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Tag: Ringo Starr

  • Zac Brown Band Shreds All-Stars – Grammys 2010

    JoBros in the house, and the screams start early.  Need You Now and Lady Antebellum take the stage.  They’re not really country no matter how much music companies want to slot them there.  Brilliant harmonies.

    CBS shills The Big Bang Theory during Best Comedy Album.  Six nominees and Colbert wins for a cute skit that turned into a record.  And for this we’ve given up a Kings of Leon or a jazz or a blues performance?  Or maybe even that, whaddya call it?  Classical.

    Off of commercial, Norah Jones and Ringo Starr.  Remember, Norah’s dad and Ringo go way back.  Bobby Darin gets a Lifetime Achievement Award as Mack The Knife plays.  Ringo pumps up the audience for Norah.

    Beyonce’s Halo, I Gotta Feeling by the Peas, Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, Gaga’s Poker Face and Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me are the nominees.   Kings of Leon pull off another huge upset.  Peas and Swift were safe here.  Good for the Academy voters.

    Robert Downey, Jr. is introduced as the most self-important actor of his generation which is a joke gone bad or a horrible intro.  He is Sue’s at Movie Rewind’s main dude. Gotta give it to Jamie Foxx who can make an intro.  Autotune at The Grammys is a big no-no in my book especially when we all know Jamie can sing.  Some weirdness when Jamie’s mic seemed to cut in and a different timbre was heard.  I’m just saying…  T-Pain who is never losing AutoTune regardless of venue prances a bit. The whole thing is a bit muddy for stars this talented.

    It’s the big jam as Slash enters with hat and blazing guitar.

    Katy Perry, kind of looking like his daughter, shows up with Alice Cooper.  They give  Florence Greenberg a posthumous  Trustee Award and start naming   Best Rock Album nominees.

    Best Rock (Kid Rock?  Rock of Ages?) whatever that means anymore, goes to Green Day.  That’s a strange choice with Dave Matthews and the album I thought had won, AC/DC’s Black Ice.  Insiders Butch Vig and Chris Lord-Alge get name checked by Billie Joe Armstrong who doesn’t let anyone else talk.  He writes great hooks, but I’m getting bored with Billie Joe again.   This happened after Dookie too.

    Chris O’Donnell shills one of the NCIS shows.  He throws a lifetime award to Harold Bradley.  He then gives way for Zac Brown Band and Leon Russell.  I would say Leon looks great, but between the shades, big white hat and beard, I couldn’t say.

    He sounded great though as did the protracted acapella version of America that opened the segment.  Brilliant, brilliant band.  Harmony.  Lyrics.  America.  Shredding acoustic guitar solo.  These guys will be around on a decade.

  • New Releases 1/12/09: Vampire Weekend and More!

    Let’s get right to business.

    *Vampire Weekend’s debut was my favorite album of 2007. It was really light in mood, had a fun vibe, and was different from just about any album that came out that year. In the fickle world of indie-rock blogging, you’re only good until the mainstream has caught up with you, and with a guest appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and almost 500,000 albums sold, they certainly don’t qualify as anyone’s secret anymore. While I have no doubts about the musical merits of their sophomore release, “Contra” (which is out today), I am curious to see how many hipper-than-thou types turn their noses up at the band when they wet their pants at the mere mention of the band’s name two years ago.

    *If you’re like me, you hear the name “OK Go” and you think “treadmills”. Their video for “Here We Go Again” was a viral sensation. Even though I knew of them before the video (thanks to a song called “Get Over It” from their first album which appeared on an MTV compilation), they’re going to be stuck with that video probably for the rest of their careers. Anyway, the power-pop band is releasing album #3 today. “Of the Blue Colour of the Sky” is the title-and I assume said title is a joke and not the band trying to be pretentious.

    *For those of you who make sure to tune in to “106 & Park” every night, you’ll be very happy to know that former B2K member Omarion is releasing his latest album, called “Ollusion”. This guy has a pretty dedicated fan base, but for whatever reason he just can’t seem to cross over. Two of his three previous solo albums debuted at #1, but quickly skidded down the charts and neither has crossed the million-sold mark here in the States. Having been released from his Sony Music contract, Omarion is now on his own EMI-distributed label after brief and unproductive stints in the camps of Timbaland and Lil Wayne.

    *Isn’t it good to know that Ringo Starr’s still kickin’ around? The legendary ex-Beatle releases “Y Not” today, and it’s filled with as many guest appearances as one would expect from someone who gathers a ton of A-list musicians and heads out on the road every year. The featured artists on Mr. Starkey’s latest effort include Ben Harper, Richard Marx, Joe Walsh and some guy named McCartney.

    Get the full list of this week’s releases (as well as future release dates) over at Pause and Play .

  • Christmas Music That Won’t Kill You – Part II: Christmas Past

    The other day I told you about some of the new Christmas CDs this year.  Now we are going to revisit some recommended holiday albums you may have missed in the past.

    Ray Charles – Spirit of Christmas
    Sounds awesome, right?  Nope, it’s merely very good.  It was recorded in the 80s, so it doesn’t have the immediacy of Ray’s recordings for Atlantic.  Pick this up if you’re looking for a big band romp through Christmas classics.  Ray is in great voice and the arrangements are strong.  Really strong if you consider when this was recorded.

    Ringo Starr – Christmas Collection
    This charming CD is pretty rocking in spots.  What record collection is complete without the world’s most famous drummer singing “The Little Drummer Boy?”  With bagpipes!  (Think about it; it makes sense.)

    Christmas Jug Band – Uncorked
    Christmas Jug Band is a collective of SF-area roots musicians.  Although they have released a number of CDs, this is their best because of the strength of the originals.  It’s perfect for people who dig folk, western swing, or skiffle and appreciate a certain kind of humor.  Many of the songs are supposed to remind one of older jazz or string band music, but the humor is modern.  Most humorous music is for kids, and because it talks down to them, it’s toxic to adults.  Christmas Jug Band is more like Peanuts.  The humor really functions at an adult level without excluding children.  If this sounds appealing to you, head over to www.globerecords.com and check out the audio samples.

    Kings College Choir – pretty much anything
    The Mormon Tabernacle Choir might be seen as THE Christmas choir, but Kings College Choir is way better.  Why?  Because the treble parts are sung by pre-pubescent boys instead of women.  You need a bunch of powerful women singers to do Wagner, but that’s just a little too Mall of the Americas for me.  Boys sound like bells or (I almost hate to say it) angels which seems much more appropriate if you are going for a religious experience.  They are all great so pick the one with the carols you like best.  Just be aware that anything subtitled “a lesson and carol service” will be half Bible readings.

    Various Artists – Midwinter
    This amazing 4-CD collection was released by Free Reed, who are known for their comprehensive British folk-rock box sets.  It contains the artist one might expect: Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, The Watersons, Martin Carthy, The Strawbs, Maddy Prior, Shirly Collins, Jethro Tull, etc.  With this bunch, you’re going to get a bunch of really old English songs with possibly pre-Christian roots.  The set also includes some Americans incuding Loudon Wainwright III, Blind Boy Grunt (Bob Dylan, but you knew that right?), Joan Baez, John Fahey, and even Mahalia Jackson.  The few spoken word pieces range from Robert Frost reciting “Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening” to an excerpt of The Grinch featuring Vincent Price.

    I could go on but Rock Dad has some crafting responsibilities.  Let’s open this up to comments.  What favorites or guilty pleasures do you have?

    I’ll be back soon with Christmas future.  What the heck could that be?  No idea.