'Dog Days Are Over'

It's Florence + the Machine.

Daniel de Vise, King of the Blues

At Amazon, Daniel de Vise, King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King.

Way Down in the Hole (VIDEO)

Some tunes in the afternoon.

Tom Waits. He's one bluesy muthafucker.

I Forgot Maxine Nightingale!

Well, following-up on my post the other day, "Ooh Woo ... I Feel It Still (VIDEO)."

It turns out I'd forgotten about Maxine Nightingale, whose song, "Right Back Where We Started From," used to come on all the time at K-EARTH 101 Los Angeles. 

(And the same goes for Junior Walker and the All Stars, "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)?," which I've posted to this blog more than once; and that's not to mention the Bellamy Brothers, and a few other "oldies buy goodies" kind of folks.)

In any case, here she is, and looking good too. She's apparently still active, according to her Wikipedia entry.

It Ain't Over 'til It's Over

Heard just now while out for a newspaper run (I buy a daily copy of the New York Times at Gelson's market nearby).

At 93.1 Jack FM Los Angeles, Lenny Kravitz, "It Aint Over 'til Its Over."

It Aint Over Til Its Over
Lenny Kravitz
11:33am

Danger Zone
Kenny Loggins
11:30am

Obsession
ANIMOTION
11:20am

All Apologies
NIRVANA
11:16am

I Ran (So Far Away)
A Flock OF Seagulls
11:12am

Sweet Home Alabama
Lynyrd Skynyrd
11:07am

Get Lucky
Daft Punk Feat. Pharrell Williams
11:03am

No One Like You
Scorpions
11:00am

Hungry Like The Wolf
Duran Duran
10:50am

Self Esteem
OFFSPRING
10:45am

Hey Hey What Can I Do
Led Zeppelin
10:41am

Dont Stand So Close To Me
Police
10:38am

Just A Girl
NO Doubt
10:34am

Walk This Way
Run D.M.C./Aerosmith
10:31am

Words
Missing Persons
10:20am

Unforgiven
Metallica
10:14am

Junior Walker and the All Stars, "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)?"

I first posted this back in 2008. At the time, K-EARTH 101 was still playing '50s and '60s classics.

See, "Whoa, I Just Got to Know..."

She's Gone

Hall & Oates, heard yesterday while out with my wife, in my wife's car, on satellite radio's "70s on 7."

She's Gone:

'You Dropped a Bomb on Me'

From yesterday's drive-time, at 93.1 Jack FM Los Angeles, the Gap Band.

The station's definitely eclectic. (*Eye-roll.*)

I Ran
A Flock Of Seagulls
9:11am

Janie's Got A Gun
Aerosmith
9:06am

Ophelia
The Lumineers
9:03am

Don't Do Me Like That
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
8:54am

Take On Me
a-ha
8:50am

Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana
8:45am

You Dropped A Bomb On Me
The Gap Band
8:41am

Gimme All Your Lovin'
ZZ Top
8:37am

It's Time
Imagine Dragons
8:33am

White Wedding
Billy Idol
8:21am

Paradise City
Guns N' Roses
8:14am

Love My Way
The Psychedelic Furs
8:11am

'La Grange'

From my drive-time this afternoon, while out buzzing around between used bookstores, at the Sound L.A.

Here's ZZ Top, "La Grange":

Gimme Shelter
The Rolling Stones
6:10 PM

Back On the Chain Gang
Pretenders
6:07 PM

All Along the Watchtower
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
5:57 PM

You Better You Bet
Who
5:51 PM

Help!
The Beatles
5:49 PM

Don't Stop Believin'
Journey
5:45 PM

Blitzkrieg Bop
Ramones
5:43 PM

Africa
Toto
5:38 PM

La Grange
ZZ Top
5:34 PM

Stuck In the Middle With You
Stealers Wheel
5:31 PM

People Are Strange
The Doors
5:24 PM

Werewolves of London
Warren Zevon
5:21 PM

Sister Golden Hair
America
5:18 PM

Iron Man
Black Sabbath
5:12 PM

Heartbreaker
Pat Benatar
5:08 PM

Misty Mountain Hop
Led Zeppelin
5:04 PM

Life In the Fast Lane
Eagles
4:59 PM

Dream On
Aerosmith
4:55 PM

'Smooth'

From yesterday afternoon, when I was out to CVS and the bagel shop.

Santana, at the Sound L.A.:

Jungle Love
Steve Miller Band
2:35 PM

Rock'n Me
Steve Miller Band
2:32 PM

Abracadabra
Steve Miller Band
2:29 PM

Tush
ZZ Top
2:26 PM

Sharp Dressed Man
ZZ Top
2:22 PM

Legs (Edit Version)
ZZ Top
2:18 PM

Smooth
Santana
2:07 PM

Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
Santana
2:02 PM

Evil Ways
Santana
1:58 PM

Bye Bye Love
The Cars
1:54 PM

Let's Go
The Cars
1:51 PM

Just What I Needed
The Cars
1:47 PM

Good Times Bad Times
Led Zeppelin
1:37 PM

Rock and Roll
Led Zeppelin
1:33 PM

D'yer Mak'er
Led Zeppelin
1:29 PM

Purple Haze
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1:26 PM

All Along the Watchtower
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1:22 PM

Fire
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
1:20 PM

'Down So Long'

Some music, until tonight.

Enjoy the lovely Ms. Jewel, getting bluesy:

Chuck Berry's New Single, 'Big Boys' (AUDIO)

Chuck Berry's got a brand-new posthumous album coming out in June, available for pre-order at Amazon, "Chuck."

Read all about it at the Sound L.A., "LISTEN: Chuck Berry Album Set for June Release; Hear Lead Single."

