The Wizards of Vision and Sound

Happy Monday and welcome to another installment of my recurring feature about music producers and sound engineers. This time, I’m taking a look at Eddie Kramer who until I did some research I wrongly had assumed primarily is a sound engineer. While he gained initial prominence in that capacity, especially because of his work with Jimi Hendrix, Kramer also produced for the likes of Carly Simon, Kiss, Peter Frampton and Buddy Guy.

Given his enormous output, I decided to break up this installment in two parts. Part I will focus on Kramer’s work as a sound engineer, while Part II will highlight some of his credits as a producer. For many albums he produced he also did engineering and mixing.

Kramer was born Edwin H. Kramer on April 19, 1942 in Cape Town, South Africa. His parents were into the arts and music. Already as a 4-year-old, Kramer picked up the piano and also tried the violin and cello. During his classical piano studies at South African College of Music in Cape Town, he became interested in jazz and rock.

In 1961 at the age of 19, Kramer moved to London, England, following his parents who had relocated there four months earlier due to their political opposition to South Africa’s despicable apartheid. In London, Kramer began recording local jazz groups in a simple home studio as a hobby. He got his first professional job at Advision Studios in 1962, which at the time provided voiceovers and jingles for television ads.

In 1963, Kramer joined Pye Studios where he assisted in recordings of classical works, as well as rock and pop music, including The Kinks, The Searchers, The Undertakers, Petula Clark and Sammy Davis Jr. The following year, Kramer founded KPS Studios and gained a reputation, despite its rudimentary two-track recording capability. Regent Sound where The Rolling Stones recorded their first album took notice and acquired Kramer’s studio in 1965.

Regent Sound put him in charge to help build and run their new four-track studio where The Beatles subsequently recorded Fixing a Hole. In 1966, Kramer joined Olympic Sound Studios and engineered albums for The Rolling Stones, Small Faces, Traffic and Jimi Hendrix. In 1968, he relocated to New York, so he could continue his close collaboration with Hendrix.

In mid-1969, Kramer was hired to record the Woodstock Festival for both the album and the movie, an arduous project that further raised his profile. “All of us in the crew had to have Vitamin B shots in the bum so that we would be able to stay up for three days,” he recalled. “The whole thing was recorded under the most primitive of conditions but we got it done. Woodstock was 3 days of drugs and hell.”

After Woodstock, Kramer oversaw the creation of Hendrix’s state-of-the-art studio, Electric Lady Studios in New York City’s Greenwich Village, together with architect John Storyk. Upon completion in 1970, he was the studio’s Director of Engineering until his departure in 1975. Kramer worked independently thereafter both as a producer and a sound engineer.

In 2005, Kramer teamed up with Storyk again to design another studio: Anacapa Studios in Malibu, California. Since the early 2000s, he also began exhibiting his photographs he had taken of artists he worked with between 1967-1972, including Hendrix, the Stones, Led Zeppelin and Santana, among others.

“We understood each other, he knew I could always get him a sound.” Eddie Kramer on recording with Jimi Hendrix. From BBC Radio 6 interview, January 2018

Additional side projects have included co-authoring a book about Hendrix, a two-part video series, Adventures in Modern Recording, and collaborations with Digitech to design and create effects pedals emulating guitar sounds of Hendrix and Brian May. In April, Kramer turned 82 and apparently is still active. Wikipedia notes he’s working with Digital Theatre Systems (DTS) to develop an app that replicates 5.1, 7.1 and 11.1 Surround Sound in any type of headphone.

Time to take a closer look at some of Kramer’s sound engineering work. I will also include a Spotify playlist at the end of the post to capture these and other examples.

Let’s start with Jimi Hendrix. Here’s Little Wing, written by Hendrix and recorded by the Jimi Hendrix Experience for their second studio album Axis: Bold as Love, released in December 1967. “It’s still one of the most emotional things I have ever heard,” Kramer told Guitar World in March this year. “I could go on and on; all his stuff is bloody marvelous. But I guess some are more marvelous than others.”

Prompted by the work Kramer had done with producer Jimmy Miller on Traffic’s first two albums Mr. Fantasy (December 1967) and Traffic (October 1968), The Rolling Stones booked the two for their December 1968 studio album Beggars Banquet. “He went to the heart and soul of where they came from; he was so adept at evoking the psyche of the band, and so clever at production,” said Kramer about Miller. “I’ve always tried to model myself after Jimmy in terms of how to get a session going, how to make the artists really get excited about what they’re playing.” Here’s Street Fighting Man.

