Classic Rock Musings, Rants & Raves

Tonight I attended a Nissan’s Live Sets on Yahoo! Music taping of Jakob Dylan and The Gold Mountain Rebels. No, the Wallflowers haven’t broken up, as Dylan confirmed during a short Q&A with the audience. Rather, he’ll be “wearing two hats” this summer, balancing his new solo career with the Wallflowers, who have a few live dates scheduled around Dylan’s own tour. Apparently, the singer, like his famous father, wants to try new and different things.

Just before the music began, the show’s executive producer announced that this marked the very first public performance of Jakob Dylan as a solo artist. No one really knew what to expect, but the seven-song all-acoustic set went down very smoothly before the 100 or so in attendance. You can catch it in its entirety on Yahoo May 15.

Jakob Dylan’s solo debut Seeing Things will be out June 10. If you can’t wait that long, an EP with the same title is now available for download on iTunes.

Neil Diamond played an intimate little gig at the NYC West Village venue The Bitter End on last night, May 7. He performed classic songs set mixed with new songs from his latest album, Home Before Dark, which I’m listening to as I write this.

The Bitter End only holds a couple hundred people, so this show (sponsored by My Space) was extra special. Thousands of folks got in line once news of this “secret show” leaked, but only the first 200 got in. The ever gracious Diamond took time to greet the long line of fans outside the Bleeker Street club, saying hello and posing for pictures.

Inside the club, Diamond, backed by a small band of members comprising both his studio and touring musicians, gave unplugged performances of “Solitary Man,” “Don’t Go There,” “Home Before Dark,” “Pretty Amazing Grace,” “Kentucky Woman,” “Cherry, Cherry” and “Sweet Caroline.” Speakers were placed in the windows of the club so the hundreds of fans left out in the cold could sing along.

“I sang that song on this very stage 40 years ago,” Diamond said after playing his 1967 hit “Kentucky Woman.”

Home Before Dark, Diamond’s 27th studio album, came out on May 6. The singer kicks off an extensive world tour in Rotterdam, Netherlands on May 24 that will eventually bring him back to NYC in August for a three-night run at Madison Square Garden. Full tour dates are at Neil Diamond’s web site .

On May 6, Neil Young unveiled plans for his long-awaited Archives project. Fans far and wide have been screaming for this multi-volume set for years. Now, they’ll more than likely be screaming again because the ever unconventional Young is only releasing the collection on Blu-ray discs. For those of you unfamiliar with Blu-ray, it’s a high-definition format disc that holds upwards of 25 gigs, considerably more than CDs (700 MB) and DVDs (4.7 GB). A year ago, Blu-ray and rival HD-DVD were competing for HD videophiles looking to upgrade the sound and picture of their favorite DVDs. This past February, however, HD-DVD bowed out and Blu-ray took the lead.

So, why is Young releasing this on Blu-ray? Fans who follow such things are well aware the singer has a blatant disregard for CDs. In fact, much to the chagrin of his devoted following, he has somehow managed to hold back a portion of his legendary catalog from ever coming out on CD (although I confess to having a nice little bootleg of Times Fades Away. Don’t tell Neil). More recently, he was releasing stuff on DVD-A, but now has shifted gears in favor of Blu-ray, which not only boasts superior audio and video; it can also be updated over the Internet.

During the May 6 press conference at a Sun Microsystems conference in San Francisco, Young said the first phase of Archives will span 10 discs, covering 1963 to 1972. The discs will be tracked chronologically and include previously unreleased songs, videos, handwritten manuscripts and other memorabilia. High-resolution audio sweetens the deal, while fans can add additional content from the Internet as it becomes available.

This is certainly good news for those in the Blu-ray industry, who had been working hard to expand the technology’s capabilities beyond movies. “Previous technology required unacceptable quality compromises,” Young said. “I am glad we waited and got it right.”

Once again, old rocker Neil Young is sparking a new revolution without compromising his artistic integrity. As if he hasn’t already done enough for toy trains. Check out the complete announcement below.