And listen to "Big Boys":

Did the song give you déjà vu? It should: It starts out with the classic “Johnny B. Goode” guitar riff, bringing this latest release full circle.

Chuck is Chuck Berry’s first album in 38 years, so it comes highly anticipated, to say the least. It was initially announced last October, so fans only have a few more months to go before hearing some of Berry’s final works—which is sure to be a celebration of the late rocker’s life.

And his family agrees, sharing, “While our hearts are very heavy at this time, we know that Chuck had no greater wish than to see this album released to the world, and we know of no better way to celebrate and remember his 90 years of life than through his music.”

Tom Moon, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die

More Christmas ideas.

At Amazon, Tom Moon, 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

Plus, Brad Tolinski and Alan di Perna, Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar.

And, Lora Greene, Combat Rock: A History of Punk (From Its Origins to the Present).

More, Daniel J. Levitin, This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.

BONUS: Francis Davis, The History of the Blues: The Roots, The Music, The People.

'Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul. I wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away...'

I actually heard this one on K-EARTH 101 a week or so back. I think my son was driving the van and I didn't even notice he'd flipped the digital dial. K-EARTH plays a lot of 1980s "new romantic," like Duran Duran and A Flock of Seagulls, which while nice, probably wears after one or two listenings.

Not so with Dobie Gray. I could listen to him over and over again. I remember first hearing this song in 1972 on the radio when I was just 11-years-old. So beautiful --- and spiritual. I could never forget it.

And the song's author just passed away a few days ago, coincidentally and strangely, considering I'm just paying attention this. See Billboard, "Mentor Williams, Writer of Dobie Gray's 'Drift Away,' Dies at 70."

Van Morrison's New Album, 'Keep Me Singing', is Now Available

Just released yesterday, at Amazon, Keep Me Singing.

PREVIOUSLY: "Van Morrison, 'Too Late' (VIDEO)."

Van Morrison, 'Too Late' (VIDEO)

Here's Van Morrison's new single, off his new album, due out September 30th, Keep Me Singing.

Blues Legend B.B. King Dead at 89

I saw B.B. King play at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach back in, oh, 1980 or so.

A fabulous performer.

See the obituary at the New York Times, "'King of the Blues' Blues Legend B.B. King Dead at Age 89." ADDED: "B.B. King, Defining Bluesman for Generations, Dies at 89."

And at the Los Angeles Times, "Blues guitarist B.B. King dies at 89":

B.B. King, the singer and guitarist who put the blues in a three-piece suit and took the musical genre from the barrooms and back porches of the Mississippi Delta to Carnegie Hall and the world's toniest concert stages with a signature style emulated by generations of blues and rock musicians, has died. He was 89.

The 15-time Grammy Award winner died in Las Vegas, his attorney said. He had struggled in recent years with diabetes.

Early on, King transcended his musical shortcomings — an inability to play guitar leads while he sang and a failure to master the use of a bottleneck or slide favored by many of his guitar-playing peers — and created a unique style that made him one of the most respected and influential blues musicians ever.

“B.B. King taps into something universal,” Eric Clapton told The Times in 2005. “He can't be confined to any one genre. That's why I've called him a ‘global musician.’”

King spent decades honing the craft that helped him escape the poverty of the Deep South, where he grew up on a Mississippi plantation as the son of a sharecropper who became a teenage sharecropper himself before singing and playing his way out of the cotton fields.

He was an indefatigable performer who seldom left the concert trail for more than a few days at a time. In 1956 he played 342 shows and even in his later years kept a schedule that would test the endurance of musicians half his age.

He tapped his music and oversized personality in transcending the limitations of a genre that rein in most blues musicians, forging an international identity as a beloved cultural ambassador. King collaborated with hundreds of musicians in most fields of pop music, culminating with his 1989 teaming with U2 on the Irish rock quartet's single “When Love Comes to Town,” which brought him to the attention of millions of young rock fans when he was in his mid-60s.

Decades earlier, when black audiences largely moved away from listening to the blues in favor of R&B and soul performers such as James Brown and Ray Charles, King's flagging career was resuscitated when the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Clapton, Van Morrison and other white rockers of the British Invasion started singing the praises of King and other American blues musicians to their young fans.

More.

'Couldn't Get It Right'

Listened to the Climax Blues Band while out to pick up my young son this afternoon, on the Sound L.A.

Down Under
Men At Work
3:56 PM

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
AC/DC
3:52 PM

Jet Airliner
Steve Miller Band
3:39 PM

If You Wanna Get to Heaven
The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
3:36 PM

Proud Mary
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3:33 PM

The Boys Are Back In Town
Thin Lizzy
3:29 PM

Working for the Weekend
Loverboy
3:25 PM

Couldn't Get It Right
Climax Blues Band
3:22

'Rocket 88'

According to Wikipedia, "'Rocket 88' was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm."

And why am I blogging about "Rocket 88," you might ask? Well, I was over at Legal Insurrection and I was listening to William's "Video of the Day," Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary."

Interestingly, I was just thinking about the song the other morning while listening to the radio. John Fogerty is both lead singer and lead guitarist on "Proud Mary." While skimming around on Wikipedia, I saw the discussion of Ike and Tina Turner's cover, which then reminded me of the movie "What's Love Got to Do with It." Thinking about that reminded me of how much I loved "Rocket 88" from the film, and so I googled that, heh.

In any case, here you go. The song's generally considered the very "first rock-and-roll record":

Jimi Hendrix on 'American Masters'

I watched it last night. Fascinating, "Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’."



Also at NYT, "A Talent Whose Light Was Bright but Brief: Revisiting Jimi Hendrix on PBS’s ‘American Masters’." And LAT, "Review: Jimi Hendrix seen through a gentle purple haze."

"He didn't like being flattered [as the best guitar player in the world]. He fended it off..."

Such a humble, beautiful man.