Let’s turn to Led Zeppelin next. Kramer did engineering and mixing on various albums, including Led Zeppelin II (October 1969), Houses of the Holy (March 1973), Physical Graffiti (February 1975) and Coda (November 1982), the live soundtrack album The Song Remains the Same (October 1976), as well as the live album How the West Was Won (May 2003). Here’s Over the Hills and Far Away from Houses of the Holy.

The last engineering example I’d like to call out is Peter Frampton’s iconic Frampton Comes Alive! double live album, which came out in January 1976. Let’s listen to Doobie Wah.

Last but not least, here’s a above-mentioned Spotify playlist. Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow, which will highlight some of Kramer’s work as a producer.

Sources: Wikipedia; Guitar World; History of Recording; BBC Radio 6; YouTube; Spotify

My Playlist: Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan first entered my radar screen in 1986 shortly after I had joined a blues group as a bassist, marking the beginning of my short but intense three-year period as an active band musician. To get up to speed with our setlist, I was given a music cassette, which among others included Vaughan’s amazing rendition of Tin Pan Alley, off his second studio album Couldn’t Stand the Weather. The moment I heard his guitar sound, I fell in love with it. In this post, which is part of an irregular feature called My Playlist, I’d like to celebrate the music by who I think is one of the best blues guitarists of all time.

Vaughan’s web bio characterizes his guitar-playing as follows: With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the ’80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Albert Collins and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as jazz guitarists like Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. I feel they hit the nail right on the head!

Before getting to some music, I’d like to provide a bit of additional background on this extraordinary artist who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Vaughan picked up the guitar as a seven-year-old, initially inspired by his three-and-a-half-year-older brother Jimmie Vaughan. Five years later, he started playing in garage bands, followed by semi-professional groups. By the age of 17, Vaughan dropped out of high school to focus on music. In 1971, he formed his first own blues band, Blackbird.

Stevie Ray Vaughan with his older brother Jimmie Vaughan

Fast-forward to 1979 when Vaughan played in Triple Threat Revue, a band he had formed two years earlier. After the group’s vocalist Lou Ann Barton left, they became Double Trouble, named after an Otis Rush song. In addition to Vaughan, the initial line-up featured Jack Newhouse (bass) and Chris Layton (drums). In 1981, Newton was replaced by Tommy Shannon, putting in place the core line-up of the group that would back Vaughan for the rest of his short life.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble became regulars and gained popularity on the Texas club circuit in the early ’80s. In 1982, they played the Montreux Jazz Festival and came to the attention of David Bowie and Jackson Browne. Impressed with Vaughan’s guitar chops, Bowie offered him to play on his upcoming album Let’s Dance. Vaughan ended up contributing lead guitar for six of the tracks on what became Bowie’s commercially most successful album.

Stevie Ray Vaughan with Chris Layton (l) and Tommy Shannon (r) of Double Trouble in 1983

Meanwhile, Browne offered the fierce trio three free days at his Los Angeles studio, which they used to record a demo over the Thanksgiving weekend in November 1982. That tape found its way to record producer John Hammond who had worked with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. He secured a contract for the band with Epic Records. The demo recordings were subsequently remixed and mastered in New York City and released in June 1983 as their debut Texas Flood.

Texas Flood was the first of five albums that were recorded and appeared during Vaughan’s lifetime. A sixth, The Sky Is Crying, was released in November 1991, three months after Vaughan and four others had been killed in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wis. following a gig. He was only 35 years old, a loss I think was comparable to Hendrix. Time for some music!

Let’s kick it off with Pride and Joy from the aforementioned Texas Flood, which Chris Layton noted Vaughan wrote for a new girlfriend he had at the time. Apparently, the same woman also inspired another song on the same album titled I’m Cryin’. As you can guess, the inspiration for that song was less cheerful, namely a fight between Vaughan and her. Pride and Joy has an infectious shuffle that makes you want to move!

Obviously, I can’t skip Tin Pan Alley, a great slow blues composed by Bob Geddins, a San Francisco Bay area blues and R&B artist and record producer. This song, off Couldn’t Stand the Weather, is a great illustration of Vaughan’s incredible sound. Check out his amazing tone, which still gives me chills!

