Roots of The Stones Part I - "The Rolling Stones"

In the first of a series let me present to you the original recordings of the various covers that The Rolling Stones have attempted over the years. We'll kick it off with "The Rolling Stones", their debut album. (We're talking the British & Irish versions here so apologies if the track listing is confusing as you may be used to the American releases). First released in April, 1964, the album saw the Stones covering the following;
Route 66 - Chuck Berry
I Just Want To Make Love To You - Muddy Waters
Honest I Do - Jimmy Reed
Mona (I Need You) - Bo Diddley
I'm A King Bee - Slim Harpo
Carol - Chuck Berry
Can I Get A Witness? - Marvin Gaye
You Can Make It If You Try - Gene Allison
Walkin' The Dog - Rufus Thomas

Bo n' JB on the BBC

A couple of fine documentaries that should be of interest from the greatest broadcasting corporation in the world, the BBC. Mark Lamarr discusses James Brown while Roger Daltrey reviews the mighty Bo Diddley. Here's a picture of the Weasel and I with Bo Diddley from a rock n' roll festival we attended a few years ago.

Television

While I don't normally foray into the world of television, less still the murky basement of science fiction, I feel it would be remiss of me not to direct you to a new show called "Heroes" about everyday folk who happen to have super powers. I've wasted a lot of time on it and now you can too with the first 12 episodes. Uploaded by, wait for it, Drathos Xeon. Crazy name, crazy guy.

More Exile

Another "Exile On Main St." related post as promised. Here's two covers of tracks from the album. Linda Ronstadt's surprisingly good (to me anyway) cover of "Tumbling Dice" featuring Waddy Watchel on guitar who would go on to play in Keith Richard's solo backing band, but that's another story. And "Just Wanna See His Face" from The Blind Boys Of Alabama. Go and buy their "Spirit Of The Century", you won't be disappointed.

John N' Van

Two classics posted by our good friend Pessi over at
"That Was Then, This Is Now" - John Martyn's
"One World" and Van Morrison's currently out
of print "Wavelength". Nice work boss.

Roots of Exile

As anyone with a pair of ears knows, "Exile On Main St." by The Rolling Stones is the greatest album ever made and one of the cornerstones of their reputation as
"the greatest Rock N' Roll band in the world". Their are two cover verions on the album and I'll offer the originals here. Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips" from 1966 and Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down Blues" from way back in 1937. I'll return to this album again but in the meantime, enjoy these two great cuts.

Hard Road

It's bloody freezing in Dublin today so naturally you play some reggae. They used to say that Jamaica was like Ireland with the heat turned up although that must have been before all the greed kicked in around here. It will be my first stop when the lottery comes in. Anyway here's "Hard Road To Travel" by Jimmy Cliff from 1969. One of the greats, Jimmy is still touring and I've seen him a few times in the last couple of years. Make sure you catch him if he's near you, you won't regret it.

Oscars

Here's a post from last December, I'm putting it back up as Scorsese got the nod today for an Oscar. Will he win it? Probably not. Eastwood's movie pushes more of the right buttons. Incidentally, Sweet Dick Willie recently gave me a loan of the original "Flags of Our Fathers" book, go and read it and be amazed at the bravery of men who were barely out of childhood. What meaning it must have given to their lives.







Movie of the year for me was, by a country mile, Martin Scorsese's 'The Departed', although I made the mistake of seeing the original 'Infernal Affairs' a few days before hand so I had a fair idea where the story was going. Fantastic performances all round although, needless to say, Nicholson acts everyone else off the screen. Now, you didn't hear it from me but some hero has put the whole thing on youtube although you can be sure it's just a matter of time before it's taken down. Go to the youtube site and search for the departed pt and you'll find it in 14 different segments. Now there are ways to download the whole thing but quality wise it's not worth it. Nothing stopping you looking at it though.

A Brussels Affair

Talk on the MOJO message board has recently turned to the question of whether the Stones are the greatest rock n' roll band of all time. The opinion was offered that the "Brussels Affair 1973" boot offers proof that they certainly once were at least.

You can make up your own mind by checking it out at Essential Soundboards

You'll agree with Captain Black that this is pretty damn exciting and may even be, whisper it, up there with "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out!"

Perhaps it's time to forget about releasing the same studio album again and again and polish up stuff like this for official release.

Rockchic

I took a trip down to the Rockchic, The Life and Times of the Electric Guitar 1931-2006 exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks today. The exhibition was a bit cramped and crowded but worth a look. On show were guitars from Hendrix, The Edge and Rory Gallagher amongst others. I brought my daughter Isabella with me and as you can see from this photo she wasn't that thrilled about it. A four year old in a room full of electric guitars, you'd think she'd be over the moon but there you go.

Good Rockin' Tonight

As you and I both know, Rock n' Roll didn't just appear out of the ether, although it must have seemed that way at the time. Here's one of the major links in the chain and I can't recommend this great compilation highly enough, if you're foot doesn't tap and your lips don't curl into a smile then I suggest you call an undertaker. Just ask Elvis who was no stranger to the gems contained within. Over to the rather great Big Bad Music

Push back the chairs and shake a chicken to "Juicy Fruit" by Rudy Greene! "Juicy Fruit is my name, I want to lie on you baby and make your name the same!" If that doesn't roast your stones then check out Louis Prima's "Jump, Jive, An' Wail"; "Daddy's in the ice box looking for a can of ale, Mama's in the back yard learning how to Jive an' wail!". Class.

The Roots of The King

A compilation with Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams and Hank Snow amongst others. Of course you'll want to get your hands on this. Over to El Diablo Tun Tun

Willie Nelson at the Point

The red headed stranger played the first of two nights at Dublin's Point Theatre last night and I was lucky enough to be there. Due to a mix up with a flight from Oslo, my old mate, The Coff, had to miss out but luckily the Weazel was more than willing to step in although due to his working hours, we didn't get out till eight. This meant that I managed to get in the sum total of TWO pints before Willie took the stage at about 9:15. This stands as some sort of terrible record and is, by quite a long distance, the most sober I have ever been in that barn.

That Willie could fill the Point for two nights at the age of 74 with an all acoustic band is some achievement, that he could get away with charging €70 for about an hour and a half is another story and one I'm not delighted about.

Although is voice is starting to show a bit of wear around the edges, the show was a great one. The Band were stunning, apart from the drummer, playing a single snare, who seemed to get ahead of himself a bit at times, and a frankly superfluous "percussionist" (the drummer's brother as it turns out, jobs for the boys) who looked like he'd wandered in straight from a geography teacher's convention. Special mention goes to "Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground" (which resulted in many a grown man experiencing a "There's something in my eye" moment), "On The Road Again", a fine selection of Hank Williams numbers, Kris Kristofferson and Merle Haggard covers and a great new song which was called something like "My Heart Has Settled Back To Earth". And when is the last time you saw a show where the artist let the crowd approach the stage towards the end for photos and autographs.

The voting starts here for the headliner for the Midlands Country Festival during the summer. Give Willie a shout.

The Good, The Bad & The Great

The best new album I've heard in ages.

The link isn't mine so don't blame me if it's not there and don't take me to court.

Cold, Cold Heart

Because you can never hear enough country and everyone knows that Hank was the master.

Ernest Tubb

How could you not love this?

Don't Make Any Plans

As if the previous post wasn't enough, here's another fabulous collection where you can go and get lost. The internet was invented just for this.

"I hear plenty of music..."

Check this out. If you can't find at least ten records that you were looking for then there isn't a doctor on earth that can help. You'll lose a day but take the time to go through the archive, you could fill six iPods without even trying.