Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m also looking forward to the day when Reznor tweets or blogs about the evils of YouTube.  That’s the only explanation for his apparent Vimeo fetish, right?  He’s sticking it to the capitalists or some shit?

In other news, Nashville has flooded.  You may not have heard because national news outlets decided to pick up the story only a few hours ago well after 15 people had died in Tennessee alone.  Luckily, this story, having to do with significantly less news-worthy water problems in a major metro area sat atop the NY Times website almost the entire weekend.  See below for some of the more sobering pictures of the damage so far (and also a really great tribute song already penned about the incident).  Be warned, however, that the Cumberland is still a’risin’.  The worst may be ahead of us.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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3. Another Top 10 (With Papal Authority)

Bingham grew up in West Texas, dropped out of school at 17, and started touring the States as a bull rider.  In other words, he’s earned the right to write country music without scorn;  dude’s legit.  Released in 2007, “Mescalito” was his first major label album.  It (and his June 2009 album “Roadhouse Sun” that I haven’t heard) were both produced by former Black Crows guitarist Marc Ford.  I throw that tidbit in there because I know a few of you get hard-ons over the Black Crows and if their guitarist can dig it than so should you.

Bingham has a voice that sounds like he’s done a few more years of hard living than are possible given his youth.  Then again, he was damned bull rider.  Besides the pure country flavor of tracks like Long Way From Georgia and Ever Wonder Why, there’s enough rock influence on the record to make it accessible for listeners who aren’t accustomed to fiddle and slide.  Highlights of the album include The Other Side, Bread and Water, Hard Times, Don’t Wait For Me and the aforementioned Ever Wonder Why.  Download the album and lemme know what ya think.

Just for fun, here’s Jeff Bridges performing Bingham’s Oscar winner The Weary Kind from “Crazy Heart”.  Also, remember the spunky lead guitarist for Bad’s first backing band in the bowling alley?  That’s Bingham.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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2. Mr. Self Destruct and The Science of Sound
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Led Zeppelin Stairway to heaven… I know, its cliche, but it’s the original song that just keeps building and building until is rocking your balls off… if you want to go deeper try Achilles last stand… you’re probably saying “damie, that song is 11 minutes long, and hammers from the start”  to which my response is fuck you, it’s my list, it’s led zeppelin, and if you can’t appreciate the way bonham is smashing those drums through the floor then i can’t help you

Pearl Jam – Rearview mirror – for my money, their best song.  I always listen to it twice.

Prince – Purple Rain – try watching the movie, then listening to that song as he closes it out with the guitar… I can’t keep my eyes dry, and I know Patrick you can’t either

speaking of Patrick, Navar’s Big Orange just goes off… thank you PB, BB and JM

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Wet Sand – John Frusciante kills it at the end.  Anyone who thinks they can keep making songs like that without him is a retard

Metallica – One – ’nuff said

Guns ‘n Roses – Double talkin’ Jive – get the money motherfucker… Slash does some work… and if you can get some footage of him doing it live back in 92-94ish, i strongly recommend it

Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms – i found a live version of this song where Mark Knopfler really uncorks it  at the end

Great White – Rock me – this is the rural minority after all… just staying true to the roots

Queens of the Stone Age – 3′s & 7′s – just an awesome song…

Tool – Forty Six & 2 – another awesome song…. Eulogy should be given a listen too

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3. Passenger

1. Revolver - The Beatles
2. If I could Only Remember My Name – David Crosby
3. The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
4. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
5. The Nightfly – Donald Fagen
6. Thriller - Michael Jackson
7. Graceland - Paul Simon
8. Achtung Baby – U2
9. (What’s the story) Morning Glory - Oasis
10. Supernatural – Carlos Santana

This has to be the most absurd list of all time.  I verified this story from four different sources to make sure it wasn’t a complete joke.  I even headed over to The Onion to make sure this wasn’t one of those times that some dumb ass picked up one of their satirical stories and ran it elsewhere.  Of course, there are some worthy entries on the list but they’re completely overshadowed by the more confusing choices.

CSNY?  The Byrds?  Nah, fuck it, I’m the Pope and I like David Crosby’s solo work.  Simon and Garfunkel?  Sure, but not before solo Simon.  To be perfectly honest, I had to wiki Donald Fagen and its just more of the same.  Steely Dan was great but The Holy See much prefers Mr. Fagen’s work post-Steely.

The Catholic Church endorses this album as one of the best ever.

