Is It Live Or Is It Memorex?

Last Monday I went to see the Eric Clapton-Steve Winwood show in Columbus and on the way down threw in the live CD from their Madison Square Garden reunion to pump me up for the concert. John Gorman had sent me a message that he thought this was one of the best Live CD’s he has ever heard and coming from a guy like John (or Dusty Street or Bill Lewis. When these people talk about music I listen to what they say), I went out and got it immediately. On the drive there and again on the way home I listened and especially after just hearing them live in concert, I had to agree with John, it is a great live album.

Then yesterday I was driving in the Jeep with the top down on one of our rare sunny Cleveland days when Peter Frampton’s “Show Me The Way” came on the radio and unlike the 1000 times since 1976 when it was released, I actually turned up the radio, instead of turning the station and listened closely to the song which came off what became a monster live album in 1976. I got to thinking what are the best live albums I have ever heard?

Now I think I need to clarify something for my readers. If I have a choice of a song in either the studio version or the live version, 99 out of 100 times I take the studio version. I love the feel and vibe of being at a live concert but the energy of the show and band rarely ever comes across for me on a CD or an album. I don’t usually sit there, close my eyes and imagine being at the concert but these albums for me do the best job of it.

Feel free to disagree but here is my list of the best Live Albums Of All Time and because I am the Bear my opinion counts (okay we really know it doesn't but I can dream!)

#10 Cheap Trick – At Budokan (1979) When this album came out I was like most people saying “who are these guys?” (c’mon admit it) I didn’t pay attention too much to Cheap Tricks first three album but when I heard “At Budokan” a switch went on. A very rare occurrence for me that a live album opened my eyes to a band I didn’t care about at all. “Hello There” kicks off the album and it rocks but “Ain’t That A Shame” and “Surrender” are a knockout one, two punch on the album.


#9 Stevie Ray Vaughan – Live At Carnegie Hall (1997) Recorded in 1984 and not released until after his death Live At Carnegie Hall shows Stevie at the top of his game. His guitar work especially on the opening song Scuttle Buttin’ grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let up. Add Jimmie Vaughan and Dr John to the mix for this concert and you have a special treat. This album really captures the talent and feel of Stevie.

#8 Van Morrison – It’s To Late To Stop Now (1973) Van is the original Blue Eyed Soul man and this album shows him at the peak of his career and he sounds great on it. “Into The Mystic”, “Caravan”, “These Dreams Of You”, “Domino”, I could go on and on of the songs that just jump off the album. Listen to “I Believe To My Soul” and tell me this is not as soulful as anything coming out of Staxx or Motown at the time.


#7 Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band – Live Bullet (1976) If you ever saw Bob Seger And The Silver Bullet Band in concert at their peak, you know this album caught it live. This is one that you not only hear the music come thru your speakers, you feel the energy especially on “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” and “Get Out Of Denver” but the show stoppers for me are the beautiful “Travelin’ Man” and “Turn The Page”. This album was Bob and the boys at their best.


#6 Led Zeppelin – How The West Was Won (2003) One thing I can say about most of the early Led Zeppelin albums, thank god for re-masters but the one thing there was missing and that was a great live album that captured them best, on stage live and raw. How The West Was Won does just that. Originally recorded in 1972, this album showcases how strong Plant’s voice really was (listen to “Over The Hills And Far Away”) and Page guitar blasts (“Heartbreaker”) and as I’ve said before no one plays a heavier drum than Bonham (“Whole Lotta Love” all 23 minutes of it!). A great ballsy, bluesy, rock album and as close as you can get to hearing them live.


#5 The Allman Brothers – Live At The Filmore East (1971) This album is a Tom Dowd masterpiece. This seven song double album is a lesson in interplay between musicians on stage and how to do it right. Duane Allman (who I believe is the greatest guitarist ever, sorry folks) and Gregg Allman shine in the live setting especially Duane’s amazing work on “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” and “Stormy Monday”. This album shows if southern rock and blues had a baby, they would have named it The Allman Brothers.


#4 J. Geils Band – Live: Blow Your Face Out (1976) The quintessential live band is truly captured here. This album shows the energy of their live shows and again captures them at the peak of the career. The ultimate bar band of the 70’s put out a powerful album that you can actually feel the energy coming out of your speakers. Peter Wolf’s riffing on “Must Have Got Lost” brings the fun of their live show to you and just blows away the studio version. One of the most overlooked bands of the seventies shows why they were one of the best live bands of the time.