Vaughan also composed some great instrumentals, including this one called Say What! The tune appeared on Soul to Soul, his third album with Double Trouble, which came out in September 1985. By the time of the recording, the band had grown into a four-piece and now also included Reese Wynans on keyboards.

The House Is Rockin’ – the title says it all! This is pure rock & roll that reminds me a bit of Chuck Berry. Stevie Ray Vaughan wrote this gem together with Austin blues musician Doyle Bramhall who as a high school student had played in a band with Jimmie Vaughan. It was included on June 1989’s In Step, the fourth and final studio album with Double Trouble, which appeared during Vaughan’s lifetime. Wikipedia notes that the album title can be viewed as an acknowledgment of Vaughan’s successful rehab from years of drug an alcohol addiction.

In 1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan made an album with Jimmie Vaughan titled Family Affair. Released as The Vaughan Brothers in September of the same year, it was the only album Stevie recorded with his brother. It also was his last studio release prior to his fatal helicopter crash. Here’s the closer Brothers, which the two guitarists penned together.

The last track I’d like to call out is another great instrumental, which is on The Sky Is Crying, the above-mention post-mortem album. This compilation of songs Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded throughout their career was released in November 1991. Here’s their cool rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing, which originally appeared in December 1967 on the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s sophomore album Axis: Bold as Love. I think Jimi would have been proud of it!

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s impact on reviving blues and blues rock among mainstream audiences cannot be underestimated and perhaps is his biggest legacy. He also influenced many other guitarists like John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Albert Cummings and Chris Duarte.

Vaughan, who has sold over 15 million albums in the U.S. alone, is ranked at no. 20 in Rolling Stone’s just released eclectic 2023 list of The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time – probably too low, but these lists are highly subjective. Vaughan was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, along with Double Trouble bandmates Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon and Reese Wynans. The Blues Hall of Fame was a bit faster in getting their act together, inducting him in 2000.

I’d like to leave you with a career-spanning Spotify playlist, which includes the above and 14 other tracks. Hope you dig Stevie Ray Vaughan as much as I do!

Sources: Wikipedia; Stevie Rau Vaughan website; Rolling Stone; YouTube; Spotify

Tedeschi Trucks Band’s I Am The Moon Dubbed Their Most Ambitious Studio Project to Date

Since I came across I Am The Moon: II. Ascension, which Tedeschi Trucks Band released on CD and digitally on Friday, I’ve been listening to their latest album and quickly come to dig it. It’s the second in a series of four I Am The Moon albums the band calls “the most ambitious studio project of their storied career” on their website. While I’m still new to the group’s music though not their name, I’ve no doubt that claim is true.

A series of four albums, each accompanied by a film, with a total of 24 songs, all of which were inspired by a 12th-century Persian poem certainly sounds like an extraordinary effort. Intriguingly, that same poem also inspired one of the greatest blues rock albums of all time: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, by Derek and the Dominos. There’s a lot to unpack here, so please bear with me. 🙂

Tedeschi Trucks Band’s I’m The Moon includes four albums: I Am The Moon: I. Crescent, I’m The Moon: II. Ascension, I Am The Moon: III. The Fall and I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell

I Am The Moon is the fifth studio effort by Tedeschi Trucks Band, who were founded in 2010 and are led by married couple Susan Tedeschi (guitar, vocals) and Derek Trucks (guitar). After touring together in 2007 as the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival, Trucks and Tedeschi merged their respective groups to create a mighty 11-piece band. In 2015, they added another member and have since been a 12-piece – what an army of musicians!

Trucks, an incredible slide guitarist, started playing guitar at the age of nine and two years later performed his first paid gig. He was a former member of The Allman Brothers Band from 1999 until they disbanded in 2014. Derek is the nephew of the late Butch Trucks, a founder of the Allmans and their drummer. Tedeschi is no slouch either. She has played in bands since the age of 13, formed her first all-original group at 18, and in 1995 released the first of seven studio albums under her name. Tedeschi met Trucks in 1999 when her band opened for the Allmans. They hit it off, both personally and professionally.

