See Pink Floyd Play

Today commemorates the birth of one of the strangest people in rock and roll history. Syd Barrett was the founder and mind behind one of the most influential bands in rock history The Pink Floyd. Now considering Syd only worked on one album really, that being Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. Other albums came out later such as A Saucer Full Of Secrets where Floyd already had tracks that Barrett was already on so they added it to the album. Barrett was replaced by David Gilmore after Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, being drawn into the drug world. Acid, mushrooms, marijuana, pills, etc it was all thrown into Barretts everyday diet and it affected Pink Floyd's shows and recording sessions. Roger Waters had to give him the bad news that he was fired. After released two solo albums named Barrett and The Madcap Laughs both getting high critical acclaim. But just like his life oddly enough he dissipated into obscurity. But there is no argument weather Barrett was a talented genius. Waters even wrote many songs about Syd, most notably Shine On You Crazy Diamond off their album Wish You Were Here. They all had a deep respect for Barrett and his brilliant mind but like so many artists drug abuse caught up with him and put him over the edge. Oddly enough today we celebrate Syd's birthday but also on this date in 50 years after the birth of Syd in 1946 Pink Floyd was inducted in the rock and roll hall of fame. Congratulations Syd for starting one of the greatest bands in rock history, you may have not been there to share the success but no one will ever forget the genius that you hatched.

Jools Get Some Mexican Heat

Some may call it flamenco in the new century. Others say its something they never seen before in their life. I call it fantastic guitar playing. Rodrigo y Gabriela are a brother and sister acoustic guitar duo who used fast guitar strumming and guitar body slapping to create a whole new different kind of music. These two kids from Mexico has taken an old Mexican guitar style and taken it to a whole new level. Playing covers of classic songs from Led Zepplin, Metellica, Pink Floyd, etc and taking it to a whole new level. They will blow you away with the way they play and the sounds that come out from their guitars. They are a joy to watch.

The Best Kind Of Blue

Considered by many as the greatest piece of jazz ever written Kind Of Blue was a milestone in Miles Davis' career. Recorded on March 2, 1959 Miles had the best in the business working with him on this album. From Cannonball Adderley to John Coletrain to Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. They all made a name for themselves on this album. Its said to be the best jazz selling record of all time and influential to millions of jazz musicians who has listened and learned from it. Listen to it once and you will find out why.
Its hard to describe jazz, you cant really brake it down its just one fluent piece. Its a melting pot of sax, trumpet, drums, piano and what ever other instrument is thrown in. So I cant brake down each piece like I would on other albums. On Kind Of Blue you will just have to drop the needle and be taken away to a jazz club. Smoke fills the air like thick fog and glasses thump the tables like a hammer of sorrow. Getting swept away by Miles is one of the greatest musical experiences a lover of music can experience.
Kind Of Blue influenced a great many of legendary musicians. Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers noted that his soloing in the song "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" comes from Miles and Coltrane, mostly from the Kind Of Blue sessions. Even Richard Wright from Pink Floyd said the chord progression from Kind Of Blue influenced the structure on the intruduction to "Breathe" on their landmark album Dark Side Of The Moon. Even legendary jazz trumpeter/producer Quincy Jones once said that he listens to Kind Of Blue everyday. Pianist Chick Corea once said " its one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but its another thing to create a whole new language of music, which is what Kind Of Blue did." Even rapper Q-Tip recognizes the importance of Kind Of Blue by stating " Its like the Bible you just have one in your house".
In 2002 Kind Of Blue was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library Of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. Rolling Stone magazine selected Kind Of Blue as the 12th greatest album of all time in its list of 500 greatest albums of all time citing that " This painterly masterpiece is one of the most important, influential and popular albums in jazz". Even in 2009 The United States House Of Representatives pass a resolution honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the album and " reaffirming jazz as a national treasure".
Miles Davis really did a huge favor to the music industry in making this album, giving other musicians decades later more drive to make amazing music just like he did. Take this album, pop it on the turntable or cd player or tape deck, whatever you have, and sit back with a nice coffee or tea or whiskey on the rocks and enjoy the smooth jazz of Miles Davis and friends.

There's a Storm Brewing

Art and music go so well together. They are like two conjoined twins that are too proud to be torn apart. But nothing's more brilliant than Album art. The size of a record is just too perfect to display beautiful artwork. It's not just all about the music anymore, a beautiful cover can sell a record just as well as a strong voice. I find no greater pleasure than listening to a great album and just staring at the album cover blankly trying to conjure up what the band or the cover artist was thinking about when they reached the conclusion to the completion of the then thought to be greatest album ever to be recorded on God's green earth.

So album art has been around since the beginning of albums. Around the '60's is when they just didn't feel the need to keep putting the artists face on the cover anymore. Something more surreal would be better. To keep the buyers not just interested in the artist but the art as well. The greatest surreal album artist of all time in my personal opinion and plenty of others as well has got to be Storm Thorgerson.

The man who did great albums for bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Peter Gabrial, Muse, Audioslave, Paul Macartney, Steve Miller, Styx, Yes, etc.

He was the main player in the graphic art group called Hipgnosis. From Houses Of The Holy to the iconic Dark Side Of The Moon they created amazing artwork that has been regarded as mind blowing by millions.
Storm artwork has been displayed in gallery's all over the world.

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.