even did a solo album called Flip around that time.



The thing is, what a lot of people don't know about Lofgren is that he is a world class guitarist. Although he has had his moments with Springsteen--the solos on the title tracks of both Tunnel Of Love and The Rising are just two such moments uniquely stamped with his signature--Lofgren's virtuoso ability is largely swallowed up in the big noise created by the E Street Band.

Not so on this great DVD. Recorded live over three nights at a place called the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia before a rapt audience of hard core fans, Lofgren is joined here by an assortment of friends including three of his guitar playing brothers. In a set that covers his lengthy career from his first band Grin to last year's solo album Sacred Weapon, Lofgren shows that he is indeed a great, perhaps even under-appreciated singer-songwriter.

But mostly he puts on what basically amounts to a guitar clinic. Of the numerous musical highlights on this DVD--and there are many of them--none of them match simply watching Lofgren play his instrument. Whether you are a musician or not, seeing Lofgren's technique in the several closeup shots shown here is just nothing short of amazing.

Lofgren doesn't merely strum or pick the strings the way that many guitarists do. He plays the entire instrument. He strums it open-handed at times, using all four fingers and his thumb at the same time. At other times, particularly when playing in the open-ended harmonics he so often favors here, Lofgren will play from the top of the neck all the way down the fretboard. The resulting sounds you wind up actually hearing are simply as stunning as they are beautiful.

Lofgren plays in this harmonic based style completely solo on "Keith Don't Go," making the one acoustic guitar he plays sound more like two playing at once. You hear both the lower bass parts and the higher notes. On "Girl In Motion" he continues to play in the harmonic style while switching over to an electric guitar. Here he takes one of the countless stunning solos heard throughout this DVD, as Buck Brown's equally dextrous fingers match him note for note on the keys.

By the time of "Because The Night," (the only tune played here not written by Lofgren), there is a full compliment of guitarists onstage in the form of Lofgren's brothers Tom, Mike, and Mark. Together, they make as big as noise in their own way on the Patti Smith hit as Springsteen does when it's played in stadiums with the E Street Band. There's also yet another of those great, crying guitar solos from Nils.

Earlier in the set, Nils also comes across as an engaging, even funny performer at times. Knowing he has this particular crowd eating out of his hand, he promises a long night early, joking that "I couldn't take a show this long myself, so if you need to get up and get a drink, you won't hurt our feelings." Performing solo acoustic, Lofgren seques nicely from a lovely sounding "I Found You" into the borderline spanish style of "You". Lofgren's playing here takes on such a dramatic, flamenco type of feel you half expect sagebrush to go floating across the stage.

On "Black Books," Lofgren goes back to electric and proceeds to take off on yet another harmonic fueled solo tear, as Buck Brown's pastoral synthesizer provides a swirling backdrop. For "Valentine" and "Tender Love," Lofgren is joined by Baxter and Mary Ann Redmond for a round of vocal duets. At one point during "Tender Love," Lofgren stops and says "we gotta do that again." After replaying the track a few times, I still couldn't locate the apparent screw-up here.

When Lofgren later uses improvised song lyrics to announce "It's so nice to have friends who play so great, I feel so inspired think I'll take a break," he leaves the stage to Baxter and Buck Brown who use the spotlight to get into a tasty little guitar duel of their own.

Bob Berberich, who was Lofgren's one-time partner in Grin joins him here for a reprise of Grin songs "Everybody's Missing The Sun" and "Aint Love Nice." The show finally draws to a close with "I Came To Dance," "No Mercy," and a searing "Moon Tears" which features another Lofgren solo which begins dark and bluesy before taking a left turn into Hendrix territory.


The extras on this DVD include several bonus tracks, including a few I've already mentioned here such as "Because The Night" and "Keith Don't Go." There is also a backstage interview where Nils talks about his shaky start doing acoustic performances at a time when he felt "a little more naked and exposed." He humorously recalls one early gig with several false starts where he was "waiting for the fire alarm to go off." There is also footage from the rehearsals for the shows captured here.

On Live Acoustic, Nils Lofgren & Friends more than prove their mettle as performers, and Lofgren's songs alone are enough to make for a great night. But if you appreciate watching a great, if criminally underrated guitarist do his thing nearly as much as I do, this DVD rates as required viewing and listening.

Did Nirvana Save Rock And Roll Or Did They Kill It Dead?

Music DVD Review: Nirvana - Live! Tonight! Sold Out!

If the story of Nirvana is not the strangest, and least likely in all of the history of rock and roll, I'm not sure at all what is. So please bare with me a little here as I go out on a limb and deviate somewhat from the standard review.

You see, I was there. But I was not there as part of the Seattle grunge scene.

Not at all.

