Log #91 - Jazz and Wine

Cover album this week is Iron and Wine's Around The Well double-cd. This is a mostly solo acoustic low-fi collection of b-sides, outtakes and rarities. This is twinned with Neil Young's second solo album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Not an obvious twinning perhaps save for the fact that I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural Americana and Country Black Deer Festival this weekend set in Eridge Park, Kent.

1. Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
2. Wiley - Snakes and Ladders
3. Sigur Ros - Takk
4. Quantic - Apricot Morning
5. Iron and Wine - Around The Well cd 2
6. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young wasn't there but was represented by perhaps my highlight of the weekend which was a storming cover of his Down By The River by fellow Canadian barroom classic rockers The Sheepdogs - the singing from these Lynyrd Skynyrd copyists wasn't quite Neil's but the duelling guitar sound was spot on. Down By The River is one of two classic extended guitar whigouts on this tremendous album, the other being Cowgirl In The Sand; on both, Crazy Horse set down a rolling bass and drum groove allowing Young's guitar to soar. Never one for screaming fret burning he is a master of a cool languorous style that allows the music to breath and take flight in unexpected directions.

It has been said that Young only has one guitar solo, but it sure is a good one.

I'd just hot footed from the main stage headliner, the actual Sam Beam, aka Iron and Wine. Beam had sauntered on stage with an acoustic guitar and an actual glass of red wine which he placed on a stool beside him. Right on time he looked out upon, it has to be said, a smaller than expected crowd which didn't actually grow even with the ending of the excellent Eric Bibb's set on a nearby alternative stage. In fact I think the crowd diminished further as the set progressed - the crowd perhaps confused with the sound and chilled by the breeze after a day of glorious sunshine in this barmy English summer.

Beam started with the popular Trapeze Swinger from the featured record here with lovely percussive playing and his breathy vocals. But I'd probably say this was the highlight of a disappointing set beset with some sound issues, namely the bass drowning out the rest of the band (how often does this happen? - can the sound man not hear the same as me or is the sound set up for a new festival just not what you'd expect) including a cellist who was completely inaudible despite performing energetically. Even Beam turned to say he couldn't hear himself. "Nor can we," someone heckled (could have been me :) )

The songs were culled from his career but were all played with a more jazzy fusion arrangement which I understand has impressed on his latest album but didn't work well on a big stage and actually rendered some favourites unrecognisable.

When I first saw him during the excellent Kiss Each Other Clean tour he had gone full band electric which sounded fantastic to my newcomer's ears, although I did read subsequently some of his fans at the time didn't like his new direction and wanted to hear the introverted acoustic troubadour.

Recent album reviews have been very positive for his latest Beast Epic album heralding a return to the softer acoustic sound albeit with some experimental jazz overtones. I don't doubt the new record is excellent but as I say maybe it is music more suited to the living room, or the Festival Hall, than a festival main stage headlining slot.

Iron and Wine - the new band

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Log #50 - Some of Neil Young's Greatest Acoustic Numbers Together at Last

1. Afro Celts Sound System- I
2. Quantic - The 5th Exotic
3. Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
4. Lambchop - Nixon
5. Steely Dan - Aja
6. Cat Stevens - Icon

News of two musical deaths have reached 6 Album Sunday HQ this week: Walter Becker from Steely Dan and Holger Czukay of Can. Surviving founder member Donald Fagen of Steely Dan has committed to continuing and has just announced a tour. Their classic album Aja makes a reappearance here. Czukay's passing barely registered in the press. Three Can members have now gone - Czukay joining Liebezeit and Karoli at the Great Gig in the Sky. Can formed in the 60s and were not young then - both Czukay and Liebezeit were in their late 70s.

Becker and Czukay 

Still going strong is Neil Young. I heard he was releasing a new album and gave it a spin on youtube (before it was taken down). Hitchhiker isn't actually a new album in so much as it is a release of a recording made in 1976. Some of the songs have been released elsewhere either in part, or in their entirety, or in different versions. For example there is a beautiful acoustic version of Powderfinger which is mournful and sad, revealing lyrics I've not picked up before in the electric version on my featured album Rust Never Sleeps.

Fascinatingly there are also parts of these songs that have gone on to form different songs and it is fun to try to remember where. It's like meeting a very familiar face but not being able to put a time, name or place to it. For instance parts of the autobiographical title track Hitchhiker resurfaced some years later and in the most unlikely of places - on Young's ill advised electronic album Trans as Like an Inca. An electric version of Hitchhiker also appeared on Young's Le Noise album which I've tried many times to like but frankly is pretty lame. Actually up until about Sleeps with Angels time I bought every Neil Young album. Hitchhiker sounds wonderful and will probably be my first Neil Young purchase in quite a few years.

It is odd (although not surprising knowing Young's unpredictability) that such a well rounded acoustic album was overlooked in preference for some below par or less than consistent releases around the mid to late 70s such as American Stars 'n' Bars, Comes a Time, Hawks and Doves, and Long May You Run. It's also odd that a classic track like Campaigner, with its famous "even Richard Nixon has got soul" line, has not before been released on any official album other than in edited form in the Decade boxset.

Hitchhiker sounds wonderful and will probably be my first Neil Young purchase in quite a few years.

In a bid to recreate the vibe at home, from my existing collection, and to check differences in Pocahontas, I popped Rust Never Sleeps in the player with an emphasis on side one. This album contains some of Young's greatest songwriting presented in contrasting acoustic and electric settings. Check out the lengthy Thrasher with Young's thinly veiled criticism of his CSNY colleagues (and a couple of understandable memory stumbles!).

Below is a handy tracklisting for Hitchhiker courtesy Wikipedia. Some fans have said this collection is unjustified on account of the paucity of new tracks but as an albums man I disagree - this again demonstrates an album summing to a greatness beyond its individual parts.

Search for Neil Young's Hitchhiker

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Log #49 - Grateful Dead in Concert

1. Afro Celts Sound System- I
2. Quantic (Soul Orchestra) - Apricot Morning
3. Led Zeppelin - IV
4. Various - New Orleans Funk 1960-75
5. Grateful Dead - Rockin' the Rhein, Live Dusseldorf 24 April 1972, Disc 1
6. Grateful Dead - Rockin' the Rhein, Live Dusseldorf 24 April 1972, Disc 2

As any "Deadhead" knows The Grateful Dead were one band that actively encouraged the recording and release of their live performances. There are therefore literally 1000s of bootlegs out there, many recorded in high quality right off the sound deck and released as official albums.

The info graphic below taken from Wiki illustrates their fondness for a live recording - in fact they only released a relatively modest 13 actual studio albums across their career.

Their live shows were legendary, often of 3 hours long, with frequent extensions into improvised jazz rock noodlings showcasing Jerry Garcia's liquid guitar (think of Spinal Tap's new direction after the departure of Nigel Tufnel). I'm not an expert deadhead at all but opine that this isn't one of the best. Actually I much prefer the mid 70s "post Pigpen" period Grateful Dead and their even later recordings through the 80s some of which are collected on Without a Net (1990). Of the studio albums my favourite is From the Mars Hotel. Unbroken Chain from that album pretty much summarises the best of Grateful Dead in only 6 minutes!

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