Part One

Part Two

I just received word that Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour is planning to release in September Live In Gdańsk, a 2-CD set recorded during the last show of his 2006 summer tour.

This concert, played before 50,000 people at the shipyards in Gdańsk, Poland, was special on a variety of fronts. It was the only time Gilmour and his band were accompanied by an orchestra, using the string section of the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zbigniew Preisner, who was responsible for the orchestration on Gilmour’s 2006 solo record, On An Island. Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer also makes an appearance to reprise his part from “A Pocketful Of Stones.”

Visually, this show included a special six-screen design that gave each band member his own dedicated screen. Maybe this means a DVD will follow. Either way, this set should be a real treat for Floyd and Gilmour fans alike. I caught a show from the tour (see my 2006 David Gilmour concert review) and was totally blown out of my seat. I liked it even better than the late 80s/early 90s era Pink Floyd shows.

I’m thinking this will be a great companion piece to 2007’s Remember That Night, a 2-DVD package from London’s Royal Albert Hall. It also means I can ditch the half-dozen bootlegs I downloaded from the tour. Good thing too, because they’re taking up way too much space on on my hard drive.

First off, I went o see Asia last night in San Juan Capistrano. They were better than I thought they would be. I’ll be posting a full review later this week on Vintage Rock.

Now on to the subject at hand. I’ve been reading lately how several large and small hard copy music magazines are folding due to the loss of advertisers and readers — essentially the bread and butter on which these mags survive. My own opinions vary, but most are fairly obvious. For one, the economy is in the tank, so many industries (besides the oil barons, energy companies and Google) are seeing their profit margins shrink. Secondly, print magazines and newspapers in general are losing their readers to the Internet. Thirdly, the music industry is hurting, so by extension, it’s only logical that music mags would feel their pain. Finally, there are just too many damn music magazines to begin with.

Admittingly, I see the newer rags catering to tastes I don’t follow. But I’ll open their pages, breeze through the ads, struggle through the articles, and maybe marvel at the graphics, which seem to drive any interest, especially if they’re filled with chicks and guitars. Oh, they all look and sound nice with their glossy photos and witty repartee, but they have no real value to the general public, in my opinion. And when you have the flash and immediacy of the web, it’s a no-brainer.

When I launched Vintage Rock 11 years ago, I had no expectations for it to become anything more than what It is — an informative and straightforward series of articles and reviews. I never ever thought it could make money, and so far, I’ve been right. I upped the ante a couple of years ago, adding a forum and multimedia enhancements, streamlining the design, updating more frequently and adding advertisements and whatnot. Without a staff, it can be trying at times. Still, it gets a good amount of traffic, but it’s far below the numbers Rolling Stone or Pitchfork are pulling in. Maybe that’s because I write mostly about classic rock bands on the site. I’m certainly not staking my living on it.

That being said, I commend those adventurous souls who dig deep and espouse their views on music and the culture that surrounds it. I will continue to do the same. But I have no grand illusions of where it will take me. After all, I assume people would rather listen to music instead of read about it. Like my reviews, however, that’s only an opinion.

Boston leader (and sole original member) Tom Scholz has announced that the group is planning to finish a new studio album after its summer tour. Scholz says the record will be out “just after the first of the year.” I wonder what year he’s referring to?

The new album will reportedly include a number of songs from Corporate America, Boston previous studio album. Scholz is remixing, rearranging and, in some cases, completely re-recording the songs. The reasoning, according to Scholz, is that Corporate America was a flop. This is where the logic of making a new record becomes muddled. I mean, why would you include songs that flopped? Aren’t you, in effect, increasing the odds that the new record will also flop?

Apparently, Scholz, in his infinite wisdom, is hoping the public will show a little sympathy and plop down their hard-earned dollars for a new record because of singer Brad Delp’s 2007 suicide. As it so happens, Delp lent his unique tenor to a couple of tracks. The other tunes are to be vocally augmented with former Stryper singer Michael Sweet and Tommy DeCarlo, a fan Scholz discovered via a Delp tribute DeCarlo posted to YouTube.

