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GEONius.com
30-Aug-2007
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Musical Tastes,
Past and Present

The Best ...
The Beatles, of course!
The Rest ...
Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers Band,
Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana,
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Black Crowes, Free,
Richard Thompson, Three Dog Night, Enya
Off the Top of My Head
Audio Adrenaline, Badfinger, David Bromberg,
Eddie Cochran, Joe Cocker, Shirley Collins,
Kevin Coyne, CCR, CSN&Y, Fairport Convention,
Rory Gallagher, Steeleye Span, ...
Guitar Links
Tablature, ...
Covers
found on the Internet of songs by
The Beatles, Peter Green,
The Rolling Stones, The Band, and Traffic
 

The Best ...

LET IT BE album cover

I'm an unusual Beatles fan: my favorite album is the "Spectorized" Let It Be. My favorite song is "I Dig A Pony"; my second favorite is "Day Tripper" or "Get Back"; my third favorite is ... oh, what the heck - did they have any bad songs?

What I've got that you may not have:

Also see:

 

The Rest ...

The Rolling Stones Mick Taylor and Keith

From Beggars' Banquet through Goat's Head Soup. Their earlier albums were, well, early. I gave up on their later albums during the disco craze and I haven't followed them since. My favorite album is Sticky Fingers. My favorite song? Hmmm ... probably "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", but I'll have to say that I consider "Honky Tonk Women" to be the rock song of all rock songs. [Although Three Dog Night's recording of "Joy to the World" (Hoyt Axton) gives it a run for the money.]

What I've got that you may not have:

Also see:

 

Allman Brothers Band Duane Allman

Wail on, Skydog!

What I've got that you may not have (see Natural Fire's Duane Allman page for links to where you can get some of these albums):

Also see:

 

Peter Green Fleetwood Mac

Do you believe in miracles? Then believe in Peter Green. Back, mellower perhaps, and as good as ever!

He's possibly my favorite guitarist. If you like Peter Green too, make sure you pick up Gary Moore's Blues for Greeny album, a collection of tastefully done remakes of Peter Green tunes from Green's John Mayall and Fleetwood Mac days. Although Gary Moore is no Peter Green in the vocal department, his guitar playing is beautiful and the songs are played with the dignity they deserve.

What I've got that you may not have:

Playing with the Grateful Dead:

Also see:

Cover versions and related music:

The following artists made their music available through MP3.com, which went out of business in December 2003. Fortunately, I had already downloaded their songs (and purchased a number of the albums). I apologize for the invalid MP3.com links and, as time permits, I will attempt to track down the artists and update the links.

 

Eric Clapton

62 Reasons It's Great To Be Eric Clapton (from the cover of Musician magazine, February 1990):

  1. Only Englishman who can play blues
  2. Doesn't have to do reunion tour
  3. All the Michelob you can drink
  4. Howlin' Wolf likes you more than Ringo
  5. Saw Muddy Waters ride tricycle
  6. No hammer-ons
  7. Had afro in '68
  8. Got caught holding the bag for Buddy Guy
  9. People light matches when you walk out
  10. Pals with George Harrison
  11. Pals with Patti Harrison
  12. Married Patti Harrison
  13. Still pals with George Harrison
  14. Still afraid of Robert Johnson
  15. Used to be God
  16. You don't lie, you don't lie, you don't lie
  17. Hung with Hendrix
  18. Employed Duane Allman
  19. Still alive

I like his work from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers through Derek and the Dominos. Before that, his playing was too raw and, after that, his playing was too polished. (In my humble and not so knowledgeable opinion - I have no post-Dominos albums.)

Also see:

 

Santana Woodstock 1969

Does the phrase "liquid gold" capture the essence of his guitar playing?

What I've got that you may not have:

Also see:

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble Stevie Ray Vaughan

Eric Clapton is undoubtedly rock's greatest guitarist, but SRV was as one with his instrument. I first heard/saw him on what must have been a rerun of his 1983 performance on Austin City Limits and I was immediately hooked. I just got the video of the Austin City Limits performances and relived the magic all over again. I could give or take the later performances, but 1983's was just incredible.