#3 Cream - Royal Albert Hall: London May 2-3-5-6 2005 (2005) To me, this is the Clapton live album everyone should own. After not playing together for forty years it is amazing how tight sounding the three of them were for these shows especially considering how reckless they were when they played originally. It’s also hard to believe but to me they sound better in their sixties than they did in their twenties. I think the reason I like this album so much is it forced Eric to step back into the spotlight and have to play more than he had in years and he is great on it. The power of this trio is still there and it comes thru on this album.


#2 Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison (1968) This album seemed to really galvanize the image of Johnny Cash in the sixties. There is rawness in this album that you can’t fake. Johnny playing to the prisoners of Folsom Prison (talk about a hard ticket to get!) and it seems the energy of Johnny and the band grew the longer they played and they fed off the audience and you can feel it in the recording. This album is rough, raw and fun just like you would imagine a Johnny Cash concert to be in the old days (especially if you were locked up!)


#1 Pink Floyd – Delicate Sound Of Thunder (1988) This album is overlooked by everyone it seems and was definitely bashed by the critics (especially those who sided with Roger when he left) and when you talk about a live Pink Floyd album the first one on everyone’s mind is Pulse but DSOT is a much better album in my opinion. The sound is richer and fuller, the band just seems tighter than they did on Pulse and the song selection is fantastic, it was like a greatest hits live album. This is not just one of my favorite live albums but one of my favorite albums period. “Learning To Fly” on this album played live is actually better than the studio version and I don’t say that often. The three remaining members of Pink Floyd were on a mission then to prove things and lucky for us they recorded it live.

Some honorable mentions:
Metallica – Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993) A lot of people don’t but I like this album but the problem is no one is going to be able to capture the power of them live on a recording.

David Gilmour – Live in Gdansk (2008) I love this album. It shows David on what I believe to be his last tour ever and believe me, he was great on this tour (I saw him in Chicago) and this album shows why he’s one of the best.

Bob Marley And The Wailers – Live (1975) You feel the passion of Marley and really start to realize what musicians The Wailers were starting to become. This album’s version of No Woman, No Cry is reason enough to go out and get it. Listen to the audience sing along with Bob and try not to feel a part of it.

The Band – The Last Waltz (1978) This album would have made my Top Ten except I really live the video better but you can’t knock the album. It really shows how good they were.

Okay folks, that’s my list. Now let the calls, emails, and arguments start!

Nuff said, least till next week
Peace Out
Bear

Don’t forget to come out to the Beachland Ballroom Saturday June 27th for the Rock And Roll Flea Market. I’ll be there so stop by the booth and say hi.

Clapton The Chameleon

Right now, I’m sitting here listening to Derek And The Dominos for probably the 10000th time still just amazed at the music that is coming out of my speakers. Today before Layla, I listened to Journeyman and then Disraeli Gears. Why the Clapton kick?

Next week Eric Clapton is coming to Columbus to play a special show with Stevie Winwood but that isn’t it. I just finished Eric’s autobiography which was an interesting book for me, not a great book to read per se, but interesting. Reading the book, It was obvious the book was therapy for Eric. To put out there for everyone to read the ghosts of his past. The good, the bad and at times the very ugly. It was sad for me at times to read it as such a huge fan of Clapton and his music, Reading it, I realized that there were so many wasted years right at the peak of his career from his demons. Wasted years that who knows what music could have been created.

So why the sadness for me? Because I feel Eric Clapton is one of a dying breed, the great guitarist that actually creates. To me there are good, some even great guitarist still out there, Van Halen, Gilmour, Santana, Satriani, Hammett and others but unlike Clapton theirs is a singular style. Clapton it seems, at least to me transcends one style, when he creates a style depending on his mood at the time and this style is usually copied immediately by others guitarists trying to find “their style”.

Why did I call this story “Clapton The Chameleon”? Have you ever listened to Clapton? If you have you wouldn’t have to ask that question. Eric Clapton has changed his music stylings so many times over his career that it can make your head spin. He has tried so many incarnations of bands over his career, many just on a whim to try something new either out of boredom or out of ego. Now when I use the word “ego” I am not using this in a derogatory meaning. When you are an artist of Clapton’s stature you have to have some ego just to push yourself beyond your own limitations. To see what is beyond the wall.

Eric has been in some of the greatest bands we have ever heard, most of them created and flourishing for far too short a time. He has been inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame three times, the only artist to do so. First with the Yardbirds, then Cream and then his solo works but what might have happened if he stuck with Derek And The Dominos for a few more years or Blind Faith or The Bluesbreakers or even Delany And Bonnie (with Eric, Stephen Stills and Leon Russell in the background of this band, c’mon!). What could have been?

