Category Archives: Music Calendar

Today: Tommy by The Who was released in 1969 – 44 years ago

tommy sleeve
Ever since I was a young boy I’ve played the silver ball.
From Soho down to Brighton, I must have played them all.
But I ain’t seen nothing like him in any amusement hall.
That deaf, dumb and blind kid, Sure plays a mean pinball!

It is 44 years ago that the rock opera, Tommy was released, one of the first attempts at treating rock as an art form. The artists were The Who.

It’s a double album telling a loose story about a “deaf, dumb and blind kid”, Tommy was the first musical work to be billed overtly as a rock opera. Released in 1969, the album was mostly composed by Pete Townshend. In 1998, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for historical, artistic and significant value.

the_who_1

Pete Townshend’s inspiration for the album came from the teachings of the Meher Baba and other writings and expressing the enlightenment he believed that he had received he told in the 1996 edition liner notes. It’s an enormously ambitious work, and Townshend was in his mid-twenties when he undertook this task!

At the time it divided the critics, some hailed it as a masterpiece (and that it is!) and some really hated it (among them the BBC who called the album Sick!)

but BBC had changed their mind when the de lux edition cd was released in 2003:

Townshend had already attempted the concept format with his semi-successful A Quick One. In reality this and Tommy had much in common. Both showed the composer to be fast outgrowing his r ‘n’ b roots to become an accomplished explorer of themes and moods. Tommy’s true glory lies in its extended instrumental passages that, while being a little repetitive, blend themes gloriously.

The Who1969

In 2003, the album was ranked #96 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was ranked #90 on VH1′s 100 Greatest Albums of Rock & Roll and appears in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

NME ranked it 16th on “NME Writers All Time Top 100″ in 1974.

Q ranked it 9th on their list of “The Music That Changed the World: Part One 1954–1969″ in 2004.

Upon its release in 1969, Life declared, “For sheer power, invention and brilliance of performance, Tommy outstrips anything that has ever come out of a rock recording studio.”

thewho2

Allmusic (Richie Unterberger), Four and half star out of five:

…Townshend’s ability to construct a lengthy conceptual narrative brought new possibilities to rock music. Despite the complexity of the project, he and the Who never lost sight of solid pop melodies, harmonies, and forceful instrumentation, imbuing the material with a suitably powerful grace.

Sparks – The Who (Woodstock 1969):

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Today Bob Dylan gave us the Great Music Experience in 1994 – 19 years ago

Bob Dylan Todai-ji temple

Bob Dylan performed at The Great Music Experience third day in a row.  Todai-ji Temple, Nara, Japan – 1994.

In cooperation with  UNESCO, the festival,  The Great Music Experience was held over three days in Nara, Japan. It was trying to bring Japanese culture out to the world, and Japanese musicians shared the stage with artists from around the globe.

The concert took place in front of the world’s largest wooden building, the Buddhist temple of Todai-Ji, housing the largest Buddha statue in the world.

Dylan stole the show and he said as soon as he came off-stage that he had not sung so well for 15 years. Bob Dylan opened with A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall on which Q magazine said:   This is no ordinary version… he really opens his lungs and heart and sings, like he’s not done for many a year…The only word for it majestic!

Here it is the whole Bob Dylan set, enjoy!

TODAI-JI TEMPLE
TARA, JAPAN
MAY 22,1994
The Great Music Experience. Produced by Tony Hollingsworth

1. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
2. I Shall Be Released
3. Ring Them Bells
4. I Shall Be Released

1–3 Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal) backed by Phil Palmer (guitar), ”Wix” Vickens (keyboards), Pino Palladino (bass), Jim Keltner (drums) and The Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen

4 Bob Dylan (guitar & shared lead vocal) in the grand finale with all participating artists, among them Joni Mitchell, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Ry Cooder, Roger Taylor and the members of INXS and X Japan.

  • 1–3 was broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN, 22 May 1994 in over 50 countries all over the world.
  • 4 broadcast in the radio and TV program THE GREAT MUSIC EXPERIENCE COUNTDOWN, 29 May 1994 on BBC in the UK.
  • 1 released in Scandinavia on CD single Columbia COL 660942 2, 15 December 1994.
  • 1 released on CD single Dignity (MTV Unplugged), Columbia COL 661 400 2, 11 April 1995.

Musicians said the collaborations, however rewarding, were difficult given the differences in musical backgrounds. “The only thing holding us together this evening is the shining Buddha,” said Michael Kamen, a composer of movie soundtracks who is serving as the musical director here and who composed an overture that encompassed all the musicians and instruments. The mixing of the music is being done by George Martin, who was the Beatles’ producer. (New York Times)

Other 22 May:
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Today: Marvin Gaye released What’s Going On (album) in 1971 (42 years ago)

marvin gaye what's going on

What’s Going On is not only Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece, it’s the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices, a man finally free to speak his mind and so move from R&B sex symbol to true recording artist.
~John Bush (allmusic.com)