Tedeschi Trucks Band: Led by Susan Tedeschi (guitar, vocals) and Derek Trucks (guitar), the group also includes original members Tyler Greenwell (drums, percussion), Mike Mattison (harmony vocals), Mark Rivers (harmony vocals) and Kebbi Williams (saxophone). Isaac Eady (drums & percussion), Alecia Chakour (harmony vocals), Elizabeth Lea (trombone), Ephraim Owens (trumpet), Brandon Boone (bass) and Gabe Dixon (keyboards & vocals) complete the current 12-piece lineup

Back to I Am The Moon. The Tedeschi Trucks Band’s latest project was inspired by Layla and Majnun, a poem written by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. The romantic narrative poem has been called the “Romeo and Juliet of the East” by English poet Lord Byron, who according to Wikipedia is considered one of the greatest English poets and a leading figure of the Romantic movement. I’m not a poetry expert, but I’m taking that statement at face value.

An album essay written by renowned American music journalist David Fricke notes I’m The Moon is inspired by classical literature but emotionally driven by the immediate drama, isolation and mourning of the pandemic era. There is the recurring fight for hope too, the reaching across damaged connections – all of that trial and urgency unfolding over a robust tapestry of blues, funk, country, jazz and gospel in collaborative writing, luminous singing and the instant fire of improvisation.

The initial idea to write an album based on the Layla and Majnun poem came from vocalist Mike Mattison in May 2020, two months after the group had been forced to stop touring by the pandemic. Nine months earlier, Tedeschi Trucks Band had performed the entire Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs live at the LOCKN’ Festival, which was released in July 2021 as Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’). Apparently, that created the initial spark.

“We get so carried away with the music – everyone knows it so well,” Mattison said, according to Fricke’s album essay. “That album is one point of view, Layla as this love object: ‘I want you, I can’t have you.'” But after Mattison read the original work, “I realized there are many things going on from different perspectives” and proposed “revisiting this source material as a band, as writers.”

LOS ANGELES, CA – NOVEMBER 01: Mike Mattison of Tedeschi Trucks Band performs at The Greek Theatre on November 1, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Golden/WireImage)

This review includes I’m The Moon: II. Ascension, as well as the first album, I Am The Moon: I. Crescent, which appeared on June 3. The corresponding films premiered on May 31 and June 28, respectively. The two remaining albums, I Am The Moon: III. The Fall and I Am The Moon: IV. Farewell, are slated for July 29 and August 23, respectively, with their corresponding films scheduled to come out July 26 and August 23. I’m planning to review the two outstanding albums together in late August.

I’d say it’s finally time for some music. Let’s kick it off with the opener of I Am The Moon: I. Crescent, Hear My Dear. The beautiful tune was co-written by Trucks, Tedeschi and Gabe Dixon, the band’s keyboarder and one of the vocalists. Check out that warm sound – this is really sweet!

Another highlight on the first album of the series is the title track, which Dixon penned by himself. Pulling from Fricke’s album essay: “That was my idea, on the demo,” Dixon says of the space and crescendo at the end where Trucks solos, promising an even longer trip when this song goes into the setlists. “It was just me, playing some piano fills and singing over those chords. But of course, I thought, ‘This is going to be a solo section that can go however long we feel.'”

Let’s do one more from the first album: Circles ‘Round The Sun, co-written by Trucks, Tedeschi and Tyler Greenwell, one of the group’s two drummers. There’s a great soul vibe in that tune. With the gospel-like backing vocals, it also feels “churchy.” Check it out!

Here’s a Spotify link to the entire album:

And, in case you’re curious, here’s the accompanying film. Like the other three films, it was directed by American documentary filmmaker and television writer Alix Lambert.

On to I Am The Moon: II. Ascension, the current album in the series, which finally prompted me to take a closer look at Tedeschi Trucks Band. Since I just highlighted it in my last Best of What’s New installment, I’m skipping the excellent Playing With My Emotions and go right to the second track. Ain’t That Something is credited to Trucks, Dixon, Mattison and Tedeschi. It’s another soulful gem. I could see Bonnie Raitt play that tune. For some reason, I had always thought of Tedeschi Trucks Band as a “straight blues rock band.” Sure, there’s some of that here, but they also blend in soul and gospel. It’s one tasty stew!

Blues rock-oriented So Long Savior is closer to what I pictured Tedeschi Trucks Band to sound like. Written together by Trucks, Mattison and Tedeschi, the song shuffles along nicely and has some cool slide guitar action.

The last track I’d like to highlight from the second album is the closer. Hold That Line, a slower beautiful tune, was written together by Trucks, Dixon, Tedeschi and Greenwell. It’s neat the group has all these different writers!

