Friday New Releases – December 2, 2022

We are getting closer to Christmas and the end of the year so releases tend to start slowing down and this week is pretty slow. A couple great box sets coming and I can’t believe Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s album ‘Trouble’ is 25 years old already. I think I’ll give that one a listen for sure. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed on the list. Thanks for stopping by and next week will have a few more releases then this week.

  • 81vqT8FPJoL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Trouble is 25 – (Mascot Label Group / Provogue)
  • 81L+W--B49L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen – The Legendary Typewrite Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House – (Fantility Corp & Jorma Kaukonen / Omnivore Recordings)
  • 811uUJhGR8L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  The Beach Boys – Sail On Sailor 1972 (Super Deluxe Edition) – (Capitol Records / Brother Records)
  • 71tfZoyqMWL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Paul McCartney – The 7″ Singles – (MPL Communications)
  • 91jAjIsXtPL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Cody Johnson – Cody Johnson & the Rockin’ CJB Live – (CoJo Music / Warner Music)
  • 91sOJCPZ96L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  NOFX – Double Album – (Fat Wreck Chords)
  • 81fp9elQ8tL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Elvis Presley – Elvis on Tour – (RCA Records / Sony Music)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – December 2, 2022”

You Picked It! – Janis Joplin – “Pearl” (1971) – Album Review

Alright…You Picked It! And this one wasn’t ever really that close. There was a lot of back and forth between Johnny Cash and Janis Joplin, but once Janis pulled ahead there was no stopping her. The winner was Janis Joplin’s 1971 album ‘Pearl’ which is one I do have in my collection. Here are the results.

  1. Janis Joplin – ‘Pearl’ – 9 votes
  2. Johnny Cash – ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’ – 6 votes
  3. Sly & the Family Stone – ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’ – 3 votes
  4. AC/DC – ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap’ – 2 votes
  5. Crobot – ‘Feel This’ – Sadly, 0 votes

Thanks to all for participating. The August choices will be up on Saturday!

JANIS JOPLIN – ‘PEARL’:

Janis Joplin died on October 4, 1970 of a heroin overdose at the tender age of 27 like so many musicians and actors before her. Janis had been recording her new album at the time of her death as they had started back in July and had recorded up to her death. Four months after her death, the album was released on January 11, 1971. It would go on to hold the #1 spot on Billboard 9 weeks and has been certified quadruple platinum. Not a bad way to go out.

Continue reading “You Picked It! – Janis Joplin – “Pearl” (1971) – Album Review”

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in July?

You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple! Now, if you want to cast more than one vote, comment on the Twitter and Facebook post and you could get up to 3 votes on your favorite pick.

There are a few simple rules I have put in to place in my selections.  They are…

  • One has to be a new release (within the last month)
  • One has to be one I have never heard before (new releases don’t count for this one)
  • One has to be from a genre I don’t normally listen to at all or very often
  • And the last two are choices from my collection that I haven’t reviewed before

What are the 5 albums you ask?  Funny you should ask because I have those right here…

  New Release – Crobot – ‘Feel This’

  Never Heard Before – Sly & the Family Stone – ‘There’s A Riot Goin’ On’

  Not My Normal Genre – Johnny Cash – ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’

  From My Collection – Janis Joplin – ‘Pearl’

  From My Collection – AC/DC – ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in July, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!!

The Original vs. The Cover vs. The Cover – “Me and Bobby McGee”

It is time for another the Original vs. the Cover and this time it is another trio of versions.  This time we are discussing the song “Me and Bobby McGee” which was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, but let’s be honest, Fred only gave the song the title.  The versions we are covering are the original release by Roger Miller (1969), Kris Kristofferson’s own version (1970) and then the version by Janis Joplin (1971).  There were actually two other versions released in 1970 by Gordon Lightfoot and the Statler Brothers and then in 1971, Jerry Lee Lewis released a version.  That is 6 versions in 3 years.  Insane.  I’m going to stick with my three.

The song was started by Fred Foster, the head of the label Kris was signed, when he went to Kris with a song title called “Me and Bobbie McKee” which Kris thought it he heard McGee.  Kris didn’t think he could write the song, so he avoided Foster for months until he finally got it written.

The song is about a couple that is traveling across the southern part of the country.  They are hitchhiking, singing the blues and discovering the land and each other.  They end up breaking up and going their own ways and the singer is filled with sadness and regret about them parting as I believe he loved that Bobby McGee.  I could go in to more depth about the song and the lyrics, but then this would turn in to a My Sunday Song episode where we deep dive in to the songs.  This is about which version is the best so we will get to that part of the show.

ROGER MILLER

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1971 – The Greatest Year in Music?

If you are new to the site, I started this series with the year 1987 and then noticed that 1991 and 1983 were also a couple of the greatest years in music.  I got to thinking, was there a pattern that every 4 years we have another great year in music.  Well theory didn’t last long as I don’t think the next two years I researched were “great” years in music.  Those years were 1979 and 1995. If you want to explore all the years I have examined so far, click on the link below…

1979 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1983 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1987 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1991 – The Greatest Year in Music?

1995 – The Greatest Year in Music?

Now that my theory is busted, I am just going to start looking for the “Greatest” year in music.  I am going to start with 1971.  Will 1971 be another great year or will it be the greatest year.  Let us explore and see and then decide at the end.  But first we have to ask What were the top albums of the year?, What were the debut albums from some of the great rock bands? and What was going on in the world of music that year?

NEWS:

What were some of the biggest news events that happened in 1971?  I couldn’t find any one big thing that happened.  Nothing new was invented such as the walkman or the CD.  There were a couple things of note.

69fillmorewest

June 27th & July 4th – Music promoter, Billy Graham, closed two of the most famous music venues, The Fillmore East in New York City closed on June 27th and closed with The Allman Brothers (the band recorded their famous live album their 3 months earlier) and on July 4th the Fillmore West in San Francisco closed with Santana, Credence Clearwater Revival and the Grateful Dead (not a bad night).

Continue reading “1971 – The Greatest Year in Music?”

The Top 10 Rock & Roll Cars

There are ton of songs in rock & roll about cars.  However, this is not a list of songs about cars.  This is a list of the most recognizable cars in Rock & Roll.  Cars that were in music videos or on album covers.  Just the coolest cars that you could actually own and drive.  Ok, there is one on here that isn’t really cool, but it had to make the list.

10. The Black Keys’ 91 Dodge Caravan:  This glorious vehicle graces the album cover for their 2011 album ‘El Camino’.  I am a little confused.  The album is called ‘El Camino’ and you show a picture of a Dodge Caravan.  Now that is rock & roll.  I believe the van is actually similar to their first van they used for touring.

elcaminowebbig

Continue reading “The Top 10 Rock & Roll Cars”

Women that Rock – Playlist

Most of the rock albums I have are sung by men.  However, there are a lot of great rock songs and albums with female lead singers.  I was sitting here listening to Janis Joplin and started thinking about who were some of my favorite female lead singers that could rock it out.  Below is my list of my favorite Women that Rock.

Here we go.

“Piece of My Heart” – Janis Joplin

Continue reading “Women that Rock – Playlist”