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)
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The Original vs. The Cover – “With A Little Help From My Friends”

For this episode of The Original vs. The Cover, we are going to discuss the incredible song “With A Little Help From My Friends” originally by The Beatles and most famously covered by Joe Cocker. The song for The Beatles was off their 1967 album ‘Sgt. Pepper & the Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and it was never released as a single until a re-issue of it in 1978. Joe Cocker’s version was off his 1968 album of the same name. His version went to #1 in the UK and only #68 in the US but is a signature song for him.

The song was written by the great writing duo of McCartney and Lennon and according to John Lennon, the song was mostly written by Paul with a little help from his friend. They wrote the song specifically for Ringo Starr who sings lead on the track. I found where the original working title of the song was called “Bad Finger Boogie” because Lennon played with only his middle finger on the piano as he hurt his forefinger. That title is said to have inspired the band Badfinger. Now, only believe this if you believe everything wikipedia tells you.

The song is said to be about drugs as even former U.S Vice Presidential candidate, Spiro Agnew, stated it was and wanted the song to be band. That claims is completely denied by the band. The song could be just about how no matter hard it gets, you can make it through it with the help of your friends. I mean John and Paul wrote the song for Ringo so that was helping their friend. Let’s get to the music.

THE BEATLES:

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Friday New Releases – April 16, 2021

Happy Friday Everyone! It is time for another week of new releases and for me there is one I am super excited about and one I’m curious as to how they will follow-up on the success of their last album. Plus a bunch more that might be really interesting to hear. I will mark all my choices in Blue as usual. Now, your turn…what do you want to hear from the list? What may I have missed including on the list? Please let me know so we can make sure everyone else knows about it as well. Thanks so much for stopping by on this wonderful day and I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!

  • 810xc2K2doL._SS500_  Needtobreathe – Live From the Woods, Vol. 2 – (Elektra Records): Back in March, Needtobreathe did a few live shows which I think were socially distanced of course and now they are releasing the best of those shows as an album. The follow-up to Live From the Woods, Vol. 1 obviously. My vinyl is on order and will probably be here in about 3 months, but the digital piece is here today!! Enjoy!! You will have to go to about 2 minutes in to get the song…the rest is the band talking to James Corden.
  • download  Greta Van Fleet – The Battle of Garden’s Gate – (Republic Records): Greta Van Fleet is back with the follow-up to their very successful debut Gold album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army. This is the one that will determine whether the band has any staying power. The songs I’ve heard so far haven’t been bad, but I am interested to hear them in an album setting as that makes a big difference for me. We will see if they can do it.
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Friday New Releases – December 18, 2020

Welcome to the LAST Friday New Release post…EVER!! No, I am kidding. It is the last one of 2020 though. I will return with these on January 8th of 2021 as that is the first week of any significant new releases. With that being said, I hope there is something in here you will like as there isn’t much. There a couple I will try out and they are marked in Blue. Let me know what interests you or what I might have missed so everyone knows what’s out there. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for always stopping by week after week. Happy Holidays!!

  • 91yHYsRoMJL._SX522_  George Lynch & Jeff Pilson – Heavy Hitters – (Deadline Music): 1/2 of Dokken together again. Yes, please…well we will see, but I am willing to give it a go. It is a bunch of pop cover songs turned hard rock/metal. Some cool songs so we will see what they do to them.
  • Jordan Feliz – Say It – (Centricity Music): Christian singer Jordan Feliz is back with a new album. I really loved his first couple album, so hoping for more greatness. This is a digital only release today. Hard copies not until February.
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – December 18, 2020”

The Original vs. The Cover – “Come Together”

For this version of The Original vs. The Cover, we are going to discuss a Beatle’s Song, “Come Together”.  I have always been nervous about talking about the Beatles because it is holy ground and plus what hasn’t already been said about them.  However, I love this song and there are some great versions out there and I thought it was about time I did something on them. So we are going to compare the two versions of “Come Together”, the Beatles and Aerosmith.  Two heavy weights in the music world.

“Come Together” came about because Timothy Leary wanted Lennon to write a campaign song for him off this phrase, but Lennon was unsuccessful and a good thing to as Leary’s campaign run for California governor came to an abrupt end when he was arrested for pot possession (hell, he would be celebrated today).  He might have been unsuccessful with the campaign song, but he did succeed with this version of the song.

An interesting story behind the song, Lennon was sued by Big Seven Music Group which was the publisher of Chuck Berry’s song “You Can’t Catch Me”.  They argued that the song was too similar to the Berry song and I am guessing the lawsuit had some merit as the band settled out of court.  Now there are no writing credits other than Lennon & McCartney on this song still today so it must have been all about the money up front.  Too bad they didn’t fight for a writing credit.

