During the Band’s original run (from 1968 to 1976), Robbie Robertson may have been the group’s strongest songwriter and the idea man behind most of their best work, but Levon Helm was truly the group’s heart and soul with his tough, sinewy Arkansas vocals and his indomitable, loosely tight drumming. Robertson’ solo work since leaving the Band has been the product of a man whose lofty ambitions outstrip his ability to make them interesting, but Helm’s music has been the greater disappointment; with the exception of 1980’s American Son, most of his solo recordings have been thoroughly disposable, offering plenty of good-time boogie but none of the gravity one might hope for from the man who made “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” come to such compelling life years ago. Which is why Dirt Farmer is such a pleasant surprise; it’s easily Helm’s best recorded work since American Son, and an absorbing look back at his roots as the son of a farm family in the rural South. Dirt Farmer was produced by Larry Campbell, a session guitarist and member of Bob Dylan’s road band, in collaboration with Amy Helm, Levon’s daughter, and they’ve assembled a solid but clutter-free acoustic band for these sessions, and the simple but iron-strong backdrops and superb songs are just what was needed to bring out the best in Levon. Helm survived a bout with throat cancer that was diagnosed in 1998, and his voice is noticeably more weathered than it once was, but in many respects the additional nooks and crannies suit this material beautifully; his interpretations of traditional rural folk songs like “Poor Old Dirt Farmer,” “Little Birds,” and “False Hearted Lover Blues” sound thoroughly authentic but with a bracing sense of force and commitment in Helm’s vocals, and if Steve Earle’s “The Mountain” and Buddy & Julie Miller’s “Wide River to Cross” aren’t venerable classics, they sound like they should be once Levon’s done with them. Though Helm adds a touch of boogie to “Got Me a Woman” and a jumped-up interpretation of the Carter Family’s “Single Girl, Married Girl,” in this context they add some welcome spice to the stew, and Helm’s drumming remains superb. Dirt Farmer is a hard-edged but compassionate and full-hearted set of roots music from a master of the form, and it’s a welcome, inspiring return to form for Levon Helm after a long stretch of professional and personal setbacks. - Mark Deming
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Track List
01. False Hearted Lover Blues
02. Poor Old Dirt Farmer
03. The Mountain
04. Little Birds
05. The Girl Left Behind
06. Calvary
07. Anna Lee
08. Got Me a Woman
09. A Train Robbery
10. Single Girl, Married Girl
11. Blind Child
12. Feelin’ Good
13. Wide River to Cross
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Grateful Dead
Dave’s Picks Bonus Disc 2012
1974-07-29 Capitol Centre, Landover, MD
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Track List
01. Sugaree
02. Weather Report Suite
03. He’s Gone >
04. Truckin’ >
05. Nobody’s Fault But Mine >
06. The Other One >
07. Spanish Jam >
08. Wharf Rat
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Grateful Dead
Dave’s Picks Volume 2
1974-07-31 Dillon Stadium, Hartford, CT
This three-set wonder features the entire show from Hartford’s Dillon Stadium during the heart of the Wall of Sound era, July 31, 1974, four days after the release of the Dead’s fine Mars Hotel album. Dwarfed by the Wall’s irregular columns of speakers on a hot and humid Wednesday afternoon, the band thrilled the sold-out crowd of 20,000 with a far-ranging collection of tunes and jams that showed how far they’d come as musicians, songwriters and interpreters of others’ songs in their decade together. - dead.net
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Track List
DISC 1
1. Scarlet Begonias
2. Me And My Uncle
3. Brown-Eyed Women
4. Beat It On Down The Line
5. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo>
6. It Must Have Been The Roses
7. Mexicali Blues
8. Row Jimmy
9. Jack Straw
10. China Cat Sunflower>
11. I Know You Rider
12. Around And Around
DISC 2
1. Bertha
2. Big River
3. Eyes Of The World>
4. China Doll
5. Promised Land
6. Ship Of Fools
7. Weather Report Suite
8. El Paso
9. Ramble On Rose
10. Greatest Story Ever Told
DISC 3
1. To Lay Me Down
2. Truckin’>
3. Mind Left Body Jam>
4. Spanish Jam>
5. Wharf Rat
6. U.S. Blues
7. One More Saturday Night
8. Uncle John’s Band
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Known to Latin Music aficionados the world over, The Buena Vista Social Club is renown as the premier purveyor of the orchestral sound that came to being in the Cuba of the 1940s and 1950s. As a result of their success with their initial release they sparked a revival of international interest in traditional Cuban music and Latin American music in general. These songs were recorded in Germany in 2006.