Rather, I was there, as part of the other, less celebrated at the time side of what was going around 1992, when everything "Seattle" broke wide open to worldwide acceptance. And the time where much of what is captured on this live DVD was--well, captured.

1992 was a strange time to be in the music business in Seattle. And I don't think I ever really got just how big the "scene" had become here, until I moved to Los Angeles to seek my fortunes in the music business. Back then, even as Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was becoming a worldwide phenomenon, most of us here in Seattle always thought of them (as well as Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Alice In Chains, and the rest) as just another great local band.

I can remember working at Seattle's Nastymix Records promoting then up and coming rapper Sir Mix A Lot for example (that "other side" of the Seattle music scene I referred to earlier). Back then I can also distinctly remember going out on a Friday night after work to see somebody like Nirvana or Soundgarden at the Offramp or RCKCNDY for instance.

For us, it was just another rather routine weekend night of boozing, clubbing, and hopefully getting lucky with that pierced, tattooed angel next to the bar. During my daily routine at Nastymix Records, I can also remember how the guys from Sub-Pop Records would come over to our office to marvel over at how I was able to pull up Billboard's weekly chart reports on my MS/DOS computer system.

Imagine that.

It was only when I got to L.A. in 1992 to work at American Recordings after Sir Mix-A-Lot had signed his deal with them, that I realized just how big a deal this Seattle Grunge thing really was. During our weekly sales meetings at American for example, they used to joke with me how Seattle had exploded at exactly the same time I moved to L.A., and how once I got to L.A. sales of their own artists had died.

Funny stuff, right?

In reality, it was just a nice way of busting my balls.

So I'm gonna say this about Nirvana, at the risk of really pissing my neighbors up here in Seattle off. They were in the right place at the right time. Plain and simple.

Not that I would minimize the impact of something like "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Not even. But there are times when something comes along when it is absolutely necessary to knock a complacent, fat and lazy rock and roll on it's collective ass. If Nirvana didn't qualify for doing that in 1992, I honestly don't know what ever has. But the bottom line is they just happened to be there.

There is absolutely no question that Nirvana represented a huge cultural shift back then. One that would later prove to be of historical proportion. They did everything the Sex Pistols were supposed to do at the end of the seventies (but didn't). And nobody--least of all me--disputes that. However, I will maintain this. Nobody saw it coming at the time.

It happened completely by accident.

You want to talk about truly revolutionary music coming out of Seattle at the time? Look no further than Mudhoney. At this point, I seriously doubt Mark Arm and company are ever going anywhere near a platinum or gold record. But Mudhoney's mix of Blue Cheer psychedelia and Stooges era Iggy Pop paved the way for a certain little band from po-dunk Aberdeen, Washington to knock corporate rock and roll on it's ass.

In my opinion at least, Nirvana lucked into the three minutes of "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Whether that luck came by chance or by design is of course open to question.

That said, Nirvana's impact on rock and roll simply cannot be understated. Nor can Kurt Cobain's immeasurable talent. Cobain had a way with a neat little pop hook like no one has before or since. No question about it.

There are some great performances captured on this DVD from the band's native Seattle to Amsterdam, all recorded during the band's earlly nineties peak. Originally released on VHS, the quality is often raw. Many of the performances here look grainy to the point that they may as well have been filmed on a Super 8 home movie camera. But that's OK. In fact, it is probably exactly as it should be, in that it quite effectively captures the raw, minimal sort of feel of the time.

Still, as a rock and roll fan, and with the added benefit of hindsight, I'm not sure I really like what rock became after Nirvana. For awhile there, you simply could not turn on a radio without hearing the numerous knock-off bands that came in Nirvana's wake. From Bush to Silverchair, these bands were in many ways every bit as faceless as the REO Speedwagon sort of corporate rock that Nirvana sought to destroy.

Kill Rock Stars indeed.


While guys like U2 and Springsteen tarry on and continue to wave the banner of a bygone era, your choices in music these days basically boil down to flavor of the minute rappers and popsters played through the delivery systems of choice you hear on your tiny MP3 and cell phone speakers. The music business itself is run by and large from the corporate cubicles of software companies.

I'm not even sure that marvels of studio craft like Dark Side Of The Moon, Pet Sounds or Born To Run are even possible anymore.

Nirvana may well be the last of the great rock and roll bands. When Nevermind shocked the world by knocking Micheal Jackson's Dangerous off the top of the pops, I cheered just as loud as anybody.

But looking at things as they stand today, you've simply gotta ask yourself. Was this the revolution? There is no doubt that Nirvana succeeded in stripping a bloated rock monster back to it's core essentials at a time when this was sorely necessary. But in doing so, was rock ultimately stripped out altogether?

Think about that while watching this DVD.