It's been a quiet week on the island, musically speaking any way. I did get quite a few newer releases yesterday but haven't had a chance to listen to all of them. I'm sure I'll get through them by next Friday. OK, on to "What's Esion listening to this week"
Miles Davis - Evolution of the Groove
Is it Jazz? Is it Hip/Hop? I'll tell you what it is. It's a 5 track* release featuring Nas on one cut and Carlos Santana on another. Miles may have liked this disc for it's original spin, but I feel slightly duped. It was nice hearing Miles speak on Freddie the Freeloader (croak actually, Miles didn't really speak) and I do like the remixes with the drums and base cranked up. However, four tracks? And only one track clocking over three minutes. Please!
Since I'm a Miles fan and have a lot of his stuff I was able to listen to the original songs. It's About That Time, the track featuring Santana, is great but less than half the length of the original. Once you change time keeping from the rider cymbal to the snare and turn up the bass line, the song is really funky, much more so than the original. Add Carlos trading licks with Miles and you've got a nice tune. I should clarify that the first version didn't need work.
I really like the slow build intro on the original recording of the bluesy Honky Tonk. Again by trading the rider cymbal for snare & kick-drum the whole feel of the song is different. It has more umph. I like it.
This disc will appease some Miles fans and offend others. I have to say it is an interesting exercise in what can be accomplished with technology. It's a shame that someone took the time to secure the rights, gather the musicians & techs and then said, "We're only doing four songs*" It's like dinner without dessert.
*There are 5 tracks but Freddie the Freeloader is an incomplete outtake.
Steve Earle – Washington Square Serenade
I totally messed up by missing Steve Earle at Bumbershoot '07. I was tired of the crowds, I couldn't eat another bite of that wonderful African food from Horn of Africa and I had seen Steve with the Bluegrass Dukes at the Woodland Park Zoo a couple of years before so Iwent home. Admittedly they weren't good excuses, but they were the only ones I had.
After listening to Washington Square Serenade the first time through I understand my error. I should have sucked it up, gone to the special KEXP, invite-only performance and then stayed for the evening show. My buddy John said both shows were excellent. Oh well, I'll always have the KEXP archives.
Steve Earle is one talented SOB. He doesn't just write songs. He paints pictures with words and music, sometimes a portrait, sometimes a landscape, sometimes a portrait within a landscape, in the same tradition as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon or Tom Waits. I agree he can't sing for shit, but his gravely, twangy, sometimes whisper, sometimes growl, mainly average voice fits perfectly with the picture he's crafted.
Steve never strays far from his country roots, even when playing the bozouki on the bluesy Red is the Color. City of Immigrants, with its Calypso feel, is as far as he gets from Nashville, but it has a hint of down-homeyness. Maybe it's the southern drawl. Anyway, Washington Square Serenade won't top the many releases by Mr. Earle. That would be a monumental feat with a body of work featuring masterpieces like El Corazon, I Feel Alright and The Mountain. However, this disc is very good and one I'll add to my collection.
Bruce Springsteen – Magic
One of my girlfriends in high school was from New Jersey. She listened to The Boss before he'd made the covers of Time and Newsweek and shared his music with me. It seems like The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle received constant play for at least a decade.
I've listened to Magic several times now. It's comforting to see Bruce return to his roots, namely, making great music with a fantastic backing band. Bruce puts the familiar themes of lost love, lost youth and lost innocence to some wonderful melodies and comes up with tracks that sound like they came from the sessions for The River. It's very good, classic Bruce and the E Street Band is in fine form. I think it's the best disc he's done since The River. Radio Nowhere, the track he gave away as an MP3, is an up-tempo number that laments the sad state of music radio and makes the statement "I just want to hear some rhythm." Well folks, Magic definitely has rhythm and I recommend purchasing the CD.
More to follow...
Showing posts with label Steve Earle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Earle. Show all posts
Friday, October 26, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Bumbershoot 2007 Day Three + Wrap Up
Monday: I entered at the Broad Street entrance solo. As on the previous two days, I proceeded directly to Horn of Africa for chicken, lentils and that wonderful, spongy, fermented bread. I walked back across the Center and found a great spot next the red tube sculpture for The Blakes (Seattle Weekly pick) at the Sound Transit Stage. I finished my food while they completed the sound check. Wow!!!! The Blakes were great!!! I loved this band. High energy, Rock N’ Roll with catchy melodies, infectious beats all delivered with a presence and confidence to match the most polished veterans. Their EP, Streets is available now via their Myspace site.
After The Blakes I decided to go free style and dabble. I had no one that I really had to see so I and followed the recommendations of The Weekly and The Stranger. For the next hour I split my time and sampled performances at two different stages.
I ended up at the Esurance Stage enjoying Kultur Shock (Weekly and Stranger pick.) Gino Yevdjevich, the lead singer, describes Kulture Shock as, “Balkan punk rock gypsy metal wedding-meets-riot music from Bulgaria, the US, Japan, and Bosnia. Six members, and no two of us really speak the same language” And I can’t think of a more accurate description. This was a fun performance to watch and not a single person in the crowd was standing still. Go to their Myspace page and sample some of their tracks.
I spent 40 minutes with Kulture Shock and then returned to the Sound Transit Stage to see Viva Voce (Weekly and Stranger pick), a Portland, OR-based, husband and wife duo. Basically Rock N’ Roll with drums & guitar reminiscent of The White Stripes (the drumming was better, but the guitar wasn’t.) They were OK, it’s just that with a guitar/drum duo there’s only so much you can do before you begin to sound repetitious. 30 minutes was enough. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
I had every intention of staying to see Steve Earle at either the special ticket KEXP performance (enter 3 Sept 07, 5:26 PM on the KEXP website to hear Steve) or the show at 8:30 PM on the Starbucks Stage. I caught a few tunes by his wife, Allison Moorer, at the Starbucks Stage while transiting from venue to venue. Unfortunately I ran out of gas before Steve was scheduled to play. What can I say? I'm no longer 25. I wish I had a better excuse, but I don’t. I walked out the Broad Street Gate down the hill to SAMs Sculpture Park before heading south on Alaska Way.
The wrap up: Bumbershoot was great as usual and once again the best acts were not at the Mainstage. However, it was clear from this year’s line-up that I am not a member of the Festival's target demographic. Fortunately, my diverse taste in music combined with a willingness to venture into unknown territory allowed me to not only see some artists that I was already interested in, but I was able to enjoy some great musical discoveries.
I couldn't sleep nights if I didn’t mention a couple of things to the folks at One Reel, Bumbershoot’s producers. While I appreciate the effort that goes into producing an event like Bumbershoot I’d like to share my perspective as a veteran of nearly two decades worth of Bumbershoot:
1. Thanks for making it easy to get tickets. Basically, any Starbucks has them prior to and during the festival. That’s a great move on your part. Please don’t increase ticket prices any more. $35 per day plus $10 for food not to mention transportation costs, makes the minimum per day investment approximately $50. Some would say that’s cheap for a day of great art & music, but fifty bucks is fifty bucks. It’s expensive enough for a working man, but nearly unreachable for a teen with a part-time job and the teen to twenty-something bracket seemed to be your target demographic.
2. Telling me I can’t bring a water bottle into Memorial Stadium because it can be used as a projectile and then trying to sell me bottled water inside for $3.00 is disingenous, greedy and wrong. Please change that practice before Bumbershoot 2008.
3. The temporary barricades installed to contain concert-goers enroute to the Mainstage literally bisects Seattle Center in an east/west line and nearly stops the flow of north/south foot traffic. Please figure out a better way to get people in and out of Memorial Stadium.
4. Please work with Metro to increase the number of buses leaving Seattle Center, particularly around the time that the Festival closes for the day.
After The Blakes I decided to go free style and dabble. I had no one that I really had to see so I and followed the recommendations of The Weekly and The Stranger. For the next hour I split my time and sampled performances at two different stages.
I ended up at the Esurance Stage enjoying Kultur Shock (Weekly and Stranger pick.) Gino Yevdjevich, the lead singer, describes Kulture Shock as, “Balkan punk rock gypsy metal wedding-meets-riot music from Bulgaria, the US, Japan, and Bosnia. Six members, and no two of us really speak the same language” And I can’t think of a more accurate description. This was a fun performance to watch and not a single person in the crowd was standing still. Go to their Myspace page and sample some of their tracks.
I spent 40 minutes with Kulture Shock and then returned to the Sound Transit Stage to see Viva Voce (Weekly and Stranger pick), a Portland, OR-based, husband and wife duo. Basically Rock N’ Roll with drums & guitar reminiscent of The White Stripes (the drumming was better, but the guitar wasn’t.) They were OK, it’s just that with a guitar/drum duo there’s only so much you can do before you begin to sound repetitious. 30 minutes was enough. If you’d like to hear a few of their tracks you can check out their Myspace page.
I had every intention of staying to see Steve Earle at either the special ticket KEXP performance (enter 3 Sept 07, 5:26 PM on the KEXP website to hear Steve) or the show at 8:30 PM on the Starbucks Stage. I caught a few tunes by his wife, Allison Moorer, at the Starbucks Stage while transiting from venue to venue. Unfortunately I ran out of gas before Steve was scheduled to play. What can I say? I'm no longer 25. I wish I had a better excuse, but I don’t. I walked out the Broad Street Gate down the hill to SAMs Sculpture Park before heading south on Alaska Way.
The wrap up: Bumbershoot was great as usual and once again the best acts were not at the Mainstage. However, it was clear from this year’s line-up that I am not a member of the Festival's target demographic. Fortunately, my diverse taste in music combined with a willingness to venture into unknown territory allowed me to not only see some artists that I was already interested in, but I was able to enjoy some great musical discoveries.
I couldn't sleep nights if I didn’t mention a couple of things to the folks at One Reel, Bumbershoot’s producers. While I appreciate the effort that goes into producing an event like Bumbershoot I’d like to share my perspective as a veteran of nearly two decades worth of Bumbershoot:
1. Thanks for making it easy to get tickets. Basically, any Starbucks has them prior to and during the festival. That’s a great move on your part. Please don’t increase ticket prices any more. $35 per day plus $10 for food not to mention transportation costs, makes the minimum per day investment approximately $50. Some would say that’s cheap for a day of great art & music, but fifty bucks is fifty bucks. It’s expensive enough for a working man, but nearly unreachable for a teen with a part-time job and the teen to twenty-something bracket seemed to be your target demographic.
2. Telling me I can’t bring a water bottle into Memorial Stadium because it can be used as a projectile and then trying to sell me bottled water inside for $3.00 is disingenous, greedy and wrong. Please change that practice before Bumbershoot 2008.
3. The temporary barricades installed to contain concert-goers enroute to the Mainstage literally bisects Seattle Center in an east/west line and nearly stops the flow of north/south foot traffic. Please figure out a better way to get people in and out of Memorial Stadium.
4. Please work with Metro to increase the number of buses leaving Seattle Center, particularly around the time that the Festival closes for the day.
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