Tag: rolling stone

Gregg Allman | KCRW’s “Country In The City” Concert Series | 7/19/14 [REVIEW]

CLICK HERE To Check Out The Blog Entries Of The Other Acts Performing At KCRW’s “Country In the City” Concert Series

Donato Sardella/Getty Images for Annenberg Foundation
Donato Sardella/Getty Images for Annenberg Foundation

Headlining the inaugural concert of the County In The City concert series, inspired by The Annenberg Space for Photography’s newest exhibit,“Country: Portraits of an American Sound,” was Gregory LeNoir “Gregg” Allman, an American rock and blues singer-songwriter who was the founding member of the The Allman Brothers Band. Inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and named one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time” by Rolling Stone magazine, Gregg Allman brought his vast catalog of music to the adoring Century City crowd

Dressed in a jeans, a t-shirt and a leather jacket, Gregg stepped onto the stage with his eight piece band and sat behind his now-trademark Hammond organ, his waist-long pony tail swaying from side to side.

Gregg has had a tough go at it this year. He’s been hospitalized on several occasions due to a variety of ailments (bronchitis, a wrist injury, and other undisclosed health issues) and he did look a bit gaunt to me has he perched himself atop his organ bench. I noticed in between songs that he’d quickly reach for tissues from a box perched on his organ. He even took a break midway through his set, I’m assuming to catch his breath and recharge.

Donato Sardella/Getty Images for Annenberg Foundation
Donato Sardella/Getty Images for Annenberg Foundation

He may have been under the weather, but his performance was not noticeably effected by it. With his right foot steady on the organ’s pedal, his left foot vigorously tapped to the beat of each song throughout the set.  His voice still had that soulful blues tenor rasp that got me interested in The Allman Brothers Band in the first place. Was he ill? I doubt anybody really noticed.

Being a fan of his repertoire, I was just thrilled to be able to see him performing live. “Black Hearted Woman/Hot Lanta”. “Melissa”. “Midnight Rider”. Those songs, especially “Melissa”, made my night.

The only letdown for me was when he performed “Whipping Post”. Maybe it was because he wanted to use the full sound of the band, but the arrangement of it was a little to nouveau for my tasted. In my opinion, “Whipping Post” is supposed to be raw and gritty. This version was more sass and flash. The chorus (“Sometimes I feel / Sometimes I feel / Like I’ve been tied / To the whipping post / Tied to the whipping post /Tied to the whipping post  /Good lord I feel like I’m dyin’) is supposed to wail. The arrangement that was performed that night was a bit anticlimactic.

That’s not to say that I did not love his performance. “Whipping Post” aside, I have no other complaints. Any chance to see a rock legend perform is a privilege. Any chance to hear one of the greatest voices in rock and roll live is privilege.  I was privileged just being there.

Set List (actual order might have been slightly different)

  1. STATESBORO
  2. ANGEL
  3. DON’T KEEP ME WONDERING
  4. STORMY MONDAY
  5. AINT WASTING TIME
  6. BULLETS
  7. I FOUND A LOVE
  8. SWEET FEELING
  9. James Brown medley (GA BREAK)
  10. -BAND INTROS-
  11. BLACK HEARTED WOMAN/HOT LANTA
  12. (MEDLEY)
  13. MELISSA
  14. MIDNIGHT RIDER
  15. LOVE LIKE KEROSINE
  16. WHIPPING POST
  17. Encore: ONE WAY OUT

CLICK HERE To Check Out The Blog Entries Of The Other Acts Performing At KCRW’s “Country In the City” Concert Series

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Your Weekly Weekend Music Mix

 

MUSIC INSTA-BABE: Jhene Aiko

http://instagram.com/p/oKBprnD350/

Jhene Aiko is an R&B, soul singer with the voice of an angel who is of mixed race background: her mother is of Japanese, Spanish and Domincan Descent, while her father is of African American, Yaqui, Choctaw, Cherokee, Navajo and German Jewish descent. What ever she is, she is super find. Follow her on Instagram @JheneAiko. I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it.

KILLER COVER: Kings of Leon Covering Robyn

I like Swedish, synthpop  recording artist Robyn plenty, but I happen to like the Kings of Leon a lot more. Their cover of Robyn’s hit single “Dancing On My Own” is an example of how talented musicians can make a composition used in seemingly disparate style of music their own.