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Track List
01 – Realidad Y Fantasia
02 – Me Bote De Guano
03 – Medley A Moron, Tres Marias, Mujers
04 – Guajira en FM
05 – El Cuarto De Tula
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This is a copy of the vinyl record of the OST. As far as I have been able to find, the OST has never been released on CD and is very rare to find on cassette.The DVD releases of this movie have an updated soundtrack in which all but Young’s “Home, Home on the Range” and Creedence’s “Keep on Chooglin’” have been removed and replaced by generic rockpieces, presumably due to copyright issues. The original soundtrack is on the VHS.
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Track List
01. Buffalo Stomp - Neil Young With the Wild Bill Band of Strings
02. Ode to Wild Bill #1 - Neil Young
03. All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
04. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - Bill Murray
05. Ode to Wild Bill #2 - Neil Young
06. Papa Was A Rolling Stone - The Temptations
07. Home, Home on the Range - Neil Young
08. Straight Answers + Dialogue - Bill Murray
09. Highway 61 - Bob Dylan
10. I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Hunny Bunch) - Four Tops
11. Ode to Wild Bill #3 + Dialogue - Neil Young
12. Keep On Chooglin - Creedence Clearwater Revival
13. Ode to Wild Bill #4 - Neil Young
14. Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
15. Buffalo Stomp Refrain - Neil Young With the Wild Bill Band of Strings
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[video]
The Tedeschi Trucks Band was founded in 2010 after both Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi put their solo bands on hiatus to form a new group that lets the married couple focus on making music together, and allows them to spend more time together while touring and recording.
The Live EP: Revelator features Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi and their Tedeschi Trucks Band in their element: Live.
Three of the four tracks are from the upcoming live album Everybody’s Talkin’ (coming May 22) along with a live version of “Don’t Let Me Slide”
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Track List
1. Don’t Let Me Slide (6:51)
2. Midnight In Harlem (10:23)
3. Learn How To Love (9:28)
4. Bound For Glory (12:54)
Time: 39 minutes 36 seconds
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Levon Helm and Rick Danko
28 January 1983
Starry Night
Portland, Oregon
In early 1983, Helm and Danko did this tour as an acoustic duet. Rick is heard on the guitar and vocals, while Levon covers the mandolin, harmonica and vocals.
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Track List
01 prolog
02 Caledonia
03 Evangeline
04 Down South in New Orleans
05 It Makes No Difference
06 Wealthy Old Farmer
07 Long Black Veil
08 tuning break
09 Rag Mama Rag
10 Sick and Tired
11 A Letter to Tom
12 Milk Cow Boogie
13 Java Blues
14 Short Fat Fanny
15 encore break
16 Every Night and Every Day
17 Willy And The Hand Jive
18 encore break 2
19 The World’s Gone Mad
20 Let’s Go Out in a Blaze of Glory
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Norah Jones’ debut album, 2002’s Come Away With Me, sold so many copies — roughly 20 million worldwide, making it one of the best-selling records of the previous decade — that she’s seemed fairly liberated ever since, especially once expectations of future blockbusters settled to something more realistic. Without losing her knack for impeccably classy professionalism, Jones has kept pushing her sound beyond the warmly accessible pop-jazz that launched her career, whether in the roots-country band The Little Willies or in her guest-vocal spots on last year’s Rome, the album Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) recorded with Italian composer Daniele Luppi and Jack White.
Ten years after her debut, Jones is ideally positioned for the subtle sonic makeover she undergoes on Little Broken Hearts. Written and recorded with Burton, who as producer gives the album a sonic edge that never overwhelms its star, Little Broken Hearts sounds like Norah Jones without bearing much resemblance to the work that once got her pegged as the world’s most commercially dominant jazz star. Trafficking in alternately sweet and icy singer-songwriter pop, it’s a reinvention, but not a radical one.