He went from band to band to band to band to band in a need to fulfill, to create something new or at times especially in the 60’s and early 70’s to seemingly evade the stardom that came with creating this music. I remember reading and seeing the pictures in magazines “Clapton Is God” scrawled on walls in London in the 60’s. I have read several times and I love the story of how when Eric first heard The Band’s “Music From Big Pink” album he just had to leave Cream and actually went to Woodstock where they were living to see about playing in the group, not as a lead but as a backing musician just because they were creating the music that he wanted to create. He wanted to just be a part of it. Now whether this story is 100% accurate is debatable but there are elements of the truth in his autobiography about it and it shows how his direction would change on a moment’s notice. Too try and go from the hard, loud, balls out rock of Cream to the Americanized country rock, story telling of The Bands sound shows the restlessness of the artist. I have always been amazed at how easy it seemed for him to go from one style to another. From the Yardbirds to The Bluesbreakers to Cream to Blind Faith to Delany And Bonnie to Derek And The Dominos to even the Plastic Ono Band. All different styles, all great music.

Eric as an artist for me has always been at or near the top of the list. I still marvel at how effortlessly he is able to take a guitar and make the notes so fluid, like water slowly being poured from a pitcher. For me, he is one of the last truly great guitarists of that time. There is nothing that sounds so sweet as notes that just seem to float and flow one to another and that’s not easy to do. If you don’t believe me I beseech you to put on your favorite bands album or CD, close your eyes and concentrate and just listen to the guitar being played then go put on a Clapton album, any of them, and make the comparison. There are very few that can really do this, Stevie Ray definitely could, Gilmour can if ever plays again, but Clapton has done this since the very beginning. It’s like God reached down and touched this man on the shoulder and said “be special”.

I went to see Clapton at Blossom last year and (immediately remembered why I hated going to Blossom) Clapton was at the top of his game at 63 years old, again let me repeat that again. He was on top of his game at 63 years old! Anyone who thinks they can play guitar (like I do) should have been at that show. One of highlights for me was that the cameramen focused on the hands of Eric most of the time on the big screens in the pavilion while he was playing. Playing that night with Eric was Doyle Bramhall II who Eric has kind of tapped to be “the next one” but for me it was a lesson in contrasts watching the two of them play. Doyle was producing all the right notes but it seemed that it was painful as he tried to keep up with Eric. Eric on the other hand stood there calmly and again at 63 years old, his hands moved fluidly up and down the frets and as I said earlier the notes “flowed like water”.

When I saw the set list for the 2008 tour I was surprised and thrilled. Eric was going back to his roots and playing what he has always loved, the blues. The set list included Key To The Highway, Outside Woman Blues, Motherless Children, Little Queen Of Spades and I guess to try and appease some of his fans songs like Wonderful Tonight and Cocaine were also included but kind of felt out of place with the rest of the list. To me I would rather of had him play “Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad” or “Riding With The King” but who am I to tell him what to play, unlike the drunk who was sitting a couple of rows in front of me and kept yelling out Cocaine after each song. When an artist gets to a point in his career when he is finally comfortable in his or her skin, shouldn’t they play what they like or want to hear? I don’t think Eric or any real artist sits down, writes the song, goes into the studio and records it with the idea, “What will Bear in Cleveland think”. They write, they record and they perform songs that mean something to them at that time and because it did mean something so strong to them that is why we connect without even knowing it.

I regret that I am not going to see Clapton and Winwood next week in Columbus, just waited too long to get tickets. These opportunities won’t keep coming along. It’s going to be a special time to hear a man embracing finally another part of his career and finding the happiness in his music we always have. Maybe the restlessness of his youth has finally passed and he can enjoy the music like we do.

Congratulations Eric, stay clean, stay sober, stay happy

Nuff said, least till next week
Peace Out
Bear

The Votes Are In. The Readers Vote On The Hall Of Fame

The results are in, and you spoke loud and clear.

I can say one thing. The readers of clevelandrockandroll.com are passionate for their favorites and especially who they don't like.

The race for "Who Should Be In The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame But Isn't" was close to the end, but a last minute surge this past week gave us our winner.

RUSH.....with 22% of the vote. The readers have voted Rush into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!!! Okay we know the Rock Hall is not going to put them in based on your votes but maybe some of the real voters will listen to you, the music fans, next year.
Now for the results and some of your comments.

