Robbie Robertson and Eric Clapton performing “Who Do You Love” at Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2007.
Levon Helm and the Cate Brothers performing "Sweet Peach Georgia Wine" on SCTV in 1981.
"Kansas City," Wilbert Harrison's biggest hit, is a cornerstone of rock and roll, capturing the essence of an evolving American music scene in 1959. Originally written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952, Harrison's rendition became iconic, reaching the top of the Billboard charts with its simple, infectious rhythm and laid-back vocals. This version stood out for its minimalistic arrangement, emphasizing the song's swing and making it a widespread favorite.Harrison's "Kansas City" not only solidified his career but also became a versatile standard covered by numerous artists, including The Beatles and James Brown. Its success showcased the song's broad appeal, with lyrics yearning for the lively Kansas City nightlife resonating with a national audience. This track exemplified the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll, reflecting the cultural and musical shifts of the late 1950s.
"It's been almost 30 years since we lost one of the greatest guitarists of the last century in a fatal car crash on a slippery road near Mendocino, CA, on December 2, 1997. It is a pity that so many people have never heard of him or his music. Hedges was not only a remarkable guitar player, but also a hugely talented composer and singer. He practically reinvented acoustic guitar playing, and many of his techniques and innovations have since been embraced and incorporated by guitarists all over the world. So, it is about time that more of Michael Hedges' music found its way onto the Albums That Should Exist blog, and this - his last known recorded concert, just weeks before his death - seems like a good place to start!
I saw Hedges live once, during his only visit to Rio, Brazil, in 1996, about a year before his untimely death. He performed in a small underground bar at a hotel near Copacabana Beach. By then, I had only recently been introduced to his music by my brother, who is also a guitarist. There were perhaps 40 people in the tiny venue, and we were seated at a table right next to Hedges. If I had stretched out my arm, I could literally have grabbed his leg!
After the concert, we and two other guys stuck around at the bar. Before long, Hedges — drinking something that looked like an almond milk power drink — showed up and started chatting with us. He talked to us for what seemed like ages, as if we were old childhood friends. He answered our questions, accepted some CDs of Brazilian music (apologizing that he had nothing from his side to give us in return), and even tuned an acoustic guitar to one of his signature tunings, showing us how to play some of his licks. It was basically an impromptu 15-minute masterclass! That gives you an idea of what a great guy he was.
But that was a different concert, and unfortunately it wasn't recorded. (At the time, I didn't tape the concerts I attended.) Here, about a year later, we have a good example of one of his typical late-period concerts. It consists of original instrumental pieces and songs he sang himself, some excellent covers, the occasional oddity (such as the recitations of "Jabberwocky" and "Oklahoma," and the brief, jokey "Free Bird" rendition that precedes "All Along the Watchtower"), and an overall wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, with plenty of laughs from the audience.
Hopefully, we'll have more Hedges here at ATSE soon. Paul and I have compiled a great collection of almost all the live covers performed by Hedges into a four-volume set, which we'll be sharing soon. And I have around 50 of his live concerts in my collection, so there should be plenty more to come eventually, if there's interest."
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Thank you, Fabio. The only that I'd want to add to that is some information about the audio editing. The video sounded pretty good at first listen, but it turned out it need a lot of work. There was a lot of hiss, so I ran all the songs through the MVSEP program to get rid of most of that. The vocals during the talking bits didn't sound good either, so I ran all of those through the Adobe vocal enhancer. I also ran all the songs through MVSEP again to improve the balance between the lead vocals and the instruments. On top of all that, it turns out the audience was very quiet during the songs, except there was a LOT of coughing. Pretty much every song had at least one cough, sometimes more. So I had to remove those one by one. There might be a couple that I've missed, but it's way better than before.
So ultimately, this was essentially sounding like an audience boot at first, given that it was a fan-recorded video instead of a professional one. But after all those edits, I believe this sounds as good as most soundboard boots.
This album is an hour and 45 minutes long.
