Post Tagged with: "John Simon"

Why ‘Bobby Charles’ Is the Best Band Album Not Released by the Band

Why ‘Bobby Charles’ Is the Best Band Album Not Released by the Band

Bobby Charles’ too-often-overlooked self-titled album arrived 50 years ago with a set of timeless and beautiful songs – and some very famous friends.

Vinyl

John Simon on the Band, Fixing ‘The Last Waltz’ and Taking Credit: Something Else! Interview

Producer John Simon was intimately involved in the genesis of the Band, emerging with a unique perspective on that era.

The Band, “W.S. Walcott Medicine Show” from ‘Stage Fright’ (1970): Across the Great Divide

The Band, “W.S. Walcott Medicine Show” from ‘Stage Fright’ (1970): Across the Great Divide

Away from the Band’s circus-like chorus of characters, from faith healers to woman stealers, there’s something else going on here.

The Band, “Strawberry Wine” from ‘Stage Fright’ (1970): Across the Great Divide

The Band, “Strawberry Wine” from ‘Stage Fright’ (1970): Across the Great Divide

The Band’s “Strawberry Wine” heralds a layered, endlessly fascinating project that could only have come from a moment of deep conflict.

Vinyl

Jim Weider, guitarist with the Band: Something Else! Interview

Woodstock native Jim Weider got to live out a musician’s dream, having been a fan of the Band at the turn of the 1970s before eventually them from 1985-99.

The Band, “Rag Mama Rag” from ‘The Band’ (1969): Across the Great Divide

The Band, “Rag Mama Rag” from ‘The Band’ (1969): Across the Great Divide

A cross between a Memphis blues and a Storyville saloon romp, “Rag Mama Rag” showed the Band’s complete grasp of American song styles.

The Band, “Chest Fever” from ‘Music from Big Pink’ (1968): Across the Great Divide

The Band, “Chest Fever” from ‘Music from Big Pink’ (1968): Across the Great Divide

The Band’s “Chest Fever” starts out as Bach, then it becomes midnight funky – and that’s all before anybody but Garth Hudson does a thing.

The Band, “To Kingdom Come” from ‘Music from Big Pink’ (1968): Across the Great Divide

The Band, “To Kingdom Come” from ‘Music from Big Pink’ (1968): Across the Great Divide

After reaching across generations on the solemn and startling “Tears of Rage,” the Band leapt into a rambling groove on “To Kingdom Come.”

Vinyl

One Track Mind: Steve Forbert, “Romeo’s Tune” from Jackrabbit Slim (1979; 2013 reissue)

There’s a moment in this song, when Steve Forbert sings “sneak on out beneath the stars and run,” that meant everything to me when this song was new. A whole world, a world far away, lived inside that one line You May Also Like: Steve Hackett, “In the Skeleton Gallery”Read More