1st Place.....Rush (346 votes)
.....Until reading this, I thought they were already in the Hall Of Fame. How can they not be - (Russ from Canton)
.....Best band to ever come out of Canada! Really how many great bands come out of Canada! - (Bob from Toronto)
.....Geddy Lee's voice alone should have this great band in the hall. - (Sue from Buffalo)

2nd Place.....Stevie Ray Vaughn (321 votes)
.....Stevie Ray is considered one of the greatest guitar players ever. Wake up voters - (Tom from Cleveland)
.....Top 3 if not the #1 guitarist ever. This is a no brainer. - (Steve from Atlanta)
.....Better than Hendrix, better than Clapton, better than everyone. Why is he overlooked? - (Tim from Akron)

3rd Place.....Kiss (234 votes)
.....Kiss not in? I didn't even know that. The biggest band in the 70's and they are not in? - (Tom from Euclid)
.....Gene Simmons is hated by the music world for how he marketed Kiss. That can be the only reason they are not in. - (Marcy from Columbus)
.....The biggest, baddest, rocking band of my generation! KISS. (Mark from Parma)

4th Place.....Genesis (176 votes)
.....Come on, they could be put in twice for the Peter Gabriel era and then the Phil Collins era. Two totally different bands but both great. - (Ron from Cleveland)
.....I can see why they don't put them in for the music they made with "Invisible Touch" and "We Can't Dance" but the work they did when Peter was in the band was magic.- (Ray from Hinckley)
.....In their early years they were one of the top prog groups on the scene. They have to be in. - (Thomas from New York)

5th Place.....Alice Cooper (149 votes)
.....Alice was theatric rock at it's best. - (Bill from Las Vegas)
.....Are you sure Alice Cooper is not in? - (Kathy from Solon)
.....Schools Out, an anthem for a generation. That alone should be enough. - (Sam from Cleveland)

6th Place.....Doobie Brothers (92 votes)
.....One of the biggest bands of the 70's. Come on voters! - (Bill from Lakewood)
.....Great vocals, great musicians, what more do these voters need? - (Tom from Toledo)

7th Place.....Heart (87 votes)
.....Ann and Nancy taught everyone what a hard rockin female band should sound like. - (Bridgett from Cleveland)
.....They changed my idea what a rock band should look and sound like. - (Bob from Eastlake)

8th Place.....Electric Light Orchestra (85 votes)
.....They made a whole new sound in rock.- (Nancy from Avon Lake)
.....The ultimate rock orchestra. (Jeff from Marrietta)

9th Place.....Jethro Tull (81 votes)
.....Who would have thought a band with a frontman with a flute would be rock legends. I do. (Dave from Houston)
.....I was shocked to look it up and see they were not in. How is this possible. - (Carol from Willoughby)

10th Place.....Cheap Trick (76 votes)
....."At Budokan" defined what a live band should sound like. - (Marcus from Cleveland)
.....Unique, no one was like them. - (Jim from Cleveland)

On the flip side "Who Should Be Thrown Out Of The Hall Of Fame" had a runaway winner!

MADONNA with 72% of the vote (692 votes)
.....The hall lost all credibility with putting her in. - (Karen from Parma)
.....It made me sick. - (Alan from Cleveland)
.....What's next Brittany Spears? - (Tim from Lorain)
.....A JOKE!!!! - (Randy from Chicago)
.....They took a great thing like the ROCK HALL and made it a joke. - (Brett from Cleveland)

2nd Place.....Michael Jackson (183 votes)
.....The self proclaimed King Of Pop has become a world wide joke. - (Sarah from Cleveland)
.....When he was voted in, I stopped caring. - (Ryan from Canton)

3rd Place.....Earth Wind And Fire (73 votes)
.....No rock at all here. - (Mike from Medina)
.....Disco? Disco? Did the voters in 2000 think they were running out of great rock bands to vote for? - (Brian from Boston)

4th Place.....Run DMC (61 votes)
.....I didn't even know who they were except for one song. Should that put you in the Hall Of Fame. That's like putting a baseball player in the Hall of Fame for hitting one home run in his career. - (Jim from Akron)
.....One song with Aerosmith does not make a career. - (Mike from Tremont)

5th Place.....Grandmaster Flash (38 votes)
.....Why voters, why. No good rock bands left? - (Bob from Hudson)
.....Another example of record company hacks voting for what they think is cool instead of what's good. - (Mike from Independence)

You spoke readers, maybe they will listen to you next year.

Nuff said, At least until next week
Peace Out
Bear