Here’s a Spotify link to I Am The Moon: II. Ascension:

The companion film for the album is here.

Some remaining thoughts: Why four albums, you may wonder when the 24 songs could have fit on two or three CDs. According to Fricke’s album essay, the group looked at records they love such as Axis: Bold as Love, the 1967 album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. “It’s 36 minutes long,” Trucks said. “That’s the way to digest a record.” That’s probably true for my and older generations. When it comes to most young folks, I’m afraid they no longer listen to albums and instead create their own playlists. Then again, teens and twenty-something-year-olds probably aren’t the group’s target audience in the first place.

As I noted at the beginning of the post, which at this point you can probably barely remember, I’m still new to Teschedi Trucks Band. As such, it’s a bit tricky to put I Am The Moon in the broader context of the band’s catalog to date. But having been a music fan for more than 45 years, I’m confident enough to say when I see greatness. To me, this album series has the ingredients of a career-defining Mount Rushmore-type release. I’d be curious to hear from readers who are more familiar with the group whether they agree with my assessment.

I Am The Moon certainly makes me want to see the Tedeschi Trucks Band who have been on the road since June 24. The Wheels of Soul 2022 tour is coming next to Westville Music Bowl, New Haven, Conn. (July 6) before moving on to Philly’s great The Mann Center for the Performing Arts (July 8) and Midway Lawn, Essex Junction, Vt. (July 9). Their U.S. tour concludes with a series of gigs at New York City’s Beacon Theatre in late September and early October before launching a European leg. The full schedule is here.

Last but not least, to all my readers in the United States, if you celebrate it, have a Happy Fourth of July. Most of all stay safe!

Sources: Wikipedia; Tedeschi Trucks Band website; YouTube; Spotify

The Sunday Six

It’s hard to believe another Sunday is upon us – I feel I just wrote the previous installment of The Sunday Six! For first-time visitors, the idea of this recurring feature is to celebrate different genres of music from different decades, six tunes at a time. Without further ado, let’s jump right in!

Julian Lage/Boo’s Blues

I’d like to start where I left off yesterday’s Best of What’s New: Julian Lage, an American jazz guitarist and composer who released his solo debut album in March 2009. I first came across Lage’s music on Friday in connection with his new album Squint and immediately fell in love with his guitar tone! Borrowing from yesterday’s post, according to his Apple Music profile, Lage has been widely acclaimed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation. The New York-based musician boasts a long resume as a desired sideman with artists as diverse as Gary Burton, Taylor Eigsti, John Zorn, Nels Cline, Chris Eldridge, Eric Harland, and Fred Hersch, to name just a few. Equally important is his reputation as a soloist and bandleader. He is equally versed in jazz, classical, pop, and show tunes, and has spent more than a decade searching through the myriad strains of American musical history via an impeccable technique and a gift for freely associating between styles, tempos, keys, and textures that adds to his limitless improvisational spirit. Here’s another track from Lage’s new album, which also features bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Dave King: Boo’s Blues. Beautiful music for a Sunday morning!

The Jimi Hendrix Experience/One Rainy Wish

I trust Jimi Hendrix doesn’t need an introduction. One Rainy Wish is a tune from the second album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis: Bold as Love, which first appeared in the UK in December 1967, followed by release in the US the following month. The song wasn’t on my radar until my streaming music provider served it up as a listening suggestion the other day. Also known as Golden Rose, One Rainy Wish was written by Hendrix and recorded in October 1967 at Olympic Sound Studios in London, together with Noel Redding (bass) and Mitch Mitchell (drums). Based on the lyrics, the song was inspired by a dream Hendrix had. Quoting the Hendrix biography Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, Wikipedia notes the song is “creak[ing] with radical harmonies and rhythmic concepts, not least the fact that the verse is in 3/4 time while the chorus is in 4/4.” Songfacts adds Hendrix used an octavia, an effects pedal that reproduces the input signal from a guitar eight notes higher in pitch, mixing it with the original note and adding distortion. The octavia had been designed for Hendrix by Roger Mayer, a then-21-year-old electric engineer wunderkind. One Rainy Day Wish also became the B-side to the U.S. single Up From the Skies, which was released in February 1968, the only single from the album.