OH, FIDDY. STICK TO THE RAP GAME

Some musicians are athletic enough to play certain sports. 50 Cent is a ripped dude. Maybe his muscles got in the way.

MUSIC NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Beats By Dre was purchased by Apple Inc. for $3 BILLION! Surely, this will make Dr. Dre the first hip-hop billionaire. Hopefully, he uses some of the pocket change to help bolster the community he grew up in.

As reported in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Jack White goes OFF on everybody from Adele to the Black Keys.

UK crooner Sam Smith comes out of the closet. I still wonder why this kind of stuff is “news”.

Oh, and Steve Perry, the ORIGINAL lead vocalist of Journey performed live for the first time in two decades. The video below brings tears of joy to my eyes. Hopefully, he keeps popping up at shows to perform songs here and there. His voice has been missed.

BECAUSE IT’S HISTORY

I’m Korean, but I’m not a fan of K-Pop. The fact that PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video passed the 2 Billion view mark this week, making it the most viewed video on youtube, proves that I know nothing about music. Want to be a part of music history? Watch the video below, and be able to say, for the millisecond that Youtube registers your view, that YOU broke the world record for PSY. LOL.

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Falling In Reverse & Escape The Fate | The Wiltern | 1/15/14

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How do you get me to go to a show for a band that I know nothing about? Offer me a free ticket.

The buddy of mine who went to the Nine Inch Nails concert with me last year gave me a call and invited me to see a band that he enjoyed listening to named Falling In Reverse. The band’s name rang a bell, so I looked them up online and came across the name of their lead singer, Ronnie Radke. I vaguely recalled reading some article in a music trade magazine about him starting his career up again, but that was years ago. The more research I did, I found out that in 2011 Ronnie had been named one of Revolver Magazine’s “Greatest Living Rock Stars” and in 2012 was on the shortlist both Kerrang’s “50 Greatest Rock Stars in the World Today”, “Villain of the Year” and “Hero of the Year”. I also read about his work in Escape The Fate, his issues with drug addiction, the family tragedy he went through, and his incarceration. Yeah, I had to see this guy perform live.

My buddy and I got to The Wiltern in time to see Escape The Fate, now fronted by Craig Mabbitt. Truth be told, the set was a little bit of a let down. For the first half of the set, technical issues seemed to plague the Mabbitt’s  microphone as his vocals were hardly audible. It was a shame, as the band seemed on point and heavy. Truth be told though, it really didn’t seem to matter too much as a good portion of the crowd sang along with most of the songs. It was a set that could have been better, but I’ll chalk the deficiencies up to the sound problems.

Thankfully, the sound for Falling In Reverse was just fine.

The crowd’s energy was electric, and they were screaming and singing louder than they had for Escape The Fate.  The music was more “friendly” than that of Escape The Fate’s insofar as it felt and sound like Falling In Reverse’s music had more catchy pop-hooks. “Good Girls, Bad Guys”, “Bad Girls Club” and “The Drug In Me Is You” are all solid, fun songs that had me shaking my groove thing with the twenty somethings standing around me.

Ronnie Radke commanded the stage with his presence, using his seemingly boundless energy to stride across the stage throughout the evening. In between songs he would address the audience, revealing both his goofy and humble side; reflecting on the weight he has gained since his career started grabbing at his non-existent fat during the following song, and thanking the audience for hanging in there with him through his tough times and being there, at The Wiltern, for the evening. All the accolades he received that I read about online … yeah, I can see why he got them. He’s a terrific performer and he sounded good.

I’ll be honest with you, I probably wouldn’t have known about, or gone to see, Falling In Reverse without my buddy inviting me.  I’m still on the fence as to whether I’d buy their latest CD, but I’m leaning towards yes because it’s really fun guilty pleasure, rock and roll music that I wouldn’t mind having shuffled into my iTunes playlist while I’m driving around town now and again. But I know for sure that if my friend were to invite me to another of their gigs, I’d gladly go.