It helps that these songs delve into deep, dark matters of betrayal and loss — and address them in myriad ways, from the wounded grace of “She’s 22” to the vengeful hurt of “Miriam.” Along the way, Jones coos and struts her way through a handful of crackerjack pop songs: “Say Goodbye,” the smoothly sinister title track and the single “Happy Pills” all meet at the midpoint between Jones’ past work and the fizzy pop Burton makes with Broken Bells. Always more versatile than most people think, Jones fits all of this smart material to perfection, marking her second decade as a star while making her sound cooler and more unflappably sophisticated than ever. —NPR
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Track List
01 – Good Morning
02 – Say Goodbye
03 – Little Broken Hearts
04 – She’s 22
05 – Take It Back
06 – After the Fall
07 – 4 Broken Hearts
08 – Travelin’ On
09 – Out on the Road
10 – Happy Pills
11 – Miriam
12 – All a Dream
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Levon Helm is one of rock & roll’s most indefatigable road warriors, a guy who would seemingly be happy to play every single night, but he’s also a cancer survivor who is over 70 years old, and spending his days in a tour bus doubtless doesn’t hold the sort of appeal it once did. Since 2004, Helm has been striking a compromise between his eagerness to perform and the rigors of touring with a series of shows he calls The Midnight Ramble, held at the recording studio located on the grounds of his home in Woodstock, New York. The Ramble shows feature Helm and his band playing with a handful of friends and guest artists each week, and the intimate gigs have been popular enough that Helm has been playing occasional Ramble-style concerts in larger venues in the United States and Europe. Ramble at the Ryman, as its title suggests, was recorded during a show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium (the former home of The Grand Ol’ Opry) in the fall of 2008, where his band (led by multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell and vocalist and mandolinist Amy Helm) plays a handful of classic tunes from Helm’s years with the Band and a couple numbers from his more recent solo efforts, while several guests step up to join the band throughout the evening, including Sheryl Crow, Buddy Miller, Sam Bush, John Hiatt, and Little Sammy Davis (the blues singer and harmonica player, not the late member of the Rat Pack). While Levon sings (and sings well) on several numbers, there are moments when one senses the revue-style show is partly in deference to his voice, which clearly isn’t as strong or as resilient as it used to be. But Helm is still one of the most soulful drummers alive, and his work behind the kit is solid and joyous throughout, and his ensemble, capable of turning on a dime from spare and somber string band arrangements to rollicking New Orleans-style R&B, is superb, and does right by the half-dozen Band classics on the set list without slavishly copying the original arrangements. The guests are all clearly delighted to be on-stage with Levon and bring their A-game, and even when his voice strains to hit the higher notes, Helm still performs with an authority few living musicians can summon. Ramble at the Ryman may not be the same as hearing Levon Helm play for a few dozen guests at his studio — or for a few thousand fans at one of America’s most venerable venues — but it captures a living legend on-stage proving he doesn’t have to rest on his laurels to win applause, and this is a hell of a party coming from a guy well past retirement age. — allmusic.com
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Track List
1. Ophelia
2. Back To Memphis
3. Fannie Mae
4. Baby Scratch My Back
5. Evangeline
6. No Depression In Heaven
7. Wide River to Cross
8. Deep Elem Blues
9. Anna Lee
10. Rag Mama Rag
11. Time Out For The Blues
12. A Train Robbery
13. The Shape I m In
14. Chest Fever
15. The Weight
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In a musical career that has spanned six decades, Levon Helm has made more than a few excellent albums working with other folks — most notably as drummer and vocalist with the Band, as well as backing Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Muddy Waters, John Martyn, Rufus Wainwright, and literally dozens of others. But as a solo artist, Helm’s record has been considerably spottier, with well-intended disappointments outnumbering genuine successes, so it’s good to report that at the age of 69, Helm has found his second wind as a recording artist, cutting two of his most satisfying solo sets in a row. Following 2007’s excellent Dirt Farmer, Electric Dirt is every bit as impressive and finds him sounding even stronger than he did on that comeback set. Dirt Farmer was Helm’s first album after a bout with throat cancer nearly silenced him, and his vocals sounded firmly committed but just a bit strained; two years on, Helm’s voice is nearly as supple as it was during his days with the Band, and even when it shows signs of wear and tear, his sense of phrasing and his ability to bring the characters in these songs to life are as good as they’ve ever been. While Dirt Farmer leaned toward acoustic music in the Appalachian tradition, Electric Dirt aims for a broader and more eclectic sound; “Golden Bird” sounds as if it could have been gleaned from the Harry Smith anthology, but the opening cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed” swings with a solid New Orleans groove like an outtake from the Rock of Ages concerts, a pair of Muddy Waters numbers are subtle but passionate acoustic blues, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” is joyous gospel-infused R&B, and “White Dove” is fervent and heartfelt traditional country. Larry Campbell, who co-produced Dirt Farmer, returned for these sessions, as did most of the same band, bringing a similarly organic touch to the music, and the bigger sound of this album seems to suit everyone involved, with Helm’s drumming sounding especially lively and well-grounded. And though Helm only wrote two songs for this album, they’re two good ones, especially “Growin’ Trade,” a tale of an aging farmer who has taken to raising marijuana, and what could easily have been played as a joke is a moving account of one man’s conscience as it wrestles with his heritage and love of the land. Not unlike his old buddy Bob Dylan from Time Out of Mind onward, Levon Helm seems to have rediscovered his knack for making great records in what some might have imagined would be the latter days of his career; Electric Dirt sounds fresh, emphatic, and as effective as anything Levon has cut since the mid-’70s, and one can only hope he has a few more discs in him just this good. — allmusic.com
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Track List
1) Tennessee Jed (Jerry Garcia, Robert Hunter) 5:58
2) Move Along Train (Roebuck Staples) 3:22
3) Growing Trade (Levon Helm, Larry Campbell) 4.22
4) Golden Bird (Happy Traum) 5:11
5) Stuff You Gotta Watch (Muddy Waters) 3:38
6) White Dove (Carter Stanley) 3:29
7) Kingfish (Randy Newman) 4:24
8) You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had (Muddy Waters) 4:01
9) When I Go Away (Larry Campbell) 4:32
10) Heaven’s Pearls (Anthony Leone, Byron Isaacs, Fiona McBain, Amy Helm, Glenn Patscha) 4:09
11) I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel To Be Free (Richard Carroll Lamp, Willy E. Taylor) 3:25
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A very sad day to be sure :(
Dear Friends,
Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.
Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration… he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage…
We appreciate all the love and support and concern.
From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy
For all the records that have borne his name over the past five years — Dead Weather, Raconteurs, multiple guest spots and productions — it feels like we haven’t really gotten any unadulterated Jack White music since the White Stripes’ swan song, “Icky Thump.” And one listen to “Blunderbuss” shows why: He’s been woodshedding, carefully developing a template and a manifesto for a solo career that (incongruously, given his prolific output) begins with this album.
“Blunderbuss” has elements of nearly every project he’s worked on — even some of the 1950s bounce of the White-produced Wanda Jackson album on “I’m Shakin’” and “Trash Tongue” — but also shows sides that the self-imposed, regimented simplicity of the White Stripes didn’t allow. There are softer piano-driven songs (“Love Interruption”) and, at the opposite extreme, filthy guitar raunch (“16 Saltines”), but also elaborate tracks reminiscent of late-’60s psychedelia, like the Zombies or Small Faces: “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” in particular is unlike anything White’s ever done, with a complex, hopscotching melody and rhythm; similarly, “I Guess I Should Go to Sleep” has a soaring vocal, a jazzy tempo and a violin solo. With a sound that’s vintage and organic but also very clean, the album is so diverse that virtually every song comes as a surprise — a trend that will continue on White’s forthcoming tour, where he’ll be bringing along two different backing bands (one all-male, one all-female, as seen on his recent “Saturday Night Live” performance) and deciding on the morning of each gig which band will accompany him that night.
“Blunderbuss” is familiar enough to please the fan base, adventurous enough to forge a new path ahead, and satisfying enough to make fans realize anew just how much we’ve missed Jack’s songs. But perhaps most of all, the album’s diversity and musical ambition show that the White Stripes were as on-message musically as they were sartorially — it wasn’t that Jack White couldn’t write complex songs, he just didn’t, and now that he is, Blunderbuss isn’t just (arguably) the best album of the year so far, it opens up a whole new world for him. —billboard.com
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Track List
01 – Missing Pieces
02 – Sixteen Saltines
03 – Freedom at 21
04 – Love Interruption
05 – Blunderbuss
06 – Hypocritical Kiss
07 – Weep Themselves to Sleep
08 – I’m Shakin’
09 – Trash Tongue Talker
10 – Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy
11 – I Guess I Should Go to Sleep
12 – On and On and On
13 – Take Me with You When You Go
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Chris Robinson Brotherhood
December 15, 2011
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco, CA
w/ Bob Weir
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Set List
1. Wavy Introduction
2. Let’s Go
3. Tomorrow Blues
4. Tulsa Yesterday
5. Star Or Stone
6. Reflections On A Broken Mirror
7. Seventh Son w/ Bob Weir
8. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues w/ Bob Weir
9. Bright Lights, Big City w/ Bob Weir
10. New Speedway Boogie w/ Bob Weir
11. Minglewood Blues w/ Bob Weir
12. 40 Days
13. Poor Elijah
14. Girl On The Mountain
15. Vibration & Light Suite
16. Ride
17. I Ain’t Hiding
18. Mississippi, You’re On My Mind
19. Sunday Sound
20. Rosalee
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Yes had fallen out of critical favor with Tales from Topographic Oceans, a two-record set of four songs that reviewers found indulgent. But they had not fallen out of the Top Ten, and so they had little incentive to curb their musical ambitiousness. Relayer, released 11 months after Tales, was a single-disc, three-song album, its music organized into suites that alternated abrasive, rhythmically dense instrumental sections featuring solos for the various instruments with delicate vocal and choral sections featuring poetic lyrics devoted to spiritual imagery. Such compositions seemed intended to provide an interesting musical landscape over which the listener might travel, and enough Yes fans did that to make Relayer a Top Ten, gold-selling hit, though critics continued to complain about the lack of concise, coherent song structures.. —allmusic.com
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Track List
1. Gates Of Delirium (22:55)
2. Sound Chaser (9:25)
3. To Be Over (9:08)
Total Time: 41:28
Bonus tracks:
4. Soon (single edit) (4:18)
5. Sound Chaser (single edit) (3:13)
6. The Gates of Delirium (studio run-through) (21:16)
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