… Marvin Gaye then did something no other Motown artist had ever dared. With What’s Going On (1971), he started a revolution. Although it spawned three hits—the antiwar title song, the ecological plea “Mercy Mercy Me,” and “Inner City Blues”—this was Motown’s first true album. Its blend of unembarrassed spirituality and unflinching social realism, as well as relentless percussion set against lush orchestration, was unlike anything that came before it in both form and content. For Gaye, it was a self-produced declaration of independence.
~ The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

What’s Going On:

Wikipedia:

Released May 21, 1971
Recorded June–September 1970; March–May 1971
Hitsville U.S.A.
Golden World
United Sound Studios
(Detroit, Michigan)
The Sound Factory
(West Hollywood, California)
Genre Soul, R&B
Length 35:38
Label Tamla
Producer Marvin Gaye

What’s Going On is the eleventh studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released May 21, 1971, on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in June 1970 and March–May 1971 at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World and United Sound Studios in Detroit and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California.

The first Marvin Gaye album credited as being produced by the artist himself, What’s Going On is a unified concept album consisting of nine songs, most of which lead into the next. It has also been categorized as a song cycle; the album ends on a reprise of the album’s opening theme. The album is told from the point of view of a Vietnam War veteran returning to the country he had been fighting for, and seeing nothing but injustice, suffering and hatred.

marvin-gaye-whats-going-on-back

Mercy Mercy Me:

What’s Going On was the first album on which Motown Records’ main studio band, the group of session musicians known as the Funk Brothers, received an official credit. The album features introspective lyrics and socially conscious themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. What’s Going On was both an immediate commercial and critical success and has endured as a classic of early-1970s soul. A deluxe edition set of the album was released on February 27, 2001, and featured a rare live concert shot at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center from May 1972.

In worldwide critics’, artists’ and public surveys, it has been voted one of the landmark recordings in pop music history and is considered to be one of the greatest albums ever made. In 2003, the album was ranked number six on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, placing that same position nine years later.

marvin gaye

In 1969 or 1970, I began to re-evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say… I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home. I realized that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.
—Marvin Gaye (to rollingstone magazine)

Released on May 21, 1971, What’s Going On became Gaye’s first album to reach the Billboard Top LPs top ten, peaking at number six, and staying on the chart for nearly a year, selling over two million copies, by the end of 1972, becoming Motown’s and Gaye’s best-selling album to that date..

Accolades:

  • In 1985, writers on British music weekly the NME voted it best album of all time
  • In 2004, the album’s title track was ranked number 4 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time
  • A 1999 critics poll conducted by British newspaper Guardian/Observer named it the “Greatest Album of the 20th Century”
  • In 1997, What’s Going On was named the 17th greatest album of all time in a poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV GroupChannel 4The Guardian and Classic FM
  • In 1997, The Guardian ranked the album number one on its list of the 100 Best Albums Ever
  • In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 97, while in 2001 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 4
  • In 2003, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry
  • What’s Going On was ranked #6 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, one of three Gaye albums to be included, preceded by 1973′s Let’s Get It On (#165) and 1978′s Here My Dear(#462). The album is Gaye’s highest-ranking entry on the list, as well as several other publications’ lists

marvin gaye

Track Listing:

Side one

  1. “What’s Going On” (Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye, Renaldo “Obie” Benson)
  2. “What’s Happening Brother” (James Nyx, M. Gaye)
  3. “Flyin’ High (In the Friendly Sky)” (M. Gaye, Anna Gordy Gaye, Elgie Stover)
  4. “Save the Children” (Cleveland, Benson, M. Gaye)
  5. “God Is Love” (M. Gaye, A. Gaye, Stover, Nyx)
  6. “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” (M. Gaye)

Side two

  1. “Right On” (Earl DeRouen, M. Gaye)
  2. “Wholy Holy” (Benson, Cleveland, M. Gaye)
  3. “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” (M. Gaye, Nyx)

marvin-gaye-whats-going-on

Playlist of the day:

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Today: Joe Cocker is 69

Joe_cocker

God, I’m just a fat bald guy, 60 years old, singing the blues, you know?
~Joe Cocker

It’s all a matter of hearing what I like and seeing if I can make it fit into my style.
~Joe Cocker

MK: Who are your favorite contemporary singers?
BD: Oh, let me see, Joe Cocker, I suppose. Graham Nash can sing. Van Morrison’s fantastic.
And so is Stevie Wonder, but of all of them, Joe’s the greatest.
~Bob Dylan (to Martin Killer – July 1983)

With A Little Help From My Friends- 1969 Woodstock:

You are so beautiful (Live):

Wikipedia:

Birth name John Robert Cocker
Also known as Vance Arnold, The Sheffield Soul Shouter
Born 20 May 1944 (age 69)
Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Genres Blues, rock, blues-rock, blue-eyed soul
Occupations Musician, songwriter, actor
Instruments Vocals, harmonica, guitar, drums
Years active 1961–present

John Robert “Joe” Cocker OBE (born 20 May 1944) is an English rock and blues singer, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of the Beatles.

He is the recipient of several awards, including a 1983 Grammy Award for his #1 hit “Up Where We Belong”, a duet he performed with Jennifer Warnes. He was ranked #97 on Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest singers list.

joe cocker

The Letter – live 1970:

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