And, yes, that was SRV playing "Pipeline" with Dick Dale in Back to the Beach!

Also see:

 

Jeff Healey Jeff Healey

I first heard and saw Jeff Healey performing on a TV talk show; the song was "Confidence Man" and, needless to say, I went out and bought the cassette, See the Light. I would give the album a mixed review. His second album (not including the Road House soundtrack), Hell to Pay, was better, with cuts like "Full Circle", "I Can't Get My Hands on You", and "Hell to Pay". Still, I don't listen to either album very often. I love the faster high-energy songs like the tracks mentioned above. The slower and mellower songs generally leave me cold - either the material just isn't that good or his voice just doesn't fit these types of songs.

The third album, Feel This, struck me as kind of disco-y at first. However, I recorded it on one side of a cassette and Dan Baird's Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired on the other and the cassette soon became one of my favorites, albeit a little bit loud!

Cover to Cover, of course, is great - although I just discovered that the British version has 4 extra songs! I would love to hear some of the bootleg albums formerly listed on Karen West's discography page: Cream, Hendrix, and Santana songs, and performing with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble.

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Black Crowes Black Crowes

Their first album, Shake Your Money Maker, made me think, "Hey, a new, late 60's, early 70's Rolling Stones!" Their second album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, was a seamless progression of good songs; it reminded of Abbey Road.

Their next two albums, Amorica (with the expurgated cover) and Three Snakes and One Charm, never seemed to get the adrenalin going and a number of the songs seemed to be recycling melodies and riffs I'd heard elsewhere ... fast-forward several years into the future ... Hmmm ... the albums grow on you after repeated listenings - the songs are actually pretty good!

And then, By Your Side. Now we're talking. This is the Black Crowes we all know and love.

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Rank Strangers Rank Strangers

 

Free Paul Kossoff

Paul Rodgers and Paul Kossoff - need I say more?

Also see:

 

Richard and Linda Thompson Richard Thompson Linda Thompson

"They say running into you is like running into trouble; bend my ear and I see double. You're everybody's idea of a waste of time!"

Also see:

 

Three Dog Night

"Joy to the World", "Never Been to Spain", "Shambala", "Celebrate", "Mama Told Me Not To Come", ... Unbelievable!

Also see:

 

Enya

Also see:

 

Off the Top of My Head

Rory Gallagher  

Classical Music

I played violin for 5 or 6 years when I was young and Little Richard was right: "The same beat you find in rock, you find in Bach!" Or to paraphrase him with regard to violins and guitars, "The same lead you find in rock, you find in Bach." Listen to Itzhak Perlman perform Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D and you'll know what I mean. I also like Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi - pretty much any violin music in their styles.

My violin teacher was Laura McKinnon at Dale Music in Silver Spring, MD. One Christmas, my brother Pete gave me the classical guitar that our parents had given him, but that he had never played! Miss McKinnon recommended Tony Norris, also at Dale, as a guitar teacher. So, for three months, I took classical guitar and violin lessons simultaneously. I had seen Mr. Norris in the hallway and he had a bulldog kind of face - the kind of face that made a young kid want to blend into the wall whenever Mr. Norris passed by. After my first guitar lesson, however, I reported to Miss McKinnon that, despite his mean look, Mr. Norris was actually a very nice man! She got a big laugh out of that. A short time later they announced their engagement. No, I can take no credit for unveiling the nice guy underneath the tough exterior - I believe they already knew each other! Two wonderful teachers.

Mr. and Mrs. Norris are the owners (since 1972) of Bertha's Restaurant in Baltimore, MD. You might have seen their "EAT BERTHA'S MUSSELS" bumper stickers out on the road. Here's a little history of the place, along with a recipe and directions. The Food Channel had a show about them some years ago; unfortunately, I just happened to catch the tail-end of the show as I was channel surfing and I just caught a brief glimpse of Mr. and Mrs. Norris being interviewed.

 

Musical Links

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