The Fabled Automatic

Courtesy of NPR.  Posted about this a while back, but I am very excited about the new album from The Gaslight Anthem entitled 'Handwritten'.  As they often do NPR has a 'First Listen' .  This things are usually up for a limited time, so check it out while its hot!

Bruce and the Band are out on the road, and though I have yet to catch the show, all of the video I have seen shows them at the top of their game.  www.brucespringsteen.net has posted lots of very good "pro shot" videos from the tour.  A couple of recent uploads stand out. The E-Street Shuffle was an early "holy shit" song for me when I was really getting into Springsteen. Heard it for the first time my junior year in college in Pat's car which had a great stereo, and was blown away by the ending.  It was 25 years old then, is almost 40 years old now, but sounded as fresh as ever last night with the Roots sitting in. Bruce played Paris for the 4th of July and, fittingly, did a beautiful solo-piano version of Independence Day, one of my favorite songs off of The River.  Check it out at http://brucespringsteen.net/ .  Scroll down just a bit and you will spot it.  Enjoy!    

Been burning up The Band on the ipod over the last month and have really gained new appreciation for a band and a musician I already held in high esteem.  Came across a couple of good items  From Wilco .  Love the picture of Levon and drummer Glen Kocthe.   Really nice piece on a fans' first visit to a Midnight Ramble (long, but worth it.) Nice song (w/ Max Weinberg) and interview with Levon on Late Night with Conan in 1993.  

The new record from The Gaslight Anthem "Handwritten", is due out July 24.  Hear a preview here . We have written about these guys before , and this should be one of the highlights of the summer.  Produced by Brendon O'Brien , this first song has his wall of sound hallmarks all over it. Sometimes this style serves him well, sometimes lots gets lost in the mix.  We shall see.  

Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band (eh.. orchestra these days) have played 4 shows since the passing of Levon Helm, with many in the fan community, including myself, wondering if and when some tribute might come.  The Seeger Sessions Band played "Rag Mama Rag" several times, making it an obvious choice.  I would have loved to hear them tackle "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down". Instead, as the the first US leg of the tour ended last night in Newark, they opened the encore with "The Weight".  A fitting tribute and a heartfelt rendition by Bruce, who I image has already been thinking a lot about loss nightly on stage these past few months. 

I suppose if you are of the inclination to read this blog, you already know that Rock and Roll lost a true giant last week with the death of Levon Helm, drummer and singer for The Band. His unmistakable voice and unique but succinct drumming style helped define the one-of-a-kind sound of The Band, not to mention backing Bob Dylan on Blonde on Blonde and his infamous first 'electric tour'. Here is one of his many shining moments. What beats this?   Since his passing, I have been mildly obsessed with learning more about The Band, how they arrived at The Last Waltz, and what happened afterward; it wasn't pretty.  Originally I was going to write a post about how surprised  I was that it had gotten so ugly and how sad it all made me. But its out there, just google it; read and decide for yourself.   The Band is a key musical touchstone for me and epitomizes muc...

Excited about the first solo effort from former White Stripe Jack White next month. Big fan of his work, especially Van Lear Rose, the Lorettea Lynn project he produced and played on a few years back. Spectacular album , if you don't own it, you should; her part on each song was done in one take. He also has a side project- The Rancoutours' that is definitely on my radar, but as yet unexplored. I've heard a couple of tracks off of the new record and so far, I like. See the video for the very cool "Love Interruption" here . Super talented and unique, I really look forward to this record. Face it, Jack White has got it going on, who else has the (ahem) 'guts' to get up in front of President Obama and Paul McCartney and pull this off?