Bob Dylan/Series of Dreams

This next selection of the Bob Dylan tune Series of Dreams is a bit out of left field. Initially, I had planned to feature Angelina, a song I had come across recently and immediately thought would make a great pick for The Sunday Six. Dylan first released Angelina in March 1991 on his 3-CD box set The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. However, I couldn’t find a YouTube clip, something that rarely happens. This bummer prompted me to check whether other songs from this box set are available on YouTube and led to Series of Dreams. Dylan first recorded the tune in March 1989 for his 26th studio album Oh Mercy that was released in September of the same year. But Series of Dreams was ultimately omitted from the album. The version that ended up on the box set is a remix of the original with overdubs added in January 1991. Dylan also included an alternate take of the song on The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989-2006. While finding Series of Dreams was entirely circumstantial, I’m quite happy with it, so farewell, Angelina! 🙂

Joni Mitchell/This Flight Tonight

The first time I heard This Flight Tonight was the cover by Scottish rock band Nazareth, which must have been in the late ’70s on the radio back in Germany. I had no idea then that this tune was penned by Joni Mitchell. Another prominent example is Woodstock, which I first heard by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on the Déjà Vu album and simply assumed it was their song. I was very young back then! Anyway, Mitchell recorded This Flight Tonight for her widely renowned fourth studio album Blue, which was released in June 1971. The song tells of her regrets as she leaves her lover on a flight and wishes to return. The entire album, which Mitchell made after her breakup with Graham Nash and during her relationship with James Taylor, revolves around different aspects of relationships. While I always liked Mitchell’s songs, it took me a while to get used to her voice, which I felt was very high, especially on her earlier songs.

Tracy Chapman/Fast Car

I still remember when Tracy Chapman’s eponymous debut album came out in April 1988. Two songs from it, Talkin’ ’bout a Revolution and Fast Car, were very popular on the radio back in Germany. The combination of Chapman’s powerful voice, great lyrics and the relative simplicity of her songs blew me away, and I got the CD immediately. To this day, I believe it’s incredible. Chapman has since released seven additional studio albums. Her most recent, Our Bright Future, dates back to November 2008. There is also a Greatest Hits compilation that came out in November 2015. While Chapman has not been active for many years, she has not officially retired from music. In fact, last November, the night before the U.S. Presidential election, she made a rare TV appearance on Late Night with Seth Myers with a clip of her performing Talkin’ ‘about a Revolution and asking Americans to vote. Here’s a short related clip from Rolling Stone. While all of Chapman’s albums charted in the U.S. and numerous other countries, her debut remains her most successful. It topped the charts in the U.S., Canada, Australia and various European countries, including the UK and Germany. Here’s Fast Car. I absolutely love this song and hope eventually we will hear more from Tracy Chapman. She’s only 57 years old!

Green Day/Boulevard of Broken Dreams

This Sunday Six installment has been heavy on singer-songwriters, so I’d like to wrap it up with some rock from the present century: Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day. Yes, that track from the band’s seventh studio album American Idiot from September 2004 certainly hasn’t suffered from under-exposure. And while I generally don’t follow Green Day, it’s one catchy tune I still dig. The song’s lyrics were written by lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong, with the music being credited to the entire band. Perhaps, not surprisingly Boulevard of Broken Dreams became Green Day’s biggest mainstream hit in America, climbing to no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and raking up U.S. sales of over 2 million copies as of 2010. By 2009, the tune had sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, making it the ninth-highest selling single of the 2000-2009 decade. Green Day are rocking on to this day. Since American Idiot, they have released six additional studio albums, most recently in February 2020. According to their website, Green Day are also scheduled to kick off an eight-week, 22-date U.S. tour in Dallas on July 24.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; Green Day website; YouTube

No Meteor Shower Over Central N.J. Sunday Night But Stars Were Still Aligned

As noted in a previous post, seeing Ann Wilson, Jeff Beck and Paul Rodgers as part of their Stars Align Tour at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., was a spontaneous decision, based on promising reviews and YouTube clips. Another reason was my previous disappointment that Bad Company wasn’t among the special guests during  Lynyrd Skynyrd’s farewell concert there in June. While Sunday night’s event wasn’t the best show I’ve ever seen, I came away a happy camper after three and a half hours of solid rock at a very reasonable cost.

As anticipated, Ann Wilson opened the night; what I didn’t expect was that she started at 7:00 p.m. on the dot, literally as printed on the ticket. I had just taken my seat – good thing I had decided against food and drink, which are completed overpriced to begin with. I can’t recall a rock & roll show I’ve been to that got underway on time!