THE BEATLES

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Friday New Releases – July 12th

We are in the second half of the year now and I was hoping for that releases would start to get better after a lackluster first half.  Well, so far, my hopes are dashed.  It is another blah week.  There is one on the list I will listen to and it is mainly because my kids will be listening to him.  It is highlighted in Blue.  Hopefully something floats your boat.  Let me know what that might be or if I missed anything.  Thanks and have a great weekend!!

  • 91L9kVW4nmL._SS500_.jpg  Ed Sheeran – No. 6: Collaborations Project – (Asylum Records):  This album would excite me, BUT, it is a collaboration album…boring!!  No interest whatsoever.  He is best when it is just him…he doesn’t need anyone else so not sure why do this.  It could turn out to be fantastic, who knows.

  • 81GcapB3YeL._SX522_.jpg  311 – Voyager – (BMG):  Ok, this one could be interesting.  I haven’t really listened to much of them since the 90’s, but hey, I need something to listen to this week so why not.

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Friday New Releases – September 7th

It is the first Friday of September and there is a long list of releases.  Everyone starts putting out their new albums in the Fall and there are some big ones coming, but let us focus on today.  The ones I am looking forward to are highlighted in Blue.  Let me know what you want to listen to and which ones I might have missed on the list.  Thanks and have a great music weekend!!

  • 917OiMivKZL._SX522_  Alter Bridge – Live a the Royal Albert Hall (feat. the Parallax Orchestra) – (Napalm Records):  I am surprised by another live record after last year’s release.  That is ok.  There are some different songs in the set list and a little orchestra along with it.  I will give it a listen and then decide on buying.

  • A11xhBfgFwL._SX522_  Lenny Kravitz – Raise Vibration – (Roxie Records):  I have always loved Lenny so this is a no brainer to stream.  His last few have been so-so so again I will stream it before I buy it.  Just so you know, I don’t always do that as I do have 4 or 5 albums on pre-order without hearing a lick.  Only a few bands get that special treatment.

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The Original Vs. The Cover – “Live and Let Die”

Welcome to the first installment of “The Original Vs. The Cover” for 2018.  We are going to start it off this year with the battle between Paul McCartney & Wings and Guns ‘N Roses with the song “Live and Let Die”.  The song was written by Paul & Linda McCartney for the James Bond movie “Live and Let Die”. The two versions aren’t really that different in my opinion.  Some of the orchestration is replaced with guitars, but other than that they are very similar.  But before we choose a version we like more, let’s talk about each version first.

Paul McCartney and Wings

Paul was given the Ian Fleming novel to read and then he sat down at his piano and wrote the song.  I am not sure Paul had ever had to write a song around a title before as he said it was not an easy thing to do.  Well, he wrote the song in an afternoon, so it must not have been that hard.  The song is one of Wing’s most popular songs and it received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song in 1973.  However, it did lose to Barbara Streisand’s song “The Way We Were”.  The song was also nominated for a Grammy in the same year.

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My Sunday Song – “Here Comes the Sun” by The Beatles

For My Sunday Song #58 I am going to tackle my favorite Beatles song, “Here Comes the Sun”.  Notice I said my favorite and I did not say the best.  I don’t want anyone getting a hair up there tail because I said the best.  My intention is to not start an argument as I know there are many people passionate about their Beatles.

The song was recorded in 1969 and released on their album ‘Abbey Road’ the same year. The song only features three of the Beatles, George, Ringo & Paul as John was recovering from a car crash.

Lyrically, it is a very simple song but musically there is a lot going on.  Paul did the bass, of course and Ringo on drums while George did everything else, and I mean everything else.  He is credited with both the acoustic and electric guitars, the harmonium, and introducing the band to a Moog synthesizer (which might have looked like something below).
Wall of MOOG
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My Favorite Guitars

 

I have always wanted to learn to play a guitar.  I tried when I was a kid, but I have two big problems. One, I have zero patience and couldn’t understand why I wasn’t great right away.  Two, I am tone deaf and couldn’t tell you a D flat from an A sharp.

So instead, I just listen to a lot of great guitar players and sit in awe of their incredible talent.  I also have a dream of collecting autograph guitars, but I have another problem with that…MONEY!!  Or lack thereof.

If I had all the money in the world, these are the guitars I would go after.

 

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Van Halen – Frankenstrat – Who is not familiar with this iconic guitar?  This could be one of the most recognizable guitars ever made.  You see it, you know that is Van Halen.  A copy of it is even in the National Museum of American History.  This was the guitar from 1979 and their first album.  He has made many different versions of with this look, but if you are going to grab it, get the original.

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