But by far the most egregious inclusion is Sanata’s Supernatural.  The sales of that album were driven mainly by a duet he did with Rob Thomas called “Smooth”.  Remember?  Other collaborators on the album: Dave Matthews, Everlast, and Eagle Eye Cherry.  Anyway, judge for yourself:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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2. Blaxploitation, Country Music, and Cavemen

1.  Guns ‘n Roses – Use Your Illusion I & II

2.  Nirvana – Nevermind

3.  RHCP – Blood Sugar Sex Magik

4.   Pearl Jam – Ten

5.  Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger

6.  Metallica – Black album

Can anyone find a year with 6 better albums?

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2. Who’s coming with me?
3. Songs with awesome endings

The show was solid and this was the first time I have been back to the theatre since it ceased from being the Blender Theatre (wow, that’s really interesting).  He played a solid set including an interesting cover of the White Stripes “You Don’t know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told)” as well as Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

You can see a decent video of the entire performance of his cover of the Smiths song “Stop me if you think you have heard this one before” at the bottom as well as some pix and the setlist.

Setlist:

For Your Money
Chainsaw
Change
You Don’t Know What Love Is (White Stripes Cover) <-I will post my video of this soon
Live By Night
Giving Everything Away
Cigarettes
Getting Out
Impossible
Stop Me/Keep Me Hanging On <-video of this from last night posted at the bottom.
I Think I’m In Love
Maybe I’m Amazed
Red <-Get this song NOW…it’s great and was fantastic live.

Nothing Like A Tall Boy

I also took a bit of video that turned out pretty good.  Here is

Click here to view the embedded video.

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1. Alice in Chains—Black Gives Way to Blue—  Wow, after a 14 year Hiatus, Chains are back and  in true form.  The new singer William Duvall(not Robert duvalls’ brother) sounds just enough like Layne Staley but still different enough so you never think you’re listening to an Alice in Chains cover band, the music is great, couple of nice slow songs on the album, great riffs and all, fav (4) song on the album is Lesson Learned. A very well put together album.

2. Them Crooked Vultures- Self Titled—Damn Rock and Roll as I live and breathe and almost lose my breath again!  Supergroup comprised of John Paul Jones who is god on bass, Dave Grohl god on drums and Josh Home from QOTSA on guitar and vocals a solid musician in his own right.  The songs rock and are always changing tempo, never know what you’re going to get kind of like a james Cameron movie but not nearly as bad as how he looks now!  Great grooves and moves on this album, solid debut effort… it puts the R in rock and the L in roll….  4 song(fav song)—is  Gunman, kind of dancey, funky song.

3. Bob Dylan— Together Thru Life— The first Bob Dylan original CD that I actually have the others are copied—just a great mix of all different sounds, voice sounds good, band is solid,  4 song(fav song) is Forgetful heart… as long as it doesn’t stop beating!!!

4. U2—No Line on the Horizon—   Well, call it a comeback as in my opinion this is their best album since the classic achtung baby,, Pop and Zooropa have some great songs on the albums but I don’t think those albums are so great overall..  The ballads on this album are about as smooth as drinking a strawberry milkshake, singing is good, Edge is in top form, and the half instrumental song Fez being born is a very creative song… 4 song(fav song) on the album is Magnificent….

5. Dream Theater— Black Clouds and Silver Lining—After a couple of subpar records DT bounce back with a solid effort, long epic songs, god on guitar, great music, good singing, tempo changes and all… fav song(4)—is Rite of Passage.

6. Pearl Jam—Backspacer—Well, not as good as the album that preceded it but still very good, some of the songs have a good pop rock style to them, singing as always is great, songs at times are a bit short… still a must have for any pearl jam fan to keep up with the catalog—4(fav song) is Got Some, ironically enough the first time I heard this song was on a late night tv show at linus’s place and I thought it was just okay but on the album it has the best drumming on it and good punch to it, not the kind you drink!

7. Chicken Foot—Self titled—Another supergroup with Chad smith or is that Will Farrell on the drums from chili pepers, satriani on guitar, michael Anthony on the bass and the one and only Red Rooster Sammy Hager on the vocals— Chad Smith shows another side of his drumming on this album which is just great, stead bass and fraternity boy looks by Michael Anthony, god on guitar by Satriani he’s like a Lamborghini just can’t stop it! And vocals that have never changed in over 30 years by sammy hager.. some corny lyrics at times but I think the music is so great it compensates welll… 4(fav song) is Running Thru… awesome guitar solo in this song.

8. Air–  Love 2–  well, I enjoyed their last album more than walkie talkie which fans tend to like more, this is their best album since the classic I’d take this disc on me to a desert island to be stranded with Moon Safari… great mix of electronic and 70s sounds blended in, some but not much singing, feel like I’m on another planet when I listen to it… Fav song (4) is Missing the light of day.