Except for Heart’s Barracuda, Wilson presented covers, mostly from her upcoming solo album that is set to arrive September 14. Called Immortal, it honors artists who have passed away, such as David Bowie, Tom Petty and Glenn Frey.

Here’s Barracuda, one of Heart’s best known songs credited to Ann Wilson and other members of the band, including her sister and lead guitarist Nancy Wilson, guitarist Roger Fisher and drummer Michael Derosier. The tune was the lead single from Heart’s second studio album Little Queen that appeared in May 1977.

Wilson opened and closed her set with tunes by The Who, The Real Me and Won’t Get Fooled Again, respectively. Below is a clip of the latter. Written by Pete Townshend, the song is the closer of Who’s Next, the band’s fifth studio album from August 1971. It also was released separately as the record’s lead single in June that year.

Next up was Jeff Beck, which came a bit as a surprise to me. Since I think it’s fair to say he’s the heavy weight among the three, I thought he’d close out the night. This was my second time seeing Beck, so I knew that much of his set would be instrumental. While his guitar-playing and sound are mind-blowing, I generally prefer his songs with vocals, especially with Rod Stewart on Beck-Ola. I realize true Beck fans may not be with me here.

Having said the above, the first tune I’d like to highlight here is an instrumental, a smoking hot cover of You Know You Know. Originally, the John McLaughlin tune appeared on The Inner Mounting Flame, the 1971 debut album by jazz-rock fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. Part of the reason I chose this track is the cool extended solo by ace bassist Rhonda Smith. When I saw Beck for the first time in July 2016, his backing band also included a killer female bassist: Tal Wilkenfeld. Speaking of Beck’s excellent band, the other members were cellist Vanessa Freebairn-Smith, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and vocalist Jimmy Hall. Since I missed recording it myself, I’m relying on a clip from another recent gig.

Among the songs featuring Hall on vocals was the Jimi Hendrix tune Little Wing. It was included on the second studio album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Axis: Bold As Love, which came out in December 1967. While Hall is a solid vocalist, I felt by comparison he wasn’t as top-notch as the other members of the band.

The second to last song of the regular set was a great cover of Superstition, one of my favorite Stevie Wonder tunes. Wonder included it on his 15th studio album Talking Book from October 1972. It also was released separately as the lead single that appeared a few days prior to the album.

After a two-song encore by Beck, it was on to Paul Rodgers. Of the three artists I’m most familiar with his music, so it’s perhaps not a big surprise that he was the most accessible performer to me. Except for two covers, Rodgers’ set was evenly divided between Bad Company and Free songs. I thought he was in great shape, as was his backing band featuring Pete Bullick (guitar), Ian Rowley (bass), Rich Newman (drums) and Gerard Louis (keyboards).

The first tune I’d like to call out is Feel Like Makin’ Love. Co-written by Rodgers and Bad Company guitarist and co-founder Mick Ralphs, the song appeared on the band’s second studio album Straight Shooter from April 1975. It was also released separately as the record’s second single in November that year.

One the Free tunes Rodgers played was Mr. Big. Credited to all members of the band that in addition to Rodgers included Andy Fraser, Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke, the song appeared on their third studio album Fire And Water. Among others, Rowley shines with a solo, the second extended bass solo for the night.

The last song of Rodgers’ regular set was another Bad Company classic, Rock & Roll Fantasy. Penned by him, the tune was included on the band’s fifth studio album Desolation Angels, which came out in March 1979. It also became the record’s lead single and the band’s best-selling single in the U.S. About 1:40 minutes into the song, somebody wearing a hat and playing a tambourine walked on stage, who turned out to be Steven Van Zandt. As if to prove it, he briefly took off his hat to reveal his signature bandana.

Rodgers saved Free’s signature tune All Right Now until the very end of the night as his second encore. Co-written by him and Fraser, the song was also included on the Fire And Water album and became Free’s most successful single.

Last night, The Stars Align Tour played Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh on New York’s Long Island. The remaining four dates are Nashville, Tenn. (Aug 17), Charlotte, N.C. (Aug 19), West Palm Beach, Fla. (Aug 25) and Tampa, Fla. (Aug 26).

Sources: Wikipedia, Setlist.fm, Paul Rodgers website, YouTube