01 Aerial Boundaries [Instrumental]
02 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
03 talk
04 Jitterboogie [Instrumental]
05 Baal T'shuvah [Instrumental]
06 Ragamuffin [Instrumental]
07 talk
08 Rickover's Dream [Instrumental]
09 Free Swinging Soul
10 Rough Wind in Oklahoma
11 talk
12 Silent Anticipations [Instrumental]
13 talk
14 Confortably Numb
15 talk (Michael Hedges)
16 Arrowhead [Instrumental]
17 talk
18 Shell Shock Venus
19 talk
20 Because It's There [Instrumental]
21 talk
22 Ritual Dance [Instrumental]
23 talk
24 Like a Rolling Stone
25 Jabberwocky
26 The Rootwitch [Instrumental]
27 talk
28 Gimme Shelter
29 Oklahoma
30 talk
31 Free Bird
32 All Along the Watchtower
33 talk
34 No Expectations
(all tracks Michael Hedges)
Paul also notes: There was a lot of difficulty making this cover image. Technically, it's a screenshot taken from this exact concert. However, the footage was very low-res. So using Gemini, there was some pretty creative filling in of details to get this result. But this is how he would have really looked, with that harp guitar (for a portion of the concert), those clothes, and so on. Even for his helmet, because the screenshot was dark and murky there, I relied on a different photo of the custom-made, strange, beat-up helmet (that worked with his microphone) he was using at that time to make sure it was accurate.
David Byrne has a long history of staging elaborate live shows, often with a sprawling cast of musicians, highly choreographed dancing and unusual instrumentation. So when we learned he wanted to have more than a dozen performers at the Tiny Desk, playing everything from cello, saxophone and marimba to a Brazilian timbau and zabumba (not to mention various guitars and keys), we weren't sure we'd be able to fit it all in. It turns out his latest tour, for the album Who Is The Sky?, is well designed for our roughly 10 by 11-foot space. Though Byrne and his band do normally spread out across large stages, the set design for each show is almost completely bare, without any cables or amps, and the artists wear or carry compact, custom-made instruments to make it easier to move, almost like a marching band. It's cozy, but Byrne and his band, in matching, brilliant blue suits, squeeze behind the Desk to perform four songs, opening with the euphoric "Everybody Laughs," followed by "Don't Be Like That," both from his new album. They also perform two Talking Heads songs: "(Nothing But) Flowers," from the 1988 album Naked, and a show-stopping version of "Life During Wartime," from 1979's Fear of Music. It was a bucket-list performance for the Tiny Desk. Afterward, as the rest of the band and crew dispersed, Byrne hopped on a rented bike for a solo ride through the District on a beautiful, fall afternoon. SET LIST "Everybody Laughs" "Don't Be Like That" "(Nothing But) Flowers" "Life During Wartime" MUSICIANS David Byrne: vocals, guitar Mauro Refosco: percussion, music director Ray Suen: guitar, bass, violin, music director Kely Pinheiro: bass, cello Daniel Mintseris: keys Stephane San Juan: drums Tim Keiper: percussion Yuri Yamashita: percussion, marimba Tendayi Kuumba: background vocals Sasha Rivero: background vocals Hannah Straney: background vocals Sean Donovan: background vocals Jordan Dobson: saxophone, background vocals
So, this from the walls of the hostipal designed presumably to make me feel still all at sea?!
Still home again, home again jiggety jog eh?
So to be going on with whilst I am away (hopefully back a bit later on . . . . ) we shall revisit this masterpiece . . . . . oh, I think we should don’t you?
Another look . . . . . ? Don’t mind if'n we do!
more scans different hostipal!
Bah!
laters potaters . . . . . . . . .
I know life or fate doesn’t really have much of a sense of humour but I am about to go have a scan in the hospital where my brother died on the day after the anniversary of my father’s death. . . . . . . .funny not funny!
See you later everybody peeps!🙄😕
*A.F.K - Sheldon Cooper - [Big Bang Theory] Away From Keyboard
. . . . .and signing off the day and weekend with this beauty! A favourite from the Brother and featuring the peerless AJ Lee wiyj a Neil Young classic revisited and I should point out that I will be away tomorrow and tied up with more medical appointments so bear with me and we will be back in action later on tomorrow I hope
The Brothers Comatose & AJ Lee - "Harvest Moon" (by Neil Young)