Music & More

  Photo: Ten Years After This week's batch of new releases was interesting, to say the least, but aren't they all. Amongst what came out on Friday, August 16th, I pulled out a few albums to listen to. These included new albums by Devon Allman, Ray LaMontagne and Charly Bliss, among others. But, the album that rose to the top of my list to listen to first was a live album recorded almost exactly 55 years ago in August 1969 by Ten Years After at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Full Disclosure: I have been all about all things Woodstock ever since missing the festival because (at the time) I was not quite old enough to drive.  However,  I was right there when the movie opened in 1970. Not only was the Woodstock documentary movie so well made that it was easy to feel like you'd been there, but two of the most amazing performances in the movie were those by The Who and Ten Years After. The arrangements for the festival have been well documented, but of all the things that

  Courtesy of The Police Listening to Synchronicity by The Police from their newly released 40th anniversary box set, I was immediately struck by how excellent this album was, and still is. The first CD in the box contains the original remastered album plus the B-side , " Murder By Numbers,"  that arguably should have been on the original LP.  The great songs come at you one after another and they're almost as familiar to fans as the Beatles catalog. For example, just look at the lineup of songs from Side 2:  "Every Breath You Take" is followed by " King Of Pain," "Wrapped Around Your Finger,"   and  "Tea In The Sahara." With all but two songs  on  Synchronicity  credited only to Sting , any consideration of Sting's best work should include this album alongside his solo work.  Synchronicity was the fifth and final album released by The Police before the three principle musicians went their separate ways. For the purpose of thi

John Mayall live at Fillmore East, Jul 12, 1969 (Wolfgang's) When I first heard news that John Mayall had died at age 90, my first thought was to post a little appreciation of him. When I do a music related post on FaceBook, I like to include a song. I chose "Room to Move" from The Turning Point album since it was his biggest hit. When I brought the song up on YouTube and I played it to check the version, I was initially thrown for a loop because the music started right up without the stage introduction I was accustomed to hearing. The version was right, so I just attributed it to the nuances of transferring a master to YouTube and away we went.  I should mention that I was just a kid in school when I bought this album upon its release. I would love to know where I had heard it back then, but it had to have been on the radio in the early days of rock music on FM.  In any case, a day or two after posting it, I dialed the album up and gave it a listen.  My first thought wa