Falling In Reverse Setlist:

  1. Rolling Stone
  2. I’m Not a Vampire
  3. Fashionably Late
  4. Champion
  5. Sink or Swim
  6. Goodbye Graceful
  7. Bad Girls Club
  8. Born To Lead
  9. Self-Destruct Personality (new song)
  10. Good Girls, Bad Guys
  11. Tragic Magic
  12. Raised By Wolves
  13. Alone
  14. The Drug In Me Is You
  15. Not Good Enough For The Truth In Cliche (with Escape The Fate)
  16. Situations (with Escape The Fate)

 

Unfortunately, the Flickr slideshow below is not currently available on mobile devices. If you are on a mobile device, please click THIS LINK to get redirected to the set of photos.

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Music Splurge: Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Humble Pie

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This past weekend I stopped by record store to do a little “research” on two band’s whose music I don’t own:  Humble Pie and Emerson Lake and Palmer.

Humble Pie

I recently blogged about Steve Marriott, and I was particularly drawn to his work with Humble Pie, specifically his live performance of an Ike and Tina song called “Black Coffee” [Click here to read the blog and check out the video].  I made it my quest for the weekend to find it on vinyl.

I figured I’d start with their first albums, so I bought “Lost and Found”.

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This album was a double LP compilation for the United States which contained their first two albums originally released in the UK: ” As Safe As Yesterday Is” and “Town and Country”.  Both individual albums received excellent reviews.

If you didn’t already know, the original incarnation of Humble Pie featured Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton, and both of these albums, and particularly as a compilation, really shows the musical genius of the members of the band.

The musical stylings of “As Safe As Yesterday Is” covers blues rock to hard rock.  In fact, this album was the inspiration of the term “heavy metal” as it was used in a Mike Saunder’s 1970 Rolling Stone article to describe an element and stylings of the sound on the album.  The quote is as follows:

“Here Humble Pie were a noisy, unmelodic, heavy metal-leaden shit-rock band, with the loud and noisy parts beyond doubt.”[Click Here For Source]

“Town and Country”, on the other hand, is a predominantly acoustic album.  Though Humble Pie tended to lean towards the “heavier” stylings throughout their career, this album seems to demonstrate the bands more “sensitive” side.  More country than  city.  I think any music enthusiast can probably draw from the album that this may have been a foreshadow of the type of music Peter Frampton would pursue in his solo career.

In my opinion, this compilation album was the perfect introduction, at least for me, to the band.  “As Safe as Yesterday” reveals a new band putting together a new, rough and raw sound that they’d develop, while “Town and Country” was just the opposite.  A very insightful album, and highly enjoyable.

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I bought “Rock On” because this was the last album that Peter Frampton performed on for Humble Pie.  Based on what I’ve read, it was this album which solidified Humble Pie’s legacy as being a preeminent heavy blues/rock band.

The production quality of this album is quite stunning, and it’s probably because Glyn Johns produced it.  While listening to the album, it really felt like I was in a club listening to the band play live, but it is so clean.  Peter Frampton kills it on his guitar parts, and Steve Marriott wails through blues riff after blues riff.

A terrific album and worth every penny.

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I probably didn’t need to buy this album, but it was the only vinyl in stock that had a recording of “Black Coffee”.  Mission accomplished.

Emerson Lake and Palmer

Progressive Rock.  Some love it.  Some hate it.  For me, I just have to be in the mood for it.  Emerson, Lake & Palmer was on of the largest progressive rock bands during the 1970s.  Their self titled, debut album was an album that I thought I should have in my collection because it was, if you are in the mood for it, an album that you can drop the needle on and just let play.

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I’ve only listed to this album once in it’s entirety, and it’s just simply overwhelming.  I’ve studied music.  I’m familiar with jazz music.  I’m familiar with classical music. I’m familiar with rock music.  With Emerson, Lake and Palmer, it’s like the edges all blur and … you’re just overwhelmed by their musicianship.  I’ll be honest with you, I can’t hum a single musical passage from the album, but I’ll guarantee you that it blew my mind.

The other Emerson, Lake and Palmer album I bought is a live concert recording of the band titled “Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends: Ladies & Gentlemen, Emerson Lake & Palmer”

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Let’s just say I’m holding off on that one for a little while.  I’ll need a good two hours to listen to the four sided album, and I understand that I need to listen to it loud … really loud.

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