Scholz is also revising the group’s Greatest Hits album to coincide with the tour. Rumors that Scholz is planning to re-record other Boston albums with American Idol rejects have been dismissed as “ridiculous” by a unknown source.

There was a time when I wasn’t much of Tom Petty fan. But then he joined a band with George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison, and I took notice. So did a lot of other people. Petty proved he was more than just a Heartbreaker, although being a Heartbreaker isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Clearly, without the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty wouldn’t be the star he is today. According to the fantastic documentary Runnin’ Down A Dream, Petty got a solo deal when he came to Hollywood. He then proceeded to put the Heartbreakers together. But when he originally came to Hollywood, he came from Florida with another band called Mudcrutch.

Why the rich and famous Tom Petty, along with his Heartbreaker band mates Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, would take a step back and regroup Mudcrutch is anyone’s guess. It apparently had a lot to do with the participation of the two guys who didn’t go on to become world famous rock stars — drummer Randall Marsh, who actually brought in Campbell, and Petty’s high school buddy, guitarist Tom Leadon (whom also happens to be the brother of Bernie Leadon, an original member of the Eagles).

Petty has to be one of the most gracious and sincere musicians in the biz. He hasn’t let the whole fame trip change his attitude about how he makes music. And apparently, he hasn’t forgotten his roots either. Can you imagine Paul McCartney calling up Pete Best and suggesting they record a record together? Well, that’s almost what this is like. A couple days ago, Mudcrutch dropped their 14-track debut album, over 30 years after their break-up.

You can hear 6 of the songs here:
http://www.imeem.com/mudcrutch/playlist/Z1jSQJpl/mcpl_music_playlist/

The Mudcrutch Story
http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m7BRNMTPCG048:m1L3KXXSHMULY7

There’s also some audience-shot videos of recent Mudcrutch shows floating around. Check these out:

Lover of the Bayou

Scare Easy

You may have a heard a while back that actress Scarlett Johansson was recording an album of all Tom Waits songs. Yeah, Tom Waits, the post-Beat-poet-musician-songwriter with acting credentials, constant stubble, and a growl that’ll drive your kids up a tree. Well, true to her word, dear Scarlett has gone and made that record and called it Anywhere I Lay My Head. It’s coming out on May 20 and features 10 Tom Waits tunes and one original track. Collaborating with TV On The Radio producer David Sitek, Scarlett is also joined by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zimmer, Sean Antanaitis from Celebration, and many others whom I’m sure jumped at the chance to work in the studio with the talented beauty. She spent five weeks last spring recording the record in Louisiana at Dockside Studios. Wonder if Waits popped in for a visit. You can check out Scarlett’s eclectic interpretations by tapping into the Anywhere I Lay My Head Listening Party Stream below:

Quicktime

I’ve just been checking out Steve Winwood’s newest offering, Nine Lives, released by Columbia Records on April 29. I’m working on a forthcoming review for Vintage Rock, but I’ll be watching the singer this week when he appears on Good Morning America on Friday, May 2, Today Show Weekend on Saturday, May 3, Late Show With David Letterman on May 6 and The View on May 7.

Songs on Nine Lives include “I’m Not Drowning,” “Fly,” “Raging Sea,” “Dirty City,” “We’re All Looking,” “Hungry Man,” “Secrets,” “At Times We Do Forget,” and “Other Shore.” Winwood even got his pal Eric Clapton, whom he appeared with at Madison Square Garden in February, to play guitar on “Dirty City.”

It just so happens that I have an MP3 audio clip of “Dirt City.” Click on the link below to listen.
Dirty City MP3

Hollywood, California – April 29, 2008 – The acclaimed British progressive rock group ASIA has announced an historic, first-time-ever live performance of the band’s multiplatinum self-titled 1982 debut album to take place at the band’s U.S tour-closing May 5 concert at San Francisco’s Grand Ballroom at The Regency Center. ASIA is touring to more than 20 cities across the U.S. this spring to support the April 15 release of Phoenix, the band’s first studio album since 1983 with its original ‘supergroup’ line-up, which debuted at #73 last week on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart.