After collecting rock albums, books and rock magazines for over forty years it's about time to open up the archives and put some of my favorite music on the big net. The music here is intended for review purposes only and is not a substitute for the original record company product. Please contact us directly regarding the removal of any potentially infringing material. READERS: Please use us as a buyer's guide and support the artists.
Usually i don’t like coverbands. But lately I discovered this band. They do the songs of my hero John Martyn but in their own style and with respect to the original artist. So, nothing left to do but show you a video of the John Martyn Project. This mix has original live-video from YouTube and audio from their first album: Volume One. Hope you ‘ll like it also… Click on the image for the video.
What better way to do a Daniel Norgen concert in the woods ? This year he played at the Bostheater, Ommen in the Netherlands. A fall from my bike prevented me to go meself, but the family shoot some video for me, and bought me a signed t-shirt.
Here’s a link to the full concert-video. Please be patient for it will take some time to start. The video was shot by my daughter J.G.S. thanks! No copyright infringement or moneytising intendent. This was made by and for fans of Daniel Norgrens’ music. Please click on the picture below to start the video. Thanks to Daniel and Band for another beautiful concert !
It’s december again. Time flies when you love listening to music…. December has provided some beautiful music through the years. Here’s an example. Musicians from various countries get together to perform Airto’s Missa Spiritual.
Here’s is an excerpt of that Missa. No Flora Purim this time but other musicians are none the less then Gil Evans on synthesizer, from Belgium: Philip Catherine on guitar, all the way from India: Tiruk Gurtu on percussion, and Fredy Santiago & Airto from Brasil.
The live concert took place in the old grand Saint Martin church in Cologna. German WDR orchestra and Vocal Ensemble. The german broadcast company did a fine job of recording this Misa. Here’s an excerpt of that concert…
Here’s some other great music of Airto from an earlier post >>>>
This was a good year for listening to live music of Daniel Norgren.
The first concert was with his band at the Burgerweeshuis in Deventer. Last time he was here he did a concert in the garden at the first Koningsdag (King’s day). The venue was sold-out and the concert was top!
Teaser:
At the end of the year a second concert. This time he played solo at the Odeon theatre in Zwolle. We had beautiful seats at the balcony. The audio of the concert is at the end of this message. The video has mixed footage of the concert and of nature and Zwolle.
(Click on the picture below to watch the full concert).
After collecting records (LP’s) for over 40 years I decided to put a big part of it for sale on the Discogs site. So far only the titles from A to D are published. I love to sell the rare items to collectors and proud that my seller’s rating is still a 100% !
And now it’s time for the next step… As I am growing older, and my kids are listening to a total different kind of music, I decided to put the core collection for sale too.
No easy step but the sweet memories will always be there. So here they are: beautiful and rare items of The Grateful Dead.
Records, books, clothes & memorabilia. You will find it all here
Not just products but also a Grateful Dead Blog
And this is just the beginning. More ‘core’ collection will follow: records of Robert Wyatt, Fela Kuti, Gong and John Martyn. So, please. Stay connected if you’ re interested !
A very fine article in the Rolling Stone where King of Funk Bootsy Collins pays tribute to King of Africa Fela Kuti.
In the mailbox today: 2 Grateful Dead items. A jigsaw puzzle of the AoxomoxoA cover and the 7″ single ‘One More Saturdaynight/Bertha’. Bought on the dutch eBay called Marktplaats.
The seller also included a photo of two heroes of mine: Paul Kantner and David Freiberg (live, 2012, NL). Thanks Hans.
The complete concert can be found at the Internet Archive.
Jefferson Starship
Live at De Lakei, Helmond (NL) on 2012-10-26
1.Somebody To Love
2.Sunrise–>Have You Seen The Saucers?
3.Let’s Get Together
4.Wooden Ships
5.Fresh Air
6.Miracles
7.Crown Of Creation
8.Count On Me
9.Lawman
10.Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil
11.White Rabbit
12.Volunteers
In dutch it is called a ‘smartlap’. It’s a sad song that brings tears to your eyes. It doesn’t happen often, about 3 to 5 times a year but here’s a list of five songs that have made me cry. Please, cry along with me…
1.) Grateful Dead – China Doll
“A pistol shot at 5 o’clock,
the bells of heaven ring.
Tell me what you’ve done it for.
No, I won’t tell you a thing”
Dedicated to Bart, Anton, Jan & Johan
2.) Vic Chesnutt – Flirted with you all my life
“If the audience is into it,
I feel, yeah, i am worthwhile.”
3.) Natalie Merchant – What’s the matter here
“A song i wrote about a little boy,
who was neglected and abused”
4.) Purple Mountains – All my happiness is gone
A suicide note, each note aches with sorrow and resolve.
5.) Herman van Veen – Weet je nog
Kees is dead and looks from heaven upon earth.
He sees two tracks on all places he has been.
except on those places where life became complicated.
There he sees only one track and he asks his wife:
“why did you leave me when things got complicated”.
No, Kees. His wife answered. That’s where YOU couldn’t cope.
That’s where I carried you !
And now it’s time for the listening party. Here’s the video of unpacking the album Roswell UFO Festival Vol. 2
A beautiful song from a classic UK band: Traffic. It reminds me a lot of the Grateful Dead jam music. This video is from a reformed TRAFFIC (1994), unfortunately without Chris Wood. The late great Jim Capaldi wears a beautiful Grateful Dead T-shirt and Steve Winwood is in top-form.
Jefferson Starship – Roswell UFO Festival 2009, Tales from the mothership
And now the story continues… I recently bought the Jefferson Starship album – Roswell UFO Festival 2009, subtitled Tales from the mothership volume 2.
2016 UK limited edition 16-track double LP issued exclusively for Record Store Day pressed on Black & white Vinyl
It was a cheap buy, €13,- for a double album with coloured vinyl in a limited edition version. Side 0ne has most songs of the side 2 of the original 1970 release. I’m very interested in the ‘Dark Star’ and ‘Your Mind has left your body’ versions, originally Grateful Dead songs. also two covers of a Pink Floyd and a David Bowie song, and some Jefferson Airplane classic songs makes this album an interesting buy.
Recorded live July 3, 2009. This album corresponds to disc three of the 4CD set with similar name that was released in 2010 and contains the entire (electric) set two of the show.
Median price: €10.59 (on Discogs, sept. 2020).
OK, that’s all for the Volume 2 release. But wouldn’t it be nice to get a copy of Volume 1 also…?
So a week later a parcel was delivered with Volume 1. Same cheap price, Lim. Edition in coloured vinyl too. Disc 1 is black, Disc 2 is white. Now the trilogy is complete. This album corresponds to disc two of the 4CD set with similar name that was released in 2010 and contains the entire (acoustic) set one of the show. It also has two Grateful Dead songs played by former Grateful Dead pianist Tom Constanten: Mountains of the Moon and Me and My Uncle. Plus a great version of ‘Wooden Ships’.
From the original line-up only paul Kantner and David Freiberg are present again.
Median price for this album is € 11,20 at Discogs at the time of writing (2020)
The CD version has also CD1 that contains recordings taken from the rehearsals and CD4 is from the soundcheck (Three versions of Space Oddity there). The vinyl Volume One and Two is the actual live concert.
Text from the press release:
“Roswell UFO Parade & Festival Hosts Jefferson Starship Sci-Fi Extravaganza” read the headlines for the annual July 3rd event that took place in Roswell, New Mexico in 2009. Jefferson Airplane founder Paul Kantner and his legendary band Jefferson Starship and special guests, which included original Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten, performed a one-of-a-kind sci-fi concert at Pearson Auditorium in Roswell in honor of the town’s famed annual parade. The group was also bestowed the honor of being the parade’s ‘Grand Martians’ that year and rode atop a special float especially built for them. The entire concert was filmed and recorded,
a special programme of science fiction themed compositions and select recordings were performed, some for the first time ever! Now, much to the excitement of Jefferson Starship fans across the globe
In 1991 the late great rock impresario Bill Graham signed on to produce Blows from a ‘scripted stage play concept’ co-written bu Paul Kantner and his new manager Michael Gaiman, a lifelong fan. Sadly, Bill was killed in a helicopter crash and the idea was shelved until Sony Pictures pitched an ‘option’ for a Blows motion picture in 1996.
Along with Paul Kantner and David Freiberg, Jefferson Starship also features lead singer Cathy Richardson (who played Janis Joplin on Broadway in Love, Janis) and longtime band members Slick Aguilar, Chris Smith and Donny Baldwin. In addition to Grateful Dead’s Tom Constanten, special guests include Pete Sears (the band’s former bass & keyboard player on all their hits), Barry Sless (guitar & pedal steel with Phil Lesh & Friends), former lead vocalist Darby Gould and legendary folk artist Jack Taylor, one of Paul Kantner’s early musical influences.
Housed in a sealed & stickered gatefold picture sleeve LETV420LP).
Legend has it that on July 3, 1947, a mysterious object crashed on a ranch in the New Mexico desert, about 30 miles north of Roswell. The Roswell Army Air Field at first issued a press release claiming to have recovered a “flying disk,” with the Roswell Daily Record running a famous front page story reporting this the next day. But the RAAF then retracted the statement and said the object was merely a crashed weather balloon Roswell, we learn, was also home to Uncle Sam’s 509th Bomb Group, the first and only atomic strike force in the world at the time. It therefore makes perfect sense that extraterrestrial visitors trying to size up humanity might take a keen interest in the area..
Louis Armstrong plays to his wife, Lucille, in front of the Great Sphinx and pyramids in Giza, Egypt, 1961.
The Armstrongs were on a U.S. State Department-sponsored Goodwill Tour of Africa and the Middle East.
Photo: Associated Press
Wondering what song he’s playing for his wife? I bet it’s his version of the beautiful Pharoah Sanders song “The Creator has a Masterplan”
I was planning to do a list of my favorite ten double albums but i could list a favorite top 20 without any trouble. Anyway, result is a top 12 of my favorite double albums in no particular order. Except for #1 off course!!
1.) Grateful Dead – Live / Dead
This album started it all in the late sixties/early seventees. The essence of the Grateful Dead Jam band. It doesn’t make any difference if I focus on the guitar, or the bass, or the drums… This band is so together !
2.) Marvin Gaye got divorced and wrote a whole album about that painful experience. “Sparrow, FLY”
3.) Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson – It’s Your World
Gil is the Father of RAP and a great poet. Brian puts down a great mixture of Funk, Jazz and Rock !
4.) Allman Brothers Band – Live at the Fillmore East
The founders of the ‘Southern Music’. Greg and Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, double drums and long songs, magnificent!
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
5.) Harmonium – l’ Heptade
A Canadian band singing in French. This is a symphonic album of their songs. My first encounter with the band was the album ‘Cinq Saisons’ Great original music.
6.) Wishbone Ash – Live Dates
Oooh, these twin guitars ! I had the privilege to watch the band performing this album live some 40 years later and it still impresses me!
7.) Derek & the Dominoos – Layla and other assorted Love Songs
Radio DJ’s had a habit of killing this song when the piano part began. Grrrhhh this made me so mad! Such a beautiful song has to be played from beginning to end.
8.) James Brown – The Payback
‘Mind Power’ Funk op zijn best. Met brothers Fred Wesley en Maceo Parker… WoW, Good Lord, Make it Funky !
9.) Gong – Live etc.
In the early days of Internet i got an angry mail of Steve Hillage because i had published a dutch concert review which was somehow critic of a concert. Not this album though, flying pixiess all around !
10.) Al Green – Tokyo … Live !
How much ‘Soul’ do you want? Reverend Al Green will give it to you. What a voice and what a feeling !
11.) The Smiths – Louder than Bombs
I used to get on my bicycle to bike to the nearest music shop (15 km) to get the latest 12″ of the Smiths. I couldn’t miss the singles because of the art-work. At home i put the record player on repeat and listen the whole day to the same song
12.) Isley Brothers – Live
The tribute to Jimi Hendrix alone is worth the buy of this album. But it has so more beautiful songs on it. Like this one of Carole King.
A good reserve: Airto and Friends
