Shane MacGowan Pours Another One

Tragic, sad, depressing, vulgar, disgusting, drunken bastard or just a creative genius with talent streaming out of his veins. Shane MacGowan may look like a train wreck that happen a hundred years ago but he sings from the heart with every bit of passion and fire. He has followed the destructive behavior of the fallen talent pool that has drowned such greats as Hank Williams, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the list keeps going on and on. The weird thing about it is Shane can never die, he is the Keith Richards of Irish Rock. He constantly looks like he just crawled out of bed if his bed was 6 feet under and covered in dirt and his teeth looks like wooden splinters as if he never brushed since Kennedy was president. He has drug addiction after drug addiction and swims in alcohol daily. In this video he is seen at his best, what millions would love to see live, Shane as drunk as he could be with a glass in his hand singing one of his favorite songs taught to him by his mother, Kitty. The song reeks of tragedy and so does the look on Shane's face, especially at the end of the video when the bartender walks over and gives him a kiss on the cheek. As she pulls away you can see the pain of Shane MacGowan, alone with millions of fan. Shane's band The Pogues are innovators of Irish punk bands being loved, respected and idolized by such irish punk bands as Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. I wonder what Shane would be doing on St. Paddys day? Probably just what he does every other day of the year, getting drunk off his arse.

King of the fillmore

Earlier this week I strolled into my local record store  (not actually mine but I like to think it is). The Record Exchange as its called is a seond home to me. The guys are great!! Everytime I walk in it feels like I'm Norm from Cheers and everybody knows my name. Its a great feeling. Skip is the owner and he's the type of guy that just makes you feel at home as soon as you walk in, if theres anything your looking for this guy can find it. Paul is an encyclopedia of music, absolutely love talking to him about what's new and old. Barance is the king of funk, a great performer that also loves the blues. Jimmy is soft spoken but is an all around great guy.

So anyways, I walk in the other day and as usual as soon as I walk in and do all the usual greetings to the group, I tilt my head to the wall of fame to see what's new and if there's something I truely can't leave the store without. Today I really didnt know if I was going to get anything because it was about 10 mins before closeing time. I carry myself to the blues section of the store that I love flipping through to see what's new that I haven't seen 2 days prior. One album stuck out in my mind: Albert King, not only Albert King but Albert King Live. I have his sessions album with the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan and absolutely love it. The sessions album seems never to get old.

At the beginning of the album as with a lot of live albums its starts off an introduction. I'm sure the crowd had no idea what they were in for. Albert makes his way to the stage, in person this mammoth of a man has a sense of softness to him with a kind face. But as soon as he starts hammering those strings you can hear some cunning brilliance. The album was recorded live at the Fillmore. With a strange array of hippies that had no idea what blues was. But Albert didnt mind showing them with full force and they didnt mind taking it all in.

The album starts off with Why You So Mean To Me. Albert has a way with his solos. He has impressed and blown away the legends of the guitar away, including Vaughan. The man can twist those notes so smooth and crisp. Its a typical blues song about a man and his mean girl, its not the lyrics that impress the locals but the guitar work. It can't be explained in words, only in hearing it can you truely appriciate it.

After the 8 min Why You So Mean To Me Albert follows up with I Get Evil. A reworking of Tampa Reds Dont You Lie To Me, it wasn't rare to see blues artists to take other artists songs and tweek them a little to make it their own. The solos are impressive on this song, when he gets into them its just a tangled web of notes that string so well together.

The last song on side one is Got To Be Some Changes Made. You can hear Alberts influence on Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray more so on this song than any others. Its raw. Raw blues at its best. If there's a song that can introduce you to Albert King I would suggest listening to this song more so than ones before it. It showcases Kings guitar greatness and influence. He's a real powerhouse of a guitarist and you can really tell on this track. For you first time King fans I suggest skipping the first two first and going back to them after listening to this one, its nice to have your mind blown at first listen.

On to side two. Starting off the list is one of Kings slower songs. Its a slow blues ballad with a lot of picked up solos thrown in there. Personal Manager sounds a lot like something that Buddy Guy would have written one night while hanging out with Hendrix at a bar at 2 am. A beautiful song but at over 17 mins long Albert should have picked up the pace, it can get a little dragged out.

Born Under A Bad Sign is one of Alberts more famous songs. Covered by artists such as Cream, Hendrix, Booker T, Smashing Pumpkins, MC5, BB King, Blue Cheer, Tommy Bolin to just name a few. The lyric "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all" is one of the greatest blues lyrics of all time that has been reused over and over again. Great song live or in the studio. It can never get old. It's a shame that his most famous song is the shortest song on the whole album.

To close the album and the live set King fought tooth and nail through Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong. Brilliant twisting of chords on this tune. King glides from note to note like a songbird, his fingers do the talking through most of the song with an occasional "Wooooooo" heard in the background. Albert King is a legend's legend. You can  hear why on this album.  

First cut is the deepest

How great is vinyl? Well to me its the greatest way to enjoy any kind of music be it old or new. Record collecting has been an addiction that I've embraced for about 8 years now, with a collection of well over 2000 albums. I am constantly adding as well as enjoying the sound the needle makes as it rotates around that crisp wax until it reaches the middle. I really enjoy the snaps and crackles of old records as it adds to its history. There's nothing better to me than closing my eyes while the record is spinning and just imagining how great would it be to be there in the studio, how personal it must have been for the artist/artists to have just finished the last cut and listen to their final product, their heart and soul poured into the songs, be it pain or love or both.

In my opinion vinyl is much better sounding than a digital cd can ever sound. Don't get me wrong, I must admit that I do have a cd collection of my own, not nearly as vast as my record collection though. As it is with vinyl you can find albums that are not and will not be released on cd, same goes for cds especially newer music. For instance Neil Young (one of my favorite artists by the way) has two albums (Time fades away, Journey through the past) that he has openly announced that will never be released on cd. Why you ask? Because he has said that those albums will never sound as good digital; which I agree with on most albums.

The first thing that drew me to love vinyl is the sound. It's just untouchable and never bettered. Second is the history and collectabilty of albums. There are so many different sub versions of records; be it first pressings, colored vinyl, imports, promos, etc. These can make the same album go from being $10 to $150. There is always that chance of finding a diamond in the rough, the thrill of the search. Thirdly its the Art. You can never truly appreciate a well thought out album cover by just a tiny cd picture.

A record cover is the perfect size to pick out the details of a brilliant cover. For instance Iron Maiden's Powerslave album. Its Egyptian flavor is great but the amazing part is when you get really up close and you can pick out all the details in the pyramids (a hidden Mickey Mouse head on the bottom left hand corner above the sphinx); a stoners paradise. There are banned covers such as Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland British import that had a fold out of nude women of all shapes and sizes (which I have in my personal collection) to the Beatles infamous Yesterday and Today Butcher cover that has all four Beatles sitting and standing, smiling, with baby doll parts laid out on their body's covered in blood. Not good for publicity so it was yanked from the shelves. Then you have the great cover art of Pink Floyd, King Crimsom, Mahogany Rush, Yes, Rush, so on and so on. In my blog which I will be posting to mostly every day, I will be discussing my love of music, from my album collection to video postings to live music that I have enjoyed that day. I love a huge array of music from classic rock to blues to folk to jazz to gypsy to country to celtic to prog to punk... so I can promise you there's something for everyone in my collection. Music is my passion and I really enjoy sharing that passion with everyone I meet and now people I may never meet.