SMM #50: April 25th, 2023
More new releases + what I'm currently listening to, another miscellaneous rock playlist, and a review of the recent Lost Bayou Ramblers show at Bowery Electric.
New Releases
ROSE CITY BAND - Garden Party… this band is the brainchild of vocalist & guitarist Ripley Johnson, veteran of West Coast psych-rock bands Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo… they play an easygoing brand of psychedelic “cosmic” country-rock and per the band, their fourth studio release is a “celebration of summer and all that it brings”... the laidback sounds lock into hypnotic grooves driven by a swirling mix of pedal steel, guitar and keyboards with definite echoes of the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers “Blue Sky” style guitar work…
RODRIGO Y GABRIELA - In Between Thoughts… A New World… latest from this supremely talented Mexican guitar duo… they started out just playing acoustic guitars but have since added electric guitars to the mix… they are always expanding their sound, trying to keep things fresh, and this latest album adds electronics and orchestral elements for the first time… their entire catalog is definitely worth checking out!
IAN HUNTER - Defiance Part 1… he first achieved fame as frontman for the English rock band Mott the Hoople (see below) in the early 70s but after leaving the band in 1975, the 83 year old Hunter has now had a near 50 year solo career… this album features numerous special guests including Ringo Starr, Slash, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck, and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy… Hunter puts in an energetic performance on a great mix of rockers and ballads and does not appear to be slowing down at all…
JETHRO TULL - RökFlöte… Tull has been putting out albums for well over 50 years but there had been a lengthy gap in releases of new material until last year’s, The Zealot Gene… so this album is a relatively quick follow-up and while it would be impossible to match peak 70s classics like Aqualung, Benefit and Thick As a Brick, this is a very enjoyable listen that maintains that classic Tull sound with loads of Ian Anderson’s distinctive flute playing…
TONY HOLIDAY - Motel Mississippi… second album from this Utah harp-playing bluesman who has relocated to Memphis… it’s actually more of an EP, clocking in at only 24 minutes, but the six originals & two choice covers are a solid mix of Mississippi Hill Country and Delta blues with a dash of Memphis soul…
What I’m Listening To
Here’s the latest edition of what I’ve been listening to the past couple weeks:
Mott the Hoople - Essential… one of the best “second-tier” British rock bands of the 70s and their 1973 album Mott is a classic from that era… this compilation has all the Mott you’ll need and I highly recommend it!
Blodwyn Pig - Ahead Rings Out… following the release of Jethro Tull’s debut album This Was in 1968, guitarist Mick Abrahams, unhappy with sharing frontman status with Ian Anderson, split and formed the short-lived band, Blodwyn Pig… they put out two albums of solid to excellent blues-rock featuring Abrahams stellar lead guitar playing before Abrahams left THAT band…
Bonerama - Plays Zeppelin… New Orleans band that features three trombones, electric guitar & a rhythm section creates a unique sound and as covers albums go, this one of Led Zeppelin songs makes for a compelling listen…
Drive-By Truckers - Ugly Buildings, Whores and Politicians… every few years I give this acclaimed veteran Southern rock band a listen and in the past they have never grabbed me… BUT this “best of” album from 2009 clicked and I finally started to see what all the fuss is about… literate, hard rockin’ songs that tell stories of the rough side of life in the South…
Neil Young - The Ducks: High Flyin’... latest release from Neil’s Official Bootleg Series, these are live recordings from the summer of 1977 when he was in Santa Cruz, per Neil, “escaping reality and playing with a band known as the Ducks”... it’s a good listen, country-style rock written by the band, mixed with several Young originals (like all NY’s stuff, it’s only available on AppleMusic)...
Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 5
This issue’s Scattered Nuggets playlist kicks off with roots-rocker Eilen Jewell covering Creedence Clearwater Revival - and you can’t go wrong covering CCR! Next up is Hard Working Americans, a short lived “supergroup” of jam, indie and country rock artists with a tune that lives up to its name... the Kinks weren’t known for blues-shuffles but they acquit themselves well on this track from their classic 1968 album The Village Green Preservation Society… next is one of my all-time favorite Jimi Hendrix songs, “Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)” from the 1971 posthumous release, Rainbow Bridge… the entire album is tremendous and I remember the song “Dolly Dagger” getting heavy radio play back in those days… Electric Light Orchestra was a very commercially successful band back in the 70s with their catchy pop-rock songs but I found them to be a much more interesting group on their first three albums where they blended classical jamming with good old rock n roll, i.e. their eight minute version of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven”... “Ma-Ma-Ma Belle” from their third album is another great example of this formula… Manassas was an early 70s Stephen Stills side project that gathered together some great musicians (like former Byrd, Chris Hillman) and produced some of the best music of Stills career… Brewer & Shipley are generally considered one-hit wonders for their 1970 song “One Toke Over the Line” but their first few albums had some other good tunes like this one… All Music Guide calls soul man Swamp Dogg “one of the great cult figures of American music” and this 1970 hit is probably his best known song… Joe Walsh’s original band, the James Gang, produced some great hard rockin’ tunes in the early 70s… Walsh was the whole show for the three albums he lasted before going solo and this is a good example of his talents… Louisiana bluesman John Campbell was the real deal and on his way to stardom before he tragically died at age 41 in 1993… here he rips into the old blues tune “When the Levee Breaks” (made famous by Led Zeppelin)… see SMM #14 for more on Campbell in my post on Amagansett NY music venue, Stephen Talkhouse… Magic Slim was a down and dirty Chicago blues guitarist & singer who knew how to put his own stamp on many a classic song, like this one, “Mustang Sally”... and wrapping things up is the great 70s rock n’ roll band from San Francisco, the Flamin’ Groovies, with one of their typical, frantic, hard driving tunes… they are definitely worth checking out!
Concert Notes
Date: April 13th, 2023
Act: Lost Bayou Ramblers
Venue: Bowery Electric, New York, NY
Louisiana’s Lost Bayou Ramblers brought their Cajun music to the Bowery Electric in NYC on April 13… the band was founded in 1999 by Louis Michot (fiddle & vocals) and his brother, Andre (accordion)… Louis sings almost all the songs in French but it really doesn’t matter if you can understand what he’s saying because a Ramblers show is a full-throttle, non-stop hoedown party!
The Ramblers were joined on stage at times by String Noise, a NYC based violin duo, and later on by Cait O’Riordan, formerly of the Irish band, The Pogues, on bass & vocals… Bowery Electric is a tiny, VERY intimate club with a capacity of 200… there’s a compact stage (very crowded with the 6 band members & more so when String Noise joined them!), a small floor area in front of the stage which was packed with dedicated fans enjoying every minute of the music, and a bar area a few steps up behind the floor… that’s it… if you have ever been to Mercury Lounge, another very small NYC club, this is smaller…
Anyway, this was the third time I’ve seen LBR and the show was great as always… first saw them at New Orleans JazzFest in 2017, then at Stephen Talkhouse (second Talkhouse reference this issue!)... this show actually served as an appetizer for later this week when I’m heading down to New Orleans for JazzFest… LBR will be there on Sunday, back on their home turf… I will be reporting on the trip in my next issue of SMM, an all-JazzFest/NOLA extravaganza!! Can’t wait! — SL