OK music freaks - Whatcha listening to? Vol. 2

[mjjm367]

Just finished listening to Susan Tedeschi - Hope And Desire CD from 2005. Highly recommended. A mellow, soulful combination of blues, r&b, roots rock & gospel. Tedeschi later married Derek Trucks from the Allman Brothers band, and now performs with the Tedeschi-Trucks Band.

Excellent backing band, but the clear star here is Tedeschi's vocals, coming straight from the heart & soul. Just good stuff.

[West Coast Mets Fan]

I have never been a big Derek Trucks fan, especially when he plays with the Allman Brothers Band. He style feels to me more jazzy than bluesy. Doesn't seem to fit well in my opinion.

[mjjm367]

The internet is a wonderful thing. Was listening to a pair of jazz albums by the same artist. Noticed the same acoustic bass player on each, but on one album he was credited with "bass", and on the next "double bass". Always assumed they were the same thing (they are), but worth an internet search. And first search result is this cool article from Bass Musician magazine in 2012. Something that normally would have been seen by however many subscribers and then lost to eternity.

http://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2012...aureen-pandos/

By the way, note the forearms on the lady in the picture. Bass player arms. Learned the hard way once, from a bass player friend, not to get sucked into the game of "Who has a firm handshake" ?

My maternal grandfather was a city bus driver in White Plains NY (about 30 miles north of Manhattan). Drove for his entire working career. Buses back then didn't have power steering, just the big flat steering wheel that you palmed around. He had forearms like Popeye, just huge. I remember one day, to get a reaction out of his grandsons, he grabbed my grandmother's broom, the old kind with the thick round broomstick. Just held it up with his hands spread wide apart, and snapped it. My grandmother was mad as hell, but we all thought it was the coolest thing we had ever seen. My father and uncles tried to do it with another broom. Not a chance.

I once broke a chopstick. (It had it coming.)

[West Coast Mets Fan]

The internet is a wonderful thing. Was listening to a pair of jazz albums by the same artist. Noticed the same acoustic bass player on each, but on one album he was credited with "bass", and on the next "double bass". Always assumed they were the same thing (they are), but worth an internet search. And first search result is this cool article from Bass Musician magazine in 2012. Something that normally would have been seen by however many subscribers and then lost to eternity.

http://bassmusicianmagazine.com/2012...aureen-pandos/

By the way, note the forearms on the lady in the picture. Bass player arms. Learned the hard way once, from a bass player friend, not to get sucked into the game of "Who has a firm handshake"?

My maternal grandfather was a city bus driver in White Plains NY (about 30 miles north of Manhattan). Drove for his entire working career. Buses back then didn't have power steering, just the big flat steering wheel that you palmed around. He had forearms like Popeye, just huge. I remember one day, to get a reaction out of his grandsons, he grabbed my grandmother's broom, the old kind with the thick round broomstick. Just held it up with his hands spread wide apart, and snapped it. My grandmother was mad as hell, but we all thought it was the coolest thing we had ever seen. My father and uncles tried to do it with another broom. Not a chance.

I once broke a chopstick. (It had it coming.)

My dad worked for the NYC Dept of Sanitation. He was 5'8" but packed like a brick s%$t house. No one in the family would arm wrestle him. He was really pissed when the lowered the physical standards to allow women into the department. His test was something like running 100 feet carrying two garbage pails weighing 200 lbs each and they cut that in half to allow women in.

In contrast, my two forearms put together would be smaller than one of that woman bass player.

[mjjm367]

Ok, due to the massive outcry from all of you for it, I will post a review of the last set of albums I had in the car.

Ok, due to the muted murmur from both of you...

Ok, due to the absolute silence from all of you regarding my reviews, I'll assume you are all just shy.