9. Peter Yorn–  Back and Forth—Coming off a solid album the album before this one, Pete Yorn returns with what he does best a good blend of acoustic and electric sounds, lyrics are good, singing is in top form… 4 song (fav) is Paradise Cove…

10. Jarvis Cocker- Further Complications—Just hitting the top 10 close race with Depeche Mode’s album—for his second solo record Jarvis returns with a slightly more rock oriented sound, catchy hooks, his first album is def better but this is a good listen.. fav (4) song is Sludge.

Fav live Albums that came out in 2009.

1. The Doors—Live at the Felt Forum 1970— Wow, this 6 cd set is a must get for any Doors Fan, crystal clear recording, great singing, music is solid, many different versions of lightmy fire and others and all sound so great..

2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—Live Anthology 4 cd set—as always, does a great job of adding to and mixing up songs live, proof is it’s good to be king where he takes a good song and makes it outstanding with guitar solos etc, and woman in love, it’s not me sounds better than ever on this record with the great lead in on keyboards by benmont tench (sp?)… I dig it, dug it and want to keep listening….!

3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club—live from last tour—solid psychedelic rock by these rockers,songs are crisp and fast, like a rollercoaster in the dark.

4. REM- Live at the Olympia—Can’t go wrong with REM live, singing keeps getting better, music is strong, downside not as much jangly pop rock sound that’s their tradermark, songs are more rocking which is good and sometimes not as good… 4 songs(fav) is These Days.

5. The Cult- Love Live—and let’s be flippant about 9 11 in concert!  I think it’s good but the rhythm section we saw live is def better than this album but its still very good.

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2008:

Pearl Jam, Levon Helms, Swell Season, Lez Zeppelin, Widespread Panic, Aimee Mann, Robert Plant, and Metallica

2009:

Phish and the Boss were great, but my favorite acts were Public Enemy, (maybe my favorite set of all time) Rodrigo y Gabriella, Citizen Cope, Snoop Dogg, and NIN

In 2008 I was new and there were many acts I already loved whereas in 2009 I was surprised by new sounds everywhere I turned.  I’m hoping for more of the same this year—where I’ll seek out new sounds and maybe stumble across a few classics.  Considering the need for exploration and uncharted forests, it’s tough to decide on an ideal list of bands because the discovery is so much part of the experience.  So, in this case, I’ll try to expose others to some lesser known music that I’ve enjoyed over the past few years while indulging in some of my faves. Maybe Eminem will get my friend Adam to finally come.  Note:  I believe every Bonnaroo should open with Lez Zeppelin and close with Widespread Panic (and guests).

Thursday

Lez Zeppelin

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

Blood Brothers

Friday

Razorlight

Grand Buffet

Black Crowes

Tenacious D

Guns and Roses

the RZA

Arcade Fire

Ween

Saturday

Old Crow Medicine Show

Johnny Lang

Marshall Tucker

Ray Lamontagne

Ricky Gervais

The Rolling Stones

Eminem (feat Dre and 50)

Ok Go

Sunday

Counting Crows

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Ryan Adams

R.E.M.

Death from Above 1979

Widespread Panic

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I am actually going to attempt a setlist…but may fail miserably.

The Swell Season
Radio City Music Hall – New York City
Tuesday January 19th, 2010

Must have fallen from the sky (sitting on the ground)
Lies
Low Rising (sexual healing)
Feeling the pull
In these arms
The Rain
The Moon
If you want me
Fantasy Man

Solo Glen

“To Louise and her duffel coat”
Say it to me now
Leave
Back Broke
Astral Weeks – Van Morrison Cover

Colm (violinist) song solo with loops
“The court of new town”

I Have Loved You Wrong
Drive All Night – Bruce Springsteen Cover (Clarencess son on sax)

Go with happiness
When you’re minds made up

ENCORE

Falling slowly
High Hope
High horses
“I was in the army when they called you back to save me”
Red cord -Into the mystic - ”All the money I’ve spent, I did it in good company” (goodnight and joy be with u all) A Tribute to the clancy brothers

All in all, a tremendous show…quite possibly my favorite since I knew all the new material from Strict Joy.  The new song High Hope was powerful, hope to hear that in some form (Live or Studio) soon.

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1. Swell Season at Radio City Music Hall Video of “Say It To Me Now”
2. The Swell Season Letterman Rehearsal
3. City Hall from above…

Sorry the pix are so blurry…

Related posts:

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2. Swell Season at Radio City Music Hall Video of “Say It To Me Now”
3. Check out the Swell Season video for “Low Rising”