Black Country Communion - self titled from 2010 - Initially picked it up as I am a fan of the guitar player Joe Bonamassa. But it is not at all just a vehicle for his guitar playing, he is just part of the group. A put together bad, with guitar, keys, bass/vocals & drums. Vocalist sang lead for Deep Purple for a while, drummer is Jason Bonham, John's son (who very much can play the drums, not just riding on his father's name). As Bonamassa normally plays with a bluesier influence, that is what I expected. Not the case, but a very pleasant surprise. The album sounds like classic hard rock, very well done. Music is good, sounds fresh, as opposed to just a stylistic cover band sound. Am looking forward to their 2nd album, just added to the current car rotation. Recommended, just good stuff.

Dickey Betts - Pattern Disruptive from 1988 - Have acquired a bunch of Allman related stuff, and just recently finished going through a bunch of Gregg Allman recordings. Moved to this CD next, from the same time as when the Allman Brothers Band was getting back together and sounding better than they had in a while. Disappointing. Vocals was nothing special, maybe I was looking for too much with Gregg A in mind, but even on anther listen, just eh. Just nothing special here, not bad, just not something I would reach for again. Moving on to a pair of albums from Devon Allman, Gregg's son next.

Ramsey Lewis - Taking Another Look from 2011 - Pop/soul jazz. Was kind of leery of this one, as Lewis has really veered away from the soul jazz vein into pop jazz. To me, pop jazz is fine on occasion, much better than the bland pablum of smooth jazz (fancy elevator music). Back in the early 70's, Lewis had a lot more soul in the jazz he was playing, but had really gotten bland over the last couple of decades (as a jazz musician I knew from NY said "Hey, we gotta eat too'"). This one, while better than most of his recent stuff, again, wasn't something I would reach for again.

The Beatles - Past Masters, Vol. 1 - already had Vol. 2, so this was a nice companion piece. A collection of singles, B-sides, covers & oddities. Beatles, good stuff and some things I hadn't heard before (I Want To Hold Your Hand, sung by them in German). Good, and interesting.

Fine Young Cannibals - The Raw & The Cooked from 1988, not normally my cup of tea, at all, but do like the track "She Drives Me Crazy" & knew the song "Good Thing". Never heard the rest of the album. Just not my thing. Once you get past those first two cuts, it was just too formulaic. Typical 80's pop, overreliance on synthesizers and production.

[yogi8]

It has been a very wet year and we're not done yet. Todate we have received 51+ inches of precipitation, the norm as of this date is 39+. We still have another 50 days remaining in 2018. Isn't this thread about music, so what am I doing writing about rain....segue coming.

Singing in the Rain, arguably Fred Astairs signature scene. I saw Singing at a summer stock theater near home, for many years the Gateway productions were a portion of our date nights. 20 minute drive, AC, comfortable and reasonable. two shows that we saw at Gateway and on Broadway...There Playing Our Song and Phantom were better at Gateway. Our seats for Singing were front and center, we got splashed during the song and dance number as the character swung around the street light.

Continuing there is BJ Thomas' Rain Drops Keep Falling on my Head, you all may remember Katherine Ross riding a bicycle in the rain.

Finally; a golden oldie from Lee Andrews and the Hearts. During my doowop phase I would sing every word in a tunnel to get that echo effect. I Sit in my Room Looking Out at the Rain my tears are like crystals, they cover my window pane. Think it was a little blond named Diane that I associate with that song.

If you don't know it...look it up. It's from a time when pop music was great.

[mjjm367]

I very distinctly remember the Katherine Ross bicycle scene. It is from my favorite movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

I wish I knew more about Doo Wop than I do. Most of the limited amount of it that I have are a few Best Of collections. It directly lead to one of my favorite styles of music, the soul harmonies of the 60's, groups like the Dells and the Delfonics.

[yogi8]

The list is forever long, Duprees, Silhouettes, Rays, Solitares, Dell Vikings, Impalas, the Diamonds, 5 Satins, Dion and the Belmonts, etc etc etc.

[West Coast Mets Fan]

I just came across this on YouTube

[mjjm367]

Very, very nice. Enjoyed that one a lot WC